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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
183
After
two
or
three
days'
delay
at
St.
John's,
which
the
Niagara
was
obliged
to
make
for
coal,
but
which
the
people
spent
in
festivity
and
rejoicing,
she
left
for
New
York,
where
she
arrived
on
the
eighteenth--two
weeks
from
the
landing
of
the
cable
in
Trinity
Bay.
These
had
been
weeks
of
great
excitement,
yet
not
unmingled
with
suspense
and
anxiety.
The
public,
eager
for
news,
devoured
every
thing
that
concerned
the
telegraph
with
impatience,
but
all
was
not
satisfactory.
Despatches
from
Trinity
Bay
said
that
signals
were
continually
passing
over
the
cable,
yet
no
news
reached
the
public
from
the
other
side
of
the
Atlantic.
This
was
partially
explained
by
a
message
from
Mr.
Field,
sent
from
Trinity
Bay
to
the
Associated
Press
as
early
as
the
seventh:
"We
landed
here
in
the
woods,
and
until
the
telegraph
instruments
are
perfectly
adjusted,
no
communications
can
pass
between
the
two
continents;
but
the
electric
currents
are
received
freely.
"You
shall
have
the
earliest
intimation
when
all
is
ready,
but
it
may
be
some
days
before
every
thing
is
perfected.
The
first
through
message
between
Europe
and
America
will
be
from
the
Queen
of
Great
Britain
to
the
President
of
the
United
States,
and
the
second
his
reply."
But
as
the
public
grew
impatient,
and
friends
sent
anxious
inquiring
messages,
he
telegraphed
again
from
St.
John's
on
the
eleventh:
"Before
I
left
London,
the
Directors
of
the
Atlantic
Telegraph
Company
decided
unanimously
that,
after
the
cable
was
laid,
and
the
Queen's
and
President's
messages
transmitted,
the
line
should
be
kept
for
several
weeks
for
the
sole
use
of
Dr.
Whitehouse,
Professor
Thomson,
and
other
electricians,
to
enable
them
to
test
thoroughly
their
several
modes
of
telegraphing,
so
that
the
Directors
might
decide
which
was
the
best
and
most
rapid
method
for
future
use:
for
it
was
considered
that
after
the
line
should
be
once
thrown
open
for
business,
it
would
be
very
difficult
to
obtain
it
for
experimental
purposes,
even
for
a
short
time.
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