January i, 1908.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



109 



Germany's Submarine Cable Industry. 



THE first effect of the study of any branch of seafaring is 

 to emphasize the supremacy of the Mistress of the Seas. 

 This is particularly true of the submarine cable industry, 

 where the supremacy of England has been most absolute, and 

 has been maintained since the beginning of the industry. 



There are many and good reasons for this ancient monopoly ; 

 but believing that competition is the life of trade, The Indi.\ 

 Rubber World has watched with much interest the recent growth 

 of a serious competitor in Germany. The immediate result has 

 been a rapid increase and a renewed interest in sea cable making 

 and laying, which have led to many technical improvements and 

 to a search for other insulators to take the place of the rapidly 

 waning supply of gutta-percha. The excellent chemical and 

 technical ability of the Germans, when applied to this industry, 

 will probably result to the lasting advantage of the world. 



The sea cable industry of Germany is represented by the Nord- 

 deutsche Seekabelwerke Aktiengesellschaft, located on the Weser 

 river. The founders of this great company fully realized the 

 seriousness of their task, in competing with the Thames ; but 

 they laid their plans so carefully and won the support of such 

 large interests, that the business could probably be carried on 

 without the direct support of the German government. 



The physical side of the industry consists primarily of wire, 

 insulation, and ships. The contributors to the Norddeutsche 

 Seekabelwerke were the Felten & Guilleaume "Carlswerk," 

 Aktiengesellschaft, one of the greatest electrical wire making 

 firms in the world ; Franz Clouth, of Cologne, who ranks among 

 the largest manufacturers of rubber and gutta-percha goods in 

 the world; and the Norddeutschen Lloyd (the North German 

 Lloyd steamship company). The German government offered the 

 company the whole of its trade, gave them suitable tariff pro- 

 tection, and helped them in other ways. As a result, besides the 

 distinction of being the only company in the world manufacturing 

 sea cables exclusively, they have never been able to fill all the 

 orders given them in the nine years of their existence. Besides 

 the government orders they have acquired some business from 

 abroad. The rapidity of their growth has been such, that, judg- 

 ing from this alone, the company may be said to be only at the 

 beginning of its career. 



The Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke .-Vktiengesellschaft was 

 founded May 27, 1899, with an authorized capital of 2,000,000 

 marks [=$476,000]. Felten & Guilleaume, Franz Clouth, the 

 North German Lloyd Co.. and the Deutsch-Atlantische Tele- 

 graphen-Gesellschaft were its principal backers. The Land- und 

 Seekabelwerke Aktiengesellschaft was very soon bought, and a 

 cable ship was ordered in England. Work was also begun on 

 the great plant at Nordenham, near Bremerhaven, convenient to 

 the North German Lloyd shipyards. 



The company's first cable ship, the Von Podbielski, was 

 launched at Glasgow in the fall of 1899. The company had 

 already received an order from the German postofFice for 292 

 miles of cable to connect Tsingtau and Shanghai. Felten & 

 Guilleaume made this cable, as the Nordenham works were not 

 yet in operation, and the Von Podbielski started on her long 

 trip to China. It was a romantic beginning for the company. 

 The ship did her work well, and arrived in the Weser again on 

 February 10, 1901, starting out almost immediately to repair 

 the first German-American cable. This first cable was, of course, 

 made in England, and laid by the English, though owned by the 

 Germans. While it was being repaired, the Norddeutsche com- 

 pany were at work on their first Nordenham product, the 

 Borkum-Bacton cable, connecting England and Germany. This 

 was a high class four-core cable, and it was laid by the Von. 

 Podbielski in the spring of 1901. 



The company had now received several other orders, and 



these, together with needed docking improvements and the ex- 

 tension of the plant, justified an increase of the capital to 4,000,- 

 000 marks [=:$952,ooo]. 



The most sanguine hopes of the company were now fulfilled 

 by an order from the Deutsch-Atlantische Telegraphen-Gesell- 

 schaft for a second cable to be laid between Germany and the 

 United States. On the strength of this the capital of the com- 

 pany was raised to 6.000,000 marks [=$1,428,000]. The Norden- 

 ham works were extended and a second cable ship was ordered 

 from the Stettincr Maschinenbeau-A.G. "Vulcan," in Stettin- 

 Bredow, in the early part of 1902. This ship, the Stephan, was 

 launched in December, igo2. The headquarters of the company 

 were also transferred from Cologne to Nordenham, and during 

 the whole of 1903 the best efforts of the directors and the 420 

 workmen were spent in the preparation of the great Atlantic 

 cable, whose total length, from Borkum to the Azores and to 

 New York, is nearly S,ooo miles. 



The Stephan was only delivered to her owners on March 16, 

 1903, and she and the Von Podbielski immediately began laying 

 the cable. Though a new and untried ship, the Stephan worked 

 205 days out of the 290 days left in 1903. Both ships made two 

 trips during that year, and on April 16, 1904, the Stephan left 

 Nordenham for New York, with the last stretch of cable, which 

 measured 2,446 miles and weighed 4,100 tons. Laying from 

 Coney Island outward toward Horta, to meet the Von Podbiel- 

 ski, the Stephan laid the last lap of the cable at the rate of ten 

 miles an hour in water over 16,000 feet deep, and finished the 

 job in four months under the contract time. 



Meanwhile the Norddeutsche Seekabel Aktiengeselhchaft had 

 received an order for another cable, which was destined to re- 

 flect even more credit upon the company than even the Atlantic 

 cable had done. This order came from the Deutsch-Nieder- 

 landische Telegraphen-Gesellschaft, a Cologne corporation, and 

 was to connect Shanghai, China, and Menado, Celebes islands, 

 with Yap, in the Loo Qioo islands, and connect thence with the 

 American Pacific cable at Guam, in the Samoan islands, a total 

 length of 4,238 miles. While this cable was being made, the 

 Dutch government ordered a cable to connect Borneo and 

 Celebes islands. The Norddeutsche company made this cable, 

 and sold their old ship, the Von Podbielski, to the Dutch gov- 

 ernment. Her name was changed to the Telegraaf, and as such 

 she laid the Borneo-Celebes cable. In her stead the Nord- 

 deutsche company ordered a third ship, the Grossherzog I'on 

 Oldenburg, from F. Schichau, in Dantzig, and have since used 

 her for a cable repair ship, leaving the Stephan free for cable 

 laying. 



The company have also filled other important orders, such as 

 connecting Constanza and Kilia, Turkey (245 miles) ; Cuxhaveu 

 and Arendal. Norway (409 miles), and the Moen-Libau-St. 

 Petersburg cable (940 miles), besides making spare cables and 

 repairs ; but none of these were brilliant enterprises, compared 

 to laying the Shanghai-Menado- Yap-Guam cable. To carry this 

 great cable, weighing, in all, nearly 9,000 tons, the Stephan had 

 to make two trips to the Orient, and she laid it over a rough sea 

 bottom, reaching, at times, a depth of 22,750 feet. On the whole 

 it was a record-breaking performance, which brought great 

 credit upon the Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke Aktiengesellschaft 

 from scientific men all over the world, and was regarded by the 

 home government as a triumph for German enterprise. 



While the ultimate purpose of the German sea cable company, 

 of course, was to yield profits, they exerted themselves first to 

 build and lay cables, leaving the distribution of dividends to a 

 later period. The first dividend was declared at the end of 

 sixth business year (1904), amounting to 8 per cent, the 

 capital issue being then, as now, 6,000,000 marks. The dividends 



