The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1889-12-21
BROKEN CABLES.
,arching for the Severed Wires
in Midocean.
INV Injuries are Inflicted Upon
Cables.

s. location of cable break is very
ura,clv determined by process
,ovn to electricians and by an instru-
s,t which dlsclose5 how far an cleo
zeal current, started on given line of
no travels before it meets with inter-
U[ntion. The calculation of the dis
k.,ce 10 the break made on this side the
Itantic can be checked and confirmed
z similar calculation made on the
/ cher side, although such a confirmation
scarcely necessary. After having
mnd out how FAR from land the break
tic only other thing the captain or
I,vjcator of the cable steamer wants to
now is in what direction that distance
4 TO be Travelled; and as tho course of
1 he cable is perfectly we'll known from
| he fact that when the cable was laid
ecurate observations were taken by the
| ab!e-laycrs, and records made, the
! ble steamer starting out to do the re-
| airs can steam directly over the spot
|shere the break is located.
OF course when the statement is
|nade, Il is not at all meant that the
|oca;ion can be determined within
/ few inches or a few feet, but it can
be determined within a very limited
|rea, so that the graphing for the ends
|ofthe cable do not usually extend in good
reathcr over period greater than two
|r three days, and sometimes does not
ast even SO long as that.
The graphing irons are immense af-
hairs attached themselves to cables manip-
rlated from the deck of the steamer, and
.re plunged downward and dragged
pyer the bottom of the ocean. When
The cable is finally grappled, the fact
B made clear at the steamer end of
The line by reason of the strain to
which the graphing iron is subjected,
precisely as a fisherman knows that he
has a fish on his hook by the in
creased tautness of the line. The only
difference is that in the case of the
iron the strain is revealed by
IN instrument on board the steamer
Known as the dynamOmeter. When
this instrument reveals the presence Of
such "a strain as the graphing of the
cable would bring about, the iron Is
hauled up with the cable at the end oft.
The repalrers always calculate to
grapple the cable about ten miles away
from the point at which the break has
occurred. If the irons grappled the
cable too near the end, the cable would
slip away long before it reached the
deck of the steamer. In some instan ces
no break has occurred at all, and cleo :
trical communication has been inter-
rup,ed perhaps by the destruction of the
insulated covering of the cable, or by
some defect of similar character. so
that when the grappling-iron appears at
the surface of the water the entire length
Of cable comes up with it. The break
is then spliced, or the defects remedi ed,
and the rchabilitated cable is consigned
once more to the bosom of the mighty
deep. OF course many times it is not
possible to determine exactly what the
cause of cable break has been, but
usually the trouble is that the cable
has been laid too taut. and it has
broken or been damaged in a serious
way by reason of the immense strain
resulting on this excessive tautness.
The consequence is that, whenever a re-
pair is made in midocean, the rcpairers
cut away all the twisted and strained
cable in The immediate neighbor hood oil
the break, and do away with all posi-
bility of tautness by putting in twenty
FIVE to fifty miles of new cable. This
nav mcander down the side of sub
merged Mount Washington. or may curl
quietly UP in til, basin of a Mohawk
Valley, but, whatever it does, there is
no chance of the cable breaking In that
particular spot again from being drawn
too tight.
Outside of this, cables are frequently
damaged by the anchors of vessels,