The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-12-27
CABLE SENT ADRIFT.

San Francisco came at a most I'M
toward moment.
CABLE SENT ADRIFT.
The wind suddenly gained In
strength. The ship rolled and tossed
and the strain on the cable was terri
BILE. To those who were doing all that
ingenuity and skill could do for the
safety of the cable, it was a trying
moment. The men who were making
fast the lines and swinging out the
huoys, grasped the stanchions for safe
ty as mighty wave sent the ship high
into the air, and the threshing
screw added it's roar to the thunder of
the winds great guns above. All was
ready and the cable was let go and the
manila rope went singing through the
sheave, burying itself as 1t sped, and
then all was quiet except the elements,
and the searchlight showed the red
buoy floating on the waves. The
lights went out and for a moment all
was confusion. A mile was traversed
and then a second buoy with light
which will burn for ninety hours was
set out as a guide with which to find
the cable buoy.
1t was done and the only thing was
to make for Honolulu harbor to refit
and lay the shore end and Intermediates
and thence back for the dropped sec
ton of sea cable. The position of the
ship was known only by dead reckon
ing and it was figured that land could
not be more than twenty miles away
so there was nothing done but keeping
the head of the ship into the seas
Dawn showed Makapuu Point and at
once speed was made and the vessel,
reported first from Waimanalo, was off
the harbor at II o'clock and came to
berth in the naval slip at noon.
1t was a dramatic and terrible ending
to trip which is for many of the ex-
perts the worst ever made The ship
was adrift almost, the weather was
terrible and the seas which swept over
the ship and the drifting about of the
dunnage made the scenes memorable
for all who were on board, and yet
there was no serious damage done and
the vessel was kept on the course,
dropped the cable just where it was
intended and quit just where the in
structions showed it wise.
But there was no holiday for the
men, and after they had come 10
port yesterday there was decided
period of quietness, for the men were
played out Captain Morton and Chief
Benest were not seeable, and down to
the mildest man of all there was a
desire to rest.
AN INTERESTING CRAFT.
There is no more interesting ship
af1oat than the cable steamer Silver
town, unless perhaps it be another
vessel of the same type. The Silver
town, to an outsider, is mass of ma
chinery, perfect maze of wheels and
cylinders, but to the electrical men on
board it is the simplest kind of toy,
although one that is played with seri-
ously. A run straight through the
vessel would bring out enough infor
nation to fill a cyclopedia. A reporter
was taken by one of the engineers over
the whole vessel He explained how
the cable machinery had been worked
during the whole voyage.
Starting with the main cable tank,
a great cavity in the vessel large
enough to take the whole cargo Of
many a large sailing ship, from which
964 nautical miles of cable had been
paid out, one sees machinery after ma
chinery in every direction. When the
engineers found they had but fifty or
sixty miles Of cable remaining in the
main tank they took the end of the
cable leading UP from the bottom of
the tank and spliced it to the end of