Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

EARLY ATLANTIC CABLES. 281 Faraday excepted. Again, the soundings showed that the bottom on which the line was to be deposited was unfavourable only- in the sense of being at a far greater depth embodied in a letter from the Treasury,* and form remarkable reading at the present day. The Atlantic Telegraph Company was re- Fig. 4.—FROM ORIGINAL CHART DEPICTING THE PROPOSED ROUTE FOR THE FIRST ATLANTIC CABLE, WITH ITS TERMINAL CONNECTIONS. Government Recognition. fits it would than that to which any cable had been pre- viously submerged. There yet remained the necessity for obtain- ing (1) Government recognition, and, if pos- sible, Government subsidies ; (2) the confi- dence and pecuniary support of the moneyed mercantile classes ; (3) a suitable forijj. of cable, as well as all the necessary apparatus for the laying of the same. After considerable hesitation and discus- sion, the two Governments concerned event- ually recognized the feasibility and importance of this undertaking for linking together the two great English- speaking nations, and the bene- confer upon humanity. Both the British and United States Governments gave a subsidy in return for free transmission of their messages, with priority over others. This, however, amounted to but 8 per cent, of the capital, and was payable only while the cable worked. The full particulars of the agreement with the British Government were The Atlantic Telegraph Company. was there at gistered on October 20, 1856, and the £350,000 fixed as the necessary capital was then sought and obtained from the public in a quite unprecedented fashion. There was no 1 pro- motion money, no prospectus was published ; the company was not advertised; neither that time any board of directors or executive officers. The election of a board was reserved for a meeting of the shareholders, to be held after allotment. Any remuneration to the projectors was left wholly dependent on the shareholders’ profits being over 10 per cent, per annum, after which the projectors were to share the surplus. In the course of a few days the entire capital was raised by the issue of 350 shares of £1,000 each, chiefly taken up by the share- holders in the “ Magnetic ” Company, hailing from Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, and * See Life-story of Sir Charles Bright (London: Constable and Co., Ltd.).