The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph

This simple record, so modestly termed the Diary of the Expedition, tells the story of this memorable voyage in a way that needs no embellishment. But if from the ship's deck we transfer ourselves to the shore, we may get a new impression of the closing scene. We can well believe the sensation of wonder and almost of awe, on the morning when the ships entered that little harbor of Newfoundland. In England the progress of the expedition was known from day to day, but on this side of the ocean all was uncertainty. Some had gone to Heart's Content, hoping to witness the arrival of the fleet, but not so many as the year before, for the memory of the last failure was too fresh, and they feared another disappointment. But still a faithful few were there, who kept their daily watch. The correspondents of the American papers report only a long and anxious suspense, till the morning when the first ship was seen in the offing. As they looked toward her, she came nearer--and see, there is another and another! And now the hull of the Great Eastern loomed up all glorious in the morning sky. They were coming! Instantly all was wild excitement on shore. Boats put off to row toward the fleet. The Albany was the first to round the point and enter the bay. The Terrible was close behind. The Medway stopped an hour or two to join on the heavy shore end, while the Great Eastern, gliding calmly in as if she had done nothing remarkable, dropped her anchor in front of the telegraph house, having trailed behind her a chain of two thousand miles, to bind the Old World to the New.