New-York tribune., 1906-07-15
OCEAN CABLE REPAIRS
Cost and Entent of WorLs Some
times Due to Earthquakes.
Ispeclsl Correspondence OF The TrlDune.l


tions. known TO cable men as breaks. have oc-
CURED in certain of the transatlantic cables.
making necessary active and sustained efforts
on the part Of repair ships 70 remedy them and
permit a resumption OF business thereby. An
ocean cable consists OF copper core. surround
ed With gutta percha, the former being the
best known conductor Of electricity and the lat
ter the most perfect insulator. its conductivity
being only as one 70 $1,000 These are inclosed
IN shield OF iron wires protect them from
damage when being laid. they lie in
their ocean bed. since any abrasion Of the in
sulatOr would permit the electricity TO escape
into the ocean and render the cable useless
The causes Of breaks in submarine cables are
many and various In shoal waters the motion
Of the waves and currents chafes the sheathing
against the rocky bottom and exposes the con-
ductOr. so to prevent this the shore ends Of
cables are now armored with more wires until
they are as thick as mans leg. OF the coast
the anchors Of fishing vessels frequently tract
ure them; in deeper areas sinking wrecks crush
them; in the tropics entire cables have to be
covered with thin ribbons OF brass TO prevent
saw6shes penetrating between the wires and
the convulsiOns Of nature beneath the bed Of
the sea are responsible for not few interrupt
tions. In the Pacific Ocean last year a repair
ship brought TO the surface whale which had
bitten into cable and. being unable to free its
teeth had died there and occasionally shark
or swordfsh leaves evidences in a section Of
cable OF encounter with it which has ended
unfavorabIy for both. On the Grand Banks
the trawlers are constantly watching TO avoid
hooking into these message-conveyers and los
fng their anchors. though the cable companies
have a standing offer to pay the cost of any
such gear lost by a ship rather than to have
one of their lines injured
An Atlantic cable costs about two million
dollars to construct and submerge. but after
il is laid the outlay in repairing breaks may
be enormous. Each cable company maintains
one or two ships constantly for the purpose of
effcoting such repairs. This is difficult and
expensive business. especially if the break is in
deep water; and in some parts of the Atlantic
the cables lie three and half miles below the
surface. Electric telegraphy has now reached
such stage that through the known resist
ance of given cable. and the resistance of the
portion Of il capable Of being energized from
a shore station after break has occurred, it
is possible to locate the position of the defect
almost exactly. and cable ships have been laid
within half mile of fracture more than
one occasion. When she nears the point she
throws over special erapnel and proceeds to
drag it at right angles across the path Of the
cable. hoping to hook this and bring 1t to the
surface This often entails repeated essays
for the ocean bed is Uttered with debris of
every kind. and startling is the material some-
times brought up from the depths.
However. she usually succeeds in time this
being indicated by the fact that when the
cable is hooked a spur in the grapnel penetrates
between the wires into the core establishes
connection electrically with it, and the current
passing through a wire in the grapnei rope rings
a bell on the ship and thus proclaiIns the glad
tidings. cutting grapnel is lowered
70 help the talking grapne and on gripping
the cable sewers il and enables one eDS to be
brought aboard, for the catenary strain would
render it impossible TO lift the unbroken cable
bodily On the end being raised It is connected
with the ships testing apparatus and COM
nunication effected with the shore II both
can speak" all is well. and the end is sealed,
attached to a deep sea buoy and lowered over
board If not, the -essel goes back along the
strand she has. cutting and testing at intervals,
until she establishes perfect communication.
when she does above stated. She next steams
forward ill she can pick up me end previously
cut, or till she thinks she is beyond the break
when she travis again till she secures it, and,
bringing this end up, speaks to the shore sta
ton the other side OF the ocean. upon rails
ing" which she spices a section of new ca
bic which she carries in her tanks for the
purpose, and pays this out till she gets back to
the buoyed end, where she makes a second splice
and then drops the recompleted electric line to
the ocean bed
OF course. she cannot know until she reaches
land whether the splicing has been perfect and
The cable is working. and as the least defect
is runous TO efficiency. it occasionally happens
that when she gets to port she finds the cable
still useless and has TO face back again and
renew her task. The trouble in such cases
nearly always lies I'm the gutta percha not be-
ing thoroughly applied. and to insure this being
properly accomplished the electrician charged
with the task always goes gloved. that his fin-
gers may be soft and unblenished for the work
The maintenance of a cable ship and staff
costs from $500 TO $1,000 day. for she always
lies with steam up and crew on board, so essen
tial factor is time in this business. The cable
which has to be used in making the repairs
and which is generally Of the same type as
that Of the submerged line TO which IL is to
be spliced, costs from $3.50 10 81 600 a mile
and as the splice inserted sometimes is from
$50 to 200 miles Of cable, according 10 the
good or Ill fortune she has in the weather she
meets or the margin in making her drag, it is
easy to see where enormous sums may be lost
On attempting to carry out a cable repairing
lob in midocean when the elements are un-
propitious.
Some notable instances OF serious and costly
failures in these essays have occurred in re-
cent years. One break involved 116 days and
S315,OO0 to make good; another occupied eighty
seven days and cost $4,000; a third entailed
eighty-one days and a similar sum. The record
case, however Of i'll luck in this undertaking was
in connection with the Atlantic cable OF 1874
which, because OF a series OF unfortunate mis-
haps, occupied more than year. with some in
tervals while the ship ashore for coal and
supplies Of food and cable, and cost nearly
100000 or about one-fourth OF its original