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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
237
Having
no
more
drudgery
of
raising
money,
he
had
now
a
few
weeks'
leisure
to
take
a
voyage
up
the
Mediterranean.
The
canal
across
the
Isthmus
of
Suez,
which
had
been
so
long
in
progress,
under
the
supervision
of
French
engineers,
was
at
length
so
far
advanced
that
the
waters
of
the
Mediterranean
were
about
to
mingle
with
those
of
the
Red
Sea,
and
delegates
were
invited
to
be
present
from
all
parts
of
the
world.
An
invitation
had
been
sent
to
the
Chamber
of
Commerce
in
New
York,
and
Mr.
Field,
then
starting
for
Europe,
was
appointed
as
its
representative.
The
visit
was
one
of
extraordinary
interest.
The
occasion
brought
together
a
number
of
eminent
engineers
from
every
country
of
Europe,
in
company
with
whom
this
stranger
from
the
New
World
visited
the
most
ancient
of
kingdoms
to
see
the
spirit
of
modern
enterprise
invading
the
land
of
the
Pyramids.
He
returned
to
England
about
the
first
of
May
to
find
the
work
nearly
completed.
The
cable
was
almost
done,
and
a
large
part
of
it
was
already
coiled
on
board
the
ship.
This
was
an
operation
of
much
interest,
which
deserves
to
be
described.
The
manufacture
had
begun
on
the
first
of
September,
and
had
gone
on
for
eight
months
without
ceasing,
the
works
turning
out
fourteen
miles
a
day
even
during
the
short
days
of
winter.
As
the
spring
advanced,
and
the
days
grew
longer,
the
amount
was
of
course
much
increased.
But
by
the
last
of
January
they
had
already
accumulated
about
nine
hundred
miles
of
completed
cable,
when
began
the
long
and
tedious
work
of
transferring
it
to
the
Great
Eastern.
It
was
thus
slow,
because
it
could
not
be
made
directly
from
the
yard
to
the
ship.
The
depth
of
water
at
Greenwich
was
not
such
as
to
allow
the
Great
Eastern
to
be
brought
up
alongside
the
wharf.
She
was
lying
at
Sheerness,
thirty
miles
below,
and
the
cable
had
to
be
put
on
board
of
lighters
and
taken
down
to
where
she
lay
in
the
stream.
For
this
purpose
the
Admiralty
had
furnished
to
the
Company
two
old
hulks,
the
Iris
and
the
Amethyst,
which
took
their
loads
in
turn.
When
the
former
had
taken
on
board
some
two
hundred
and
fifty
tons
of
cable,
she
was
towed
down
to
the
side
of
the
Great
Eastern,
and
the
other
took
her
place.
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