322 



SUBMARINE CABLE LAYING AND REPAIRING. 



Roberb Napier and Sons, of Glasgow, she measures 230ft. in 

 length, 32ft. beam, by 24ft. depth from awning deck, and can 

 steam 11 knots. In regard to the cable gear, which was made 

 and fitted throughout by Messrs. Johnson and Phillips, it is 

 noticeable that the picking-up machinery forward is, together 

 with the double-cylinder steam engine driving it, fixed on the 

 main deck, while the starting and reversing levers are on the 

 awning deck. This arrangement, in which the upper part of the 

 cable drums and brake wheel appear through openings in the 

 awning deck, was first adopted on the cable ship " Scotia," 



Fig. 190.— Bow Gear of "Electra." 



formerly one of the Telegraph Construction Company's vessels. 

 The weight is well placed in this position, and the course of the 

 cable as it passes the gear can be fully observed, while there is 

 perfect control on this deck in full sight of the bow sheaves 

 and dynamometer. Two dynamometers are fitted forward, one 

 for each drum, for picking-up and paying-out over bows, and 

 triple bow sheaves are fitted. {See Fig. 190.) Steam is taken 

 to the gear from the main and donkey boilers, so that it can 

 be worked in port if cable is required to be turned over. A 

 special advantage to a cable ship is the addition of a separate 

 circulating pump for keeping main condensers cool during 

 stoppages or slow-speed runs ; and on board this steamer one 

 of J. and H. Gwynne's centrifugal pumps, coupled direct to a 



