The vessels left England in the midst of general rejoicings, and arrived at the rendezvous at the proper time.  Thence they sailed for the harbor of Valentia, which was to be the eastern terminus of the line and the starting point of the expedition.  They were greeted every-where with enthusiasm, and the greatest confidence in the success of the enterprise was manifested by those on board.  Mr. Field, Professor Morse, and several other officers of the company were on board the “Niagara,” as that ship was to conduct the first part of the sinking of the cable.

At length all was in readiness.  The shore end of the cable was landed and made fast on Wednesday afternoon, the 5th of August, and the next morning the fleet stood out to sea.  “Before they had gone five miles the heavy shore end of the cable caught in the machinery and parted.  The ‘Niagara’ put back, and the cable was ‘underrun’ the whole distance.  At length the end was lifted out of the water and spliced to the gigantic coil, and as it dropped safely to the bottom of the sea, the mighty ship began to stir.  At first she moved very slowly, not more than two miles an hour, to avoid the danger of accident; but the feeling that they are at last away is itself a relief.  The ships are all in sight, and so near that they can hear each other’s bells.  The ‘Niagara,’ as if knowing that she is bound for the land out of whose forests she came, bends her head to the waves, as her prow is turned toward her native shores.

“Slowly passed the hours of that day.  But all went well, and the ships were moving out into the broad Atlantic.  At length the sun went down in the west, and stars came out on the face of the deep.  But no man slept.  A thousand eyes were watching a great experiment, as those who have a personal interest in the issue.  All through that night, and through the anxious days and nights that followed, there was a feeling in every soul on board as if a friend in the cabin were at the turning-point of life or death, and they were watching beside him.  There was a strange, unnatural silence in the ship.  Men paced the deck with soft and muffled tread, speaking only in whispers, as if a loud voice or a heavy footfall might snap the vital cord.  So much had they grown to feel for the enterprise, that the cable seemed to them like a human creature, on whose fate they hung, as if it were to decide their own destiny.

“There are some who will never forget that first night at sea.  Perhaps the reaction from the excitement on shore made the impression the deeper.  What strange thoughts came to them as they stood on the deck and watched that mysterious cord disappearing in the darkness, and gliding to its ocean bed!  There are certain moments in life when every thing comes back upon us—­when the events of years seem crowded into an hour.  What memories came up in those long night hours!  How many on board that ship thought of homes beyond the sea, of absent ones, of the distant and the dead!  Such thoughts, mingling with those suggested by the scene around, added to the solemnity of the hour, had left an impression which can never be forgotten.