The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph

CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Page 1 Discovery of the New World by Columbus. Relative Position of the Two Hemispheres. Nearest Points--The Outlying Islands, Ireland and Newfoundland. Shorter Route to Europe suggested by Bishop Mullock. The Electric Telegraph Company of Newfoundland. Project of Mr. F. N. Gisborne. Failure of the Company CHAPTER II. Page 15 Mr. Gisborne comes to New York. Is introduced to Cyrus W. Field, who conceives the Idea of a Telegraph across the Atlantic Ocean. Is it Practicable? Two Elements to be mastered, the Sea and the Electric Current. Letters of Lieutenant Maury and Professor Morse CHAPTER III. Page 24 Mr. Field enlists Capitalists in the Enterprise. Commission to Newfoundland to obtain a Charter. The New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company CHAPTER IV. Page 38 The Land-Line in Newfoundland. Four Hundred Miles of Road to be built, a Work of Two Years. Attempt to lay a Cable across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in 1855, fails. A Second Attempt, in 1856, is successful CHAPTER V. Page 51 Deep-Sea Soundings by Lieutenant Berryman in the Dolphin in 1853, and the Arctic in 1856, and by Commander Dayman, of the British Navy, in the Cyclops, in 1857. The Bed of the Atlantic. The Telegraphic Plateau CHAPTER VI. Page 69 Mr. Field in London. The English Engineers and Electricians. Result of Experiments. The Atlantic Telegraph Company organized. Applies to the Government for Aid. Contract for a Cable CHAPTER VII. Page 91 Mr. Field returns to America. Seeks Aid from the Government. Opposition in Congress. Bill passed