Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
201
To
relieve
all
doubts,
it
is
only
necessary
to
give
a
very
brief
history
of
the
working
of
the
Atlantic
cable.
It
was
landed
on
both
sides
of
the
ocean
on
the
fifth
of
August.
The
last
recorded
message
passed
over
it
on
the
first
of
September,
one
day
short
of
four
weeks.
Within
that
time
there
were
sent
exactly
four
hundred
messages,
of
which
two
hundred
and
seventy-one
were
from
Newfoundland
to
Ireland,
and
one
hundred
and
twenty-nine
from
Ireland
to
Newfoundland.
Of
these,
the
greater
part
were
merely
between
the
operators
themselves,
respecting
the
adjustment
of
instruments,
and
working
the
telegraph,
which,
while
they
furnished
decisive
evidence
to
them,
were
of
no
force
to
the
public.
Of
course
an
operator,
working
with
a
battery
on
the
shore
at
Valentia,
or
at
Trinity
Bay,
watching
his
instrument,
and
seeing
the
little
tongue
of
light
reflected
from
the
moving
mirror
of
the
galvanometer,
needed
no
other
evidence
of
an
electric
current
that
had
passed
through
the
cable.
He
saw
it,
and
knew,
as
if
he
saw
the
flash
of
a
gun
on
the
coast
of
Ireland,
that
it
was
a
light
which
had
come
from
beyond
the
sea.
But
these
private
assurances
were
nothing
to
the
outside
world.
What
they
needed
was
public
messages,
conveying
news
from
one
hemisphere
to
the
other.
Of
these,
there
were
not
a
great
number,
for
obvious
reasons.
The
cable,
during
the
four
weeks
of
its
existence,
never
worked
perfectly--that
is,
as
a
land
line
works,
transmitting
messages
freely
and
rapidly,
and
with
perfect
accuracy.
It
was
subject
to
frequent
interruptions
for
reasons
which
may
satisfy
any
one
that
the
wonder
is,
not
that
it
did
so
little,
but
that
it
did
so
much.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
