Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1913-08-03
MENDMc \ GABLE
The Shaping of a Submarine
 Line Entails Hard Work.
LOCATING THE BREAK IS EASY

3VVR uNV tu1 OuANN iS @VSl This ls Accomplished by tho Use ot
 Sensitive Instruments, and Then
 Ceniss the Difficult Task of Grappiins
 and Raising tho Severed Ends.
 Tbe 700 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 few Inches apart-more likely half mile or 50 from each other-carried from their accustomed bed by the wash of the waves. Until the two ends were connected the thousands and thousa nds of dollars invested In tho 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 tayed to Newfoundland and thence by telegraph to New York 1t was possible to get few words through in fairly short time. But the tolls were enor mously high. ......-.
 The moment the operator at Halifax found that tho key on the Bermuda cable did not respond to his touch he reported the fact to his superior Tn the Halifax office. Orders hew back and forth. telephone bells rang. messengers scurried in and out of the office. and in . few hours the cable repair steam CT was on It's way to Bermuda.
 The operators at Halifax and Hamll 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 grappied for the ends of the cable and restored it to usefulness.
 Even when the captain of 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 tie must allow for slack.
 The crew was ready when the ship stopped With splash the big grap nel went overheard, and yard after yard of line was paid out uptiI the hook touched bottom. The water was 120 fathoms (720 feet deep at that spot
 Luck was with tho cable ship. So we'll had the captain calculated that the very first cast of the hook brought up one end of tho broken cable. IL was hauled on board The electricians attached their instruments and called Hamilton. The station answered In, mediately.
 A huge buoy was attached to the heavy wire rope and lowered into the water. Then ws set out to find the other end.
 Cast after cast of the grappling hook and not even nibbie 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 Tie fish had been caught. There was cheer from the crsw as it was pull cd on board. about . quarter of mile from tho other end.
 This end was connected with a teIe graph instrument. and the operator at Halifax, about 700 miles away. an swered. There was nothing moro to do except to join the broken ends.
 Anew section of ca ble 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 op board and the broken end spliced to the new piece of cable. an operation consuming less than half an hour The repaired cable. as good as new. was dropped overboard to resume its place on the oceans bed.
 Rarely does a cable repair ship have OuCu SOOu LULA OlICu 8IOEMS dTlSG which drive the ship from her course. tear the buoys from the ends they hold and compei the work to be done oyer again.
 In northern waters these conditions are felt at their worst The ship be comes crusted with ice, 1t is difficult to maneuver and doubly 50 to deal with q ca bic ou bow or stern when the roll of the seas threatens to fracture IL 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 nave to a abandon work temporarily at critical periods. or they are enmeshed among the ice Hoes or 6ergs and have to let go all and retreat4Karl K. Kitchen ip Nov York World .