The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-11-14

! ties, both federal and territorial No
| "vags' will be permitted within the
| lines of the harbor. Every thing with
| in the harbor lines will have to work
| or move on" The two territorial
warping buoys will have to go. In
| fact one of them went out with the
| Siberia last week and has not yet re-
covered from the trip. The other left
yesterday for parts unknown. They
| were not needed any longer and Super
en- out so that there would be no more
| .'vag" cables attached to them for
steamships to pick up.
Lieutenant Slattery completed the
tractors to keep the harbor and chan
mel clear of all wire ropes not actual
ly in immediate use. The old rotten
wires that may be down underneath
for the past generation, perhaps. Such
things are found in every harbor of
any age and are not considered
menace to commerce or an obstruction
to navigation.
Both the federal and the territorial
official Investigations now show that
the cable which is speeding away to
Japan on the propeller shaft of the
Siberia was neither old nor rotten, but
new and strong and with it's clamp still
covered with asphaltum paint. So all
fear of the harbor being filed with
derelict or vagrant cables ready to
rise to the level of a propeller and
smash it's blades is passed. More than
that it never existed. The harbor al
ways has been considered perfectly
safe in that respect and is as safe
today as ever it was and what is bet
ter, notwithstanding the dredger oper-
atoms, it will be kept safe continu-
ous1y and continually.
Speaking yesterday of the theory
that the piece of cable picked up by
the Siberia last Friday was a section
of wire rope that had been turned
loose by some ship in years gone past,
Superintendent Of Public Works, c. S.
Holloway, Strengthened up in his big
office chair and, not quite understand
ing the question, said, Who says that
lies" Then when he understood that
it was mere theory not necessarily
statement of fact, a smile played over
his pleasant features and he said,
We'll, the facts are the piece of cable
which was picked up by the Siberia
was no old wire. 1t was new. It had
on a clamp with asphaltum paint on
it which was 50 new that it had not
peeled off. Diver Lyle says the clamp
is an identical duplicate of the clamps
used by the dredger on their wire ropes.
The size of the rope was IA inches
as the sailors measure rope, that is by
its circumference, or one inch in dia-
meter.
Yes, I have removed the warping
buOys. There is one more up near the
upper end of the harbor, but l do not
think the dredger can reach that. They
were of no use to US and We can not
afford, the territorial government and
the harbor master and the pilots can
not afford, to have it go out around
the world that Honolulu harbor is full
of wire ropes liable to get into ships
propellers any time. 1t might result
in these big ships not coming in at all.
Would not that be nice?" and the big
genial superintendent of Public Works
looked a whole lot and said nothing,
for a minute.
The investigation conducted by this
r.
the cable was the property of the
dredger Pacific. Until the War De
partment ordered them out. through
Lieut. Slattery of the L. s. Engineers,
they had been accustomed to using a
wire and when they got through, they
would unshackle it and drop it lust
where it was and pick up another.
The loose ends of these cables would be
marked by floats. The Pacific had a
cable on the lighthouse buoy and you
may rest assured that it was the Pa
clhc that moved the warping BUOY
near the old Mokolii Waikiki Of its old
position Very likely they left their
cable still attached there and thar is
what the Siberia picked up. It can
not be permitted. 1t is I'D to T,ie,,t
SIattery and he has ordered the con-
tractors to keep their ca BILE ends ont
OF the harbor lines. If they leave their
cables down hereafter. they must mil
them out of the harbor and either
throw them over the other side on the
reef or otherwise see that they are
out Of the harbor. And so we have
taken out those old warping buovs to
be sure that no cables are hereafter
ATTACHED to them
Lieut. Slattery said that he was now
satisfied that the cable which ran afou1
OF the Siberia was one of the dredger
contractors cables and that he had is
sued orders as stated by Superintend-
eht Holloway, so that there would be
10 trouble in the future
Captain Niblack, the local officer in
charge of the Federal lighthouse estab-
Ilshment, which includes buovs. said
mat the Superintendent of Public
Works had yesterday asked permission
TO remove these warping buoys, or had
stated that il the lighthouse establish