Chapter Nine 
PERSEVERANCE, PERSEVERANCE, PERSEVERANCE 
‘THE BriTisH HAVE Claimed that they supplied the bulk of the 
funds for laying the first Atlantic cables, and did most of the 
scientific and technical work necessary for the ultimate suc- 
cess. These claims are justified. The British capitalists were 
not only richer and more far-seeing than the Americans at 
that period, but also more conversant with maritime risks and 
more sporting in taking a chance. Furthermore, since they 
had world-wide commercial interests, a large navy, and far- 
flung colonies, they had most to win by the successful opera- 
tion of deep-sea cables. London was then the world’s center of 
capital and commercial enterprise. 
The British engineers and scientists were better prepared 
to investigate cables and electrical phenomena. Faraday, the 
great pioneer in electrical experimenting, had awakened the 
British scientists in regard to the possibilities of the strange 
force that at first had been regarded merely as a diversion or 
minor laboratory aid. Professor William ‘Thomson, in partic- 
ular, followed the trail blazed by his famous predecessor and 
formulated the standard theory of the operation of ocean 
cables. Sir Charles Bright typified the intelligent young Eng- 
lishman who was devoting his ability to engineering. At that 
time the American engineering colleges had scarcely got a 
start; most educated men in the United States had legal, 
theological, or literary minds. 
Compared with the brilliant British scientists, the Ameri- 
can Samuel F. B. Morse, electrician for the New York, New- 
foundland & London Telegraph Company, was less well pre- 
pared. He had received the education and training of an 
artist, rather than of a scientist, and until he was past forty 
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