326 SUBMARINE CABLE LAYING AND REPAIRING. 



1,700 gross registered. The illustration (Fig. 192) has been 

 kindly lent by the Company's General Superintendent in 

 England, Mr. G. H. Bambridge, to whose courtesy the writer 

 is indebted for the accompanying details. In the design of 

 this steamer special pains have been taken to give her good 

 steering and manoeuvring qualities. In addition to the usual 

 stern rudder, a second rudder is fixed at the bow inside the 

 line of the stem, which can be worked by a hand-wheel. This 

 very useful addition enables a course to be kept when going 

 astern (frequently required in repair work), in easing strain 

 on cable or in fetching or getting clear of a buoy or splice. 

 Steam steering gear on Messrs. Mulr and Caldwell's system 

 is fitted in the wheel-house aft, and can be operated from 

 either of two wheels, one amidships and one on the poop. 

 A hand-wheel is also fitted aft as a stand-by, giving a third 

 means of steering independent of steam. Her manoeuvring 

 qualities are still further increased by the use of Brown's patent 

 hydraulic reversing gear, previously referred to. As the 

 " Mackay-Bennett " is a twin-screw steamer and Brown's revers- 

 ing gear is fitted to each engine, there is not much time lost in 

 turning her round either way. Bilge keels are also fitted which 

 minimise the rolling in heavy weather. 



The engines are compound surface-condensing, with cylinders 

 25in. and 50in. diameter. On her trial trip a speed of 1 2 '3 knots 

 was attained, the engines developing 2,190 I.H.P. The coal- 

 bunker capacity is 750 tons. 



Three cable tanks are fitted, having a total capacity to load- 

 ing lines of 385 nauts or 710 tons of deep-sea cable lin. in 

 diameter. The fore tank, No. 1, is 20ft., No. 2 30ft. and No. 3 

 28ft. in diameter, and the mean diameters of the cones are 

 respectively 6ft. 2in., 7ft. 2in. and 6fb. 2in. The fore and aft 

 tanks can be loaded to a height of lOft., and the tank amid- 

 ships to 14:ft. At these heights the fore tank holds 60 nauts, 

 the midships 195, and the aft tank 130 nauts of the above 

 type of cable. The tanka are all in connection with pumps in 

 the engine-room, by means of which they can be flooded with 

 water or discharged, as required. 



Steam cable gear capable of dealing with repairing work in 

 the deepest waters of the Atlantic is fixed both forward and aft. 

 That in the fore part of the ship, used chiefly for grappling 



