306 SUBMABINE CABLE LAYING AND REPAIRING. 



fully completed. With vessels of smaller dimensions, as used 

 in repairing, this operation would, no doubt, be still more easily 

 effected. 



In the illustration, the riding leg is attached to a special 

 detaching hook at the top and passes down through a tube in 

 the centre of the buoy instead of over the side. This is an 

 arrangement introduced by Messrs. Johnson & Phillips, and a 

 good deal in favour now. The hook is shown in Fig. 184, from 

 which it will be seen that, by pulling outwards the lever L at 

 the side, the slip hook falls and disengages the chain. 



The buoy being free, ship heaves in again on drum until the 

 cable appears, when, after detaching the mushroom, a sufficient 



Fig. 184. — Slip Hook for Central Chain. 



length of cable is hauled in to make the final splice. While 

 heaving in, the strain gradually increases as the cable is raised, 

 and this has the effect of pulling the ship in this direction, 

 thus increasing the strain on the paid-out end. To allow for 

 this the brake on the paying-out drum is eased as the strain 

 comes on. This operation at the bows is sketched in Fig. 185, 

 the buoy rope being heaved in over one sheave and the paid- 

 out cable being slacked out over another. 



On vessels provided with only one drum on the gear it is 

 the usual practice to pay out a little slack on the cable, then 

 stopper it at bows, and take the turns off drum. The drum is 

 then free to be used for heaving up buoyed end. If in doing 

 so the strain increases too much on the stoppered end, the 



