The transatlantic cable, completed in July 1866 C.E., was the beginning of fast communication across the seas. Massachusetts merchant and financier Cyrus W. Field first proposed laying a 2,000-mile copper cable along the ocean bottom from Newfoundland to Ireland in 1854 C.E., but the first three attempts ended in broken cables and failure. Field's persistence finally paid off 12 years later, when Great Eastern, the largest ship then afloat, successfully laid the cable along the level, sandy bottom of the North Atlantic. As messages traveled between Europe and America in hours rather than weeks, Cyrus Field was showered with honors. Despite the marvelous technical feat of laying the cable, and the Trans-Atlantic Cables obvious uses, the Cable did not last long. It was to be quickly replaced by the radio and the telephone.