The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph

FOOTNOTES: [A] It should be said, however, in justice to Mr. Bright, that most of these defects he had himself perceived on seeing it in operation. On his return from the expedition of 1857, he sent in a report, pointing out the defects of the machinery, and how to remedy them. These suggestions were approved by the Scientific Committee, and carried out by Mr. Everett. The recognition of this fact, while it takes nothing from the practical skill shown by the American engineer, is but just to his predecessor, who, as the pioneer in this work, might easily fall into mistakes, which it needed only time and experience to correct. [B] As there is no trouble without a compensation, it is something that this voyage, fearful as it was, furnished a subject for a description of marvellous power. The letter to the London Times, written by Mr. Woods, its correspondent on board the Agamemnon, is one of the finest descriptions of a storm at sea we know of in the language. It is a wonderful specimen of "word-painting," and brings the scene before us with a vividness like that of the marine paintings of Stanfield or Turner.