The Paying-out Machinery in the Stern of the Great Eastern 1865 Robert Charles Dudley British One of the 19th century's great technological achievements was to lay a telegraphic cable beneath the Atlantic, allowing messages to speed back and forth between North America and Europe in minutes, rather than ten or twelve days by steamer. An initially successful attempt in 1858, led by Cyrus W. Field and financed by the Atlantic Telegraph Company, failed after three weeks. Two working cables were finally laid in July and September 1866, the result of repeated efforts by the indefatigable Field, a c

The Paying-out Machinery in the Stern of the Great Eastern 1865 Robert Charles Dudley British One of the 19th century's great technological achievements was to lay a telegraphic cable beneath the Atlantic, allowing messages to speed back and forth between North America and Europe in minutes, rather than ten or twelve days by steamer. An initially successful attempt in 1858, led by Cyrus W. Field and financed by the Atlantic Telegraph Company, failed after three weeks. Two working cables were finally laid in July and September 1866, the result of repeated efforts by the indefatigable Field, a cadre of engineers, technicians, and sailors, two groups of financial backers, and significant help from the British and United States watercolor by Dudley shows elaborate machinery on the Great Eastern's aft deck used to pay out the cable into the water. Part of a series documenting the long, arduous process, this image was reproduced as a color lithograph in William H. Russell's 1866 book "The Atlantic Telegraph" ( and ). In 1892 Field donated art works by Dudley, a copy of Russell's book, commemorative medals, memorabilia, and specimens of cable to the The Paying-out Machinery in the Stern of the Great Eastern 383822 Artist: Robert Charles Dudley, British, 1826?1909, The Paying-out Machinery in the Stern of the Great Eastern, 1865, Watercolor over graphite with touches of gouache, Sheet: 6 3/4 ? 10 1/2 in. ( ? cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of Cyrus W. Field, 1892 ()

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