The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1909-11-04
TIE OCEAN CABLE
CAUGHT A WHALE
The Limit in Fish Stories Has
Just Been Received from
Far-away Chile
LEVIATHAN HELD EIGHT MONTHS
Cable Wouldn't Work-Repair Ship
Sent Out Fishlng-Dragged to Sur
face Whale with Three Turns Of
Cable Around It's Body.

III November last an officer of the
Central and South American Tele-
graph Company called on the director
of the New York Aquarium with let
ter from the electrical engineer of the
company, who desired to know to
what depth whale could descend
and whether an air breathing NAM
NAL could stand a water pressure of
nearly half ton to the square inch.
These inquiries were prompted by
an interruption of the submarine ca.
bic between IQuiQuo and Valparaiso,
Chile, which occurred on August IA
last and which was caused by a large
whale that was afterward drawn to
the surface by the repair steamer
Faradey from depth of 400 fathoms.
An article in the New York Zoologi-
cal Societys Bulletin, an aquarium
number, from which the above facts
are taken, continues:
The cable in which the whale was
entangled weighed in air, while wet,
LIS tons per nautical mile and had
a breaking strain Of sos tons. The
weight in salt water was ,O05 tons per
nautical mile.
II the whale came to the surface to
blow, he must have held two or three
miles of cable in suspension. This,
however, is unlikely, since it had four
turns of the cable around it's body, one
beng in it's mouth.
When the trouble with the cable
was discovered, tests from Valparaiso
and lquique placed the break about
thirteen miles from the latter place
On August l6 the Faraday left Iquique
for the position of the break and be-
gan graphing in 342 fathoms, with
500 fathoms of rope out.
The cable was hoved up, cut and
tested to lquique. The end was buoy.
ed and the ship, graphing further
out, picked up the cable, which came
in badly twisted and with increasing
strain.
A large whale was brought to the
surface completely entangled in the
cable. The stencil being unendura-
Bile, the cable was cut close to the
whale and the vessel moved to wind
ward
Tests were made and Valparaiso
spoken. The ship made four sound
ings in the vicinity which showed
depths of AIS fathoms (2,490 feet,
nearly half mile).
II is extremely doubtful whether an
air breathing animal can go as deep
rs 400 fathoms. and as that depth is
much below the limit of pelagic life.
on which most whales feed, it is not
likely that the whale would penetrate
such depth. Total darkness, more
over, prevails in depths of 400 faith
oms.
According to the records of whale
men, whales have been known to
stay under water more than an hour
and after being harpooned to have
carried out a mile of line before reap
pearing at the surface, although this
does not necessarily mean that the
line was carried down vertically.
The Valparaiso-Iquique cable was
laid on January 27, 1906. At first
sight it seems unlikely that the whale
entangled in this cable could have re-
mained eight months without COM
plete disintegration or being gradual
ly consumed by small forms of life on
the bottom.
The deep sea, however, is intensely
cold, the temperature being close to
the freezing point of fresh water, and
the carcass, unless actively attacked
by bottom life, might be expected to
last longer than in the warmest sur
face waters.
Since, from what we know of air
breathing animals it is unlikely that
the whale would descend 400 fathoms
OF its own accord, and as a deep sea
cable is not laid very slack, it is
doubtful that the whale could have
fouled it at the bottom.
The logical conclusion is that it be-
came entaugled during the laying of
the cable, eight months before, when
there was q considerable length of it
in suspension. The twisted condition
Of the stiff and heavy cable about the
animal shows that the energy expend-
ed in the vain effort to free itself must
have been enormous.