3-017-160 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Examining the Atlantic Telegraph Cable, after raising it, on board the Great Eastern, 1865. Engraving from a sketch by Robert Dudley '...of the anxious group of men...handling and inspecting the cable...a fault in the electric insulation of the cable...[had been] detected, and a length of ten miles which had been submerged in the wake of the ship was picked up again to examine where the fault lay; it was then found that a tiny piece of loose iron wire had forced its way through the outer covering and the gutta-percha surrounding the electric wire, so as to come in contact with the latter; and, when this piece was cut out and a new splice made, the fault was effectually cured...the final examination...was made by a series of electrical tests. Slowly but surely the defective portion of the cable was reached and cut out. A very painful discovery...was then made...It was impossible to resist the irritating and sorrowful conviction that such an injury was the work of some hired cable assassin or some purposeless malefactor...the names of the gentlemen who performed this voluntary service were Mr. Cyrus Field, Captain Moriarty, Professor Thomson, Mr. Varley, Mr. R. Dudley, Mr. H. O'Neil, A.R.A., Mr. Gooch, M.P., and M. Jules Despecher'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.