374 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 



H. B. M. steamer Agamemnon were assigned by their respective 

 governments to tlie duty of receiving on board and laying the 

 Submarine Atlantic Cable. Other vessels were sent with them as 

 pilots, consorts, and tenders. The plan was for the Niagara to 

 begin at Queenstown, Ireland, pay out her cable as far as it would 

 reach, then pass the end in mid-ocean to the Agamemnon, when 

 it would be spliced, and when that ship would proceed with it to 

 Newfoundland. After reaching deep water, the Niagara having 

 paid out abont 844 miles of cable, it parted August 11th, 1857. 

 This failure postponed farther trial till the summer of 1858. 



In the summer of 1858 the same two ships, having the cable 

 again on board, proceeded together to mid-ocean, where the two 

 ends were joined, and they then commenced to "pay and go," 

 each toward her own land. The Niagara had 1488 miles of cable 

 on board, the Agamemnon 1477. Total, 2965 miles. 



After three unsuccessful attempts to lay the cable, and after the 

 loss of about 400 miles of it, the fleet returned to Ireland. It put 

 to sea again for a last trial July 17, with about 1274 miles of cable 

 on board each of the paying-out vessels. 



They met in mid-ocean, joined cables, and set out — the Niagara 

 for her terminus in Trinity Bay, and the Agamemnon for hers in 

 Yalentia Harbor — at 1 P.M., July 29th, and successfully landed 

 each vessel her end of the cable on the 5th of August. One week 

 after that messages of congratulation were passed through the 

 cable between the Queen of England and the President of the 

 United States. 



The part which the Observatory has played in the history of 

 submarine telegraphy, and of this line between the Old World and 

 the New, is a quiet and an humble part ; nevertheless, it now ap- 

 pears to have been an important and useful part. But, whatever 

 it may have been, it has grown out of that beautiful system of 

 research concerning the physics of the sea, which, having its com- 

 mencement here in 1842, has expanded, and blossomed, and fruited, 

 giving among its fruits for man's benefit charts of the winds and 

 currents of the sea, and secrets snatched from its depths. The 

 present, therefore, seems to be a proper time for placing on record 

 a statement showing the connection of the Observatory with this 

 enterprise, and the part borne in it by each one who has helped 

 this institution to render good service in such a field. 



