Words Under Water : 319 



his technical abilities led him to build a vessel that was way ahead of 

 the maritime needs of his time. 



The Great Eastern was of some service as a transport vessel during 

 the Crimean War but she really came into her own as a cable-laying 

 ship. The great halls of her living quarters and her vast holds were 

 then, for the first time, of genuine service. She was so large that with 

 only minor adjustments she was able to accommodate the full length 

 of a transatlantic cable. 



The Great Eastern commenced the fourth attempt to lay a trans- 

 atlantic cable in the year 1865. When she sailed she was loaded with 

 enough cable to stretch all the way across the Atlantic and she com- 

 pleted the run but the cable parted. By the time a year had passed 

 another full length of cable had been constructed. The Great Eastern 

 sailed on the fifth attempt on July 13, 1866 and reached her destina- 

 tion on the American side of the Atlantic on July 28; a remarkably 

 fast passage and one that saw the inauguration of the first continuing 

 transatlantic service. 



Not quite satisfied with this accomplishment, the Great Eastern 

 put to sea again and succeeded in finding, grappling and raising the 

 two ends of the parted cable that she had deposited on the ocean bot- 

 tom in the previous year. Thus, she was the first ship to successfully 

 recover a parted cable and completed the first successful splice. By 

 the end of the summer, Field's company had two transatlantic cables 

 in operation. 



The original cable enjoyed a monopoly until 1869 when a second 

 cable was completed from France to America by the French Atlantic 

 Telegraph Company. 



These early cables, even when they remained in operation, had 

 many limitations and drawbacks. In 1858 the cable could operate only 

 at the very limited speed of sixteen letters per minute. Naturally 

 charges were high, the cost running to $100 per message. This may 

 be contrasted with the standard rate in recent years of twenty-five 

 cents per word. 



Despite the drawbacks these early cables performed many ex- 

 tremely useful services; they increased the speed and the accuracy of 

 the transmission of international news; they increased the tempo of 

 private business and they were extensively used by governments 

 though, for a considerable period, the extremely high costs involved 

 restricted their use for personal messages. The demands for services 

 Vftrt large and very often there were delays and messages had to 



