Four coloured prints, scenes on "Great Eastern" during laying of the first Atlantic cable, printed by Day and Sons Limited, Camden, London, England, 1865-1867. Four coloured prints illustrating operations aboard the cable ship 'Great Eastern' during the 1865 laying of the transatlantic cable. The four prints are titled 'Interior of one of the tanks aboard the Great Eastern - cable passing out', 'Searching for a fault after recovery of the cable from the bed of the Atlantic July 31st', 'Getting out one of the large buoys for launching August 2nd', and 'Launching buoy on August 8th in Lat 51 25 30, Long 38 56, marking spot where cable has been grappled'.
Four coloured prints, scenes on "Great Eastern" during laying of the first Atlantic cable, printed by Day and Sons Limited, Camden, London, England, 1865-1867. Four coloured prints illustrating operations aboard the cable ship 'Great Eastern' during the 1865 laying of the transatlantic cable. The four prints are titled 'Interior of one of the tanks aboard the Great Eastern - cable passing out', 'Searching for a fault after recovery of the cable from the bed of the Atlantic July 31st', 'Getting out one of the large buoys for launching August 2nd', and 'Launching buoy on August 8th in Lat 51 25 30, Long 38 56, marking spot where cable has been grappled'.
Day and Sons Ltd was a prominent lithographic firm in the 19th century. They were accorded a Royal Warrant in 1837. The prints of the 'Great Eastern' cable laying expedition were based on original watercolours by Robert Charles Dudley (1826-1900), which are now held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Day and Sons' prints were produced for W H Russell's book, 'The Atlantic Telegraph'. They document different stages of the unsuccessful transatlantic cable laying voyage of 1865.