Failure™ Magazine

Cable Ready

Cyrus Field and the epic struggle to lay the first transatlantic cable.

Written by Jason Zasky   Filed under History

Ignorance Is Bliss
Ironically, when a Canadian engineer named Frederick Gisborne presented Field with the comparatively modest idea of connecting New York and Newfoundland via telegraph line, he was unimpressed. ‘Why bother?’ thought Field, who estimated it would speed communication from Europe by only a day or so. “Then he looked at the map and saw that Newfoundland was one-third of the way [across the Atlantic],” notes Gordon, “and knowing absolutely nothing about what was involved said, ‘Hey, let’s put a cable across the Atlantic Ocean.’”

Field wrote to Samuel F.B. Morse (who produced the first telegraph of practical use) and Lieutenant Matthew Fontaine Maury of the United States Navy (a premier oceanographer), asking about the feasibility of the concept. Ignorant of the technical problems involved, both expressed enthusiasm for the project and considered its success inevitable.

At that point, Field set out in search of investment partners, joining with four other exceptionally successful New York businessmen to form the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company. They set out to raise the enormous sum of $1.5 million (2.5% of the total annual expenditures of the federal government) and planned to begin by connecting New York and Newfoundland—the “easy” part of the venture. This involved running a line across hundreds of miles of southern Newfoundland, laying an 85-mile submarine cable across the Cabot Strait and adding a 140-mile line across Cape Breton Island. “It turned out to be much more difficult to put the line across southern Newfoundland than they had anticipated,” says Gordon. “To this day nobody lives there—[there are] precipitous cliffs and the weather is unbelievably awful,” he continues.

Come Aboard, We’re Expecting You
While Newfoundland’s weather and terrain presented its share of obstacles, the group’s first attempt at laying a submarine cable was an unmitigated disaster. The Cabot Strait expedition involved two ships; the Sarah L. Bryant, charged with laying the cable; and the James Adger, which was chartered to tow the Sarah L. Bryant as well as provide luxurious accommodations for the wives and distinguished guests of the investors. As a result, the expedition was part technology experiment, part romantic luxury cruise. “They didn’t have a clue what they were doing,” says Gordon. “They had ladies in long dresses and Newfoundland dogs galumphing about while they were trying to lay the cable from a sailing ship being towed by a steamer.” In the end, the first attempt at crossing the strait cost $351,000—a dead loss—roughly one-quarter of the company’s capital.

However, the lessons learned were invaluable and a year later, in 1856, a purely professional expedition managed to successfully lay a cable across Cabot Strait and complete the overland portion of the project. But by this time, the company had exhausted all of its resources.

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