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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
240
"But
it
is
time
that
we
should
look
after
what
we
have
mainly
come
to
see,
the
telegraph
cable.
To
our
intense
astonishment,
we
behold
it
nowhere,
although
informed
that
there
are
nearly
two
thousand
miles
of
it
already
on
board,
and
the
remaining
piece--a
piece
long
enough
to
stretch
from
Land's
End
to
John
O'Groat's--is
in
course
of
shipment.
We
walk
up
and
down
on
the
deck
of
the
Great
Eastern
without
seeing
this
gigantic
chain
which
is
to
bind
together
the
Old
and
the
New
World;
and
it
is
only
on
having
the
place
pointed
out
to
us
that
we
find
where
the
cable
lies
and
by
what
process
it
is
taken
on
board.
On
the
side
opposite
to
where
we
landed,
deep
below
the
deck
of
our
giant,
there
is
moored
a
vessel
surmounted
by
a
timber
structure
resembling
a
house,
and
from
this
vessel
the
wonderful
telegraph
cable
is
drawn
silently
into
the
immense
womb
of
the
Great
Eastern.
The
work
is
done
so
quietly
and
noiselessly,
by
means
of
a
small
steam-engine,
that
we
scarcely
notice
it.
Indeed,
were
it
not
pointed
out
to
us,
we
would
never
think
that
that
little
iron
cord,
about
an
inch
in
diameter,
which
is
sliding
over
a
few
rollers
and
through
a
wooden
table,
is
a
thing
of
world-wide
fame--a
thing
which
may
influence
the
life
of
whole
nations;
nay,
which
may
affect
the
march
of
civilization.
Following
the
direction
in
which
the
iron
rope
goes,
we
now
come
to
the
most
marvellous
sight
yet
seen
on
board
the
Great
Eastern.
We
find
ourselves
in
a
little
wooden
cabin,
and
look
down,
over
a
railing
at
the
side,
into
an
immense
cavern
below.
This
cavern
is
one
of
the
three
'tanks'
in
which
the
two-thousand-mile
cable
is
finding
a
temporary
home.
The
passive
agent
of
electricity
comes
creeping
in
here
in
a
beautiful,
silent
manner,
and
is
deposited
in
spiral
coils,
layer
upon
layer.
It
is
almost
dark
at
the
immense
depth
below,
and
we
can
only
dimly
discern
the
human
figures
through
whose
hands
the
coil
passes
to
its
bed.
Suddenly,
however,
the
men
begin
singing.
They
intone
a
low,
plaintive
song
of
the
sea;
something
like
Kingsley's
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