30 A SAGA OF THE SEAS 
There was a general speeding up of life and a disposition to 
try new ways, although skepticism was still strong. Political 
and religious subjects were then more likely to engage the 
attention of American people than applications of science. 
The Civil War was ahead, as were the great debates about 
Darwin’s theories. 
After the public recognition of the possibilities of the tele- 
graph, however, the idea of quicker transmission of news and 
messages between Europe and America was a natural one to 
arise. About 1850 the idea seems to have come to two men in 
particular, Frederick N. Gisborne and John T. Mullock. The 
latter, who was Roman Catholic bishop of Newfoundland, 
wrote to a St. John’s newspaper on November 8, 1850, con- 
cerning the feasibility of a telegraph line across the island, 
connected with Nova Scotia by a cable under the strait. 
‘This would shorten the transmission of messages between the 
two continents by forty-eight hours. Important news about 
wars, catastrophes, and financial matters would thus be facili- 
tated and many costly mistakes avoided. Newfoundland and 
Ireland were apparently convenient way-stations for relaying 
news from steamers. 
Gisborne was an English electrician working in Nova Scotia 
and New Brunswick to extend telegraph lines. He may have 
had the idea of a Newfoundland line before Mullock. In 
1851 he obtained permission from the Newfoundland govern- 
ment for a telegraph line across the island, some four hundred 
miles long. ‘To connect this line with the mainland, he talked 
of using carrier-pigeons or small steamers until a short cable 
could be laid under the strait. 
After a survey through Newfoundland’s rough country 
with the help of the government, Gisborne organized a com- 
pany in 1852, which was granted exclusive rights to erect 
telegraph lines on the island for thirty years, with encourag- 
ing concessions of land upon the completion of the line. But 
in 1853, when he started laying such a line, his financial back- 
