days--Magnitude of the undertaking--His promptness--Builds other
gunboats during the war--The gunboat fleet at Forts Henry and Donelson
the private property of Mr. Eads--Excellence of the vessels built by
him--A model contractor--Residence in St. Louis.


CHAPTER XII.

CYRUS W. FIELD.

Birth--Parentage--Early education--Goes to New York in search of
employment--Obtains a clerkship in a city house, and in a few years
becomes a partner--A rich man at thirty-four--Retires from
business--Travels in South America--Meets Mr. Gisborne--Plan of the
Newfoundland Telegraph Company--Mr. Field declines to embark in
it--Conceives the idea of a telegraph across the Atlantic
Ocean--Correspondence with Lieut. Maury and Prof. Morse--The scheme
pronounced practicable--Mr. Field secures the co-operation of four New
York capitalists--Organization of the New York, Newfoundland, and London
Telegraph Company--Building of the line from New York to St. John's--A
herculean task--The Governmental ocean surveys of the United States and
England--Efforts to secure aid in England--Liberal action of the
Government--Organization of the Atlantic Telegraph Company--A hard-won
success in America--Passage of the bill by Congress--The first attempt
to lay the cable--The expedition of 1857--The telegraph fleet--Scenes on
board--Loss of the cable--Failure of the expedition--Difficulties
remedied--The new "paying-out" machinery--The expedition of 1858--The
second attempt to lay the cable--Dangerous storm--Failures--Loss of the
cable--The third attempt--The cable laid successfully--Messages across
the Atlantic--Celebrations in England and the United States--The signals