SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



97 



vigil at night and commenced it again early 

 the following morning. The heat in this small 

 iron house was intense, and about noon I was 

 beginning to feel unpleasantly drowsy, when a 

 slight kick of the mirror spot at once makes 

 me extremely alert. That kick indicated to 

 me that the ship's grapnel had hooked the 

 cable. The instrument is so sensitive and my 

 acquaintance with it so intimate, that I could 

 follow by the light's movements the cable being 

 raised and passed aboard and the end prepared 

 and joined up to an instrument in the ship's testing- 

 room. The ship then calls ; a short test is taken, 

 which, proving satisfactory, I am instructed to 

 cease watch for a certain period. The end of the 

 cable is then sealed and buoyed, the ship proceed- 

 ing to grapple for the other end. This is later on 

 picked up, tested to the other, and to me, distant 

 shore. A new piece of cable is joined to and 

 spliced on, and the ship pays out to the buoy 

 on the Tenerifi'e end. This buoyed end is then 

 picked up. tested, and the final joint of the copper 

 conductor and splice of the outer wires made, 

 and the bight, or loop, thus formed is slipped and 

 sinks to the bottom, where it finds a soft resting- 

 place. Shortly afterwards an exhaustive test is 

 taken, which proving to be satisfactory, the 

 cable is handed over to the operators, and the 

 beautiful Island of La Palma is once more on 

 electrical speaking terms with the rest of the 

 world Nothing more remained for me to do but 

 to pack up my instruments and start on the home- 

 ward journey, which I did with a pleasant feeling 

 of satisfaction, engendered by the consciousness 

 of duty done and the completion of successful 

 work 



Since writing the above communication I have 

 bad the opportunity of taking a photograph of the 

 broken piece of cable above referred to. I have 

 pleasure in sending you a print, to show your 

 readers the remarkable form these fractures 

 frequently assume. The picture represents the 

 injured section, which was cut out and brought 

 in by the staff on the repairing ship, a few weeks 

 ago. on the occasion when I conducted the tests 

 described before the cable was picked up it was 

 inspected the injury was caused by having become 

 entangled with the anchor of iome steamer or 

 other. and thi proved to be true The phot 



bow those interested how great must have 

 been the extraordinary force exerted before the 

 cable parted The strong sheathing wires have 



.Mirdcaged," as we call it, I 



breaking one by i is an example of the 



hich the penses of a 



cable company arc subjected. It need hardly be 



added that such repairs are very expensive items, 



i loss of revenue during break;* ■ 



THE KENT COAL-FIELDS. 



(")?< the 4th August last, we were invited to join 

 a party formed to inspect the new colliery in 

 course of construction near Dover. A special train 

 from London had been arranged by the host of the 

 day, Mr. W. J. Cousins, managing director of the 

 contract company which is sinking the two shafts 

 at the foot of Shakespeare Cliff and adjoining the 

 closed entrance to the late Channel tunnel works. 

 All this can be seen from the railway between 

 Folkestone and Dover. 



On arrival, luncheon having been served, the 

 party proceeded to examine the works. These are 

 now rapidly advancing, and consist of two shafts 

 with the necessary engine and boiler power for 

 winding and ventilating. We had the privilege of 

 descending one of the shafts. 



The history of this enterprise arose out of the 

 closing by the Government, for political reasons, of 

 the Channel tunnel works ; which action, though 

 most disappointing to the adventurers at the time, 

 has proved to be probably one of the most fortunate 

 events possible for the commercial prosperity of 

 south-eastern England. 



The present enterprise was commenced with the 

 suggestion, by the Engineer, Mr. Francis Brady, 

 that as all the material for a trial boring was on 

 the premises, a search should be made for the coal 

 which had, years ago, been forecast as being below 

 that region by Messrs. R. A. C. Godwin-Austen 

 and Professor Prestwich. The result of that trial 

 boring, as our readers remember, was the finding 

 of coal in considerable quantities at a depth of 

 1,136 feet, and again at intervals until 2,222 feet 

 below high-water mark was reached. The boring 

 was then stopped, but coal at greater depths is 

 believed to exist. The Kent Coal Syndicate, which 

 has undertaken to sink the shafts now in progress, 

 have now reached a depth, in one of them, con- 

 siderably more than half-way down to the first 

 workable seams, so that it is expected the practical 

 winning of coal for market purposes will have been 

 attained by February next. 



All the machinery and other appliances used by 

 Mr. Cousin's company are of the newest and most 

 advanced character The pits are seventeen feet 

 and twenty feet in diameter respectively. The 

 work is being now conducted in the wider shaft, at 

 the rate of some thirty to forty feet every week. 

 very rapid progress when it is considered 



that only a limited number of men can work at one 

 time, and that the sides of the pit have to be 

 bricked round with solid and thick walls as the 

 sinking proceeds. 



i rorn the aspect this work is of the 



' interest, and we hope in an early number 



to be able to place omi fact la connection with 

 - -John T, Carriiigton. 



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