Object Image

View of the Interior of One of the Tanks on Board the Great Eastern

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 to twelve days by steamer. An initially successful 1858 attempt, 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 navies. Dudley documented the process in a series of watercolors a...
1865-66
Watercolor over graphite with touches of gouache
26.6 x 37.5cm
92.10.76
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection