The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph

12. That with a steam-engine attached to the paying-out machinery, should a fault be discovered on board whilst laying the cable, it is possible that it might be recovered before it had reached the bottom of the Atlantic, and repaired at once. S. Canning, Engineer-in-Chief, Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company. James Anderson, Commander of the Great Eastern. Henry A. Moriarty, Staff Commander, R. N. Daniel Gooch, M.P., Chairman of "Great Ship Co." Henry Clifford, Engineer. William Thomson, LL.D., F.R.S., Prof. of Natural Philosophy in the University of Glasgow. Cromwell F. Varley, Consulting Electrician Electric and International Telegraph Co. Willoughby Smith. Jules Despecher. This was a grand result to be attained in one short month; and if not quite so gratifying as to have the cable laid at once, and the wire in full operation, yet as it settled the chief elements of success, the moral effect was next to that of an immediate triumph. All who were on that voyage felt a confidence such as they had never felt before. They came back, not desponding and discouraged, but buoyant with hope, and ready at once to renew the attempt. This confidence appeared at the first meeting of directors. The feeling was very different from that after the return of the first expedition of 1858. So animated were they with hope, and so sure of success the next time, that all felt that one cable was not enough, they must have two, and so it was decided to take measures not only to raise the broken end of the cable and to complete it to Newfoundland, but also to construct and lay an entirely new one, so as to have a double line in operation the following summer.