[…]
"In regard to the translation of Bonelli's article, it may not be amiss as it may […] obviate the difficulties, [of] which I have been aware for some years . . . but which I am confident will yield to the research & inventive energies of those who have the advantage of experimenting on the submarine cable.
"We have no such facilities for research or experiment on this side of the water, as we have no submarine nor subterranean conductors."
Until the first transatlantic cable connecting Canada and Ireland successfully transmitted electrical signals in August of 1858, there was little confidence in the existing designs for a perfectly insulated submerged cable. Before the transatlantic triumph of his company American Telegraph, Cyrus Field had made some promising attempts in Newfoundland, and, among the developments in Europe, efforts by the Mediterranean Telegraph Company had led to the successful connection of Sardinia and Algeria two months after the first transatlantic cable, led by the engineers Jacob Brett and Gaetano Bonelli..