GRAPPLING FOR THE SEA-SERPENT 151 
the whole length of wire—one thousand two hundred and 
forty miles—has been tested for conductivity and insulation. 
. . . The object of observing the ray of light was of course 
not any expectation of a message, but simply to keep an accu- 
rate record of the condition of the wire. Sometimes, indeed, 
wild, incoherent messages from the deep did come, but these 
were merely the results of magnetic storms and earth-currents, 
which deflected the galvanometer rapidly, and spelt the most 
extraordinary words, and sometimes even sentences of non- 
sense. Suddenly, last Sunday morning, at a quarter to six 
o'clock, while the light was being watched by Mr. Crocker, 
he observed a peculiar indication about it. . . . The unsteady 
flickering was changed to coherency, and at once the cable 
began to speak, to transmit the appointed signals which in- 
dicated human purpose and method instead of the inarticu- 
late cries of the illiterate Atlantic—the delirious mutterings of 
the sea. . . . The words ‘Canning to Glass’ must have seemed 
like the first rational words uttered by a high-fevered patient, 
when the ravings have ceased and his consciousness returns.’ 
The message that came was: “Canning to Glass. I have 
much pleasure in speaking to you through the 1865 cable. 
Just going to make splice.” 
Cyrus Field in a speech made in London months later de- 
scribed his anxiety as he awaited the electrician’s test on the 
Great Eastern in mid-ocean. “Never shall I forget that event- 
ful moment,” he said, “when in answer to our question to 
Valentia, whether the cable of 1866, which we had a few 
weeks previously laid, was in good working order, and the 
cable across the Gulf of St. Lawrence had been repaired, in 
an instant came back those six memorable letters, ‘Both O. K.’ 
I left the room, I went to my cabin, I locked the door; I could 
no longer restrain my tears.” 
As soon as those on the telegraph fleet were assured that 
everything was satisfactory, they prepared to depart. The Al- 
bany picked up the buoys and headed for England. The 
