FIELD, CYRUS WEST. 



267 



iiiul banquets followed, and for days the man 

 who disclaimed it as " too much honor," was the 

 boast of his country. 



That message was the last that ever passed 

 o\er the cable. The amazement, the distress, 

 the liiiiiiiliation felt by Mr. Field, are, to use the 

 time-worn lull, expressive phrase, better imag- 

 ined than described. Every form of public dis- 

 appointment, even to suspicion of a hoax, was 

 heaped upon liim. People soon forgot that the 

 agent, of the Cunard line of steamships had 

 cabled to London the account of a collision at 

 sea, and the statement of the safety of the ves- 

 sels, which had saved weeks of anxiety, and that 

 (it her proofs of not only its success, but its value, 

 were not wanting. 



The Atlantic Telegraph Company was revived 

 not as a private but as a Government enterprise, 

 the London Board of Trade appointing a com- 

 mittee to investigate the whole subject. At the 

 end df two years they reported, with details that 

 fill a large volume. Their conclusion was, that 

 a proper telegraph could be made successful. 

 Meantime, this country had been plunged into 

 civil war, and throughout its continuance, 

 though able to obtain nothing in the way of 

 practical aid, Mr. Field kept alive here the in- 

 terest in his own hope and determination that 

 another trial should be made. Eight years after 

 the failure of the cable, after many journeys 

 back and forth and unsparing work, Mr. Field 

 secured the " Great Eastern," and had her hold 

 fitted for reception for an infinitely better 

 cable, under conditions of far greater mechan- 

 ical perfection. In laying this cable, it was twice 

 discovered that the electric current was stopped 

 by a bit of wire driven into the cable ; and long 

 after the messages were flying back and forth 

 the man who was paid to commit the deed con- 

 fessed. Fortunately, they were discovered with 

 no greater loss than that of time and patience. 

 The officers on board took turns in watching, 

 Mr. Field was on guard, the same gang of men 

 being in the tank that were in when the former 

 " faults " were noted, when a grating sound was 

 heard once more. Mr. Field gave warning, but 

 before it was heeded the faulty piece had gone 

 overboard, and in a moment there came a snap 

 the cable had parted. The apparently impossi- 

 ble suggestion was made to grapple for the lost 

 cable. Several times they seized it, only to lose 

 it again, and finally were compelled to steam 

 back and leave it on the bottom of the sea. The 

 intrepid projector set himself once more at work. 

 Out of what seemed at first complete disaster 

 he wrested so much suggestion for future pre- 

 vention of accident, that at the first meeting of 

 the directors in London it was decided to lay 

 two cables that is, to raise the one then lost, 

 and to have a new one made. Two years later 

 the indefatigable financier was once more ready 

 with fresh material. One important thing pro- 

 vided by science since the last attempts was that 

 of galvanizing the wire to save it from rust or 

 corrosion by the sea. This did away with the 

 need for gutta-percha, to the sticky surface of 

 which slight fragments of wire might adheiv. 

 An invention had been made by which the cable 

 could be tested every instant, so that it was not 

 possible to pay out a faulty section. On Friday, 

 July 18, 1866, the "Great Eastern" put to sea 



once more with her precious burden. While the 

 last cable was preparing a war had broken out 

 between Austria, Prussia, and Italy. Out on the 

 Atlantic camii at intervals, to the M OvMl East- 

 ern Telegraph Station," news of it* progress. 

 Twice a day a bulletin was set UN. and to the ex- 

 citement of the news was added the interest of 

 its reception in such novel circumstances. On 

 Friday, July 27, the cable was safely larided. 

 The last messages received on shipboard read: 

 " It is a great work, a glory to our age and na- 

 tion, and the men who have achieved it <! 

 to be honored among the benefactors of our 

 race." " Treaty of peace signed between Prussia 

 and Austria." As the cable across the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence was out of order, it was Sunday, 

 the 29th before the first message reached the 

 United States : 



" We arrived here at nine o'clock this morning. 

 All well. Thank God, the cable is laid, and is in 

 perfect working order ! Cyrus W. Field." 



Other dispatches followed, giving news of Eu- 

 rope to people who were reading that which was 

 a fortnight old. 



Ten years of idleness had wrought havoc with 

 the telegraph across Newfoundland and the 

 gulf, and although Mr. Field had urged the 

 American company to be ready for the coming 

 cable, they preferred to see first if it succeeded. 

 Mr. Field, without a moment's rest, set about re- 

 pairing the neglect. In a few days he had com- 

 pleted the work, and the communication was 

 opened that has not since been closed. As soon 

 as coal brought from England in 6 vessels could 

 be taken on board the ' Great Eastern," she set 

 out on her further mission of securing the lost 

 cable of 1865. After weeks of grappling, with 

 occasional partial triumphs, the came was se- 

 cured, and a message was received through it 

 from the operators in Ireland. On Saturday, 

 Sept. 7, the raised cable was safely brought to 

 its landing at Heart's Content, Newfoundland. 

 At a banquet given in his honor by the Chamber 

 of Commerce of New York, Mr. Field said : 



It has been a long, hard struggle. Nearly thirteen 

 years of anxious watching and ceaseless toll. Often 

 my heart has been ready to sink. Many times, when 

 wandering in the forests of Newfoundland in the 

 pelting ram, or on the decks of ships on dark, stormy 

 nights, alone, far from home, I have almost accused 

 myseli of madness and folly to sacrifice the peace of 

 my family and all the hopes of life for what might 

 prove, after all, but a dream. I have seen my com- 

 panions one and another falling by my side, and 

 feared that I might not live to see the end. And yet 

 one hope has ltd me on, and I have prayed that I 

 might not taste of death till this work was accom- 

 plished. That prayer is answered ; and now. beyond 

 all acknowledgments to men, is the feeling of grati- 

 tude to Almighty God. 



Mr. Field received from Congress a gold medal 

 with the thanks of the nation. The Paris Expo- 

 sition of 1867 bestowed upon him it- highest 

 honor, the grand medal. In 1869 he attended, 

 as representative of the New York Chamber of 

 Commerce, the opening of tho Suez Canal. He 

 became interested in theolevated-railway sy.-tom 

 of New York, and bestowed upon it much thought 

 and capital. In 1880 he made a tour round the 

 world, and on his return obtained concessions 

 from the Sandwich Islands for the laying of a 

 cable from San Francisco thence, with a view to 



