This print depicts the 'Amethyst' hulked. The image relates to the transatlantic cable manufactured at East Greenwich for loading into the 'Great Eastern' and is from the original account of the laying of the cable in the 1860s, which Dudley illustrated. The Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, under the chairmanship of John Pender, manufactured the 1865 cable at Greenwich. After it had been made, the cable was coiled down into great cylindrical tanks at Enderby's Wharf before being fed into the ship. The 'Amethyst' and 'Iris' transferred the 2500 miles (4022 km) of cable to the 'Great Eastern' as she lay at a mooring at Sheerness, an operation that took over three months.