New-York tribune., 1905-06-12
REPAIRING OCEAN CABLES
Hazardous and ToiLsome Task off
Newfoundland Banks.

| ST. Johns, N f., June speciaD.-Familiarized
| as the world has been the last few weeks by the
agency of the submarine cables with the fullest
tails of the momentous naval encounter in the
Far East and its less tragic aftermath, IT Is
interesting to consider the ease with which these
electric arteries can be severed and all commune
cation between the hemispheres suspended by the
reflection that four of the transatlantic cables are
now broken and that three cableships have been
for some time engaged in an endeavor TO repair
| them.
One of the most hazardous and toiIsome tasks
that fall to the lot of the steamboat mariner is
that of cable repairing off the Newfoundland
Banks Especially is it perous In midwinter, or
during the fierce gales which attend the equinoxes
the summer solstice. as witness the storm or
June 1S three years ago. which nearly destroyed
one cable ship. that of June p last year which
wrought havoc to two others. With the thermom-
eter 90 80 degrees below zero, fierce biizzards
raging, and the whole ocean smother of ice
numbered waves, in winter. or with the thun-
derous pillows and jerky motion induced by summer
storms in this shallow region, the ha2less vessel
caught amid a tempest there is in plight that
would daunt any but the most daring seamen for
the liner freghter scud before gale or lie
TO If It is one she fears face otherwise, but the
cable ship must hang on with bulldog grit to the
work she has in hand lest worse disaster befall
the injured nerve than that which she is trying to
make good There is always. of course. the alter
native of letting the cable and buoying IT, but 1t
is often that the buoy remains dItacneu Tor
any time in such weather, matter how securely
it is fastened so that when the ship returns to
seek quest usually fruitless and she has to
trawl again the cable and hoist 1t from the bot
tom anew-a task that often occupies many weeks
If not months.
lantic and though four of these are dead or
worthless from the electricians standpoint. they
Still enter all the calculations Of the repalrers
because in the region of the Grand Banks where
several lines laid near or over each other q
mistake in judgment may mean bringing TO the
surface dead cable, or one belonging to an
other company which is undamaged and very
much ''alive," as the unucky skipper Will learn
when he reaches port and finds awaiting MIN reo-
hot protest from the people whose line he has
interfered with and, sometimes rendered teIn-
norariIv useless This arises the fact that in
splcfng the BILE after cutting it-for IL must DC
cut by q mechanical grapnel, and one erio sripP0u
by It and brought to the surface, as the caIeIats
strain would otherwise cause 1t TO nreak Oh INC
prapnel and both ends to be lost-the splicing may
ba had: done and the line cease to work; and this
he cannot know till he returns to port because
the spltcing and insulating OF the caoe smut hii
off from any knowledge OF its conultoh' IL ZIG
epds on making harbor that 1t is not working, he
has to go out and seek for 1t again TO make %
+ar tob of if: and in the endeavor to accomplish
this may work mishap to another caDie VI iIo-'
than one until the whole fraternity VI c0
ere and cable operators on both sldes Oh lIle oO
ine
duits that remain uninjured Such a hliSA0 sI-e
bafa1 one of the cable ships few years age "ilio
dragged a grapnel through a Whoe he'"oin W
submarine wires off Cape Race, thstt tooN o-e
months and cost over $4,000 thoroughly 10 Iep'
oo+1,, congesting the remaining lines ana oeiaS
,ng +he transmission of messages thereDy' So &c
=, 3, that area on the least sign OF uou'ie'
cable ships abandon their grapnels Hi'oee'ne.'
+bor than risk repeating this disastrous pei
formance.
FLEET OF REPAIR STEAMERS.
,r,o cables op the world require a fleet OF rorly
+aau7ers great and small, for repair PURPOSES ~
oP these four are always maintained on ms sue "
.+Io-to bacarse 70 per of the breaks
occur IN these waters, from the grndlns oI 4'e-
bergs over them, the destruction Wrousht ~ -
,non,s anchors on the Grand Banks and the Tray
ING due To the currents and tides In these shaio"
- s rrha cobla ships lie in convenient ports. near
q +eIaereDh station and always have steam up ~
that when they needed they can put " ee@
within twelve hours. They carry large crews ioi
~ odd,+,on IN the ordinary deckhands they re-
c,ire SQUADS OF experienced men to handle buoy
+a1a inhoard and outboard and otherwise deal Win
this special feature of the ships work beSlues
this thev carry parties of electricians or reparelS
the experts who do the scient1hc portloh ol 'ie
duties for which the service calls
II NAV not be generally known that IL IS posSlple
70 locate from a caole office on shore the
break in rnidocean to within half mile Oh tilo
exact spot. This however. is the case anu 1t ID
ascertained through the fact tfdt lile SeilS'e ~
strIments used record the resistance or the ciole
when working properly. and also the resistance
of the portion between the office and the break SO
it is simply a matter of calculation to inform the
skipper of the repair ship that the break IS La
miles from New York. Boston. Halifax or St.
Johns as the may be. The ship then sails Tor
that locality. his reckoning dscloses to the cap
tain when he is near the scene the chart on Which
the route OF the cable plotted when it was
originally laid enables him to discover its approx
and OOpitu 10 In hat
fortified he usually brings it to the surface at the
first OF his grapnel Then his electricians con-
meet the exposed nerve with their instruments
and cali the station they have left. If it an
swers they know that half of the line Is in good
order and sealing up the end, they buoy 1t on the
water and go In the other direction till they think
they have overshot the break. when the ship makes
another cast of her grapnel and hooks the other
section. This is then hauled up. connected as be
fore the other shore station is called and If it
spends q new section of cable is spiced to that
end, and, paying out she goes. the ship returns
to the end she has bucyed. makes another splice
Of the new end with that. and lowers the pre-
sumably perfected cable back into its bed
The section that was cut out is left to rust the
bottom, and seeing that cables have been
nearly half century in the Atlantic and repaired
in part every year, If oftener. it is easy see
that the bed must be thicky strewn with
worthless stretches of 'cut out" cable represent
ing hundreds of thousands of dollars lost to the
cable companies. Nor is the repairing quickly
easily accomplished always In the above
ample, when everything favoraby. Often
storms arise. drive the ship from her course tear
the buoys from the ends they fastened to and
compel the whole work to be done over again In
midwinter these conditions felt at their worst
The ship becomes thckly crusted with Ice it is
difficult to manoeuvre her, and doubly so to deal
with Il cable on bow when the roll of the
threatens to fracture it again: the launch.pg
of boats with men in them to buoy loose end is
positively hazardous and from the Intense cold the