130 SUBMARINE CABLE LAYING AND REPAIRING. 



while the other heaves in the line from shore. If the gear has 

 only one drum this is used for heaving in the line, while the 

 cable is eased out through stoppers by hand, over the bows. 

 The length payed out cannot however be accurately checked 

 this way ; but bearings are taken and the distance from shore 

 by chart noted. ".When a sufl&cient length has been hauled 

 ashore, a few turns of the cable are put on the drum, the 

 steamer picks up the boats, weighs anchor and sets on her 

 course seawards, paying out the remainder of the piece over 

 the bows, after which the end is buoyed in the ordinary way. 



Leaving a mark buoy to show position of buoyed end, the 

 ship will proceed to the other terminus, lay the end there, and 

 continue paying out up to first end, then splice on and complete 

 the cable. On the way fresh soundings are taken, or previous 

 ones verified, and the proposed route modified if found 

 necessary. 



In laying short cables it is generally possible to start 

 at one end and lay the cable through to the other. One 

 end is first landed by lighter or boat-raft without cutting, as 

 last described, and the ship proceeds immediately afterwards 

 to lay the cable to the other terminus of the line. When the 

 last end is to be landed (after laying the entire cable) she 

 anchors as close in as possible, and the distance to shore is 

 measured by the sounding wire. Then a length of cable to 

 cover this distance with a little slack is turned over on deck 

 (to bring the final end uppermost), and then coiled on the raft 

 and paid out to shore. When the first end is landed the 

 cable, of course, has not to be turned over, as the end comes 

 right on the raft without doing so. 



This method has been adopted in laying most of the short 

 cables which touch on the coast of Great Britain. The shore- 

 ends are generally no larger in size than the cable itself, as 

 plenty of good landing places exist. 



An interesting old print (Fig. 63) is here reproduced (by 

 permission of the Editor of the Illustrated London News) 

 illustrating the landing at The Hague of the cable between 

 England and Holland in 1853. In those days the shore-end 

 was landed by means of fishing boats. Occasionally a donkey 

 boiler and winch were rigged up on shore for hauling in the 

 end, and on one occasion (at the laying of the Peru and Chili 



