Part 8 (1/2)

There was nothing left but to return to England The position is very clearly stated by Mr Field in a letter to one of his fareat disaster:--

”H M Steaust 13, 1857

”The successful laying down of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable is put off for a short time, but its final triumph has been fully proved, by the experience that we have had since we left Valentia My confidence was never so strong as at the present ti, we shall connect Europe and A successfully laid--and part of the ti--three hundred and thirty-five miles of the cable, and over one hundred miles of it in water more than two miles in depth, the brakes were applied ineer, to prevent the cable fro out so fast, and it parted

”I retired toon well, and at a quarter before four o'clock on Tuesday , the eleventh instant, I oke from my sleep by the cry of 'Stop her, back her!' and in a ence that the cable was broken In as short a time as possible I was dressed, and on deck; and Captain Hudson at once signaled the other steamers that the cable had parted, and in a few ht, of the Leopard, and Captain Sands, of the Susquehanna, were on board of the Niagara

”I requested Captain Wainwright, the coaara and Susquehanna, in this deep part of the Atlantic for a few days, to try certain experireat value to us, and then sail with theland, and all wait at Plymouth until further orders I further requested Captain Wainwright to order the Cyclops to sound here where the cable parted, and then steam back to Valentia, with letters from me to Dr Whitehouse, and Mr Saward, the secretary of the Atlantic Telegraph Company; and that he should take me in the Leopard as soon as possible to Portsmouth

”All of my requests were cheerfully complied with, and in a few hours the Cyclops had sounded, and found the bottom at two thousand fathoms, and was on her way back to Valentia with letters froether by the cable, and engaged in trying experiments; the Susquehanna in attendance, and the Leopard, with your affectionate ---- on board, on her way back to England

”In raph to London, and have a specialof the Directors called for twelve o'clock on Saturday, to decide whether we should have ain this season, or wait until next year

”I shall close this letter on board, so as to have it ready to mail the moment we arrive at Portsmouth, as I wish to leave by the very next train for London, so as to be there in time to meet the Directors Saturday noon, and read the up

”Do not think that I feel discouraged, or am in low spirits, for I areat advantage to the Atlantic Telegraph Coraph Fleet, seereatest interest in our enterprise, and are very desirous to go out in the shi+ps the next tireatest kindness and attention from all whom I have met, from the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, down to the cabin-boys and sailors The inclosed letter froht of Kerry, I received with a basket of hothouse fruit, just as ere getting ready to leave Valentia harbor

Your ---- ”Cyrus W Field”

The day that this ritten, Mr Field landed at Portsmouth, and at once hastened to London to meet the Directors At first it was a question if they should renew the expedition this year But their brief experience had shown the need of more ample preparations for their next attempt They required six hundred miles more of cable to make up for over three hundred lost in the sea, and to provide a surplus so as to run no risk of falling short from other accidents; and most of all they needed better machinery to pay out the cable into the ocean These preparations required time, and before they could be made, it would be late in the autumn Hence they reluctantly decided to defer the expedition till another year The Niagara and the Agaed their cable at Plyara returned ho a feeeks in London to complete the preparations for the next year, sailed for America

He returned to find that a commercial hurricane had swept over the country, in which a thousand stately fortunes had gone down, and in which the wealth he had accumulated by years of toil had nearly suffered shi+pwreck Such were the tidings thatIt had been a year of disappointland and Ah hopes were

In the deep bosom of the ocean buried

FOOTNOTES:

[A] Mr Field was detained by illness at Valentia, and several of the shi+ps had not arrived

CHAPTER IX

THE FIRST EXPEDITION OF 1858

The expedition of 1857 was little rand scale As such it had its use; but its abrupt ending within three hundred miles of the Irish coast was a severe shock to public confidence Up to that tiland and of Anitude and difficulty They had taken it for granted as a thing which must some day be accomplished by human skill and perseverance But now it had been tried and failed This first expedition opened their eyes to the vastness of the undertaking, and led an to look upon it as a ro This decline of popular faith was felt as soon as there was a call for more money Men reasoned that if the former attempt was but an experiment, it was rather a costly one

The loss of three hundred and thirty-five miles of cable, with the postponement of the expedition to another year, was equivalent to a loss of a hundred thousand pounds To e the capital of the Company This new capital was not so readily obtained Those who had subscribed before, thought they had lost enough; and the public stood aloof till they could see the result of the next experio with the current of popular enthusias popular distrust

They found how great an element of success in all public enterprises is public confidence

But against this very revulsion of feeling they had been already warned

The Earl of Carlisle the year before had cautioned theuine of immediate results, and reminded them that ”preliminary failure was even the law and condition of ultimate success” There were many who now remembered his words, and on whom the lesson was not lost

But whatever the depression at the failure of the first atteraph across the ocean, and at the thick-co disasters on land and sea, it did not interfere with renewed and vigorous efforts to prepare for a second expedition The Directors gave orders for the manufacture of seven hundred miles of new cable, to make up for the loss of the previous year, and to provide a surplus against all contingencies And the Governain its powerful aid

In Aton to ask a second time the use of the shi+ps, which had already represented the country so well He made also a special request for the services of Mr Williaineer of the Niagara the year before He had watched closely the paying-out ether on the deck, and as it worked on the voyage, and with the eye of a practised reat alterations It was too cumbrous, had too ripe that would snap the strongest chain cable[A] Mr Field saw that this was the man to remedy the defects of the old machine, and to make one that would work more smoothly He therefore applied especially for his services To the credit of the adranted both requests in the most handso Mr Field the official letter, ”I have given you all you asked”

After such an answer he did not wait long The letter is dated the thirtieth of December, and in just one week, on the sixth of January, he sailed in the Persia for England with Mr Everett Scarcely had he arrived in London before he was er of the Co electricians and engineers