The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-01-22
FIRST CABLE LAID.
.r., TELEGRAPH CABLE COM
sV ''o o.ny TO SANDY HOOK.

:. :. Of Highest Impor'.noe--% S.',, :.
IT. ~ By the Crew Of the s'sA"'np
".s.v.rennett-Three High o''sf
r.~srs TO BE Erected.
- NJ tho Commercial Cable com
The ois 'r,shIp Mackay- Bennett, under
pany s. .;an Of the officers, performed tho
the dleV ,~ot Of practically completing tne
potable i lv Coney Island and SANDY
T %ont recently in ralhseorim a ,o,n,s for
HON. The linking of those Two Poin.s III
eco dissemination OF marine news 70 snH
the ,mnortant part of the system wnlcn
'noS,p o ma Telegraph Cable company WIZ
inc .hl,sb for tho port OF urea'er new
York. pornett steamed toward
Inc IIook and passed the buoy which
sanuy "a the Mace where the end OF that
marAo' - the cable was fastened securely
section heavy sea and tide. Two sections
sgal ls,,ahlo had been laid few days ago.
OF 'nS c. vos connected with the cable
ING Lnoyvn as "the hut, :" at Coney Is
mousse nTbe hut" is pavilion In which
mnu 4, ~ the ocean cables OF the Com
Az
INC III Cable company are brought up.
m ms r"nev Island end of the cable, which
Ine - cross over to Sandy Hook, extended
"a' ,bon 1--WE miles. A small buoy, with
moiS aao and two lanterns on top, showed
sru ,5o end was held down by the
"musbroom" anchor.
ahout 200 yards from the buoy the YES,
al reduced her speed considerably and
.So boatswain's whistle was heard. DIX
'uO NV Nova Scotians and Newfoundland
''"i Good ready TO man the boat. The
=" dashed up high and there were Tears
,~at the boat would be swamped.
'' Tho boats crew hastily put on life pre-
..n,ors and Jumped into the little craft.
nh nplled for the buoy with rapid
.trotes and after being tossed by the big
.saros reached the Coney Island end OF the
s"h,e The cable end had to be removed
nd fastened to a chain, which was to DO
lawn on board the steamship. The buoy
sod 70 be taken care of at the Same time.
put the boatmen worked fearlessly, and
within a quarter of an hour the end of the
cable was being hauled on board the
steamship.
Then followed tho "splicing" on board
the vessel. There were 26 men engaged
IN this task. They laid back the outer
steel armor of the cable end. Then came
tho ioining of the conductor-the copper
wires wound around one another. The
wires are soldercd. Then they are "scarfed
down" and soldered again.
A covering of fine wire the whole length
NJ the scarf then is laid. This wire is SOL
dered More wire is wound around, but
only the ends are soldered. This is pre-
caution, taken so that If the joint should
break the outer wire will pull out like q
spring and the strength of the cable will
not suffer materially. Gutta percha Is
warmed and pulled carefully over the cop
per conductor from each end. Another
piece of gutta percha is warmed and wrap
ped around the joint, forming a small
lump, which is worked down by the
jointer until it becomes the same size a:
the original casing.
1t is then cooled In an ice tank, served
over with canvas, and the steel wires art
laid carefully over it until the wires arr
met from the other end. This winding /,
continued until the cable is jointed for {
length Of 25 or 80 feet. The splice Is ther
served over with marlin and fastened
down with galvanized steel wires.
The Splicing" was accomplished IL
about two hours. Then the cable was pait
out and the Mackay- Bennett proceeded
toward the buoy at Sandy Hook. 1t wa
about o'clock in the afternoon, and tn,
weather became even more disagreeable
1t was evident that darkness would hav,
set in before the second Splicing" wa
Hnt choH nd ba oh IL 10, xx,hA
The Mackay- Bennett steamed past tn
Sandy Hook buoy. Then the end of tn
cable on board the ship was anchored IL
the sea and marked by buoy. When tn
two ends which are nesting by each othe
are spliced, then the connection between
Coney Island and Sandy Hook will DO es
tablished. Subsequently there will be Gu
BILE connections with Fire island and tn
Highlands.
This system will give the company
hne marine news service. Is will hav
both the cable and land wires. In cas-
there is any accident to either service tn
other can be depended upon. Heretofor
there have been cases where during heav
storms connections with Fire island hav
been temporarily cut off.
The Postal Telegraph Cable company
the first to reach Sandy Hook with a cable
10 the maritime world 1t Is bushes
stroke of the highest Importance. The sys
wm VIII be in a completed state by the frs
Oh the year. There will also be erecte
three high observation towers-one on Fir
Island, the second on Sandy Hook and tn
third on the Highlands York Hel
aid.