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The first cable was put down during the years 1857-1858; but after transmitting about 400 telegrams, it went dead. In 1863 engineers built a new cable that measured 3,400 kilometers, weighed 4,500 metric tons, and was shipped aboard the Great Eastern. This attempt also failed.
第一條電纜是在1857年和1858年鋪設的。但傳送了大約400次電報后，它就失靈了。在1863年，工程師們又制造了一條長3400公里、重4500噸的新電纜，由“大東方號”船只裝船。但這次試驗還是失敗了。
Now then, on May 25 while submerged to a depth of 3,836 meters, the Nautilus lay in precisely the locality where this second cable suffered the rupture that ruined the undertaking. It happened 638 miles from the coast of Ireland. At around two o'clock in the afternoon, all contact with Europe broke off. The electricians on board decided to cut the cable before fishing it up, and by eleven o'clock that evening they had retrieved the damaged part. They repaired the joint and its splice; then the cable was resubmerged. But a few days later it snapped again and couldn't be recovered from the ocean depths.
而5月25日，“鸚鵡螺號”船只潛入了3836米的深海底，正好是在電纜中斷而導致工程失敗的地點。這里距愛爾蘭海岸有638海里。那時有人發現，下午2點鐘時，和歐洲的電訊聯系剛剛中斷。于是船上的電工決定把電纜打撈出來之前，先把它切斷。晚上11點，他們就把損壞的部分拉了上來。人們又重新做了一個聯軸和接口，然后再把電纜沉入海中。但幾天后，它又斷了，而且再也不能從深海中打撈上來。
These Americans refused to give up. The daring Cyrus Field, who had risked his whole fortune to promote this undertaking, called for a new bond issue. It sold out immediately. Another cable was put down under better conditions.
但美國人并不泄氣。勇敢的塞路斯·菲爾德，這項工程的倡導者，冒險投入自己所有的財產，發起了又一次募捐行動。他不久就籌足了款項。這樣，另一條電纜在更好的條件下制造出來了。
