284: SUBMAEINE CABLE LAYING AND EEPAIRING. 



An improved serving mallet has been introduced by Mr. 

 F. E. Lucas, of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance 

 Oompany, which can be worked by one man. This is made in 

 metal, and carries on a reel its own supply of spun yarn (Fig, 167). 

 From the reel the yarn passes through the hollow handle, then 

 round the cable, and back to the mallet, where it takes half a 

 turn round the shank to keep it taut, and then returns to the 

 cable in the opposite direction, round which it is fed in a con- 

 tinuous spiral along as the mallet is turned round. 



The splice, which may have occupied altogether two hours, 

 is now complete, and ready to be dropped overboard. 



Slipping Splice. — At the spot where the splice is slipped 

 overboard various data are ascertained with the view of cor- 

 rectly indicating its position on the chart, and assisting in any 

 future repair work in that locality. As far as nautical matters 

 are concerned, the officer on watch takes the latitude and longi- 

 tude of the position, and if the repair is being efiected within 

 sight of the coast the angle between two points on the shore, 

 as viewed from the ship, is accurately measured. For instance, 

 in the repair of a break about six miles from Bonny (West 

 Africa) in the coast cable between Brass and Bonny by the 

 cable ship " Great Northern " (Eastern and South African Tele- 

 graph Company), the land bore 96 degrees between Calabar 

 Point and Peter Fortis Point at the spot where the first splice 

 was made after removal of the break. But the electrician re- 

 quires to know more than the exact geographical position of 

 the splice. He knows the type, the weight, the insulation, and 

 conductor resistance of the few miles of cable he is about to lay 

 in the sea, and he is also aware of any special peculiarities that 

 may exist in it ; but, in addition, he wants to know something 

 about the conditions the cable will be subject to when it leaves 

 the ship and rests on tiie sea bed. In short, he ascertains the 

 bottom temperature, the depth, and the character of bottom at 

 this particular spot. The cable is almost a personality in the 

 electrician's point of view. He is acquainted with every mile 

 of cable laid in during repairs, and the conditions peculiar to 

 each individual repair fasten themselves upon his mind in such 

 a manner that, on the appearance of a fresh fault in any cable, 

 he can, when he knows the locality, descend in imagination to 

 the very spot, and say what has most probably caused it. 



