In 1855, Field crossed the Atlantic, the first of 56 crossings in the course of the project, to consult with John Watkins Brett who was the greatest authority on submarine cables at that time. Brett's Submarine Telegraph Company laid the first ocean cable in 1850 across the English Channel and his English and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company had laid a cable to Ireland in 1853 which was the deepest cable laid up to that date. Further reasons for the trip were that all the commercial manufacturers of submarine cable were in Britain, and Field had failed to raise significant funds for the project in New York.