"The year 1866 will witness the consummation of the greatest work of civilised man, and the grandest exposition of the development of the faculties bestowed on him to overcome material difficulties" (p. 104).

This book describes the progress of the Atlantic cable project from the mid-1850s to 1865, in anticipation of the laying of what was to become the first successful transatlantic cable in 1866. The appendices include details of the equipment, the people involved in the project, and a list of other cables layed around the world.

v, 117 p., [26] col. plates : ill.


1. Front Cover
10. The Old Frigate with Her Freight of Cable Alongside the Great Eastern at Sheerness
11. Paying-Out Machinery
12. Coiling the Cable in the After-Tank on Board the Great Eastern at Sheerness : Visit of H.R.H. The Prince of Wales on May 24.
13. Foilhummerum Bay, Valentia, Looking Seawards from the Point at Which the Cable Reaches the Shore
14. The Cliffs, Foilhummerum Bay : Point of the Landing of the Shore End of Cable, July 22
15. Foilhummerum Bay Bay, Valentia, from Cornwall Fort : The Caro-Line and Boats Laying the Earth-Wire, Jul 21
16. The Great Eastern Under Weight, July 23 : Escort and Other Ships Introduced Being the Terrible, the Sphinx, the Hawk, and the Caroline
17. Chart, Showing the Track of the Steam-Ship Great Eastern on Her Voyage from Valentia to Newfoundland
18. Splicing the Cable (After the First Accident) on Board the Great Eastern, July 25
19. View (Looking Aft) from the Port Paddle-Box of Great Eastern : Showing the Trough for Cable, etc.
2. Title Page - Weighing Anchor off the Maplin Sands, Nore, July 15, 1865
20. The Forge on Deck : Night of August 9 : Preparing the Iron Plating for Capstan
21. Searching for Fault After Recovery of the Cable from the Bed of the Atlantic, July 31
22. In the Bows, August 2 : The Cable Broken and Lost : Preparing to Grapple
23. Getting Out One of the Large Buoys for Launching, August 2
24. General View of Port Magee, &c., from the Heights Below Cora Beg : The Caroline Laying the Shore End of the Cable, July 22
25. Interior of One of the Tanks on Board the Great Eastern : Cable Passing Out
26. Launching Buoy on August 8, in Lat. 51° 25' 30''; Long. 30° 56' (Marking Spot Where Cable had Been Grappled)
27. Forward Deck Cleared for the Final Attempt at Grappling, August 11
28. Back Cover
3. The Reels of Gutta-Percha-Covered Conducting-Wire Conveyed into Tanks at the Works at Greenwich
4. Valentia in 1857-1858 at the Time of the Laying of the Former Cable
5. Trinity Bay, Newfoundland : Exterior View of Telegraph House in 1857-1858
6. Telegraph House, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland : Interior of Mess-Room 1858
7. H.M.S. Agamemnon Laying the Atlantic Telegraph Cable in 1858 : A Whale Crosses the Line
8. Coiling the Cable in the Large Tanks at the Works at Green-Wich
9. The Cable Passed from the Works into the Hulk Lying in the Thames at Greenwich