THE MSYSPERIES OF SUBMARINE CALBE WORK.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XX, Issue 2852, 8 July 1892, Page 4

THE MSYSPERIES OF SUBMARINE CALBE WORK.

We extnct the following mterestita* ite&s f ron en account in the Few Zealand Mail, by ou of its Special reporters, of $ yisit to the uffwly purchased vfwel which the New Zealand Ooreroment are baring eoifterted into a cable repairing iteaffler.—" Wbeh the steamer came akmgikte tb* Hflilwuy Whirf I was there, an 4so was the energetic Dr Lemon, looking Terr business-like* wftb Mr Robinson of ih<s Telegraph Department^ Ojtpiaui Bendai), the mm\ known arbiter in: matters marine, and Mr Black, of tlie Telegraph •fcoref. Curiou* coincidence! Might tie representatire of. (he Hail be allowed on board ?„- The, anairer being cotttteou&Jy affirmatire, 1 wat soon en deck, and after being introduced to Captain Leyi, the bluff ikipper, feund myMti noTing bntkly about ill the wake of Dr Lemon, who-en-denily «ad no idea' o£ letting the graia grow under his feet. We dived into ths told, we crawled throagb the •Ogin© room, weiinapected the cabini, wia. walksd the deck, and in a brace of •hakes the Doctor, bf the aid of his B&sA|ringl tape, Bad got thedimenliotfi of ;ererj a^m, of space hii eje ha^ marked out for his.grappling and kattUng machinery, and: all the parffyhomalia required 1 for tfie meiidiog of &#broken cables. 9fiT^ssel Ui4lft long bj 28ft w^ i?ith a d#jflkof idlt from kel■offo deck. Her pa4dles are drlren b}f^ couple oX diagonal surface condspaiof engines^ jnth diiconnscting gear. B^eVof 94ho|«e-power, witfr a <ipi|t| of working u^ to 760, and foAa md. of 9knet«h©r coalconsumptjoEtfor 24 hours i« 8 tons. She is difidea into water^j^t seetionftbj fir^Hcieads. Built of steel in one otom Clyde yards (sne steamed out to Autrtralia) she is very strongly Sut together,, and fit for any work, he Km been doing dotras a collier | aod^a carrier <rf stt^k. We saw the

rodnj holds in which the' cattle lad bo* carried, difidtd up into pens, •trgnfTy panelled* , f V|w e*sy she i# at sea, ' the skipptr^gpL. jn answer to a question. * I jmri^arried 5780 heas; of cattle from DiMMfflti to Waiter*, a' 500 mile trip, And I #aljf lost 000 beast from first to last. Have catrod 2600 sheep and ae?er lost one/ It is powerful testimony to her "steadiness If&a steamer has two holds, 23 by *Bft, in which the* cable tanks can m gtoiN^ easily, thei* dftnansioas beiog 16ej22 by 5. For th© machinery ftri |>tfi!>§ cut^ajad boating in and gramas, her ftixtb deck, broken *■! 1 1^" the bridg€> r engine' hooeekand deck noute, is faukumxUy, eatable, aad ker two masts are not in the way of ADY&i&g- , j Migßt. wa «te. this machinery? Certain??;: and off we trudged to the telegraph yard- hard by, where it ia lying. As we go the Doctor says, ' I always said I was prepared for the job;, bat I never courtea it.' It was bo #mpty boast ;,tho state of preptratiin was simpfya rerelation. At the entrance to th# yard there §xc some boarded storehousei, with o trou^ high fntme-liker atxuctures alongside, on one of which is a crane. In tb^ former are tbe tanks in which miles of cable are reposing in fresh water ; the latter are used foe paying cable out of tbe yard over the wharf into a f easel tyiojj alongside. Without the water the gutta percba, it is explained, would dry up and perish : • Just like a flab But of water/ says ' Mr Black.

Inside the Yard, in which are grfeat stacks of 'tefegraph and telephone poles piledwith mathematical exatetnasr, ire come~upon a number of iron, buoys newly ■ painted, destined for use in the coming operations, and the part they play is succinctly explained by the Doctor. How they are carried to sea, how they are set floating to mark 'particular spots, how the. n*uihroom anchors are fastened to them, how the end of a fished up cable is fixed to them — these and many other things we learn in the gathering twilight as the rain patters an ! accompaniment to the Doctor's rapid explanation. ... We go into the store, and pass through the rooms, marvelling at the older of things, at the cleanliness and neatness v of everything, at the ■igos ©£ isethodTind line absence of dust. But of tfeso things we can take bat little heed to day. Are we not bound for the store where the cable apparatus is lying ? Very toon we are in fte midst of the paraphernalia. Fip§t is the great hauling and paving out machine, with its heavy wooden frame, its massive wheel projecting on one side, its ■team motor on the other ; the great brake wheels rising up in the centre between. The brake is the A&pold brake, ueed when the missive wheel is paying out cable ; and the g?ar is disconnected when a cable is beiog hauled in, strosg holding machinery coming iato play for. the change of operation. This, heavy machine is measured at once 'and foaad to be about the right size for tjie Terranort'sdeck. -'

Then we art introduced to the iheares — Jia»iTe iron castings, orer which cable goes oat into the water and cable cornea io put of the depths. Tw© of the Dumber are to be used ; of <Td*ttJ«ter of four feet they are. They are to b& fUed to. the nose of the ship, fastened to heavy beams hing hard by. One ie for the outgoing caUf, the other lor the incoming ' We p«y out ap4 haul ib/ says the Doctor, 'oter the bow, on short: Fojage*. It aa*e* what we <*JI; f -ft-

passing the' cable? * He explains, howl tßis TaciKrate* the splicing and other matt ere. * • ■ . Thirdly, we are introduced to the dynamometer, which is to be fixed up between tire hauling machinery and the sheaves in the nose of the ship. The body of this instrument is fastened below with a movable sheave showing above the deck. The cable operated on passes under this sheave on its way to or from the bow sheaves as the case may be, and the strain is measured by the rising and falling of the sheave.

11 When we are grappling, the strain tells us if we hare a cable or a rock," explains the Doctor. " Steady undulations mean, ( cable ' ; jerk means a rock. When the ierks are heavy we know we hare got bold of New Zeal land, and we don't hanl much."

We are next introduced to the grappling irons, fire pronged instruments, each prong mm 2in to Sin thick, Tin or mo at the junction ; and to the mushroom anchor*, great cups of iron with heavy stocks, all disposed in order, and locking new and clean. Indeed, the cleanliness of the whole of the machinery is a thing to wonder St. That big. battling payiag out machine was last used in 1876 op board the Luna for repairing one of the Cook Strait cables, a good 16 years ago ; yet to- make it bright and f res, b as when it left the maker's hand* nothing more is required than to Wipe off the grease with which it is covered; Mere is a place where the rust contumeth not.

Round about are coils, of wire rope, hempen hawiera, blocks of wood and blocks of iron, chains beavj and light, bolts ancf sierews and nuts in great 'variety, boxes of " percba " 1/ing in water y everything necessary for the 'work of cable repairing, even to deep *ea thermometers* and over all is the odour of Stockholm tar peculiar to things marine, pleasant to the nostrils of the mariner, and the invariable accompaniment of the articles found in Hie hands of the marine store dealer.

In a few days the Terranora will be transformed Into a cable ship; With the big 4ft sheaves in front of her now; the compact heavy hauling gear and engine fixed on deck before the engine house, and the wheel of the dy nanometer projecting above the deck half way between ; with a chart room abaft the bridge for Dr Lemon to superintend operations, with the aid of his charts of: Cook Strait, taking bearings for the course and so forth ; with buoys aid mushroom anchors and grapples disposed in due order, and several miles of cable coiled away in the tanks in her holds; with all these things, the ship's equipment will be complete.