Having secured the aid of the Queen’s Government on such liberal terms, Mr. Field now undertook the organization of the company, in addition to the task of raising a capital of three hundred and fifty thousand pounds.  In both efforts he was effectively assisted by Mr. John W. Brett, who had laid the first cable across the English Channel, and by Mr. Charles T. Bright and Dr. Edward O.W.  Whitehouse.  The efforts of these gentlemen were successful.  In a few weeks the whole capital was subscribed.  It had been divided into three hundred and fifty shares of a thousand pounds each.  One hundred and one of these were taken up in London, eighty-six in Liverpool, thirty-seven in Glasgow, twenty-eight in Manchester, and a few in other parts of England.  Mr. Field, at the final division of shares, took eighty-eight.  He did not design making this investment on his own account, but thinking it but fair that at least one-fourth of the stock should be held in America, he made this subscription with the intention of disposing of his shares after his return home.  Owing to his continued absence from New York, and the straitened condition of the money market, it was nearly a year before he could succeed in selling as much as twenty-seven shares.  The company was organized in December, 1856, a Board of Directors elected, and a contract made for the cable, half of which was to be made in London and the other half in Liverpool.

The day after the organization of the company, Mr. Field sailed for New York, from which place he at once made a voyage to Newfoundland, to look after some matters which required his presence.  Returning home, he hurried to Washington, to secure the aid of the General Government.  He met with more opposition here than he had encountered in England.  A powerful lobby opposed him, and a spirit of hostility to his bill exhibited itself in Congress, and to such a degree that the measure passed the Senate by a majority of only one vote.  It came very near failing in the House, but at length got through, and received the President’s signature on the 3d of March, 1857.

In the summer of 1857, Mr. Field having returned to England, the cable was declared to be in readiness for laying.  The United States Government now placed at the disposal of the Telegraph Company the magnificent new steam frigate “Niagara,” as the most suitable vessel for laying the cable, and ordered the “Susquehanna,” the largest side-wheel frigate in the service, to accompany her in the expedition.  The British Government provided the steam frigate “Agamemnon,” a splendid vessel, which had been the flagship of the English fleet at the bombardment of Sebastopol, and ordered the “Leopard” to accompany her as an escort.  The “Niagara” was commanded by Captain W.L.  Hudson, of the United States Navy, and the “Agamemnon” by Captain Noddal, of the Royal Navy.  The “Niagara” took on her share of the cable at Liverpool, and the “Agamemnon” received hers at London.  It was agreed that the “Niagara” should begin the laying of the cable, and continue it until her portion of it should be exhausted in mid-ocean, when her end of it should be united with the cable on board the “Agamemnon,” which ship should continue laying the line until the shores of Newfoundland were reached.  After taking on the cable, the ships were ordered to Queenstown.