110 SUBMARINE CABLE LAYING AND REPAIRING. 



of reach of the general anchorage ground of vessels, and its 

 position is indicated at points along the harbour by red mark- 

 buoys, intelligence to this effect being duly notified to the 

 shipping. The shore-end of the Cape cable is laid in this 

 manner round the extreme circuit of Table Bay, the end 

 being landed close to the old jetty at the bottom of the main 

 thoroughfare. But accidents to cables by ships' anchors are 

 more frequent a little distance out of the harbour than in the 

 regular anchorages. Sailing ships tacking into port will cast 

 anchor if the wind falls, and it frequently happens that cables 

 are hooked, dragged and raised by these ships, with the result 

 that they are either fractured or so badly fouled and kinked as 

 to cause a dead earth on the line. Most vessels are aware of 

 the fact if they have fouled a cable, whether they have raised 

 it to the surface or not; and some captains report such an 

 occurrence immediately they get in port. Further, in select- 

 ing a landing place for the cable, coral beds are avoided as 

 much as possible, as the growth of coral round a cable is highly 

 destructive and speedily affects the life of the heaviest shore- 

 end. 



It may be of interest to show how the different types of 

 cable are distributed on long cables, both in deep and shallow 

 water. As an instance of one, we may cite the cable connect- 

 ing Cape Town with Mossamedes on the West Coast. Start- 

 ing from the Cape Town end, this cable consists of the follow- 

 ing lengths, spliced together, of the above types : — 



The total length being thus a little over 1,383 knots. At a 

 distance of 384 knots from Cape Town a T-piece (since re- 

 moved) was originally jointed to this cable, leading to an in- 

 termediate station on the coast, and the cable was accordingly 

 strengthened at this point by a short length of type B. The 

 depth in which type D in this cable is laid is about 1,000 

 fathoms. 



