Mr. Brooking, who had so warmly upheld Mr. Field at the meeting in February, resigned his office as vice-chairman, and left the room rather than listen to the request that another attempt be made. But the counsel of the majority prevailed, and on the 17th of July, without a parting cheer or a word of encouragement from those on shore, the expedition left Ireland.
On Thursday, July 29th, in latitude 52°9’ north, longitude 32°27’ west, with a cloudy sky and a southeast wind, the splice was made at one P.M., and perfect signals passed through the whole length of the cable.
Five weeks later Mr. Field described this scene just before the splice was made:
“I was standing on the deck of the Niagara in mid-ocean. The day was cold and cheerless, the air was misty, and the wind roughened the sea; and when I thought of all that we had passed through, of the hopes thus far disappointed, of the friends saddened by our reverses, of the few that remained to sustain us, I felt a load at my heart almost too heavy to bear, though my confidence was firm and my determination fixed.”
On the evening of the 29th the Niagara was fairly under way, and already the 5th of August was the day determined upon for her arrival at Trinity Bay. Signals alone were used; they were constantly passed from ship to ship, and were understood by the electricians on board. The expression “the continuity is perfect” relieved the minds of the officers and those interested in the enterprise, but not the sailors. The Herald’s special correspondent tells of this conversation:
“ ‘Darn the continuity,’ said an old sailor at the end of a scientific but rather foggy discussion which a number of his messmates had on the subject—‘darn the continuity; I wish they would get rid of it altogether. It has caused a darned sight more trouble than the hull thing is worth. I say they ought to do without it and let it go. I believe they’d get the cable down if they didn’t pay any attention to it. You see,’ he went on, ‘I was on the last exhibition’ (expedition, he meant, but it was all the same, his messmates did not misapprehend his meaning), ‘and I thought I’d never hear the end of it. They were always talking about it, and one night when we were out last year it was gone for two hours, and we thought that was the end of the affair and we would never hear of it again. But it came back, and soon after the cable busted. Now, I tell you what, men, I’ll never forget the night, I tell ye! We all felt we had lost our best friend, and I never heard the word continuity or contiguity mentioned but I was always afraid something was going to happen. And that’s a fact.’ ”
At twenty-one minutes past two on the afternoon of July 30th the Agamemnon signalled that she had passed her one-hundred-and-fifty-mile limit, and at twenty-four minutes of three the same was reported on the Niagara. After this there could be no return for another splice; it must be either Trinity Bay or Valentia for the Niagara. A new complication was reported. The compasses were playing false. So soon as the Gorgon was told of this she offered to pilot the Niagara, and she did so unfalteringly to the end, Captain Dayman remaining day and night on deck.
At half-past five o’clock on the afternoon of July 31st the forward coil of cables on the main deck was exhausted and the coil below was attached. The quiet was intense while this change was made. Only Mr. Everett, the chief engineer, was heard to speak.
At other times it was not so: games were played, sales of stocks were made, and the telegraph stock rose and fell, varying with the reports received from the electrician’s room. At seven A.M. on the morning of Wednesday, August 4th, came the glad cry, “Land ho!” and at half-past two in the afternoon the ships entered the “haven where they would be.”