336 SUBMARINE CABLE LAYING AND REPAIRING. 



Cape Grlsnez in France — up to the first Atlantic Expedition 

 of 1857, a vast amount of pioneer work in the laying and 

 repairing of what would now be called shallow-water cables 

 was carried out. Cables were laid between Holyhead and 

 Ireland, Scotland and Ireland, England and Belgium, and 

 England and Holland, aad during this period great progress 

 was made in the design of machinery used in laying and 

 repairing cables, the fitting out of ships as cable ships, their 

 handling under heavy weather when working cable, in the 

 manufacture of cable, and in the development of a system of 

 electrical testing. The names of Messrs. Willoughby Smith and 

 Latimer Clark, electricians; Messrs. Wollaston, Crampton, E. S. 

 Newall, Eeid, Edwin Clark, and F. C. Webb, engineers, and 

 Messrs. J. and J. W. Brett, are well known as those to whose 

 skill and indomitable perseverance was due the grand pioneering 

 achievements of that time. It was then the custom to petition 

 the Admiralty for the assistance of one of Her Majesty's ships 

 during the laying of a new cable, a request freely accorded, 

 and the names of Capt. E. Burstall, R.JST., and Capt. J. 

 Washington, E.N., fill an important role in the history of 

 these early enterprises. 



The steamer specially built in 1883 to maintain Her Majesty's 

 telegraph cables was fittingly christened the " Monarch," keep- 

 ing up the name of the now derelict steamboat whose remark- 

 able pioneering achievements have been briefly sketched. The 

 illustration of this fine screw-steamer (Fig. 197) is from a 

 photograph by Mr. W. E. Culley, electrician on board the 

 "Alert," to whose courtesy, and that of Sir William Preece, 

 K.C.B., F.E.S., the writer is indebted for the accompanying 

 details of these two vessels. The " Monarch " was built at Port 

 Glasgow by Messrs. D. J. Dunlop and Co., her measurements 

 being 240ft., by 33ft. beam, by 20ft. deep, indicated-horse- 

 power 1,200, , and displacement at 15ft. mean draft, 2,073 

 tons. In view of the large compound-cored cables, weighing 

 over 30 tons to the mile, which she has to deal with, her 

 picking-up gear was made specially strong. It is composed of 

 two sets of double-purchase gear, to each of which is a 

 drum and brake, so that picking-up and paying out can be 

 carried on at the same time. The gear is driven by a 

 double-cylinder steam-engine, with usual reversing links and 



