Show IM a amo scott T c 0 haiim W 0 ran t n released e d b by y we western s t er i 2 N newspaper e w s pa p e union I 1 c n I 1 A modern columbus F FOR OR more than three and a hall half centuries communication between europe and america was a matter of weeks then on a july day 75 years ago it became a matter of split seconds the man who brought about that miracle was an american whom a famous british statesman called the columbus of modern times who by his cable has moored the new world alongside the old for this man was cyrus W field father of the atlantic cable born in stockbridge mass in in 1819 field went to new york at the age of 15 to work for the famous merchant alexander T stewart by the time he was 21 he had his own business and was able to retire at the age of 34 about this time ore one of his brothers suggested to him the project of building a telegraph line across the atlantic and young field immediately took the matter up with a group of new york business men who agreed to contribute each the enterprise was organ organized iced under the title of the new york newfoundland london telegraph and a committee was sent to ne newfound 1 M V CYRUS W FIELD land to get exclusive rights for 50 years to establish a telegraph line from the continent of america to newfoundland to england the first efforts to lay the cable were unsuccessful but fields company persisted until finally in july 1858 a british ship and an american ship meeting in mid atlantic spliced together two lengths of cable which they had on board and then started for opposite shores on the same date august 5 they arrived at their respective destinations for the first time in history the t two wo continents were vere linked together with a means of quick communication the first message sent over the cable was a greeting from queen victoria to president james buchanan on august 16 on september I 1 a great celebration attended by more than persons was held in new york city kit the great eastern laying the atlantic cable in honor of field but their jubilation in which the whole nation s shared are was short lived for within less than two months the cable ceased to function As the threat of civil war grew americans forgot the transatlantic trans atlantic cable project field tried to keep interest in t alive during the war between the states after the war was over the project was revived and the famous steamer the great eastern was chartered to lay a new cable twice as thick as the original line with double the breaking strain on july 23 1865 the great eastern left ireland for newfoundland on august 2 when 1186 miles had been laid the cable suddenly par parted ted and sank in 2000 fathoms of water numerous attempts were made to retrieve the cable but they were unsuccessful but field would not give up the next year another attempt was made and on jul july y 27 1866 the great eastern steamed into trinity bay ireland amid the ringing of bells and the booming of cannon and landed the end of the cable she had been laying for the first time the two continents were permanently linked together and that link of communication has never been broken fields persistence won him the acclaim of the whole world congress unanimously voted to present him with a gold medal and the thanks of the nation and the prime minister of england declared that only the fact that he was a citizen of another country prevented his receiving high honors from the british government it was the famous english statesman john bright who called him the columbus of modern times in 1867 the paris exposition gave him the grand medal the highest prize it could bestow |