cease--The cable a failure--Discouraging state of affairs--Courage of
Mr. Field--Generous offer of the British Government--Fresh
soundings--Investigations of the Telegraph Board--Efforts of Mr. Field
to raise new capital--Purchase of the Great Eastern--The fourth attempt
to lay the cable--Expedition of 1865--Voyage of the Great Eastern--Loss
of the cable--Efforts to recover it unsuccessful--What the expedition
demonstrated--Efforts to raise more capital--They are pronounced
illegal--The new company--The fifth attempt to lay the cable--Voyage of
the Great Eastern--The cable laid at last--Fishing up and splicing the
cable of 1865--The final triumph--Credit due to Mr. Field.


III. INVENTORS.


CHAPTER XIII.

ROBERT FULTON.

Trinity churchyard--The Livingston vault--An interesting place--Fulton's
tomb--Birth of Robert Fulton--Boyhood--Early mechanical skill--Robert
astonishes his tutor--Robert's fireworks--"Nothing is
impossible"--"Quicksilver Bob"--The fishing excursion--The first
paddle-wheel boat--Fulton's success as an artist--His gift to his
mother--His removal to England--Intimacy with Benjamin West--Goes to
Devonshire--Acquaintance with the Duke of Bridgewater--His interest in
canal navigation--His first inventions--Goes to Paris--Residence with
Mr. Barlow--Studies in engineering--Invents the diving boat--The
infernal machine--His patriotic reply to the British ministry--His
marriage--Returns to America--The General Government declines to