NEW CABLE LAID

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 143, 5 July 1937, Page 15

NEW CABLE LAID

Race with the Elements in Cook Strait RECORDER'S EXPERIENCE The new coaxial cable, which. will so greatly extend telephone faeilities for croos-Strait communication, has been laid after a somewhat eventful. fixper-ion'-.e of the vagaries of Cook Strait weather. The task of the cable ship Kecorder was safely to lay 550 tons weight of cable along a carefully-plot-ted course from Lyall Bay to Blind River, Marlborough, a distance of 46 miles, • and ten days were occupied before the work could be eompleted, the greater part of that time being spent in waiting for favourable conditions. Laying operations commenced on June 15, when the Recorder lifted the shore-end two and a-half miles on Lyall Bay and made the joint with the r.orthern section of the cable 18$ miles long. Steaming south-east aloug a course checked by constant observations of fixed points and also m&rked by buoys previously laid aloug the route, the cable ship eompleted this section of the work in six and a-half hours. This end of the cable was dropped in the middle of Cook Strait in a deptfi of about 700 feet. During the laying, the weather changed, land marks became obscured, and the importance of taking the precaution to lay mark buoys was demonstrated. Ihe next step was to land the shoreend of the southern section at Blind River, og which the ship anchored overnight. Weather conditions became increasingly rough, and the Reccrder had to take shelter in Port Underwood for several days. On Sunday, June 20, when conditions began | to improve and there was a chance of completing the work, the Recorder an- , ch'.ied three-quarters of a mile off Blind Rivci- to commence Ianding the shore-end of the southern seetion at 7 a.m. The heavy cable was floated ashtre on evenly-spaced forty-gallon drums, 80 being required for this purpose, and tractors were utilised for haulage up the beach to the cable hut.

Southeriy Springs Up The cable had scarcely reached the skore when a fresh southeriy sprang up, and with inereasing wind and sea there was no alternative but to cut the LvU* ing lii.es, hau! back the cable int.» the ship'; tanks, and steam away to the uhelter i Poii Underwood. Then ensued another wait for better weather, tlie chip ueing sniplied frequently with i'crecasis from the Meteorolo- ; gicai Ofilce nnd venturing out occaSionally into the Straits for observatidn of the s«_a. Several days were spent waiting and watching for the propitious "slant; • of good weather, and finally, on Wj-dnesday, June 23, the work was resumed at Blind River, the ship being brougbt within half a mile of the shore owit't to the cairn sea. l?or a secod. time the cable was landed and at 10 a.m. the Recorder lifted anehor and commenced to steam towards Lyall Bay, paying out . the final section of 19$ miles which had to be jointed to the northern portion about midway in the StraitS. Only four or fivo miles had Jieen laid when the weather began to get, rough.

At 2 p.m. the northern section was lifted and then remained the ixhportant task of splicing the two cables. While the preparations were going on, a real southeriy began to blow with considearble rain. It became a question whether tho whole operation should not again be stopped and the cable ends dropped and buoyed to await more suitable conditions for the important task of jointing, which would take at least six hours. During the jointing period the ship must be kept exaetly iu position without throwing a strfiin on the work, which had to be done in a tent well lashed down on the foredeck of the Recorder. - Difficulty was expeiienced in keeping the interior of the jointers' tent dry owing to so much spray and driving rain. Fortunately the tide and the wind were in the same direction, so that the ship remained fairly steady, although to maintain her position the engines were set ahead at a speed equal to three knots an hour. The Jcinting In the history of Cook Strait 's cables there has never been a previous example of making the final splice in mid-Strait under such adverse conditions. The delicate task of jointing commenced at 6 p.m. with the prospect that between midnight and 1 a.rd. a ehange in thet ide would cause a considerable inerease in the sea. Fortunately, jointing was successfully eompleted by 31.30 p.m., with no margin to spare because the weather was becoming worse all the time. Tests from Lyafi Bay and Blind River cable huts showed that the joint had been eompleted satisfactorily, and the cable was then dropped overboard. The Recorder was obiiged to dodge about Cook Strait until daylight in order again to enter Port Underwood for shelter. Four days of bad weather followed before the cable ship could recover the mark buoys along the cable route. This was done on June 28, so that the whole of the operations associated With the laying of the coaxial cable had taken a fortnight. To have aehieved success in this time refleets great credit on the seamanship of the Recorder 's officers, who maintained the" ship's position so. effectively fot six hours during the critical pera'tion of jointing in mid-Stsait. Through tlie soundings taken by the Wakakura and the u$e of tho eeho-i-ounding equipment on the Matua a very satisfactory bed had been found F'r the cable with an even bottom throughout the whole course, the makimum depth ieached being 900 feot. The cho-sounding records gave valuable information rogarding the extent of a deep valley which appears to run through Cook Strait right across the track of the cfible and it was found possible to plot an easy grade through fliis depression. Lu laying tlie new eable the Recorder rau be said to liave laid the foundation stone of the new era of long-dis-tance comiuunications within the Do-