During those years he was determined to learn a trade and used money from an aunt to purchase a lathe, vice and lumber with which he made a work bench.
[2] Henley designed and built a machine in 1837 for covering wires with silk or cotton thread which is now in the London Science Museum (Object Number: 1939-139).
[1][2] The firm eventually extended operations to manufacturing gutta-percha and rubber core as well as cable laying and repair.
La Plata foundered en route to complete the lay on 29 November 1874 in the Bay of Biscay with loss of 58 crew and the cable.
Today the company is a division of SICAME UK Limited and relocated to a brand new factory at Hoo (near Rochester) in July 2018.