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Cyrus West Field (November 30, 1819 – July 11/12, 1892) was an American businessman and financier who led the Atlantic Telegraph Company, the company that successfully laid the first telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean in 1858.The cable broke soon afterward. In 1866, Field laid a new, more durable cable which provided almost instant communication across the Atlantic. In December 1884, the Canadian Pacific Railway named the community of Field, British Columbia, Canada in his honour. Bad investments left Field bankrupt at the end of his life.
Early life
He was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts to David Dudley Field, a clergyman. He was the brother of David Dudley Field, Henry Martyn Field, and Stephen Johnson Field. When he was 15 years old, he moved to New York City, and after three years he returned to Stockbridge. He moved back to New York City around 1840. Profits from his business ventures permitted him to retire at the age 33 with a fortune of $250,000.
Atlantic telegraph cable
A meeting with Frederick N. Gisborne, a Canadian electrical engineer who was in New York City attempting to interest capitalists in an undertaking to construct an overland telegraph line across Newfoundland, in 1854, led him to consider the construction of a deep-sea cable stretching from Newfoundland to Ireland.
Later life
With the great wealth earned from the Atlantic Cable, Field returned to New York where he would stay till his death. In New York he invested in the city's elevated railroads. Ultimately, he was double-crossed by his business partners while his remaining fortune was stolen by his son, leaving Field nearly penniless.
In his much later years, before his death, it was reported that he was tormented by a recurring dream in which the ships that had laid the Atlantic cable had finished while he stood alone on the shore of Ireland.
Today, the Atlantic Cable of 1866 remains on the bottom of the ocean, long since abandonded.
See also
External links
- Cyrus Field Photographs, Portraits and Medals
- atlantic-cable.com, a comprehensive history of Atlantic telegraph cables
- PBS, American Experience: The Great Transatlantic Cable
- History Channel, Modern Marvels: Transatlantic Cable: 2500 Miles of Copper
- "Cable Ready" - Failure Magazine, December, 2002
- Harper's Weekly feature cartoon about the first attempt to lay a transatlantic telegraph cable, May 16, 1857.
Telecommunications history | 1819 births | 1892 deaths | Stockbridge, Massachusetts
"Cyrus West Field"