A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable

John Steele Gordon. A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable. New York: Walker, 2002.

In 1866 the Old and New World were united by the successful laying of a telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean. According to Sir Arthur C. Clarke this feat was "the Victorian equivalent of the Apollo project."

The idea for the scheme began in 1854 when a young New York entrepreneur, Cyrus Field, became enamored with the idea of laying a 2,000 mile long telegraph cable across the Atlantic between Ireland and...