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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
13
J.
T.
M.
St.
John's,
November
8,
1850.
This
suggestion
came
at
the
right
moment,
since
it
quickened,
if
it
did
not
originate,
the
first
attempt
to
link
the
island
of
Newfoundland
with
the
mainland
of
America.
For
about
the
same
time,
the
attention
of
Mr.
Frederick
N.
Gisborne,
a
telegraph
operator,
was
attracted
to
a
similar
project.
Being
a
man
of
great
quickness
of
mind,
he
instantly
saw
the
importance
of
such
a
work,
and
took
hold
of
it
with
enthusiasm.
It
might
easily
occur
to
him
without
suggestion
from
any
source.
He
had
had
much
experience
in
telegraphs,
and
was
then
engaged
in
constructing
a
telegraph
line
in
Nova
Scotia.
Whether,
therefore,
the
idea
was
first
with
him
or
with
the
bishop,
is
of
little
consequence.
It
might
occur
at
the
same
time
to
two
intelligent
minds,
and
show
the
sagacity
of
both.
But
having
taken
hold
of
this
idea,
Mr.
Gisborne
pursued
it
with
indomitable
resolution.
As
the
labors
of
this
gentleman
were
most
important
in
the
beginning
of
this
work,
it
is
a
pleasure
to
recognize
his
untiring
zeal
and
energy.
In
assurance
of
this
we
could
have
no
higher
authority
than
the
following
from
the
late
Mr.
E.
M.
Archibald,
who
was
at
the
time
Attorney-General
of
Newfoundland,
and
afterwards
for
many
years
British
Consul
at
New
York:
"It
was
during
the
winter
of
1849-50,
that
Mr.
Gisborne,
who
had
been,
as
an
engineer,
engaged
in
extending
the
electric
telegraph
through
Lower
Canada
and
New
Brunswick
to
Halifax,
Nova
Scotia,
conceived
the
project
of
a
telegraph
to
connect
St.
John's,
the
most
easterly
port
of
America,
with
the
main
continent.
The
importance
of
the
geographical
position
of
Newfoundland,
in
the
event
of
a
telegraph
ever
being
carried
across
the
Atlantic,
was
about
the
same
time
promulgated
by
Dr.
Mullock,
the
Roman
Catholic
Bishop
of
Newfoundland,
in
a
St.
John's
newspaper.
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