Robert Charles Dudley was born in London, England, in 1826, and pursued a career as an artist. Known for his marine paintings and watercolours, he regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art, as well as working as an illustrator for the Illustrated London News. In 1865 Dudley was one of two artists selected to accompany the expedition organized by American businessman Cyrus W. Field to lay a telegraph cable from Ireland to Newfoundland. The first attempt to operate a transatlantic cable was in 1858, but a month after the cable was put in place it failed. After a delay due to the American Civil War, the 1865 voyage installed an improved design, but this cable snapped. The following year Dudley set out again with Field's team and recorded the activities of the Atlantic cable fleet as it undertook the task of laying ca. 4,000 kilometers of wires for a third time. The expedition departed Valentia Island, Ireland, on July 13, 1866 and landed at Heart's Content, Newfoundland, on July 27, 1866. This time the cable did not fail, and people and organizations on either side of the Atlantic Ocean could communicate with only a minor delay instead of waiting for ships to deliver newspapers, letters, and other information resources. (The 1866 expedition also managed to locate and fix the 1865 cable, thereby providing two cables for transatlantic communications)
Dudley's watercolours and paintings were utilized as the basis for illustrations for not only the Illustrated London News, but also a book by William H. Russell, written to commemorate this technological landmark. Published in 1866/1867 by Day and Son in London, The Atlantic Cable included 25 prints based on Charles Dudley's works of art.
The original watercolours and paintings by Dudley are now found in several collections, including that of Library and Archives Canada. These three Dudley watercolours were acquired as part of the Peter Winkworth Collection of Canadiana.
Initially the third of these watercolours (R9266-177), "Erecting the land line for the Trans Atlantic Cable," was thought to be a view of Newfoundland, but further research determined that the caption on the secondary support (now missing) was correct: "Erecting the land line for the Trans Atlantic Cable at Valentia, Ireland." There is another (very similar) version of this watercolour in the collection of the Institute of Engineering and Technology in London, England (See UK0108 OPC/1/37/04, "Erecting land lines in the Irish interior.")
