“Nothing but a cloud of elements organic
C. O. H. N. Ferrum, Chor, Flu. Sil. Potassa
calc. Sod. Phosh mag. Sulphur Mang.? Alumin caprum
Such as man is made of.
“Born of stream galvanic with it he had perished
There is no De Sauty. Now there is no current
Give us a new cable, then again we’ll hear his cry,
‘All right,’ De Sauty.”
After a lapse of eight years another cable was laid in 1866 and communication across the Atlantic permanently established, but the mysterious De Sauty never appeared.
Testing the Cable.
In the fall of 1856 the Montreal Telegraph Company laid a subaqueous cable across the St. Lawrence connecting Ogdensburg, N.Y., with its Canadian lines. Everything went well till the breaking up of the ice in the spring, when the American end of the cable was carried away from its moorings.
A man was sent from Montreal to effect the necessary repairs. When he arrived, I, then being in charge of the office there, decided to accompany him and render any assistance I could. A boat was hired to row over to the lighthouse where the cable terminated. The craft engaged was rather frail and shaky, with quite a heavy sea running. The Montreal man got safely seated, clutching the side of the boat with one hand and the testing instrument in the other. It was a cold day in March, a stiff north-wester was blowing. When all was ready the painter was untied, when I jumped, and in doing so lost my balance and went in headforemost. As I bobbed up the heels of my friend were just visible above the water. We succeeded in getting ashore safely, but the testing instrument had gone to the bottom, which we tried to recover, but failed, and the trip for the time was given up.
My companion in this adventure was the late Mr. Bowman, for many years the respected storekeeper for the Montreal Telegraph Company.
In meeting we often reverted to this episode in our telegraph experience and of our involuntary bath in the icy St. Lawrence.