The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph

"The day was beautifully calm, so no time was to be lost before making the splice; boats were soon lowered from the attendant ships, the two vessels made fast by a hawser, and the Niagara's end of the cable conveyed on board the Agamemnon. About half-past twelve o'clock the splice was effectually made. In hoisting it out from the side of the ship the leaden sinker broke short off and fell overboard; and there being no more convenient weight at hand, a thirty-two pound shot was fastened to the splice instead, and the whole apparatus was quickly dropped into the sea without any formality, and indeed almost without a spectator, for those on board the ship had witnessed so many beginnings to the telegraphic line, that it was evident they despaired of there ever being an end to it. The stipulated two hundred and ten fathoms having been paid out, the signal to start was hoisted, the hawser cast loose, and the Niagara and Agamemnon started for the last time for their opposite destinations." At this moment the ships were nearly in mid-ocean, but not exactly. Mr. Field, who never indulged in poetical descriptions, but always gave the figures, stating the precise latitude and longitude, and from what quarter the wind blew, and how many fathoms deep the ocean was, and how many miles of cable were on board, made the following entry in his journal: "Thursday, July twenty-ninth, latitude fifty-two degrees nine minutes north, longitude thirty-two degrees twenty-seven minutes west. Telegraph Fleet all in sight; sea smooth; light wind from S.E. to S.S.E.; cloudy. Splice made at one P.M. Signals through the whole length of the cable on board both ships perfect. Depth of water fifteen hundred fathoms; distance to the entrance of Valentia harbor eight hundred and thirteen nautical miles, and from there to the telegraph-house the shore end of the cable is laid. Distance to the entrance of Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, eight hundred and twenty-two nautical miles, and from there to the telegraph-house at the head of the bay of Bull's Arm, sixty miles, making in all eight hundred and eighty-two nautical miles. The Niagara has sixty-nine miles further to run than the Agamemnon. The Niagara and Agamemnon have each eleven hundred nautical miles of cable on board, about the same quantity as last year."