The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-26

be done with great care. Otherwise. when
the repair is supposed to be complete and
the ship goes into port her captain re-
ceives word that the cable can't be operat-
ed and the work has to be done over
again. AS cable repairing is at best eX-
Densive no pains are spared to make 1t as
thorough possible.
The iointer as the man is called who
puts the parts of the cable together us
uallv does his work under an lmproVlseo
tent. which is erected on the deck and
which protects him from the wind. The
cable conductor consists OF a NUMBER OF
small copper wires. generally seven. The
ends of the wire in the splice and in the
main cable line are filed until they Mt
nicely together. and then the copper Is
given a thick coating of gutta percha. The
putta percha is covered with hemp anu
this in turn. with steel. or iron WIRE ar
NOR. In the best cable the armor ltseh
Is given a hemn covering, as this greatly
retards the decay of the metal. seven
email conner wires are used as conduc-
tor instead Of one large wire, in order that
the cable NAV be more pliable and more
easily conform to the surface OF the ocean
some shore end cable weighs twenty tons
per mile. but the modern type of deep-sea
cable weighs only about two tons per maze
Practically all the cables now in use are
made in England.
one end of the splice haying been at
tached TO the eastern end of the cable
and the other to an end of the seven miles
of cable which had been picked up on
saturday. the ship got under way ana
began paying out this cable, ana even
While the cable was slipping out over the
how girder the end of it, which was stor-
ed away down in the forward cable Wen
was still connected with the electrician
i
animated, though silent, conversation
with Canso.
while the cable was paying out, the
Nina was within twenty-five miles OF
Sandy Hook When the buoy TO whch
the New York end OF the cable was made
fast was reached, the lifeboat was lower
ed again The crew released the cable
and tied 1t to a rope, and 1t was pulled
aboard ship. Then the buoy itself was
towed to the ship, hoisted up the sue
and made secure.
Mr.. Dodd made his final tests, cabling
first to Canso and then to New York, the
final splice was made, and the blight OF
cable lowered carefully into the sea, and
there was every reason to believe that
the cable was in working order again; but
this could not be known certainly unul
some port was reached. Before commu-
nication from the ship was closed the
| cable stations at New York and Canso
were advised how soon they could test the
| efficiency of the repair.
There was still one thing more to do
the picking up of the mark buoy. 1t could
be seen a long way off. for it was covered
| with ice and somewhat resembled min
AZURE iceberg. one lantern had gone out
! during the preceding night, but the other
was burning, and It was the only thing
suggestive of warmth in sight. The ship
hove to near the buoy and the lifeboat
| and its crew were sent after it and soon
had il alongside. Picking up buoys in
rough water is a task attended with dam
ger. one of the crew of the boat is oblg-
ed TO climb upon the. slippery, tumbling
mass of iron to remove the lapterns and
| flagstaff Sometimes a man loses his hold
| and must choose between the probable in
| iuries which Will result from being
| thrown violently into the boat and a leap
| into the icy water. The lowering of the
! life boat in nasty weather, when the
waves are breaking level with the ship s
rail, is itself a nice bit Of work but there
| has only been one accident on the Nina
in the last ten years, and that was not
very serious
Reference has been made to the testing
OF the cable and TO the location of breaks.
This work is done on the Nina by Chief