Field, Cooper, etc., were decidedly strained.

It is more than possible that, had he continued as electrician of the company, the second attempt might have been successful, for he foresaw the difficulty which resulted in failure, and, had he been the guiding mind, it would, naturally, have been avoided.

The proof of this is in the following incident, which was related by a friend of his, Mr.Jacob S.Jewett, to Mr.Prime:-- "I thought it might interest you to know when and how Professor Morse received the first tidings of the success of the Atlantic Cable.

I accompanied him to Europe on the steamer Fulton, which sailed from New York July 24, 1858.

We were nearing Southampton when a sail boat was noticed approaching, and soon our vessel was boarded by a young man who sought an interview with Professor Morse, and announced to him that a message from America had just been received, the first that had passed along the wire lying upon the bed of the ocean.
"Professor Morse was, of course, greatly delighted, but, turning to me, said: '_This is very gratifying, but it is doubtful whether many more messages will be received_'; and gave as his reason that--'the cable had been so long stored in an improper place that much of the coating had been destroyed, and the cable was in other respects injured.' His prediction proved to be true." And Mr.Prime adds: "Had he been in the board of direction, had his judgment and experience as electrician been employed, that great calamity, which cost millions of money and eight years of delay in the use of the ocean telegraph, would, in all human probability, have been averted." But it is idle to speculate on what might have been.