The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph

by Henry M. Field

As Mr. Field was thus invested with the entire charge of the preparations for the next expedition, he was made responsible for it, and felt it due alike to himself and to the Company to omit no means to insure success. It was therefore his duty to examine into every detail. The manufacture of the new cable was already under way, and there was no opportunity to make any change in its construction, even if any had been desired. But there was another matter which was quite as important to success—the construction of the paying-out machines. This had been the great defect of the previous year, and, while it continued, would render success almost impossible. No matter how many hundreds or thousands of miles of cable might be made, if the machinery was not fitted to pay it out into the sea, it would be constantly broken. To remedy these defects was an object of anxious solicitude, and to this the new manager gave his first attention. Hardly was he in London before Mr. Everett was installed at the large machine works of Easton and Amos, in Southwark, where, surrounded by plans and models, he devoted himself for three months to studying out a better invention for this most important work. At the end of that time he had a model complete, and invited a number of the most eminent engineers of London to witness its operation. Among these were Mr. Brunel, and Messrs. Lloyd, Penn, and Field, who had given the enterprise the benefit of their counsel for months, refusing all compensation; Mr. Charles T. Bright, the engineer of the Company, and his two assistants, Mr. Canning and Mr. Clifford, and Mr. Follansbee, the chief-engineer of the Niagara, in the place Mr. Everett had occupied the year before. The machine was set in motion, and all saw its operation, while Mr. Everett explained its parts, and the difficulties which he had tried to overcome. It was obvious at a glance that it was a great improvement on that of the former year. It was much smaller and lighter. It would take up only about one-third of the room on the deck, and had only one-fourth the weight of the old machine. Its construction was much more simple. Instead of four heavy wheels, it had but two, and these were made to revolve with ease, and without danger of sudden check, by the application of what were known as self-releasing brakes. These were the invention of Mr. Appold, of London, a gentleman of fortune, but with a strong taste for mechanics, which led him to spend his time and wealth in exercising his mechanical ingenuity. These brakes were so adjusted as to bear only a certain strain, when they released themselves. This ingenious contrivance was applied by Mr. Everett to the paying-out machinery. The strength of the cable was such that it would not break except under a tension of a little over three tons. The machinery was so adjusted that not more than half that strain could possibly come upon the cable, when the brakes would relax their grasp, the wheels revolve easily, and the cable run out into the sea without a jar. The paying-out machine, therefore, we are far from claiming as wholly an American invention. This part of the mechanism was English. The merit of Mr. Everett lay in the skill with which he adapted it to the laying of the Atlantic cable, and in his improvements of other parts of the machinery. The whole construction, as it afterwards stood upon the decks of the Niagara and the Agamemnon, was the product of English and American invention combined. The engineers, who now saw it for the first time, were delighted. It seemed to have the intelligence of a human being, to know when to hold on, and when to let go. All felt that the great difficulty in laying the cable was removed, and that under this gentle manipulation it would glide easily and smoothly from the ship into the sea.

While these preparations were going on in London, the Niagara, which did not leave New York till the ninth of March, arrived at Plymouth, under command of Captain Hudson, to take on board her share of the cable. Both ships had discharged their burden at Keyham Docks, where the precious freight was passed through a composition of tar and pitch and linseed-oil and beeswax, to preserve it from injury, and had been coiled under cover to be kept safely through the winter. The Agamemnon was already at Plymouth, having been designated by the Admiralty again to take part in the work, though under a new commander, Captain George W. Preedy, an excellent officer. The place of the Leopard was taken by the Gorgon, under command of Captain Dayman, who had made the deep-sea soundings in the Cyclops the year before.

While the English Government was thus prompt in furnishing its ships, news arrived from America that the Company could not have again the assistance of the Susquehanna, which had accompanied the Niagara on the preceding expedition. She was in the West-Indies, and the yellow fever had broken out on board. What should be done? It was late to apply again to the American Government, and it was doubtful what would be the result of the application. This threatened some embarrassment. Mr. Field resolved the difficulty in a way which showed his confidence in the great and generous Government on the other side of the water, with which he had occasion so often to deal. Without waiting for the action of the Company, he called a cab, and drove straight to the Admiralty, and sent in his card to Sir John Pakington, then First Lord of the Admiralty. This gentleman, like his predecessor, Sir Charles Wood, had shown the most friendly interest in the Atlantic Telegraph, and given it his warmest support. Mr. Field was received at once, and began with true American eagerness: "I am ashamed to come to you, after what the English Government has done for us. But here is our case. We are disappointed in the Susquehanna. She is in the West-Indies, with the yellow fever on board. She cannot come to England to take part in the expedition. Can you do anything for us?" Sir John replied that the Government had not ships enough for its own use; that it was at that very moment chartering vessels to take troops to Malta—"but he would see what he could do." In an hour or two he sent word to the office of the Company, that Her Majesty's ship Valorous—commanded by Captain W. C. Aldham, an officer of great experience—had been ordered to take the place of the Susquehanna in the next expedition. We mention this little incident, not so much to illustrate Mr. Field's prompt and quick manner of deciding and acting, as to show the noble and generous spirit in which the English Government responded to every appeal.

The reshipping of the cable at Plymouth occupied the whole month of April and part of May. Some changes were made in the mode adopted, it being coiled around large cones. The work was done as before, by a hundred and sixty men detailed for the purpose, of whom one fourth were the workmen of the Company, and the rest sailors who had volunteered for the duty. These were divided into gangs of forty, that relieved each other, by which the work went on day and night. In this way they coiled about thirty miles in the twenty-four hours. Owing to the increased length of cable, and the greater care in coiling, it took a longer time than the year before. The whole was completed about the middle of May. There was then in all, on board the two ships, a little over three thousand statute miles. This included, besides seven hundred miles of new cable, thirty-nine miles of that lost the year before, which had been recovered by the Company, and a few miles of condemned cable from Greenwich, which was put on board for experiments. The shipment being thus complete, and the paying-out machines in position, the ships were ready to make a trial trip, preparatory to their final departure.

For this purpose the telegraphic squadron sailed from Plymouth on Saturday, the twenty-ninth of May, and bore southward two or three hundred miles, till the green color of the sea changing to a deep blue, showed that they had reached the great depths of the ocean. They were now in the waters of the Bay of Biscay, where the soundings were over twenty-five hundred fathoms. Here the Niagara and the Agamemnon were connected by a hawser, being about a quarter of a mile apart. The cable was then passed from one to the other, and a series of experiments begun, designed to test both the strength of the cable and the working of the machinery. Two miles of the cable were paid out, when it parted. This would have seemed a bad sign, had it been any other part of the cable than that which was known to be imperfect and had long since been condemned. The next day three miles were paid out. This, too, was broken, but only when they tried to haul it in, and under a pressure of several tons.

Other experiments were tried, such as splicing the cable, and lowering it to the bottom of the sea—an operation which it was thought might be critical in mid-ocean, but which was performed without difficulty—and running out the cable at a rapid rate, when the speed of the ship was increased to seven knots, without causing the cable to break, or even to kink. On the whole, the result of the trip was satisfactory. The paying-out machine of Mr. Everett worked well, and the electric continuity through the whole cable was perfect. It was on this expedition that was used for the first time the marine mirror galvanometer of Professor Thomson, by whom it had been invented for marine testing within the previous four weeks, and which afterwards proved an instrument so important to the success of ocean telegraphy. After these experiments the squadron returned to Plymouth.

As it happened, the present writer had just arrived in England, and landing at Falmouth, hastened to Plymouth, where the ships were lying in the Sound. It was Saturday, the fifth of June, and the next day, by invitation of Captain Hudson, he conducted Divine service on the Niagara, where an awning was spread over the quarter-deck, round which were grouped the officers of the ship, behind whom were crowded four or five hundred seamen. If it was a pleasure in such circumstances to speak to one's countrymen, it was not less to be received with equal kindness on board the Agamemnon. To see these two mighty ships of war, with their consorts, lying side by side, not with guns run out, but engaged in a mission of peace, seemed indeed an omen of the good time coming, when nations shall learn war no more.

Among the matters of personal solicitude and anxiety at this time—next to the success of the expedition—was Mr. Field himself. He was working with an activity which was unnatural—which could only be kept up by great excitement, and which involved the most serious danger. The strain on the man was more than the strain on the cable, and we were in fear that both would break together. Often he had no sleep, except such as he caught flying on the railway. Indeed, when we remonstrated, he said he could rest better there than anywhere else, for then he was not tormented with the thought of any thing undone. For the time being he could do no more; and putting his head in the cushioned corner of the carriage, he got an hour or two of broken sleep.

Of this activity we had an instance while in Plymouth. The ships were then lying in the Sound, only waiting orders from the Admiralty to go to sea; but some business required one of the Directors to go to Paris, and as usual, it fell upon Mr. Field. He left on Sunday night and went to Bristol, and thence, by the first morning train, to London. Monday he was busy all day, and that night went to Paris. Tuesday, another busy day, and that night back to London. Wednesday, occupied every minute till the departure of the Great Western train. That night back to Plymouth. Thursday morning on board the Niagara, and immediately the squadron sailed.

It was the tenth day of June that the expedition left England, with fair skies and bright prospects. In truth, it was a gallant sight, as these four ships stood out to sea together—those old companions, the Niagara and the Agamemnon, leading the way, followed by their new attendants, the Valorous and the Gorgon. Never did a voyage begin with better omens. The day was one of the mildest of June, and the sea so still, that one could scarcely perceive, by the motion of the ship, when they passed beyond the breakwater off Plymouth harbor into the Channel, or into the open sea. At night, it was almost a dead calm. The second day was like the first. There was scarcely wind enough to swell the sails. The ships were all in sight, and as they kept under easy steam, they seemed bound on a voyage of pleasure, gliding over a summer sea to certain success.