PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. 



I HAVE endeavoured in this treatise to give a 

 detailed technical summary of modern practice in 

 Manufacturing, Laying, Testing and Repairing a 

 Submarine Telegraph Cable. The testing section and 

 details of boardship practice have been prepared with 

 the object and hope of helping men in the cable services 

 who are looking further into these branches. 



The subject is one of very great interest, and few who 

 are engaged in it are not sincere lovers of their profes- 

 sion. The most exact scientific processes are called 

 into ordinary use, and the service affords great scope for 

 the exercise of engineering and electrical skill. The 

 enterprise has a great deal before it as regards possi- 

 bilities in research, improvements in instruments, pro- 

 cesses and methods of working, and further extension 

 of the cable systems. The description of the equipment 

 of cable ships and the mechanical and electrical work 

 carried on during the laying and repairing of a sub- 

 marine cable will, I hope, prove also to some not directly 

 engaged in the profession, but nevertheless interested in 

 the enterprise, a means of informing themselves as to the 

 work which has to be done from the moment a new 

 cable is projected until it is successfully laid and worked. 

 Although the days of popular enthusiasm and local 

 stir in connection with cable expeditions are well nigh 



