Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-07-07
THE NEW CABLE.
A Great American Enterprise
in the Pacific.
An AlI-American Wire from Maine
to Manila.
How the Gable Was Laid 5000 Miles
Under the Sea.

New York, July G.-The great task o.
completing the Pacific cable, upon
which the first message was sent July
4, is a most interesting story which re.
fleets much credit upon American en-
Itcrprise. The distance from San Fran.
,cisco to the Philippines is over 500,
miles. The route followed traverses
the greatest unnhabted waste of water
lon the globe. Up to the time when this
enterprise was undertaken the Govern
ment of the United States had been able
Ito connect by telegraph with Manila
lonly by a route containing fifteen OF
sixteen separate stations. That sup
piled by the Commercial Company
which did not differ essentially from the
other cable routes, required that a ca
| blegram from Washington to Manila
should take the following course: To
New York by land, to Canso by cable
to Fayal in the Azores by cable, to Lis
! bon by cable, to Gibraltar by cable, to
Malta by cable, to Alexandria by cable,
to SueZ by land, to Alden by cable, to
Bombay by cable, to Madras by land, to
| Singapore by cable, to Saigon, Cochin
China, by cable, to Hong Kong by cable,
to Manila by cable-the distance being
| $4,000 miles and the number of trans
missions fifteen. For this service the
| Government was paying up to the end
of the Philippine instruction at the
| rate of about 100000 year for it's own
messages.
Several years before President Nc
| Kinley addressed himself to the subject
between September 20, 1895, and De-
cember IA, 1896, twelve bills had been
introduced in the Senate and the House,
| all relating to the construction of ca
| BILE across the Pacific. Bills were re-
ported and passed in one House, only
| to fall in the other. In the winter of
| 1901 John w. Mackay offered to lay the
cable without subsidy or guarantee of
any kind, as a private business enter
prise. The bill favoring Government
ownership finally came to vote, and
| was rejected by 116 to II. Meanwhile
| the Commercial Pacific Gable Company
was incorporated under the laws of the
State of New York on September 70,
! 1901, with q charter authorizing 1T to
| lay and operate submarine cable from
California to the Philippine Islands, by
way of the Hawaiian Islands. Some
years previous the Navy Department
| had taken soundings across the Pacltc
Ocean for the purpose of determining
| a suitable route for a submarine cable,
| and these soundings were turned over
| to the company for their information.
| The greater the depth the greater the
pressure and strain upon the cable, and
| the average depth by the route selected
li,,o no, mill Tho route has Tour
great ocean stretches of 2,270, 1,254, 2,59j,
and 400 miles On the first, between
San Francisco and Hawaii, the mean
depth is $500 fathons, with maximum
| of 3073; on the second, between Hawaii
and Midway Island, the mean depth IS
from Midway Island to Guam, the mean
depth is 1900, with a maximum OF 49to,
and with sudden and great fluctuations;
on the fourth, from Guam to luZnn, the
average depth is 200. the maximum 3,4D
fathoms In $500 fathoms, with the snip
stcaming at s knots an hour, no less than
Is miles of cable are IN suspension IN the
water. Two and half hours are occu-
pied in such case by any particular point
in the cable from the time of leaving the
ship to touching the bottom. Then. at
any time during the paying out, which
may last, with a long section, some ten
or fourteen days, storm may arise or
some mShap may occur on Doaru. result
ing in the loss of the cable in depth OF
three miles below the. surface. me IN
days or it may be for as many weeks or
months
rho contract for the first section of the
cable from San Francisco to Honolulu
was awarded to the India Rubber Gutta
Percha Telegraph Works Company, of
London, England. The reason for placing
the order with an English firm was the
lack of sufficiently high development III |
the methods of manufacture of submarine |
cables in this country. The cable steam
er Silvertown with the first section OF the
Pacific cable on board consisting OF 2.4l3
nautical miles and weighing 4,O7 tons. |
left the English coast on september Is, |
1902 arriving at San Francisco on Decem-
Der 4. The shore end OF the cable having
been laid with appropriate CEREMONIES, ,,
the sNvcrtown left for honolulu on De
cembcf~ 15, arriving off the islands on
Christmas Day, and on the morning OF
a heavy gale at a point about thirty-hvc
miles from Honolulu. During the trip |
from San Francisco to Honolulu 200 miles
of cable were laid day.
complete the line to Manila by lW4 but |
the work of manufacture had been 50
diligently pushed and the business of lay |
ing the cable was so thoroughly systema- |
tiZed that the representative OF the com |
pany was able to announce the time the |
shore end was laid in San Francisco that |
completed communication would be estab-
lished with the Philippines by the Fourt |
oil July, 1903. A separate contract had |
been awarded to the Telegraph Construc-
ton and Maintenance Company for the
remaining sections of the cable from |
Honolulu to MidwayGuam and the Phil |
ippincs On the 9th and 10th of April last |
the steamships Colonia ard Anglia, |
belonging to the manufacturers, lett |
.ondGn with more than G,0OO miles of /
cable in their tanks. The Calonia which |
laid the longest section, that between |
Guam and Midway, 2,606 nautical miles |
is the largest cable ship afoat She is |
canable of carrying close upon 1900 nau-
ticaI miles of cable in the four large tanks
built up in her holds. Not even the Great |
Eastern, whose displacement was much |
larger could find room for half the mile
age of cable. The dimensions of the
steamship Anglia are smaller than those
Of the CoIonia. During her recent opera
tions in the Pacific she carried some $50 |
miles of cable.
The Aglia arrived at Manila on May %,
and having landed the shore end on May |
"a she paid out the cable through st. Ber-
nardino Strait and on towards Guam. She |
arrived at Guam on June and estab- |
lished cable communications between Ma |
Mia and Guam on June 4. The Colonia |
had proceeded direct to Guam, where she
arrived on May q. AT that point the
engineering and electrical staffs Were
transferred from the Anglia to the Colo |
MIA and the latter vessel began to per-