Part 10

As early as 1879 Sir Sandford submitted to the Canadian Government a scheme for spanning the Pacific Ocean by electric cables which would, in connection with existing land and cable wires, complete the electric girdle of the globe, and bring Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in unbroken electric touch with each other without passing over foreign territory. The proposition was given due consideration and the subject was laid before successive parliaments, but, while much interest had been awakened, nothing practical was accomplished, owing to the many obstacles in the way, and the matter was, for a time, held in abeyance. Meanwhile its energetic projector did not despair. Year after year he took every favorable opportunity to bring it before the public men of Great Britain and the Colonies, travelling thousands of miles to attend Conferences at London, Brisbane, Ottawa and elsewhere, wherever the subject was under review. At length the reasons and arguments adduced on all these occasions in support of this scheme were found to be convincing, and its feasibility so apparent that it was finally accepted and practically applied.

On the 31st day of December, 1900, the Imperial and five Colonial governments joined in an interstate partnership to carry out the work so long and ably advocated by its originator and promoter. Exactly twenty-two months after the agreement, 8,272 miles of cable had been manufactured and safely embedded in the vast depths of the Pacific, nearly a third of the earth’s circumference, on the 31st day of October, 1902, electric communication was successfully established between Canada, New Zealand, Fiji and Australia, and has been uninterruptedly maintained ever since. The success of this great telegraph enterprise, the most stupendous ever taken, was a fitting prelude to the dawn of the new century and a splendid triumph to the genius and foresight of Sir Sandford Fleming.

During nearly a quarter of a century he had given his time and talents, as well as his private means, to accomplish the end he had in view, and it must have been peculiarly gratifying to him that his labors all these years had not been in vain. His patriotic and self-sacrificing efforts should receive some suitable public acknowledgment in some substantial form.

In 1877 he was made a Companion of St. Michael and St. George, and in 1897 he was promoted to be a commander of the same distinguished order on the occasion of the sixtieth year of Her Majesty’s reign.

“Peace hath her victories, No less renowned than war.”

_Frederick N. Gisborne_

Was born at Broughton, Lancashire, England, March 8, 1824, and came to Canada in 1845.

When the Montreal Company was organized he was employed as one of its first operators, opening the first office of the Company at Quebec.

He was afterwards engaged in various telegraph enterprises in the Maritime Provinces.

In 1851 he laid the cable connecting New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, the first submarine cable in America.

In 1856 he laid the cable connecting Cape Breton and Newfoundland (85 miles in length), this being an important link in the Atlantic cable system.

Previous to this he had secured a charter from the Newfoundland Government to construct a telegraph line across the Island, which, with the projected cable crossing the Gulf of St. Lawrence connecting with the land telegraphs, would provide the quickest news on the arrival of steamers from Europe. In this project he was associated with several American capitalists, but financial difficulties arose, and in the winter of 1853-4 Mr. Gisborne visited New York to secure further capital, and there met Mr. Cyrus W. Field, with the result that Mr. Field returned with him to Newfoundland. The Legislature, at Mr. Gisborne’s request, cancelled the original thirty years’ charter granted to himself and associates, for a new charter for a term of fifty years to the New York, Newfoundland and London Company. The object of this Company was to complete the land lines begun by Gisborne, lay the cable in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and to lay a cable across the Atlantic. The latter attempt, however, proved a failure, and the franchise of this Company was subsequently acquired by the Anglo-American Telegraph and Cable Company.

Meanwhile Mr. Gisborne dropped out of the enterprise, probably losing all the interest in it he possessed. Some years later he was appointed Superintendent of the Canadian Government Telegraph and Signal Service, which he filled until his death, which occurred on Aug. 30, 1892.

_Thomas A. Edison._

Born in Milan, Erie county, Ohio, February 11, 1847, he attended school for a few months only, being educated at home by his mother, a woman of superior ability and attainments.

The boy was an apt scholar, showing preference for historical and scientific subjects.

In 1854 his father removed to Port Huron, Mich., where, at the age of twelve, he was engaged as a newsboy on the Grand Trunk Railway. While thus employed he took every occasion to watch the operations of the telegraph at the various stations on the line. He erected a wire between his father’s house and that of a neighbour, himself making the instruments to save the cost of battery material; he experimented with a tom-cat, using the fore and hind feet as electrodes. The connections having been duly made he tried to start an induced current by rubbing the back of the feline. This amusing experiment was not a success, however, and was abandoned; later on he was rewarded for bravery in rescuing the child of the station master from the front of a moving train by receiving lessons in telegraphy, which he soon mastered, and was employed as telegraph operator on the Grand Trunk Railway for a time, leaving thereafter for the United States, where he worked in various cities, meanwhile devoting himself to the study of electrical science then little understood in America.

While working as operator in New Orleans, La., he invented the automatic repeater. In 1864 he conceived the idea, which he afterwards perfected, of duplex telegraphy, but it was not put into practical operation until 1872. His next important inventions were the quadruplex and the printing telegraph for stock quotations.

In time his inventions were numerous and varied. On the lists of inventions at the patent office, Washington, in 1895, no less than 600 were credited to his name. The most notable amongst these are the quadruplex, the phonograph and the incandescent light.

Although Edison had acquired considerable wealth, yet in 1896 he publicly declared that he would have been at least $600,000 better off if he had never taken out a patent or defended one, and that all the money he ever made was made by manufacturing his inventions or in their practical use.

In 1896 he established the village of Edison, N. J., in the very centre of an iron ore deposit, a plant for the magnetic separation of iron from the rock in which it is embedded in the mine, the process being purely automatic. He first invented a crusher capable of reducing ten tons of rock to dust every minute; he then invented apparatus whereby the iron ore was separated from the dust by means of a magnet, the extracted ore being made into briquettes and easily handled for transport to the blast furnace.

Mr. Edison is one of the simplest and unostentatious of men, careless in his costume, abstemious and simple in his habits, unselfish and generous in dispositions.

He married in 1874, and has four sons and one daughter.

_Isaac D. Purkis, Esq._

Was born in Laprairie, Que., in 1827. He was son of the Rev. Isaac Purkis, who came from England in 1821, and was a lineal descendant of the Purkis who carried the body of King William Rufus from the New Forest to Winchester in Hampshire, when shot by Sir Walter Tyrell, while hunting in the New Forest.

Mr. Purkis learned telegraphy under Mr. O. S. Wood and was located at Prescott, Ont., from 1849 to 1851, in the employ of the Montreal Telegraph Company. In 1851, on the very flattering recommendation of Mr. Wood, he entered the service of the British North American Telegraph Association and was appointed Superintendent (equivalent to General Manager at the present date). This company had a line from Quebec city east, to Rivière du Loup, thence southerly to St. John, N.B., etc. In 1853, on the recommendation of Mr. Purkis, the line was extended to Montreal, along the north shore of the river, and thus entered into competition with the Montreal Telegraph Company, whose line was from Point Levi, along the south shore to Montreal and thence westward. Connection was first made between Quebec and Point Levi by a long span of wire on masts, in the spring when the ice was breaking up. None of the linemen would attempt to cross on the floating, broken ice. Mr. Purkis then got a ladder, and placing himself in the centre with the coil of wire over his shoulder succeeded in making the passage, at the same time paying out the wire over the edges of the ice. His exertions were so great that he was completely exhausted when he finally got across.

This company established at Rivière du Loup, Que., a signal office under the Lloyd code, whereby all vessels passing were signalled and information at once telegraphed to the owner or agent and to the press. In addition to this a boat manned with capable oarsmen, swivel gun on bow to signal the approaching steamer, more particularly at night, was used to intercept and receive from the inward steamer the despatches and latest newspapers from Europe. The method was to throw a tin cylinder in which were enclosed the despatches and newspapers with a small flag attached to the end; this was attached to a lanyard, and when secured by the Telegraph boat, the steamer was given a signal and she proceeded on her way, the despatches being promptly brought ashore and delivered to the telegraph and signal officer in charge.

In December 29, 1854, the British North American Telegraph Association and the Canada Grand Trunk Telegraph Company (whose lines extended from Montreal westward) entered into an agreement for the mutual interchange of business, and Mr. Purkis was appointed Superintendent of both companies. This position he held until both companies were amalgamated with the Montreal Telegraph Company in the latter part of 1856. When he left the telegraph business in August of that year his subordinates presented him with a signet ring, which he wore to the day of his death.

He engaged in the forwarding and ferry business at Prescott until 1870, when he was appointed General Manager of the Dominion Telegraph Company, with headquarters at Toronto. He resigned from this position in 1874 and again returned to Prescott taking up his former business. Besides himself he had three brothers engaged in the telegraph service, George, Arthur and William, all of whom predeceased him many years since.

Mr. Purkis was a citizen of the highest type, always eager for the welfare of the town and its inhabitants.

Personally, he was of a most genial and kindly disposition, a true and sincere friend to all who shared his confidence.

He passed away recently at his home at Prescott after a brief illness, in his 78th year.

_Submarine Telegraphy._

When the electric telegraph had been successfully established in Great Britain, the public soon became alive to the necessity of extending its operations beyond the confines of the United Kingdom.

As early as 1840 Professor Charles Wheatstone, of England, suggested the practicability of connecting Dover and Calais, in France, by an electric wire, but it was ten years later before a submarine line was laid. This first attempt proved a failure, owing to the wires being imperfectly insulated.

In 1851 a second cable, containing four copper wires insulated with gutta percha and surrounded by tarred hemp and protected by ten galvanized iron wires wound round spirally, was laid connecting England and France. This proved successful. All submarine cables thereafter were made on this pattern.

It was now evident that the sea offered no barrier to international telegraphic communication.

In the same year (1851) a submarine cable ten miles in length was laid connecting Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.

In 1852 six submarine lines were laid connecting England with Ireland, Scotland and the continent, the longest of which was one about one hundred nautical miles, and in 1854 five additional cables were laid in European waters.

In 1856 Newfoundland and Cape Breton was connected by submarine wire, the distances being some eighty-five miles. The successful laying of this cable led to the more gigantic undertaking, viz., to connecting the old and the new worlds electrically. There are three names prominently connected with the origination of the idea, Bishop Mulock, of Newfoundland, Frederick Gisborne and Cyrus W. Field.

The following interesting remarks of Mr. Mackay, of Newfoundland, is worth producing.

In a speech he made at a banquet given by the old-time Telegraphers’ Association, held at the Windsor Hotel in the summer of 1901, he said; “If you please, I shall now refer to a matter that I think may be far more interesting to you all than anything I have said thus far. I mean to refer to the matter of the Atlantic telegraph, as it is a subject that must always occupy a large share of the attention of the telegraph world, because at the present time telegraphing by cable is one of the most important factors in the whole service that makes the telegraphy of the world as valuable as it is. The subject that I wanted to mention to you is the question as to who was the person that initiated or gave birth to the idea of an Atlantic telegraph, which, of course, gave birth to all deep-sea and long-distance telegraphy.

“As a matter of fact, in Newfoundland, where this subject has been given considerable attention, it is stated that the Right Rev. Dr. Mulock, Roman Catholic Bishop of Newfoundland, was one of the parties. Others contend that the late F. N. Gisborne is the person, others that Cyrus W. Field is the person.

“I would like to refer to those gentlemen, beginning first with Dr. Mulock.

“I trust you will pardon me for saying that I consider my opinion on the matter is worth something, inasmuch as I think I am the only man of those that were connected with the Atlantic telegraph at the time of its inception, in an executive capacity, all the others having gone before, as far as I know.

“Now with regard to Dr. Mulock, I think there is not the least doubt he got his information from Mr. Gisborne in regard to the Atlantic telegraph, and that his only connection with it was the expression of his belief in the possibility of its establishment, just as a man might say, for instance, we will in the next generation fly in the air; but he contributed nothing towards the direct accomplishment of the object. There is not the least doubt in my mind, therefore, that it lies between Mr. F. N. Gisborne and Cyrus W. Field.

“Mr. Gisborne’s friends contend now that he was unjustly treated by Field, and that he really had advised Mr. Field of the possibility of accomplishing this great work. Mr. Gisborne did not make this contention in his lifetime.

“I had the privilege of seeing him some years before he died, long subsequent to the establishment of the Atlantic telegraph, and he said that on his meeting Cyrus W. Field, in the month of January, 1854, whilst foreshadowing the possibility and the desirability of establishing Atlantic communication between Newfoundland and the Continent of America, he did not refer to the possibility of a cable to England, but only relied on the success of that enterprise by contributing to its coffers messages obtained from steamers arriving in Newfoundland and transmitted from thence by carrier pigeons, and ultimately by telegraphic cable.

“Mr. Gisborne made that statement, and he admitted that he did not, in his first interview with Cyrus W. Field, foreshadow the possibility of the Atlantic telegraph.

“Now Mr. Field on being questioned in regard to that interview which took place in Mr. Field’s house in January, 1854, said exactly the same thing.

“He only contended for the pigeons in the first place and the possibility of a cable to Cape Breton in the second place, and the clever far-seeing commercial man, as he was considered, said that there was no possibility of such a scheme ever paying, and, therefore, he would not have anything to do with it; but on seeing Gisborne, he turned over the Globe, and, in turning it over, seeing that Cape Breton was only an inch or two on the Globe from Newfoundland, and that Ireland was only six inches, with his shrewdness and cleverness he said at once, ‘If a cable can be laid to Cape Breton, why can’t it be laid to Ireland?’ and the next morning he wrote a letter to Professor Morse and asked him if a cable could be laid to Ireland and whether it could be worked. He also wrote a letter to Lieutenant Maury, of the United States Navy, and asked him whether it would be possible to lay a cable to Ireland. Satisfactory answers being obtained to these two questions, he at once embarked in the enterprise and threw his whole influence (rich man that he was at that time) into the work of laying the Atlantic cable. You will see, therefore, that Mr. Gisborne did not communicate the idea of the Atlantic cable, but he communicated _the idea of a cable_ that was quite enough for a man of Cyrus W. Field’s foresight and ingenuity to suggest the possibility of an Atlantic cable, so that there is really no difference as to credit due these two gentlemen for the initiation of the project, and I can assure you it is most satisfactory to me because I have always been a warm friend of both gentlemen (applause). I think I am the only living witness to these facts I have related, and I am glad to have this opportunity to state it publicly. I know it is a matter of interest to all telegraph men. Now the question comes to my mind, Who then was the author of the first idea of the Atlantic cable.

“In this connection I will go back to the year 1850. In 1854 the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company obtained a charter which gave them exclusive rights to land a cable in Newfoundland for fifty years. This charter terminates in 1904, and I hope to live to see that charter expire. I am confident it will never be renewed, because the British Government would never consent, now that deep-sea telegraphy is an assured fact, to exclusive rights, of that nature being conferred on anybody or corporation. (Applause.)

“We will now go back to, Who was the first man that started the idea of the Atlantic cable? and I find no difficulty in naming the man, as far as my opinion goes.

“In 1850, whilst studying telegraphy with Mr. Gisborne in Halifax, he was very communicative in all his methods and actions, and he showed me letters at that time from Mr. Brett. There were two Bretts. I think the first was John and the second Jacob, but it was the elder Brett who was in communication with him then by letter, and he had given birth to the idea of a cable. He not only gave birth to it in 1850, but in 1852 he laid the cable from Dover in England to France, and that cable was working until within a few years of the present time. He, therefore, not only gave birth to the idea, but he gave actual presence to the cable, and I think it is not unlikely, and I find it easy for me to say, that there never was an inventor who was wont to appreciate his own invention. I think it is not unlikely that Brett, when he had the idea of a cable at all, although only twenty-one miles in length, that he had within his vision thousands of miles, covering all bays, all waters and all seas (applause); that is my idea that John Brett was the originator and inventor of the submarine cable.”

Mr. Mackay, whose testimony we have given, was the superintendent of telegraphs for the Anglo-American Telegraph and Cable Company for the Island of Newfoundland and held this position for many years.

The circumstances which brought Gisborne and Field together was as follows: The former had planned a line of telegraph from St. John’s, Nfld., through four hundred miles of dense wilderness and forest to Cape Ray, there to connect by steamers or by carrier pigeons or by cable.

To enable him to carry out this project the Legislature of Newfoundland granted £500 for a survey of the route.

An Act was also passed incorporating the Newfoundland Telegraph Company with an exclusive right of way for thirty years, including amongst other privileges valuable concessions of public lands. Having thus laid the groundwork of his scheme Gisborne immediately left for New York to raise capital; in this he was successful. Horace B. Tebbets and D. H. Holbrook were among the more prominent to join him, and a company was organized under the charter which had been granted. Soon after the formation of the Company Mr. Gisborne left for England, to purchase a submarine cable to connect Cape Ray and Cape Breton.

In 1852 thirty miles of the land line had been completed, and Mr. Gisborne had skilfully and successfully laid the first submarine cable of any considerable length in America between Cape Ray and Cape Breton and Cape Tormentine and Cape Traverse in Northumberland Straits.

In 1853, however, the cable gave out, about the same time the New York stockholders withheld their support; this caused the work to be suspended and the Company became bankrupt. Mr. Gisborne, finding himself unable to proceed, gave up all he possessed to pay the accrued debts, and for a time abandoned the enterprise.

Under such circumstances and with renewed courage Mr. Gisborne in 1854 returned to New York, to try, if possible, to resuscitate interest in his work. Among others to whom he now found access was Mr. Matthew D. Field, a New York Engineer, to whom he communicated his position and plans. Mr. Field, however, declined to interest himself, but politely offered to introduce him to his brother, Cyrus W. Field, at that time retired from active business. This led to several interviews, which had the effect of exciting a general interest in telegraph affairs in Mr. Field’s mind. Standing one evening over a large globe after one of these interviews with Mr. Gisborne, and tracing the lines overland to St. John’s, Nfld., an idea dawned on his mind which gradually strengthened its hold upon his imagination and soon absorbed his whole heart and life.

While following with his finger the track of the inland lines to the ocean, it was natural to traverse also the course of the steamships across the Northern Atlantic. It was but a step further to plant his finger on London and to feel that to reach the centre of English commercial life by telegraph, were this practicable, would be an achievement worth striving for.

Mr. Field, thus aroused to a comprehension of a possible opportunity to embark in a grand enterprise worthy of the age, began to make enquiry respecting the project of laying a cable on the bed of the Atlantic. He found that a recent survey of the Northern Atlantic, under the direction of Lieutenant Maury, had been made, and a plateau extending from Newfoundland to Ireland had been discovered, forming a safe and easy pathway for a submarine wire.

Professor Morse also assured Mr. Field that the project was entirely feasible, and warmly encouraged him in it, and asserted the certainty of its ultimate accomplishment.