The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph

But they had seen dark days before, and were not to give it up without a new effort. Happily, the cause had strong friends to stand by it even in this crisis of suspended animation. One of these to whom Mr. Field now went for counsel, was Mr. (afterward Sir) Daniel Gooch, M.P., a gentleman well known in London, as one of the class of engineers formed in the school of Stephenson and Brunel, who had risen to the position of great capitalists, and who, by their enterprise and wealth, had done so much to develop the resources of England. He was Chairman of the Great Western Railway, and had more faith in enterprises on the land than on the sea. It was a long time before he could believe in the possibility of an Atlantic Telegraph. Though a man of large fortune, and a personal friend of Mr. Field, the latter had never prevailed on him to subscribe a single pound. But he went out on the expedition of '65, as chairman of the company that owned the Great Eastern; and what he then saw convinced him. He came back fully satisfied; he knew it could be done, and was ready to prove his faith by his works. Consulting on the present difficulty, he suggested that the only relief was to organize a new Company, which should assume the work, and which could issue its own shares and raise its own capital. This opinion was confirmed by the eminent legal authority of Mr. John Horatio Lloyd. To such a Company Mr. Gooch said he would subscribe L20,000; Mr. Field put down L10,000.