BREAK IN TASMAN CABLE

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 91, 11 January 1929, Page 11

BREAK IN TASMAN CABLE

REPAIR STEAMER’S SMART WORK Dominion Special Service. Auckland, January 10. Particularly smart work was done by the cable steamer Iris in repairing a break in the Eastern Extension cable between Wellington and Sydney. The Iris left Auckland on January 3, and the cable was in use again early in tlie evening of January 7, in spite of bad weather delaying work on the vessel. Leaving Auckland, the Iris steamed 540 miles to a position about 180 miles west of Cape Farewell. A buoy was streamed at this point last Saturday evening in 300 fathoms. A fault had been located approximately in this position by an automatic apparatus at Wellington, but as the sky was too cloudy for accurate observations when the Iris arrived, she hove to in the vicinity. Conditions improved early next morning, and the position of the buoy was verified by observing the planet Venus, the moon, and later the sun. The cable was then picked up, and tests showed that the fault lay between the ship aud Wellington. The Sydney end was buoyed, and the Iris then hauled in four and a half miles of cable. Towards tlie break the cable was found to be in poor condition, and one and a half miles from the fault the conductor line parted, and it became necessary to buoy that end. The Wellington end was then picked up, and the break was located at 10 o'clock on Sunday evening. Jointing and splicing the ship’s stock cablfe to’the broken eml was started at once, but bad to be abandoned before midnight owing to bad weather. The weather cleared on Monday morning, leaving a fresh south-easterly wind aud a moderate swell. The work was resumed, and by 7 o’clock that evening 7.G nautical miles of new cable had been laid. The final splice was slipped at 7.15 p.m., and the mark buoy being recovered, a course was set for Auckland.