340 SUBilAKINE CABLE LAYING AND KEPAIRING. 



ownership in various cables to France, Belgium, and Germany. 

 Tliere are also some cables owned by the German Government 

 — to England ^nd Ireland. These cables are kept in repair by 

 H.M. telegraph ships, the " Monarch " and the " Alert," 

 expenses of maintenance being borne by owners and shared by 

 joint owners. The illustration of the latter vessel (Fig. 198) 

 is from a photograph taken by Mr. W. R. Culley, chief elec- 

 trician on board, and of the Government Depot at Dover, to 

 whom the writer is indebted for information on the work of 

 these ships. This vessel originally belonged to the Sabmarine 

 Telegraph Company, who owned the two Belgian and four 

 French cables. Since the English Government purchased this 

 vessel, about four years ago, and with the respective Govern- 

 ments effected a joint purchase of the above cables, she has 

 continued to keep them in repair, but when not so engaged is 

 often employed on other lines. Many of the cables above 

 referred to are multiple, with from two to seven cores. The 

 cores of all such cables are laid or stranded together with a 

 lay of about 12ft., served with yarn and then sheathed; but on 

 repair work, when a splice is made the cores are jointed so that 

 the conductors lie parallel, not made up in a strand as they 

 existed before, which takes much more time to do. It is, how- 

 ever, necessary to strand them when a splice is made in the 

 London-Paris telephone cable (between Dover and Sangatte), 

 the joints in the cores of this cable being made so that the four 

 conductors are stranded in the proper lay of 12ft., as the good 

 working of the telephones at each end depends upon the 

 neutralisation of induction by twisting the wires. The land- 

 line wires, for the same purpose, are fixed so that they make a 

 complete turn round each other every fourth pole. 



The "Alert" is a trim little paddle-steamer, with a dis- 

 placement of about 760 tons, at a mean draught of lOft., and 

 measuring 167ft. by 27ft. by 12ft. deep. The action of the 

 disconnecting paddles in giving an immediate effect one way or 

 the other is greatly appreciated. When a sudden stoppage is 

 required the blades of a propeller have not the same resisting 

 surface to check the momentum of the ship, and cannot make 

 such way per revolution astern as ahead, whereas paddles are 

 equally as good. With disconnecting paddles, as fitted to this 

 ship, either of which can be thrown out of gear in an instant, 



