LAYING OF COOK STRAIT CABLE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4877, 8 November 1876, Page 3

LAYING OF COOK STRAIT CABLE.

(PROM our special correspondent.) • The cable steamer Agnes has returned after performing the (neater part of the task for which she left this port on Monday last. It is ’■a matter for congratulation, and says much for "the progress made in cable machinery, that the present undertaking should have been carried out with so little “ fuss,” than which per-; bape it would be difficult' to find a term more, iappropriate to describe the laying ref the: ■first" cable connecting this island with the. Southern Island. Of course the cable was 1 ■more of a novelty then. The cable, which is now : almost laid across the entire length of the Strait, ■ came out in the Zealaudia, from which it was ■taken by the Agues, after considerable amount of money had been paid to the former on demurrage. When once the work of tranship-, meat was commenced, however, no delay was permitted to take place, men being engaged 1 night and day until the task was completed on Monday mor-iing, the 6th November. ’ That afternoon at 1 o’clock the Agnes with ■ thirty-seven miles of cable on board, steamed : out of fort Nicholson direct for White’s Bay, where she. arrived at 7 o’clock p.m. She was; anchored about a quarter of a mile off ■ the landing place, and waited for daylight: to commence operations. At 4 a.m. on 'Tuesday a dozen men were landed on the shore, and under the direction of, as well as ably assisted by, Dr. Lemon, who worked the pick and shovel with any of them, a trench; ■was dug leading from the ■ tidal limit to the. cable house. By 7 o’clock this 1 was' done. All the arrangements bn shore were completed by Captain Sims, Mr. Taylor, and Mr. Shapley ' (of the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company!,; and at 8 o’clock the first boat landed with the ; ■bore end, and the crew leaping amongst the breakers bore it triumphantly on shore. All' .hands now set to and hauled the cable up the beach through Mr. O’Neil’s garden, and into the cable house. The trench was filled in by 8.30, and all had returned to the ship by 8.45 sum. The cable was now passed round the , drum of the paying-out gear, and the machinery "■et in motion. The ship steamed ahead, audi the line commenced to run out cheerily. The 1 electrical condition of the cable was perfect.! i'Kne weather' favored the work, and as mile; after mile was reported payed out by the officer stationed at the indicator everyone was hopeful of finishing and returning to Wellington before : dark. At 11.10 a.m. the first anxious moment i arrived—the passing out of the splice made while alongside the Zealandia, and which: some of our readers may have seen on the forward deck of the Agnes while_ they were courteously conducted over that ship on Satur ; day and Sunday, and some might have seen it: when they took possession of the ship, to the dismay of the officers, who at the time were; all in the hurry of their most anxious work.: As the splice approached the speed of the ship' was reduced, and the brakes carefully watched.' This brake power on the Agnes is so well • adjusted that should any hitch occur in the 'cable tank, the ship can he stopped and the cable arrested within a few yards. The splice passed over steadily and’ safely, and at this point twelve and a third miles had been payed ont, at the rate of a, little over six miles an hour. After the splice had passed out, the ordinary speed of the ship and of the paying out gear was resumed. At noon seventeen miles rested in Cook Strait and at 2.40 p.m. the whole of the lighter type of cable, measuring from White’s Bay, 32 miles.' This type was joined to a five mile length of heavy, shore end when the ship lay at our wharf; and while ohi the subject we may remark that the work of jointing is a special and delicate operation in cable . laying. The jointer on board the Agnes is Mr. W. Pish; who made the final splice in the New Zealand and Australian cable, and his experience extends over almost, all existing cables. The work of paying out the shore end was necessarily slower than the other part, being much heavier, but the same system of brakes was adopted. As the end.of the five mile length approached (as it lay in the tank), soundings were taken, and a buoy and a chain with a mushroom anchor were prepared to mark • its termination. At 4.30 p.m. the end was passed through the gear, and about ■even miles from'the cable-house iq Lyell Bay the buoy with the tricolor telegraph flag marks the present limit of the cable and of the day’s ,work. The Agues will have to await the ; arrival of a further length of seven and a ha f miles from Home with which to complete the cable. _