That evening at eight Mr. Field left the Niagara to make arrangements for the landing that was to take place the next day. At half-past two on the morning of August 5th he waked the sleeping operators waiting in the telegraph-house, Bay of Bull’s Arms, with the words, “The cable is laid.” This at first the men were unwilling to believe, but when they saw the lights on the vessels in the distance they dressed and came back with him to the shore, and two walked fifteen miles with the messages that were to be telegraphed to the unbelieving world.
The paying out of the cable from the two ships had been carried on with such regularity that the one arrived at Valentia and the other at Trinity Bay on the same day; by noon on the 5th of August this country was plunged into the wildest excitement.
These messages were sent to his wife and to his father:
“Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, August 5, 1858.
“Mrs. Cyrus W. Field, 84 East Twenty-first Street, New York:
“Arrived here yesterday. All well. The Atlantic telegraph cable successfully laid. Please telegraph me here immediately.