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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
73
"Although
we
telegraphed
signals
at
the
rate
of
two
hundred
and
ten,
two
hundred
and
forty-one,
and,
according
to
the
count
at
one
time,
even
of
two
hundred
and
seventy
per
minute
upon
my
telegraphic
register,
(which
speed,
you
will
perceive,
is
at
a
rate
commercially
advantageous,)
these
results
were
accomplished
notwithstanding
many
disadvantages
in
our
arrangements
of
a
temporary
and
local
character--disadvantages
which
will
not
occur
in
the
use
of
our
submarine
cable.
"Having
passed
the
whole
night
with
my
active
and
agreeable
collaborators,
Dr.
Whitehouse
and
Mr.
Bright,
without
sleep,
you
will
excuse
the
hurried
and
brief
character
of
this
note,
which
I
could
not
refrain
from
sending
you,
since
our
experiments
this
morning
settle
the
scientific
and
commercial
points
of
our
enterprise
satisfactorily.
"With
respect
and
esteem,
your
obedient
servant,
"Samuel
F.
B.
Morse."
A
week
later,
he
wrote
again,
confirming
his
former
impressions,
thus:
"London,
October
10,
1856.
"My
dear
Sir:
After
having
given
the
deepest
consideration
to
the
subject
of
our
successful
experiments
the
other
night,
when
we
signalled
clearly
and
rapidly
through
an
unbroken
circuit
of
subterranean
conducting
wire,
over
two
thousand
miles
in
length,
I
sit
down
to
give
you
the
result
of
my
reflections
and
calculations.
"There
can
be
no
question
but
that,
with
a
cable
containing
a
single
conducting
wire,
of
a
size
not
exceeding
that
through
which
we
worked,
and
with
equal
insulation,
it
would
be
easy
to
telegraph
from
Ireland
to
Newfoundland
at
a
speed
of
at
least
from
eight
to
ten
words
per
minute;
nay,
more:
the
varying
rates
of
speed
at
which
we
worked,
depending
as
they
did
upon
differences
in
the
arrangement
of
the
apparatus
employed,
do
of
themselves
prove
that
even
a
higher
rate
than
this
is
attainable.
Take
it,
however,
at
ten
words
in
the
minute,
and
allowing
ten
words
for
name
and
address,
we
can
safely
calculate
upon
the
transmission
of
a
twenty-word
message
in
three
minutes;
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