The morning call., 1891-09-03
PACIFIC GABLES.

The public have been for some time ex-
ufcting 10 hearof the departure Of the YES
So, WHICH is TO survey the he'd of the ocean
between san Francisco and Honolulu, with
aview to laying a submarine cable. An ap-
preparation, which became available this
:mOnth, WAS passed by the last Congress,
and it has been understood that the Hydro
graphic Bureau at Washington has been
. bAsy IN preparing instructions for the sur
.Veyors. People would be glad to hear that
They were at work. A cable to Honolulu is
: one 'of-the crying wants of the day.
.~ Captain Erben'5 explorations of the bed
of the Pacific have supplied considerable in
formation Of the difficulties which would
-: lfaYe TO be overcome in laying cable from
::San Francisco to the islands. They are few
g. in number and slight. AS a rule the de-
scent of the ocean bed from the coast of Cali
fGrnia to the Hawaiian group is gentle and
d: regular, and the bottom of the ocean favora-
>: Die for the reception of a cable The deep
est water found by Captain Erben was 3115
fathOms, at point about 800 miles east Of
Maui Island Of the Hawaiian group. At
spot in. about 80 so north and 1872 30 west
say about 700 miles from San Francisco
=. and 1900 miles from the islands-the bed of
tile ocean is trayersed by a submarine range
:. III transferable altitude. On the top of this
range bottom was reached by the lead at 63
=. ald 75 fathoms. The public is ignorant Of
.ftbe character of the slopes of this range. If
they are steep and precipitous the cable
+could not cross the range without risk of
abrasion or parting. II is to be hoped that
they are gradual Admiral Belknap,
who has made Pacific cables a special study,
did not apprehend that the range would
pToye a serious obstacle.
Itis evident that the cable to Hawaii will
he the first link in a submarine telegraphic
chain to Asia. That was obvious in 1874,
=. when the Tuscarora made her survey of the
.bottCm:of the Pacific from San Diego to Yo-
: kohama, Japan, by way of the islands. 1t
.: has become still more apparent since then.
Al the present time a large proportion Of
the. commercial intercourse between San
Francisco and Australia, China and Japan
Is conducted BY cable. The dispatches 60 to
: England, the continent of Europe, Egypt,
the Red Sea, Bombay and the Straits, and
cost mint of money In case of war the
United States would be unable to e0mmuni-
cate with tile American. Squadron on the
China station. 1t IS high time that we had
a cable which no foreign power could take
out Of American control at the time 1t was
most needed.
=" When the Tuscarora made her report six
teen years ago it created an impression that
the extreme depth of portions of the North
Pacific and the Irregularities of its bed for
ever forbade the laying of a cable on that
line, Between Port Lloyd on the Bonin
Islands and Honolulu the Tusearora dis
covered six submarine: mountains whose
height ranged from 1000 to 1900 feet. 1t
would be no easy matter 10 lay a cable over
such a rugged surface as that. But since
1874 further study Of the subject. supple
mented by occasional soundings in the
North Pacific, has led to the belief that there
are routes by which a cable might be laid
without crossing these lofty eminences in
the ocean bed.
There. would be no difficulty at all in
reaching Port Lloyd on the BOnins from
Cape King, which is just outside the bay of
Yokohama, Japan. The distance is some
500 miles. In that distance the Tuscarora
made fourteen soundings. only nine of which
showed adepth Of over 800 fathoms and only
one of whiehshowed a greater depth than 1000.
Between the Bonin group and the Hawaiian
group greater depths are reached; the Tus-
carora took one sounding which showed 3287-
fathoms,- or three and three-quarter miles.
1t was between great depths like this that
the mountains above mentioned were found.
Admiral BelknaD's idea is that the best
route for a. Pacific submarine cable lire
would be northerly, avoiding the Hawaiian
group altogether. He suggested to the Gov
ernment that the cable should skirt the
southern and eastern coast Of Japan to the
eastern extremity OF Yesso, then skirt the
Kurile group and the southern point of
Tr-I...
the westernm0stislandO Of the Aleutian chain,
and from thence follow the Alaska plateau
down to British Columbia. The bulk ofthis
line would rest in not over 200 fathoms of
water. But the public will not accept the