The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph

Says the writer on the Agamemnon: "At half-past three o'clock [Sunday morning] forty miles had gone, and nothing could be more perfect and regular than the working of every thing, when suddenly Professor Thomson came on deck, and reported a total break of continuity; that the cable in fact had parted, and, as was believed at the time, from the Niagara. In another instant a gun and a blue-light warned the Valorous of what had happened, and roused all on board the Agamemnon to a knowledge that the machinery was silent, and that the first part of the Atlantic Cable had been laid and lost effectually." This was disheartening, but not so much from the fact of a fresh breaking of the cable, as from the mystery as to its cause. The fact, of course, was known instantly on both ships, but the cause was unknown. Those on each ship supposed it had occurred on the other. With this impression they turned about to beat up again toward the rendezvous. It was noon of Monday, the twenty-eighth, before the Agamemnon rejoined the Niagara; and then, says the writer: "While all were waiting with impatience for her explanation of how they broke the cable, she electrified every one by running up the interrogatory: 'How did the cable part?' This was astounding. As soon as the boats could be lowered, Mr. Cyrus Field, with the electricians from the Niagara, came on board, and a comparison of logs showed the painful and mysterious fact that, at the same second of time, each vessel discovered that a total fracture had taken place at a distance of certainly not less than ten miles from each ship; in fact, as well as can be judged, at the bottom of the ocean. That of all the many mishaps connected with the Atlantic Telegraph, this is the worst and most disheartening is certain, since it proves that, after all that human skill and science can effect to lay the wire down with safety has been accomplished, there may be some fatal obstacles to success at the bottom of the ocean, which can never be guarded against; for even the nature of the peril must always remain as secret and unknown as the depths in which it is to be encountered."