The tri-weekly standard., 1866-08-04
rh. Atlantic Gable. !

has now been consummateo th .AiS Aey
ino Of the Atlantic Telegraph, Is a ma
tive of Stoekbridge, Massachusetts, ant
is is in the forty ninth year OF his. age
At f;fteen wears ofage be began has ca
reer az clerk. in New York city, ant
in a faw wears alter was at the head o
a heavy mercantile house i'll that city
from which he retired, partially, Ill 1883
with a large fortune He went, soor
after. to South America, and on his re
turn, some six months afterwards, be
came interested in the great scheme o1
telegraph across the ocean. His at
tention was especially b.. directed to the
subject by being called upon to and III
completing line commenced between
St. Johns and Cape Ray, in Newtound'
land. While looking into this scheme;
the idea was impressed upon him OF
stretcbino submarine line from New
foundland to Ireland.
In 1854 he procured charter from
theLeoislature of Newfoundland, grant
ing an exclusive right, for fifty years,
to establish line from the Continent
of America to Newfoundland, and
thence to Europe, Peter Cooper, Moses
TAYLOR, and other eminent citizens OF
New York being associated with him
under the title ofthe New York, New
foundland, and London Telegrapie
this stupendous enterprise into effect.
Thenceforth all his wonderful energies
and great business capabilities were de-
voted to the gigantic work he had ta-
ken in hand.
Tn the construction of the land line in
Newfoundland, and in the two attempts
to lay line connecting that island with
Cape Breton, he was the leading spirit,
visiting England in 1854 and 1856 on
the latter business.
In 1865 he organized the Atlantic
Telegraph Company" which was incor-
porated by an & act of Parliament, ses-
sion 1857" George Peabody being one
of the directors and Mr.. Field being
chosen as " "General Manager" :"
On the 5th of August, 1857, the cas-
tern end of the cable was drawn on
shore from the Niagara ut Ballycarhy
bay by American sailors, his ENcellrn-
CIV the Earl of Carlisle, Lord Lieuten-
ant of Ireland, coming down from Dn-
blin to encourage by his presence the
great patriotic international enterprise.
On the 7th of August the squadron
bore away for the west, and on the lth
of that month the cable parted, when
$50 miles from the coast OF Ireland, anu
this ended the first attempt.
The company, under the indetatigahie
leadership of Mr.. Field, went vigorous
lv forward, gathering wisdom from
their unsuccessful attempt, and i'll Au-
gust. 1855. a second trial was more sue
eessfnl When about a 100 miles of
mid ocean The break, however, was
and the cable laid from the
coast OF Irelan3 10 the coasts OF Amer
iea, so that signals actually passed from
shore 10 shore. from August 10 TO Sep
1ember ! l29 messages having III hat
period been sent from ! alenTia 70 New
ioundland- and 2-l In the other direc-
tions. Among those messages was one
o. 80 words. sent over the line IN s.
from the Queen TO the Presi-
dent
The current however. weak from the .
first, finally failed altogether. The .
ablest electricians with their most DOW
erful batteries, were employed and. on
the 10th Of October. an imperfect mes
sage was received at Nalentia. more
than one Thousand times the power re-
Ju.site IN ordinary well-insulaJed con-
ductor being EN- mployed on the occaS-
sion. The iml,ossibility OF raising the
cable from deep water without breaking
Il made an attempt Of remedvinr the
iefect then hopeless. Thus the enter
prise. after immense oEations on both
ides of the Atlantic at the supposed
became another failure. In
$50 portions of the cable in Trinity
,ay were recovered. The cost OF the
scheme up to December. 1853, was 81
,34,5 500. In 1861 the Dutch laid
able in the Mediterranean from Malta
o Corfu, 400 miles long, at cost Of
el25, 900, cable Ike that Of the Allan
ic, which proved failure. The En-
tfish, some years ago, attempted linc
through the Red sea, which was also
o the attempt to connect Falmouth, in
England, with Gibraltar, the project
aving been abandoned after the cable,
t cost of 840O,000, mad been com
'leted.
In 1852 Mr.. Field, persistent in the
ace of all these calamities, again visited
England, and succeeded in 50 muc! in
eresting Messrs. Glass, Eliot & Co,
OF the most Of the subfna-
inc cables, as TO engage them to en-
ark In the enterprise and make the ca
lie for new attempt. the ca Die they
lad then recently laid from France to
miles-being in good work
ng order at that time under water as
leep as any in the route for the Allan
ic line. The work was Immediately
and after three years ofthe
most thorough preparation, and with
he utmost confidence ofsuccess, last
ear another trial was made and anoth-
r failure succeeded, the cable parting
vhen 1890 miles had been paid out
Fhe precise cause of this failure has not,
We believe, been determined.
The following, which we cut from
he London Times, we think, furnishes
ii, with the announcements of the tri-
mph already made, that is necessary
0 complete the great story:
The attempt last year is fresh in the
nemory of all, although the real cause
II Il "a foil IL Il. . IL ii.