The daily sentinel., 1908-01-28
THE LINES
NOT STRAIGHT
SOME INTERESTING FACTS
Regarding the Laying of Cables Across
the Sea-Isle of Celebes al Last Con-
nected With Civilized World.


The island of Celebes, nearly hall
of which is still almost unknown, has
now been connected by cable with
the neighboring island of Borneo and
also with the American island OF
! Guam far to the north, says the New
York Sun. 1t has thus been brought
into close touch with the rest OF the
world, for ii Is Joined to all parts
of the Eastern Hemisphere through
Borneo and to the Western Hemis-
phere through Guam and San Fran
cisco.
Before an ocean cable is laid a
vessel is always sent out to make a
careful survey of the proposed route.
The route is picked for these cable
lines just as railroad engineers run
lines of levels before they finally To-
cate railroad routes.
With piano wire for sounding lines
the cable engineer determines the
levels OF the ocean floor and secures
samples Of the bottom SO that he may
decide where 1t is best to lay the
cable. Interesting discoveries were
made about the ocean floor between
Celebes and Guam, but they mean
more to geologists than to the Iaity.
Cable lines look straight enough
as seen on the maps, but they are
anything but straight as they lie on
the ocean floor. DR.. Klotz of Canada
said in recent lecture that the great
Pacific cable, 5000 miles long, be-
tween Vancouver and New Zeuland
was time and again deflected from
a straight line between the island
stations at which it touched in order
10 avoid towering submarine noun
ta!ns or craters or ground that was
hard or otherwise undesirable as a
resting place for the cable.
The samples OF ground which cable
engineers most desire to bring up
from the bottom are the soft oozes or
muds that are found only in the deep
seas far from the continents and
which are composed largely OF the
pulverized skeletons of marine ami
mails. Cables last longest when they
repose in these soft beds. They are
rot found everywhere in the deep
ocean, but If they are not too far
away the cable route win be deflected
to cross them.
A great deal that has been learned
about the ocean floors In recent years
has been incidental to the laying OF
cables The United States steamer
Nero was sent TO pick route for a
cable across the Pacific. and while
engaged in the work she found Q
depth of 5,269 fathoms, or six miles
the greatest depth in the ocean o.
which we have knowledge.
Thousands OF miles of cable are
laid at depth of three to four mile.
below the surface, and because al
such depths the pressure OF the wate'
Is about four tons to the square inch
the cable sinks very slowly to It
resting place. The line paid out over
the stern of the vessel drops instant
ly out OF sight, but the vessel is
often 20 miles away before the cable
finally rests on the bottom.
At these great depths the water Is
very cold The many hundreds OF
soundings taken during the cable
surveys have established the fact
that there is very little difference
between the temperatures OF the
deepest parts of tho ocean. Their
waters are uniformly only few de-
grees above the freezing point.
1t is found also that the bottom of
the deep parts of the seas is more
favorable for the longevity OF cable
lines than the harder ground of the
shallower waters near the coasts.
This is fortunate, for It is less ex-
penslve TO haul up and repair cable
that needs to be raised only from
comparatively shallow waters.