suggestion was made of the possibility of crossing the ocean. One of the
officers of that company, however, Mr. F.N. Gisborne, came to New York in
1854 and tried to revive the interest of capitalists and engineers in the
scheme. Among others he consulted Matthew D. Field, and through him met
his brother Cyrus W. Field, and the question of a through line from
Newfoundland to New York was seriously discussed. Cyrus Field, a man of
great energy and already interested financially and otherwise in the
terrestrial telegraph, was fascinated by the idea of stretching long
lines under the waters also. He examined a globe, which was in his study
at home and, suddenly realizing that Newfoundland and Ireland were
comparatively near neighbors, he said to himself: "Why not cross the
ocean and connect the New World with the Old?" He had heard that Morse
long ago had prophesied that this link would some day be welded, and he
became possessed with the idea that he was the person to accomplish this
marvel, just as Morse had received the inspiration of the telegraph in
1832.

A letter to Morse, who was just then in Washington, received an
enthusiastic and encouraging reply, coupled with the information that
Lieutenant Maury of the Navy had, by a series of careful soundings,
established the existence of a plateau between Ireland and Newfoundland,
at no very great depth, which seemed expressly designed by nature to
receive and carefully guard a telegraphic cable. Mr. Field lost no time
in organizing a company composed originally of himself, his brother the
Honorable David Dudley Field, Peter Cooper, Moses Taylor, Marshall O.
Roberts, and Chandler White. After a liberal charter had been secured
from the legislature of Newfoundland the following names were added to
the list of incorporators: S.F.B. Morse, Robert W. Lowber, Wilson G.
Hunt, and John W. Brett. Mr. Field then went to England and with
characteristic energy soon enlisted the interest and capital of