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281
Heroes of the Telegraph
·
John Munro
69
A
presentiment
of
success
may
have
inspired
him;
but
he
was
ignorant
alike
of
submarine
cables
and
the
deep
sea.
Was
it
possible
to
submerge
the
cable
in
the
Atlantic,
and
would
it
be
safe
at
the
bottom?
Again,
would
the
messages
travel
through
the
line
fast
enough
to
make
it
pay!
On
the
first
question
he
consulted
Lieutenant
Maury,
the
great
authority
on
mareography.
Maury
told
him
that
according
to
recent
soundings
by
Lieutenant
Berryman,
of
the
United
States
brig
Dolphin,
the
bottom
between
Ireland
and
Newfoundland
was
a
plateau
covered
with
microscopic
shells
at
a
depth
not
over
2000
fathoms,
and
seemed
to
have
been
made
for
the
very
purpose
of
receiving
the
cable.
He
left
the
question
of
finding
a
time
calm
enough,
the
sea
smooth
enough,
a
wire
long
enough,
and
a
ship
big
enough,'
to
lay
a
line
some
sixteen
hundred
miles
in
length
to
other
minds.
As
to
the
line
itself,
Mr.
Field
consulted
Professor
Morse,
who
assured
him
that
it
was
quite
possible
to
make
and
lay
a
cable
of
that
length.
He
at
once
adopted
the
scheme
of
Gisborne
as
a
preliminary
step
to
the
vaster
undertaking,
and
promoted
the
New
York,
Newfoundland,
and
London
Telegraph
Company,
to
establish
a
line
of
telegraph
between
America
and
Europe.
Professor
Morse
was
appointed
electrician
to
the
company.
The
first
thing
to
be
done
was
to
finish
the
line
between
St.
John's
and
Nova
Scotia,
and
in
1855
an
attempt
was
made
to
lay
a
cable
across
the
Gulf
of
the
St.
Lawrence,
It
was
payed
out
from
a
barque
in
tow
of
a
steamer;
but
when
half
was
laid
a
gale
rose,
and
to
keep
the
barque
from
sinking
the
line
was
cut
away.
Next
summer
a
steamboat
was
fitted
out
for
the
purpose,
and
the
cable
was
submerged.
St.
John's
was
now
connected
with
New
York
by
a
thousand
miles
of
land
and
submarine
telegraph.
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