The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph Part 8

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 family, which shows how his own courage survived the great disaster:--

"H. M. Steamer Leopard, Thursday, August 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 time, and I feel sure, that with G.o.d's blessing, we shall connect Europe and America with the electric cord.

"After having successfully laid--and part of the time while a heavy sea was running--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 more firmly, by order of Mr. Bright, the engineer, to prevent the cable from going out so fast, and it parted.

"I retired to my state-room at a little after midnight Monday, all going on well, and at a quarter before four o'clock on Tuesday morning, the eleventh instant, I was awoke from my sleep by the cry of 'Stop her, back her!' and in a moment Mr.

Bright was in my room, with the sad intelligence 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 moments Captain Wainwright, of the Leopard, and Captain Sands, of the Susquehanna, were on board of the Niagara.

"I requested Captain Wainwright, the commander of the English Telegraph Fleet, to order the Agamemnon to remain with the Niagara and Susquehanna, in this deep part of the Atlantic for a few days, to try certain experiments which will be of great value to us, and then sail with them back to England, 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 from me; the Niagara and the Agamemnon were connected together 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 my letter to Dr. Whitehouse I requested him to telegraph to London, and have a special meeting of the Directors called for twelve o'clock on Sat.u.r.day, to decide whether we should have more cable made at once, and try again 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 Sat.u.r.day noon, and read them my report, which I am busy making up.

"Do not think that I feel discouraged, or am in low spirits, for I am not; and I think I can see how this accident will be of great advantage to the Atlantic Telegraph Company.

"All the officers and men on board of the Telegraph Fleet, seem to take the greatest interest in our enterprise, and are very desirous to go out in the s.h.i.+ps the next time.

"Since my arrival, I have received the greatest 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 from the Knight of Kerry, I received with a basket of hothouse fruit, just as we were getting ready to leave Valentia harbor.

Your ---- "Cyrus W. Field."

The day that this was written, 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 Agamemnon therefore discharged their cable at Plymouth, whence the Niagara returned home; and Mr. Field, after remaining a few weeks 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 acc.u.mulated by years of toil had nearly suffered s.h.i.+pwreck. Such were the tidings that met him on landing. It had been a year of disappointments in England and America--of disasters on land and sea--and all his high hopes were

In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.

FOOTNOTES:

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

CHAPTER IX.

THE FIRST EXPEDITION OF 1858.

The expedition of 1857 was little more than an experiment on a grand 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 time the enterprise had been accepted by the people of England and of America, almost without considering its magnitude 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 many to doubt who did not doubt before. Some even began to look upon it as a romantic adventure of the sea, rather than a serious undertaking. 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 make this good, the Directors had to enlarge 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 experiment. The projectors found that it was easy to go with the current of popular enthusiasm, but very hard to stem a growing 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 them against being too sanguine 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 attempt to lay a telegraph across the ocean, and at the thick-coming 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 Government promised again its powerful aid.

In America, Mr. Field went to Was.h.i.+ngton to ask a second time the use of the s.h.i.+ps, which had already represented the country so well. He made also a special request for the services of Mr. William E. Everett. This gentleman had been the chief-engineer of the Niagara the year before. He had watched closely the paying-out machine, as it was put together on the deck, and as it worked on the voyage, and with the eye of a practised mechanic, he saw that it required great alterations. It was too c.u.mbrous, had too many wheels, and especially its brakes shut down with a gripe 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 administration, it granted both requests in the most handsome manner. "There," said the Secretary of the Navy, handing 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 made the General Manager of the Company, with control of the entire staff, including electricians and engineers.

The following extract from the minutes of the Board of Directors, dated January 27, 1858, explains the new position to which he was invited:

"The Directors having for several months felt that it would greatly advance the interests of this enterprise, if Mr. Cyrus W. Field, of New York, could be induced to come over to England, for the purpose of undertaking the general management and supervision of all the various arrangements that would be required to be carried out before the sailing of the next expedition; application was made to Mr. Field, with the view of securing his consent to the proposal, and he arrived in this country on the sixteenth instant, when it was ascertained that he would be willing, if unanimously desired by the Directors, to act in behalf of the Company as proposed; and Mr. Field having retired, it was unanimously resolved to tender him, in respect to such services, the sum of 1000 over and above his travelling and other expenses, as remuneration."

This resolution was at once communicated to Mr. Field, who replied that he would undertake the duties of General Manager, but declined the offer of 1000, preferring to give his services to the Company without compensation. Whereupon the Directors immediately pa.s.sed another resolution:

"That Mr. Field's kind and generous offer be accepted by this Board; and that their best thanks are hereby tendered to him for his devotion to the interests of the undertaking."

The following, pa.s.sed a few weeks later, March 26, was designed to emphasize the authority given over all the employes of the Company:

"_Resolved_, That Mr. Cyrus W. Field, General Manager of the Company, is hereby authorized and empowered to give such directions and orders to the officers composing the staff of the Company, as he may from time to time deem necessary and expedient with regard to all matters connected with the business proceedings of the Company, subject to the control of the Directors.

"_Resolved_, That the staff of the Company be notified hereof, and required to observe and follow such directions as may be issued by the General Manager."

As Mr. Field was thus invested with the entire charge of the preparations for the next expedition, he was made responsible for it, and felt it due alike to himself and to the Company to omit no means to insure success. It was therefore his duty to examine into every detail.

The manufacture of the new cable was already under way, and there was no opportunity to make any change in its construction, even if any had been desired. But there was another matter which was quite as important to success--the construction of the paying-out machines. This had been the great defect of the previous year, and, while it continued, would render success almost impossible. No matter how many hundreds or thousands of miles of cable might be made, if the machinery was not fitted to pay it out into the sea, it would be constantly broken. To remedy these defects was an object of anxious solicitude, and to this the new manager gave his first attention. Hardly was he in London before Mr. Everett was installed at the large machine works of Easton and Amos, in Southwark, where, surrounded by plans and models, he devoted himself for three months to studying out a better invention for this most important work.

At the end of that time he had a model complete, and invited a number of the most eminent engineers of London to witness its operation. Among these were Mr. Brunel, and Messrs. Lloyd, Penn, and Field, who had given the enterprise the benefit of their counsel for months, refusing all compensation; Mr. Charles T. Bright, the engineer of the Company, and his two a.s.sistants, Mr. Canning and Mr. Clifford, and Mr. Follansbee, the chief-engineer of the Niagara, in the place Mr. Everett had occupied the year before. The machine was set in motion, and all saw its operation, while Mr. Everett explained its parts, and the difficulties which he had tried to overcome. It was obvious at a glance that it was a great improvement on that of the former year. It was much smaller and lighter. It would take up only about one-third of the room on the deck, and had only one-fourth the weight of the old machine. Its construction was much more simple. Instead of four heavy wheels, it had but two, and these were made to revolve with ease, and without danger of sudden check, by the application of what were known as self-releasing brakes.

These were the invention of Mr. Appold, of London, a gentleman of fortune, but with a strong taste for mechanics, which led him to spend his time and wealth in exercising his mechanical ingenuity. These brakes were so adjusted as to bear only a certain strain, when they released themselves. This ingenious contrivance was applied by Mr. Everett to the paying-out machinery. The strength of the cable was such that it would not break except under a tension of a little over three tons. The machinery was so adjusted that not more than half that strain could possibly come upon the cable, when the brakes would relax their grasp, the wheels revolve easily, and the cable run out into the sea without a jar. The paying-out machine, therefore, we are far from claiming as wholly an American invention. This part of the mechanism was English.

The merit of Mr. Everett lay in the skill with which he adapted it to the laying of the Atlantic cable, and in his improvements of other parts of the machinery. The whole construction, as it afterwards stood upon the decks of the Niagara and the Agamemnon, was the product of English and American invention combined. The engineers, who now saw it for the first time, were delighted. It seemed to have the intelligence of a human being, to know when to hold on, and when to let go. All felt that the great difficulty in laying the cable was removed, and that under this gentle manipulation it would glide easily and smoothly from the s.h.i.+p into the sea.

While these preparations were going on in London, the Niagara, which did not leave New York till the ninth of March, arrived at Plymouth, under command of Captain Hudson, to take on board her share of the cable. Both s.h.i.+ps had discharged their burden at Keyham Docks, where the precious freight was pa.s.sed through a composition of tar and pitch and linseed-oil and beeswax, to preserve it from injury, and had been coiled under cover to be kept safely through the winter. The Agamemnon was already at Plymouth, having been designated by the Admiralty again to take part in the work, though under a new commander, Captain George W.

Preedy, an excellent officer. The place of the Leopard was taken by the Gorgon, under command of Captain Dayman, who had made the deep-sea soundings in the Cyclops the year before.

While the English Government was thus prompt in furnis.h.i.+ng its s.h.i.+ps, news arrived from America that the Company could not have again the a.s.sistance of the Susquehanna, which had accompanied the Niagara on the preceding expedition. She was in the West-Indies, and the yellow fever had broken out on board. What should be done? It was late to apply again to the American Government, and it was doubtful what would be the result of the application. This threatened some embarra.s.sment. Mr. Field resolved the difficulty in a way which showed his confidence in the great and generous Government on the other side of the water, with which he had occasion so often to deal. Without waiting for the action of the Company, he called a cab, and drove straight to the Admiralty, and sent in his card to Sir John Pakington, then First Lord of the Admiralty.

This gentleman, like his predecessor, Sir Charles Wood, had shown the most friendly interest in the Atlantic Telegraph, and given it his warmest support. Mr. Field was received at once, and began with true American eagerness: "I am ashamed to come to you, after what the English Government has done for us. But here is our case. We are disappointed in the Susquehanna. She is in the West-Indies, with the yellow fever on board. She cannot come to England to take part in the expedition. Can you do anything for us?" Sir John replied that the Government had not s.h.i.+ps enough for its own use; that it was at that very moment chartering vessels to take troops to Malta--"but he would see what he could do." In an hour or two he sent word to the office of the Company, that Her Majesty's s.h.i.+p Valorous--commanded by Captain W. C. Aldham, an officer of great experience--had been ordered to take the place of the Susquehanna in the next expedition. We mention this little incident, not so much to ill.u.s.trate Mr. Field's prompt and quick manner of deciding and acting, as to show the n.o.ble and generous spirit in which the English Government responded to every appeal.

The res.h.i.+pping of the cable at Plymouth occupied the whole month of April and part of May. Some changes were made in the mode adopted, it being coiled around large cones. The work was done as before, by a hundred and sixty men detailed for the purpose, of whom one fourth were the workmen of the Company, and the rest sailors who had volunteered for the duty. These were divided into gangs of forty, that relieved each other, by which the work went on day and night. In this way they coiled about thirty miles in the twenty-four hours. Owing to the increased length of cable, and the greater care in coiling, it took a longer time than the year before. The whole was completed about the middle of May.

There was then in all, on board the two s.h.i.+ps, a little over three thousand statute miles. This included, besides seven hundred miles of new cable, thirty-nine miles of that lost the year before, which had been recovered by the Company, and a few miles of condemned cable from Greenwich, which was put on board for experiments. The s.h.i.+pment being thus complete, and the paying-out machines in position, the s.h.i.+ps were ready to make a trial trip, preparatory to their final departure.

For this purpose the telegraphic squadron sailed from Plymouth on Sat.u.r.day, the twenty-ninth of May, and bore southward two or three hundred miles, till the green color of the sea changing to a deep blue, showed that they had reached the great depths of the ocean. They were now in the waters of the Bay of Biscay, where the soundings were over twenty-five hundred fathoms. Here the Niagara and the Agamemnon were connected by a hawser, being about a quarter of a mile apart. The cable was then pa.s.sed from one to the other, and a series of experiments begun, designed to test both the strength of the cable and the working of the machinery. Two miles of the cable were paid out, when it parted.

This would have seemed a bad sign, had it been any other part of the cable than that which was known to be imperfect and had long since been condemned. The next day three miles were paid out. This, too, was broken, but only when they tried to haul it in, and under a pressure of several tons.

Other experiments were tried, such as splicing the cable, and lowering it to the bottom of the sea--an operation which it was thought might be critical in mid-ocean, but which was performed without difficulty--and running out the cable at a rapid rate, when the speed of the s.h.i.+p was increased to seven knots, without causing the cable to break, or even to kink. On the whole, the result of the trip was satisfactory. The paying-out machine of Mr. Everett worked well, and the electric continuity through the whole cable was perfect. It was on this expedition that was used for the first time the marine mirror galvanometer of Professor Thomson, by whom it had been invented for marine testing within the previous four weeks, and which afterwards proved an instrument so important to the success of ocean telegraphy.

After these experiments the squadron returned to Plymouth.

As it happened, the present writer had just arrived in England, and landing at Falmouth, hastened to Plymouth, where the s.h.i.+ps were lying in the Sound. It was Sat.u.r.day, the fifth of June, and the next day, by invitation of Captain Hudson, he conducted Divine service on the Niagara, where an awning was spread over the quarter-deck, round which were grouped the officers of the s.h.i.+p, behind whom were crowded four or five hundred seamen. If it was a pleasure in such circ.u.mstances to speak to one's countrymen, it was not less to be received with equal kindness on board the Agamemnon. To see these two mighty s.h.i.+ps of war, with their consorts, lying side by side, not with guns run out, but engaged in a mission of peace, seemed indeed an omen of the good time coming, when nations shall learn war no more.

Among the matters of personal solicitude and anxiety at this time--next to the success of the expedition--was Mr. Field himself. He was working with an activity which was unnatural--which could only be kept up by great excitement, and which involved the most serious danger. The strain on the man was more than the strain on the cable, and we were in fear that both would break together. Often he had no sleep, except such as he caught flying on the railway. Indeed, when we remonstrated, he said he could rest better there than anywhere else, for then he was not tormented with the thought of any thing undone. For the time being he could do no more; and putting his head in the cus.h.i.+oned corner of the carriage, he got an hour or two of broken sleep.

Of this activity we had an instance while in Plymouth. The s.h.i.+ps were then lying in the Sound, only waiting orders from the Admiralty to go to sea; but some business required one of the Directors to go to Paris, and as usual, it fell upon Mr. Field. He left on Sunday night and went to Bristol, and thence, by the first morning train, to London. Monday he was busy all day, and that night went to Paris. Tuesday, another busy day, and that night back to London. Wednesday, occupied every minute till the departure of the Great Western train. That night back to Plymouth. Thursday morning on board the Niagara, and immediately the squadron sailed.

It was the tenth day of June that the expedition left England, with fair skies and bright prospects. In truth, it was a gallant sight, as these four s.h.i.+ps stood out to sea together--those old companions, the Niagara and the Agamemnon, leading the way, followed by their new attendants, the Valorous and the Gorgon. Never did a voyage begin with better omens.

The day was one of the mildest of June, and the sea so still, that one could scarcely perceive, by the motion of the s.h.i.+p, when they pa.s.sed beyond the breakwater off Plymouth harbor into the Channel, or into the open sea. At night, it was almost a dead calm. The second day was like the first. There was scarcely wind enough to swell the sails. The s.h.i.+ps were all in sight, and as they kept under easy steam, they seemed bound on a voyage of pleasure, gliding over a summer sea to certain success.