The Somerset reporter., 1891-07-30
SHIPS PULL UP CABLES.
QUEER FISHING WITH PROPELLER
SCREWS OF BIG BOATS.


SCREWS OF BIG BOATS.
An Ocean Steamship Carries "a Piece Of
Submarine Cable from New York ~
Liverpool and Beck-EI perience of =
Ship That Ran Into the Mud.
Submarine cables laid in shallow wa
tiers are often exposed TO greater risks
and rougher treatment than the great
ocean cables, which sometimes cost their
owners a small fortune in repairs. Not
long ago an ocean going steamship, in
leaving her dock at Jersey City, plowed
up the soft bottom with her powerful
propeller, and secured "A costly and valu-
able catch in the shape Of about a dozo u
submarine cables which enlneshed them
selves in the blades of the propeller Sc
effectively that all the cables were torn
asunder, and the ship had to 60 into dry
dock to clear her screw Of the garland
Of iron, hemp and Kerite with which i,
had become emtllished-no to say en-
barrassed
The learned judge who presided over
the argument rs to whether the tele
graph company. which owned the cables,
or the steamship company, which owned
the 1nquisitlYc vessel. WAX the aggrievsd
party decided in favor of the latter.
holding that a harbor is TO I've kept fro
for navigation. and that steamer is en-
titled to pillow through mud ~ well a.
water, cables or no cables. II the cabler
were Thought to be secure because they
were lodged III two feet of silt, why, 81
much the worse for the cables, or rather
for their owners.
According to the learned judge, ocean
steamers possess the right of way through
the silt. even down TO hard rock, and the
waters Of n harhor for purposes Of navi
CATION have no bottom" This is cold
comfort for owners of submarine cables
in harbors but 10y way of adding insult
to injury the very practical suggestion
was made that cables might I've laid in a
species Of submarine trench, and thus be
kept ont Of harms way when ocean
steamers Tor others find it necessary to
take the ground.
TUGBOAT AND CABLE.
1t is quite conceivable that the power
full machinery Of an ocean steamer should
make light work of gathering up and
rendlng into fragments dozen or so of
submarine cables, but that a river tug
should take to the same game and twist
some hundred feet or so of heavily ar
morrd seven conductor cable into bunch
of GUrdian knots is little too much
The cable is the property of the American
Telephone and Telegraph company, and
serves to connect the pole line across
Staten Island with that running through
New jersey. the cable crossing the Kill
between Linoleulnville and Carterct.
The tug caught up the cable III the
most approved manner, according to the
laws of harbor navigation, snatched ii
from Its quiet resting place in the silt.
and Il stern battle between the pugna-
cious propeller and the inoffensiye and
defenseless Though armuredD cable en-
sued Needless to say, the propeller was
victorious. The iron armor resisted Wig
orously, but it was never intended to
Withstand the attack of river tugs pro
peller, so, after Il stout resistance. az
companied by endless writings and con
tortions it succumbcd.
The sea serpent itself could not have
made Il better fight. If the cable was
vanqushed, its enemy was also, at least
for IL time, placed hors de combat. for,
SO closely were propeller and cable in
terlocked in their deadly feud that tn,
tug had to be brought to New York and
put in dry dock in order to separate
them. The suarl contains about on.
hundred feet of cable and bears strong
evidence as TO good construction.
Few would believe that Il cable could
resist long enough to be twisted up into
such hideous shapes instead of breaking
almost at once. The cable, which il u
seven conductor. kerite make, has been
down for about five years, and was found
to be in perfect condition when repairs
We're made. Indeed, the snarl testities
to that.
SOME CABLE STORIES.
Not long ago Frank Stockton contrib
uted to one of the magazines nonsense
cal story, in which IA startling incident
was narrated. BY Il stroke of lightning
a steamer had been converted into al
itself "A submarine cable, which held il
fast until the cable ship came to the res
cue. This flight of fancy is not alto
gether without excuse.
There is n story of an ocean steamship
catching up piece of cable in the North
river. and towing it all the way from
New York to Liverpool and back with
out discovering to what mysterious cause
the strange reduction of speed on the
round trip could be attributed.
There is yet another story of a sound
boat which fouled submarine cable in
New York waters and lowed goodly
length of it to New Haven. There the
piece of cable was cleared away, cooled
down on the dock, and subsequently sold
by the steamship company to another
corporation whose business it is to main
tain electrical communication between
places. That corporation put the cable
into service, and $50 the story goes) il
using it mt the present time.-Hertrnt
L. Webb in Electrical Engineer.
A Fourth Epitaph.
One more unfortunate,
Yearning for fun,
Rashly inportunate,
"