The First Atlantic Cables 



In 1854 Cyrus W. Field of New York opened 

 a new chapter in electrical enterprise as he re- 

 solved to lay a cable between Ireland and New- 

 foundland, along the shortest line that joins 

 Europe to America. He chose Valentia and 

 Heart's Content, a little more than 1,600 miles 

 apart, as his termini, and at once began to enlist 

 the co-operation of his friends. Although an 

 unfaltering enthusiast when once his great idea 

 had possession of him, Mr. Field was a man of 

 strong common sense. From first to last he went 

 upon well-ascertained facts; when he failed he 

 did so simply because other facts, which he could 

 not possibly know, had to be disclosed by costly 

 experience. Messrs. Whitehouse and Bright, 

 electricians to his company, were instructed to 

 begin a preliminary series of experiments. They 

 united a continuous stretch of wires laid beneath 

 land and water for a distance of 2,000 miles, and 

 found that through this extraordinary circuit 

 they could transmit as many as four signals per 

 second. They inferred that an Atlantic cable 

 would offer but little more resistance, and would 

 therefore be electrically workable and commer- 

 cially lucrative. 



In 1857 a cable was forthwith manufactured, 

 divided in halves, and stowed in the holds of the 

 Niagara of the United States navy, and the 

 Agamemnon of the British fleet. The Niagara 

 sailed from Ireland; the sister ship proceeded to 

 Newfoundland, and was to meet her in mid- 

 ocean. When the Niagara had run out 335 

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