On November 1, 1856, Mr. Field had suggested:
“The two ends of the cable having been carefully joined together, the vessels will start in opposite directions, one towards Ireland and the other towards Newfoundland, uncoiling the cable and exchanging signals through it from ship to ship as they proceed. By this means the period ordinarily required for traversing the distance between the two coasts will be lessened by one-half, each vessel having only to cover eight hundred and twenty nautical miles in order to finish the task assigned to it. It is expected that the operation of laying the cable will be completed in about eight days from the time of its commencement.”
On Friday the 25th of June, after encountering gales that at one time amounted almost to a cyclone, the two ships came together at their strange trysting place; but the splice was not made nor the parting said until the afternoon of Saturday, July 26th. In making a splice the ships were connected by a hawser and lay one hundred fathoms apart; the time required for the work was usually two hours.
Three miles only were laid when the cable caught in the machinery of the Niagara and broke; a new splice was made, and again the ships parted. Then forty miles were laid and the cable became suddenly lifeless and was reported broken. On Monday, June 28th, the ships met for the third time in mid-ocean, and without waiting for any useless discussion they spliced the cable and once more set sail.
One hundred, two hundred miles of cable went safely down into the sea, when again came a break, this time twenty feet from the stern of the Agamemnon. It had been agreed that if after a hundred miles had been paid out a new mishap should occur, no further splice should be made, but that both ships should go back to Ireland; and without loss of time the Niagara turned her head to the east and arrived at Valentia on July 5th. This agreement had been made on June 28th, and it was a formal one, and was on account of the small amount of coal carried by the Agamemnon.
The Board of Directors met in London, and word was sent to Ireland that it was proposed to “abandon the enterprise.” A meeting was called for July 12th; Mr. Brown (afterwards Sir William), of Liverpool, would not attend, and sent this note:
“Trenton’s Hotel, July 12, 1858.
“Dear Sir,—We must all deeply regret our misfortune in not being able to lay the cable. I think there is nothing to be done but to dispose of what is left on the best terms we can.
“Yours very truly,
“Wm. Brown.
“The Committee of the Atlantic Telegraph, Broad Street.”