Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1913-05-04
iE BREAK IS EASY

s .c ..:sa-3 sy the Use ot
 e..:t2 ,2-tr.r,a1t7, and Then
 2a s3 c:t-i7.,!: -a7k of Grappling E-. ~-:-ir7 @no so..ersd Ends.
 rz2 Tc2 -att@ caeGa that connected 5@z,.-.e-, Bermuda, with Halifax. I-c9s Gcc1s, had snapped. Somewhere -1@3- many fathoms of water lay the .o S=2,:en ends. perhaps only few i1c.,aa arar1-more likely half q mile e 60 from each other-carried from GLa.- accustomed bed by the wash Of 1he waves. Until the two ends were ! connected the thousands and thousands q dollars invested iii the cable were bringing no income.
 As the result of the accident Hamil- ton was practically isolated from the rest of tire world, for the only other cable went to Jamaica. By sending 8 message to Jamaica and having it re layed to Newfoundland and thence by telegraph to New York it was possible to get few words through in a fairly short time But the tolls were enor mouslT high.
 The moment 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 flew back and forth. telephone bells rang. messengers scurried in and out of the office, and in q few hours the cable repair steam. CT was on it's way to Bermuda
 The operators at Haiifax 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 nsed to re cord the ''resistance."
 The writer was in Hamilton when tie 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 q splash the big grap- nel went overheard. and yard after yard Of line was paid out until the hook touched bottom. The water was l2O fathoms t72O feet, deep at that spot
 Luck was with the cable ship. So we'll had the captain calculated that the very first cast of the hook brought up one end of the broken cable, Il was hauled on board The electricians attached their instruments and called Hamilton The station answered In nediatey.
 A huge buoy was attached to the heavy wire rope and lowered into the water. Then we set out to find the other end.
 Cast after cast of the graphing hook and not even a nibb!e from the missing part of the cable Farther and far, ther the cable ship worked away from the buoy. At last, after three hours work, the grapnel resisted the pull i The fish had been caught. There was q cheer from the crew as it was pull ed on board. about quarter of a mile ] from the other end.
 This end was connected with tele- i graph instrument, and the operat tor at Halifax, about TOO miles away. an, | t,,l h except to join the broken ends.
 new section of cable was carefully spliced to the cable that had just been picked up. The cable was paid out over the stern as we steamed back to the buoy. This was hauled on board and the broken end spliced to the new piece of cable. an operation consuming less than half an hour The repaired cable, as gco4 as new. was dropped overheard to resume it's place on the oceans bed.
 Rarely does a cable repair ship have such good luck. Often storms arise which drive the ship from her course lear tile buoyS from the ends they hold and compel the work to be done over again
 in northern waters these conditions are felt at their worst The ship be comes crusted with ice, it is difficult to maneuver and doubly so to deal with a cable on bow or stern when the roll of the seas threatens to fracture 1t again, and the launching of boats with men in them to buoy loose end is hazardous.
 From these causes occasionally cable ships get short of coal and have to abandon work temporarily at critical periods. or they are enmeshed among the ice foes or bergs and have to let go all and retreat.-Karl K. Kitchen iD New York World.
 A Star Idea.
 Av