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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
35
"The
agreement
with
the
Electric
Telegraph
Company,
and
the
formal
surrender
of
its
charter,
were
signed
on
the
tenth
of
March,
[1854,]
and
on
the
fourteenth
we
left
New
York,
accompanied
by
Mr.
Gisborne.
The
next
morning
we
took
the
steamer
at
Boston
for
Halifax,
and
thence,
on
the
night
of
the
eighteenth,
departed
in
the
little
steamer
Merlin
for
St.
John's,
Newfoundland.
Three
more
disagreeable
days,
voyagers
scarcely
ever
passed,
than
we
spent
in
that
smallest
of
steamers.
It
seemed
as
if
all
the
storms
of
winter
had
been
reserved
for
the
first
month
of
spring.
A
frost-bound
coast,
an
icy
sea,
rain,
hail,
snow
and
tempest,
were
the
greetings
of
the
telegraph
adventurers
in
their
first
movement
toward
Europe.
In
the
darkest
night,
through
which
no
man
could
see
the
ship's
length,
with
snow
filling
the
air
and
flying
into
the
eyes
of
the
sailors,
with
ice
in
the
water,
and
a
heavy
sea
rolling
and
moaning
about
us,
the
captain
felt
his
way
around
Cape
Race
with
his
lead,
as
the
blind
man
feels
his
way
with
his
staff,
but
as
confidently
and
as
safely
as
if
the
sky
had
been
clear
and
the
sea
calm;
and
the
light
of
morning
dawned
upon
deck
and
mast
and
spar,
coated
with
glittering
ice,
but
floating
securely
between
the
mountains
which
form
the
gates
of
the
harbor
of
St.
John's.
In
that
busy
and
hospitable
town,
the
first
person
to
whom
we
were
introduced
was
Mr.
Edward
M.
Archibald,
then
Attorney-General
of
the
Colony,
and
now
British
Consul
in
New
York.
He
entered
warmly
into
our
views,
and
from
that
day
to
this,
has
been
an
efficient
and
consistent
supporter
of
the
undertaking.
By
him
we
were
introduced
to
the
Governor,
(Kerr
Bailey
Hamilton,)
who
also
took
an
earnest
interest
in
our
plans.
He
convoked
the
Council
to
receive
us,
and
hear
an
explanation
of
our
views
and
wishes.
In
a
few
hours
after
the
conference,
the
answer
of
the
Governor
and
Council
was
received,
consenting
to
recommend
to
the
Assembly
a
guarantee
of
the
interest
of
L50,000
of
bonds,
an
immediate
grant
of
fifty
square
miles
of
land,
a
further
grant
to
the
same
extent
on
the
completion
of
the
telegraph
across
the
ocean,
and
a
payment
of
L5,000
toward
the
construction
of
a
bridle-path
across
the
island,
along
the
line
of
the
land
telegraph."
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