78 | A SAGA OF THE SEAS 
When the grand celebration was given in his honor, he 
was thirty-eight years old. Charles Bright, the British hero 
of the occasion, was but twenty-six; he was knighted a few 
days after landing the cable in Ireland and was feted and 
praised somewhat as Field was. As indicative of the British 
attitude at this time, the leading article in the London Times 
on the day after the completion of the line said: “Mr. Bright, 
having landed the end of the Atlantic cable at Valentia, has 
brought to a successful termination his anxious and difficult 
task of linking the Old World with the New, thereby an- 
nihilating space. Since the discovery of Columbus, nothing 
has been done in any degree comparable to the vast enlarge- 
ment which has thus been given to the sphere of human ac- 
tivity.” As this typical comment indicates, the British looked 
upon the victory as theirs and Bright as the man who had 
achieved it. 
But all this rejoicing was premature. Sad news was on its 
way. Something was wrong with the cable. At the very time 
when the official celebration was being held in New York, the 
cable ceased to operate properly. As Henry Field said: “Alas 
for all human glory! Its paths lead but to the grave. Death is 
the end of human ambition. The very day that a whole city 
rose up to do honor to the Atlantic telegraph and its author, 
it gave its last throb, and that first cable was henceforth to 
sleep for ever silent in its ocean grave.” 
This is not strictly accurate, because confused signals could 
still be sent through the cable until October 20. On the first 
day of the official celebration, a message was delivered to 
Cyrus Field in New York which had come that morning from 
the British officials of the Company. This message said: “The 
directors are on their way to Valentia to make arrangements 
for opening the wire to the public.” That was one of the 
last clear messages transmitted over the cable. 
Several hundred successful messages had been sent during 
the weeks of testing and trial, but now only vague murmurs 
