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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
261
At
last
it
had
come--the
calamity
which
all
had
feared,
yet
that
seemed
so
far
away
only
a
few
hours
before.
Yet
there
it
was--the
ragged
end
on
board,
torn
and
bleeding,
the
other
lying
far
down
in
its
ocean
grave.
In
America,
of
course,
nothing
could
be
known
of
the
fate
of
the
expedition
till
its
arrival
on
our
shores.
But
in
England
its
progress
was
reported
from
day
to
day,
and
as
the
success
up
to
this
point
had
raised
the
hopes
of
all
to
the
highest
pitch,
the
sudden
loss
of
communication
with
the
ship
was
a
heavy
blow
to
public
expectation,
and
gave
rise
to
all
sorts
of
conjectures.
At
first
a
favorite
theory
was,
that
communication
had
been
interrupted
by
a
magnetic
storm.
These
are
among
the
most
mysterious
phenomena
of
nature--so
subtle
and
fleeting
as
to
be
almost
beyond
the
reach
of
science.
No
visible
sign
do
they
give
of
their
presence.
No
clouds
darken
the
heavens;
no
thunder
peals
along
the
sky.
Yet
strange
influences
trouble
the
air.
At
this
very
hour,
Professor
Airy,
the
Astronomer
Royal
at
the
Observatory
at
Greenwich,
reported
a
magnetic
storm
of
unusual
violence.
Said
a
London
paper:
"Just
when
the
signals
from
the
Great
Eastern
ceased,
a
magnetic
storm
of
singular
violence
had
set
in.
Unperceived
by
us,
not
to
be
seen
in
the
heavens,
nor
felt
in
the
atmosphere,
the
earth's
electricity
underwent
a
mysterious
disturbance.
The
recording
instruments
scattered
about
the
kingdom,
everywhere
testified
to
the
fury
of
this
voiceless
tempest,
and
there
is
every
reason
to
suppose
that
the
confusion
of
signals
at
midday
on
Wednesday
was
due
to
the
strange
and
unusual
earth-currents
of
magnetism,
sweeping
wildly
across
the
cable
as
it
lay
in
apparently
untroubled
waters
at
the
bottom
of
the
Atlantic."
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