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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
69
To
resolve
these
difficult
problems,
Mr.
Field
sought
counsel
of
the
highest
engineering
authorities
of
Great
Britain,
and
of
her
most
eminent
scientific
men.
To
their
honor,
all
showed
the
deepest
interest
in
the
project,
and
gave
it
freely
the
benefit
of
their
knowledge.
First,
as
to
the
possibility
of
laying
a
cable
in
the
deep
sea,
Mr.
Field
had
witnessed
one
attempt
of
the
kind--that
in
the
Gulf
of
St.
Lawrence
the
year
before--an
attempt
which
had
failed.
His
experience,
therefore,
was
not
encouraging.
If
they
found
so
much
difficulty
in
laying
a
cable
seventy
miles
long,
how
could
they
hope
to
lay
one
of
two
thousand
miles
across
the
stormy
Atlantic?
This
was
a
question
for
the
engineers.
To
solve
the
problem,
required
experiments
almost
without
number.
It
was
now
that
the
most
important
services
were
rendered
by
Glass,
Elliot
&
Co.,
of
London,
a
firm
which
had
begun
within
a
few
years
the
manufacture
of
sea-cables,
and
was
to
write
its
name
in
all
the
waters
of
the
world.
Aided
by
the
skill
of
their
admirable
engineer,
Mr.
Canning,
they
now
manufactured
cables
almost
without
end,
applying
to
them
every
possible
test.
At
the
same
time,
Mr.
Field
took
counsel
of
Robert
Stephenson
and
George
Parker
Bidder,
both
of
whom
manifested
a
deep
interest
in
the
success
of
the
enterprise.
Not
less
cordial
was
Mr.
Brunel,
who
made
many
suggestions
in
regard
to
the
form
of
the
cable,
and
the
manner
in
which
it
should
be
laid.
He
was
then
building
the
Great
Eastern;
and
one
day
he
took
Mr.
Field
down
to
Blackwall
to
see
it,
and,
pointing
to
the
monstrous
hull
which
was
rising
on
the
banks
of
the
Thames,
said:
"There
is
the
ship
to
lay
the
Atlantic
cable!"
Little
did
he
think
that
ten
years
after,
that
ship
would
be
employed
in
this
service;
and
in
this
final
victory
over
the
sea,
would
redeem
all
the
misfortunes
of
her
earlier
career.
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