The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-10-07
TO The OCEANS BED.
Another Stretch Of the Long Cana
dian-Australian Cable Finished
by the Colonia. y
Vancouver Coast Connected With
Tanning Island-3,540 Miles
l. Almost Ready for Use.

Special to The Journal.
Victoria, B. c., Oct. T.-To-day in the
cable station at Bamfield Creek on the
Vancouver island coast the. Pickering or
a little light in the Morse code an
nounced the practical completion Of an.
other stretch of the long Canadian Aus
tralian cable. On Thursday, Sept. IS, the
immense cable laying steamer COlon1a,
with $3.50 miles Of specially manufactured
cable on board, left Bamfield Greek, and
to- day the last foot of the long cable was
| dropped to the ocean bed, and the steamer
Anglia, which is to complete the stretch
to the Tanning island station-a distance
Of 175 miles-is splicing the length of ca
BILE which she brought from Greenwich,
and the immense Colonia, having COM
pleted her work is ready to steam back
to Greenwich to the work Of the Telegraph
Construction and Maintenance. company
to load the second stretch of the United
States cable to the Philippines. The Sill
| verton is now on her way to San Fran
cisco with the stretch from the Golden
Gate to Honolulu. 81 =,
Everything went splendidly throughout
the Colonia's voyage, and there was not a
hitch Of any kind. This now leaves a Sec
ton Of 2,10O nautical miles between Fan
ming island and Suva, In the Fiji islands.
Ito complete the cable.
! The work of laying the long cable is an
interesting sight. The cable is kept in
four large tanks :, Each contains a huge
| spOol-like metal drunl-Which the cable
| men call the eye Of the tank-around
which the section Of the cable contained
| in that tank, measuring fortyseven feet
by twenty-five feet and twenty-five feet
deep, Is coiled turn on turn, without one
coil overlapping the other. Near the tor
Of the open hatch above the tank
| is spider wheel over which the cable
is led to the heavy metal spools which
carry the cable forward along the gang
way to the port side to the paying out gear
| on the after deck Of the steamer. There
stand two heavy and solid looking ma
ch1nes-with powerful double capstan
| gear-on whose big drums the cable winds
three times after being led over the many
| rollers which intervene, and then passing
| over another roller, the cable is rolled on
to the thermometers, which record the
strain to which the cable is exposed as il
| is being paid out. From the dynomometel
| the cable passes over another roller to the
| wheel standing on the grating built owe,
| the stern of the steamer, and thus it was
| paid out mile after mile at the rate OF
about nine knots an hour, until now the
| end Of the cable lies near the coral OF
Tanning island. The cable is always kept
| flooded to Withstand climatic conditions
when on shipboard and seven men are
| invariably in the tanks watching It as il
| Is paid out. t:"ss@
| The 3,540 miles Of cable IS not of one
thickness, being expressly constructed tt
meet the requirements of the different
| depths, and the greater the depth of water
| the less the thickness of the cable. The
shallower the water the thicker the cable
| The cable Is a much lighter strand thar
one would suppose for such a work The
deep sea sections are little over an incl
| in diameter.
The route over which this stretch of tn,
cable has been laid has remarkably eve,
bottom, and this has simplified the work
although the section is the longest in tn,
world. The surveys for the American
cable from San Francisco to Honolul,
have shown a similar even bottom will
| no very great depths, the deepest poin
surveyed being some 5000 fathoms. At al
ordinary rate the cable is held in sus
pension for fifteen miles astern at suc]
depth, before it reaches bottom.
The Tanning island section is expected
to be In service in few days. communi
cation being daily carried on from tn
Colonia, and now from the Anglia whic1
has spliced the end of the Colonia'
wire, and is making the shore connec
lions.