Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-10-12
NEW CABLE TO ALASKA
Nv Frederic j. HasI1in

- GAOuCAAC Os AaSALl
WASHINGTON, d. c., oct. 49,
Some time in May next year the
army cableship Dellwood will steam
| out of Seattle harbor bound for Sit
ka. over the ships stern "a slender
thread of copper and steel and gutta
| percha will slip silently into the sea
as she goes and the task of rebridg-
ing the 1000 miles with the cable
that binds Alaska to the nation will
have begun.
Already the wheels of a great cable
] factory near London are whirring
in the making of the first spar of the
new Alaska cable. Long before the
Dellwood noses her way to the dock
at this factory in March, the cable
will be ready for that first 1000 mile
span of the 1900 mile cable-laying
| job the ship will do next year. Coiled
in gigantic tanks at the factory and
covered with water to protect it
from the air, it will be a single, I'M
broken strand 1000 miles long and
weighing more than 5000 tons a
whole ships cargo in one piece.
From the factory tanks it will be
reeled aboard to be slowed again
in the five great 3O-feet tanks that
fill the hold of tile Dellwood and
again to be submerged in seawater
to prevent deterioration of the in
sulation through exposure to the
air.
There can be no carelessness in
handling this cargo. 1t must reach
Its final destination, thousand
fathoms or more below the surface
\ - fha coo IN ohc4lrFaIxy ,ooxpoo4 49,
dition. The task must be done with
100 per cent precision. A single
flaw or break in all thai thousand
miles of insulation, though it be no
bigger than a pinhole penetrating
to the copper core, and the cable will
not function.
The Dellwood can carry only this
first thousand mile span of new
cable. When she reaches Seattle
from London with that cargo. the
shore end will be spliced to onnec-
lions with the cable station and the
ship will put out al an eight-lSnot
gait for Sitka. Day and night the
cable will so whirling yer the stern
and down into the depths below.
Day and night the officers and men
of the signal corps will be lowering
SNtl lnS COliiDiJLtiltA IlCCJldItloIltS
that feed the costly strand to the
sea. Day and night they will watch
every weather indication with anx-
| ious eyes in fear Thai storms will
interrupt Their task and force them
to cut and buoy the cable. With fair
weather tina 1000 miles VII be laid
in less than Is week.
Over n route wnere the new
| - IL xufta H. s1,.N eAts .,.e El. Atxy
depths of fion 300 To 1900
of the time as she leans the Dell
w, cd VIII have n stretch of cable
| circling down from her stern n.ore
| than twenty-five miles in length be-
fore the seafioor takes its weight.
The point at which the great curve
of cable touches bottom will be
| twenty-five miles astern and there
can be only the strength of the cable
itself to sustain that great delight.
1t is to meet this condition in lay
ing or perhaps again when it is nee
essary to gfapple the cable and hoist
it to the surface for repairs, hat
the armor strips of steel are bound
around it. The great copper core
alone could not carry the weight. In
the present outworn cable to Alaska
not only has the rubber insulation
been eaten away until there is con-
slant leakage of current, but the
armor protection Is packing. Many
! times the cable has broken when
| the repair crew has hoisted it to
the surface. Once it broke seventeen
times, making days of graphing nee
| essary before it was lifted on deck.
That was one of the reasons for the
| appropriation of $2,000,000 to buy
| and lay the new cable.
Graphing for a submarine cable
is fishing on a gigantic scale. When
a break is reported it is possible by
delicate instruments and complicat-
ed calculations at the shore stations
| to compute the exact distance of
the repair ship goes out with that
information and with chart and
compass and careful navigation US
ually can hit within a few miles of
the right spot at first try. Then the
graphing hooks go over, trailing at
the end of a mile or two of steel
wire cable. The ship goes ahead
at a speed of a mile or two an hour.
Sometimes the hooks get fast to a
rock or a sunken wreck, and it is
necessary to try again. When the
cable is found the ship stops and
maneuvers slowly back to lie direct
ly over it. The hosting machinery
heaves away, the indicator recording
the gradually increasing weight of
the span of cable. Then, suddenly
the indicator hand drops back to
zero. The watchers know that means
a break, that the cable has snapped
unable to bear the strain of it's own
weight. They go back to plod over
the route and do 1t all over again,
knowing that meanwhile folks up in
Alaska are clamoring for news and
the means of quick business COM
munication.
Fortunately, most cable Interrupt
tions occur close to shore. Out in
deep water there is rarely n move
ment or chatting of the insulation
that leads to leakage and no ships
anchor can foul it. With such a
cable as that to be laid to Alaska,
there should be very little trouble.
The gutta percha insulation has a
known life of more than fifty years.
Specimens of Atlantic cables sim
ilarly insulated have been examined
after more than half a century on
the bottom and there has been no
indication Of deterioration.
Throughout the trip the Dellwood
will be in cable communication with
the Seattle station. Sending and re-