The sun., 1908-01-12
CABLE LINES NOT STRAIGHT.
They LIszaE Across the Ocean Like Rail-
roads on the Land.

roads on the Land.
The island Of Celebes. nearly half Of
which is still almost unknown. has now
been connected by cable with the neigh
boring island Of Borneo and also with the
American island OF Guam, far to the north.
IL has thus been brought into close touch
with the rest OF the world, for Il il Joined
to all parts Of the Eastern Hemisphere
through BOrneO and TO the Western Hemi-
sphere through Guam and San Francisco.
Before an ocean cable is laid a vessel
10 always sent out to make a careful survey
OF the proposed route. The route IL picked
for these cable lines just as railroad en- ngineers
run lines Of levels before they finally locate
railroad routes.
With piano wire for sounding lines the
cable engineer determines the levels OF the
ocean floor and secures samples Of the
bottom 80 that he may decide where it is
best to lay the cable. Interesting discOv-
cries were made about the ocean floor
between Celebes and Guam. but they mean
more to geologists than to the laity.
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 a recent lecture
long. between Vancouver and New Zealand
was time and again detected from straight
line between the island stations at which il
touched in order to avoid towering sub
marine mountains or craters or ground
that was hard or otherwise undesirable as a
resting place for the cable.
The samples Of ground which cable engi-
neers 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 re-
pose in these soft beds. They are not
found everywhere in the deep ocean. but
IL they are not too far away the cable route
will be detected 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 a route for a cable across the Pacific
and while engaged in the work she found
a depth Of s, 209 fathoms, or six miles, the
greatest depth in the ocean OF which We
have knowledge.
Thousands Of miles OF cable are laid at
depths OF three to four miles below the
surface, and because at such depths the
pressure Of the water is about four tons
to the square inch the cable sinks very
slowly 10 lJ5 resung place.. Inc me paiu
out over the stern OF the vessel drops in
stantly out OF sight, but the vessel is often
twenty 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 estab-
hshed the fact that there is very little diff
ference between the temperatures OF the
deepest parts Of the oceans. Their waters
are uniformly only few degrees above the
freezing pont4
II 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
nearer the coasts This is fortunate, for
il is less expensive to haul up and repair
a cable that needs TO be raised only from
comparatively shallow waters.