“Mayor’s Office,
“New York, 2d August, 1859.
“The Mayor of New York has the pleasure to transmit to Cyrus W. Field, Esq., of New York, the address and testimonials voted him by the City of New York on the 1st day of September last, in commemoration of the esteem in which his services were held on the occasion of laying the Atlantic telegraph cable connecting Europe with America.”
“Daniel F. Tiemann.”
In May, 1859, we find him in London, and on June 8th at the meeting of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, when it was decided to raise £600,000 with which to lay another cable, and, if possible, repair the old one. He was in New York on the 29th of December, 1859, and it was then that his office, 57 Beekman Street, was burned. Among his papers this mention is made: “The fire which made the closing days of 1859 so black with disaster broke out in a building adjoining Mr. Field’s warehouse, which destroyed that and several others. Mr. Field’s store was full of goods and was entirely consumed, and the loss beyond that covered by insurance was $40,000.” The evening papers of that day gave an account of the fire, and at the same time published a card from Mr. Field stating that he had rented another office, and that his business would go on without interruption.
Up to January, 1860, only £72,000 had been subscribed towards the new stock of the company, and the directors were discouraged at the lack of interest shown in the effort they were making to secure funds with which to lay another cable across the Atlantic. The government had guaranteed the Red Sea cable and it had failed, and for that reason it refused the same aid to the Atlantic Telegraph Company, although the two messages sent on August 31, 1858, had prevented the expenditure of from £40,000 to £50,000, as that was the amount that would have been required to move the two regiments that had been ordered from Canada to India. The report to the stockholders on the 29th of February told of the attempt made to raise the shore end of the cable in Trinity Bay, and added:
“But then a circumstance occurred which is extremely encouraging. Notwithstanding that he (Captain Bell) was in one hundred and seventy-five fathoms, he found no difficulty in grappling the cable again, and he raised it once more in the course of half an hour.”
This is the first time that it has been suggested that a cable might be grappled for.
A bit of home life is recalled by this letter:
“Stockbridge, March 3, 1859.