COOK STRAIT CABLES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 178, 17 April 1918, Page 4

COOK STRAIT CABLES

_—_-$ THE "CHEWED" AND THE "CHAFED." The two cables (Nos. 3 and 4) acrofs ■ ;' Cook Strait which refused duty a fort- ; night ago- have since been repaired, .and. are at present in full working ordtsr. It was found that No. 3 cable had been chafed through, on account of its weight having rested on a rocky lidge defining a sharp dip' in the bed of the' Strait. On that ridge tjio cable, cxposul to the play of the strong tides that flow through the Strait, gradually grinds . away until a break occurs. This is thei fourth occasion on which a fault hag been registered at this spot. Still, No. It cable lies been down since 1890, w it cannot be said to have worn badly. When cable chafes through, it is usual to find the copper ,-rmouring air 4 core • exposed, but in this case one end of the broken cable was found completely seal- , ed up, with the gutta-porcha insulation, drawn right over the frayed tnds of the torn and twisted copper, sealed as neatly as though it were done by hand, and meeting the resistance test just as effectually. The discovery roused the greatest interest among the electric on the cable-repairing steamer as something new in submarine electric action . as applied to a cable. •' It was discovered that the fault to f«o. * cable was caused bv the marine worm known colloquially as the "gribble, and to eeienc?. as timnoria' lignornm, a ravenous and omnivorous marine insect which would just as soon tickle the insulation on a cable ns an ironbark wharf pile., It was found that this worm had exposed the copper cable, hence the dead to earth" trouble.