Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-02-12
BY CAPTAIN DINGLE.;
Noted Writer OF Sea Stories,

. ~ gram came through to Halifa,
"A from the Office in New York
. 4 \ Sydney - st. Pierre northern
cable down. Proceed to repair.
That message cost 80 cents. The
cable through, which 1t passed cost
thirty-five hundred, dollars mile. thai
part of 1t which lay in deep water; the
shore. ends. heavily >armored to with
stand the rough usage Of the sea break
ing against the land. cost much more
And the message was delivered aboard
with all her 60 men, through weeks OF
seeming idlenesS. for Just that sort of
message to come.
20. Six hours Sufficed to take in stores
and recall men on leave: three more
hours were used up at the fuel oil sta
ton: then to sea OH night as perfect
as moonlit calm could make 1t. with
all hands sure of a homecoming IN
three .days at most. Part OF the log
. might be quoted:
1880 a.m.--Passed Devils Island,
Fine weather.
p.m.-Cranberr Island bearing GA
degrees. Fine weather.
400 pm.-Thick fog set in.
That small item in q cable ships log
Fog set in"-may change quick job
a
many men. will surely cause the ships
steward anxiety after few days Of it.;
or. as shall be shown, may on occasion
save life. In any event. let fog settle
Gown before the grapnsi has hooked the
cable and the Job is held up until the
weather clears.
Put down a mark buoy" is the order.
and overheard goes a 40o-weisht mush-
room anchor. mooring an l.S00-pound
buoy to mark the position Of the ship
when stopped for fog. And thereafter,
right up to the moment the fog lifts.
the ship is kept noSing up to the tagged
and lighted buoy. day and night, by
watch officers. whose only dread is los
ing touch.
In the engine room an engineer
stands By each engine Without ceasing.
hands upon starting lever, eyes on the
1t is here, standing by the mark buoy
In fog near the cable grounds, that
deck and engineer officers. firemen,
helmSmen and lookoutS are the soul of
vigilance. and have that soul we'll tried.
Deck hands, who later on must sweat
and dodge broken limbs in the cable
tanks while coils Of devil-possessed cable
20 out through the crinoline to the pull
of the steaming ship. can rest now.
So can electricians. jointers and others
whose work comes to peak when the
faulty cable is hauled aboard. Only the
. stewards never know rest. for these
cable ships live well. and stewards must
work that men may eat
=. y
= A ND why must the ship heave-to
"A with a mark buoy down, and not
simply steam slowly ahead as, other
ships do? Because the cable ship has
no landfall open to sound or sight. She
seeks q slender thread Of copper wire,
Insulated with gutta-percha and ar
mored with steel wires and jute. lying
at the bottom of the bea perhaps for 40
years past. 1t is no bigger than a
broomstick: It may be buried under a
Yathom OF mud or grown solid to
rocky bottom through sheer mass of
: marine growth.
So the ship lies there in the fog.
Soon the three days In which all hands
: expected to be back at the dock are
gone. The storekeeper has long since
been told to prepare q lot OF fishing
lines against just such an emergency.
Fresta fish Is not bad buttreSs for
dwindling food stores Soon every man
with any fishing keenness In him is
juggling a cod line overheard while the
fog drifts past in wreaths and overhead
the foghorn blares.
During the hours when fish are
caught the cable ship rather resembles
Ayi1Aier Three hundred cod and had