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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
17
This
is
a
testimony
most
honorable
to
the
engineer
who
first
led
the
way
through
a
pathless
wilderness.
But
this
Newfoundland
scheme
is
not
to
be
confounded
with
that
of
the
Atlantic
Telegraph,
which
did
not
come
into
existence
until
a
year
or
two
later.
The
latter
was
not
at
all
included
in
the
former.
Indeed,
Mr.
Gisborne
himself
says,
in
a
letter
referring
to
his
original
project:
"My
plans
were
to
run
a
subterranean
line
from
Cape
Race
to
Cape
Ray,
fly
carrier-pigeons
and
run
boats
across
the
Straits
of
Northumberland
to
Cape
Breton,
and
thence
by
overland
lines
convey
the
news
to
New
York."
He
adds
however:
"Meanwhile
Mr.
Brett's
experimental
cable
between
Dover
and
Calais
having
proved
successful,
I
set
forth
in
my
report,
[which
appeared
a
year
after
his
first
proposal],
that
'carrier-pigeons
and
boats
would
be
required
only
until
such
time
as
the
experiments
then
making
in
England
with
submarine
cables
should
warrant
a
similar
attempt
between
Cape
Ray
and
Cape
Breton.'"
But
nowhere
in
his
report
does
he
allude
to
the
possibility
of
ever
spanning
the
mighty
gulf
of
the
Atlantic.
But
several
years
after,
when
the
temporary
success
of
the
Atlantic
Telegraph
gave
a
name
to
everybody
connected
with
it,
he
or
his
friends
seemed
not
unwilling
to
have
it
supposed
that
this
was
embraced
in
the
original
scheme.
When
asked
why
he
did
not
publish
his
large
design
to
the
world,
he
answered:
"Because
I
was
looked
upon
as
a
wild
visionary
by
my
friends,
and
pronounced
a
fool
by
my
relatives
for
resigning
a
lucrative
government
appointment
in
favor
of
such
a
laborious
speculation
as
the
Newfoundland
connection.
Now
had
I
coupled
it
at
that
time
with
an
Atlantic
line,
all
confidence
in
the
prior
undertaking
would
have
been
destroyed,
and
my
object
defeated."
This
may
have
been
a
reason
for
not
announcing
such
a
project
to
the
public,
but
not
for
withholding
it
from
his
friends.
A
man
can
hardly
lay
claim
to
that
which
he
holds
in
such
absolute
reserve.
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