354 



SUBMAKINE CABLE LAYING AND REPAIRING. 



if condemned, the sheathing wires are stripped off and 

 the core stored ; if passed, the separate lengths of similar 

 type are joined up and, if necessary, re-served. The 

 process of re-serving consists first in running the cable — 

 thoroughly dried — through a mixture of Stockholm tar and 

 resin, and then "parcelling" or taping over the sheathing wires 

 with canvas strip. Over this is put a layer of soft compound 

 and then another tape in the opposite direction to the first, and 

 finally a smear of hard compound. Outside all, the cable is 

 whitewashed as it is coiled in the tanks, to prevent the turns 



Fig. 205.— Cable Sheave. 



from sticking together, as it would be dangerous for the men 

 in the tank were this to happen during paying-out. 



When taking cable aboard it is convenieut to use a portable 

 steam hauling machine which can be fixed to the deck along- 

 side any tank into which it is required to coil the cable. The 

 tractive power is then j ast where it ought to be, and as delivered 

 from this machine the cable has only to fall by its own weight 

 into the tank, where men receive and coil it. In a machine for 

 this purpose a faster-running engine can be used than with the 

 ahip's picking-up gear, as there is no strain on the cable. The 



