American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1913-04-10
MENDNC A CABLE
The Swapping Of a Submarine
Line Entails Hard Work.
LOCATING THE BREAK IS EASY.
This 10 Accomplished by the U.s. Oe
Sensitive : Instruments, and Then
Comes the Difficult Task Of Greppilno
n Raising ths Severed Ends.

@sSS
The 100 mile cable that connected
Hamilton. Bermuda, with Halifax,
Nova Scotia. had snapped. Somewhere
under many fathoms of-water lay the
two broken ends. perhaps only a few
inches apart-more likely half q mile
or 50 from each, 0ther-c~rried from
their accustomed bed by, the wash Of
the waves. Until the two ends were
connected the thousands and thousands
of dollars invested In the cable were
bringing no income.
AS the result Of the accident Hamil-
ton was practically Isolated. from the
rest OF the world. for the only other
cable went to Jamaica By sending a
message to Jamaica and having It re-
iayed to Newfoundland and thence BY
telegraph to New York 1t was possible
to get a few words through In q fairly
short time But the tolls were enor-
mously high.
The the operator at Halifax
found that the key on the Bermuda
cable did not respond to his touch he
reported the fact to his superior in the
Halifax Office. Orders few back and
forth. telephone bells rang. messengers
scnrried In and u of the ONCE, and
In a few hours the cable repair steam
er was on its way to Bermuda.
The operators at Halifax and Hamil.
ton had located the break. It was
about six miles from the Hamilton end
of the cable This they calculated
with sensitive instruments used to re-
cord the resistance"
The writer was in Hamilton when
the Mackay- Bennett steamed into the
harbor and through the courtesy Of
the captain was on board when the
steamer went out and grappled for the
ends of the cable and restored It to
usefulness.
Even when the captain of a cable re-
pair ship knows that the break is about
six miles from one end It's no easy
affair to pick up the big wire ropes.
The floor Of the ocean is uneven. and
he must allow for slack.
The crew was ready when the ship
stopped. With a splash the big crap
01
nel went overheard. and yard after
yard OF line was paid u until the
touched bottom. The water wal
100 fathoms d72O feet, deep at that
spot
Luck - Win ~ cabls - -
we'll had the captain en]cu1aesd thaf
the very INST cast ~ the h06E 6foueht
up one end Of the broken enble. II
was hauled on board The electricians
attached their Instruments and called
Hamilton The station answered i'm
mediately.
A huge buoy was attached to the
heavy wire rope and lowered into the
Then we set out to find the !
other end
Cast after cast of the graphing hook
ind not even a nibble from the missing
part of the cable. Farther and far.
-her the cable ship worked away from
he buoy. AT last. after three hours
work. the grapnel resisted the pull.
The fish had beer caught. There was
cheer from the crew as it was pull
d on board. about a quarter Of a mile
rom the other end
This end was connected with a tele-
instrument. and the operator at
Halifax. about 700 miles away. an
wered. There was nothing more to do
xrept to join the broken ends.
A new section of cable was carefully
piiced to the cable that had just been
up The cable was paid out
yer the stern as we steamed back to
be buoy This was hauled on board
the broken end spliced to the new
iece of cable. an operation consuming
sss than half an hour. The repaired
able. as good as new. was dropped
verboard to resume its place on the
bed.
Rarely does a cable repair ship have
leh good luck. Often storms arise
'hich drive the ship from her course,
he huoys from the ends they hold
compel the work to be done over
gain
In northern waters these conditions
e felt at their worst The ship be-
mes crusted With ice. it Is dificult
maneuver and doubly 30 to deal
18th a ca BILE or bow or stem when the
II Of the seas threatens I fracture 1t
and the launching OF boats with
Ell In them to buoy a bose end II
these causes occasionally cable
fps get short of coal and have TO
ndon work temporarily at critical
iodS. or the are enmeShei among
q ice foes OF bergs and have to let
all and retreat-Karl Z. Kitchen In
w York World.