3-017-153 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable: landing the shore end of the cable from the Caroline at Foilhommerum, Valencia, 1865. Engraving from a sketch by Robert Dudley, showing '...the Caroline, which is in communication with the land by a lengthy floating bridge of boats...precipitous rocks rise nearly 300 ft. from the sea...On the highest pinnacle of the cliff, the country people had planted...improvised flags...the cable was passed literally from hand to hand from ship to shore...The appearance of this long row of boats was very striking, and they varied from the smart cutters of the ships and the trim gig of the coastguard to the ordinary fishing-boat of the coast...Numbers of men were in the water up to their waists or shoulders easing the cable over the rocks, while along the steep path up the cliffs was a close row of figures, men and boys...from the well-to-do farmer down to the poorest cottier, all pulling at the cable with a will...obeying...every signal made by Mr. Glass or Mr. Canning as to when to haul or slack away...By twelve o'clock the cable was well up the groove which had been cut in the face of the cliff...the work of carrying its massive coils across the meadows to the Telegraph House beyond was soon accomplished'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.