CABLE REPAIRS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 9, 11 January 1929, Page 8

CABLE REPAIRS

EXPEDITIOUS WORK ■ (By Telegraph.) ' (Special to "The Evening Post.") AUCKLAND. This Day. (Smart work jyas done iby the cable steamer Iris in repairing a break in .the Eastern Extension- cable between Wellington and. Sydney. The!lris left Auckland on 3rd January, and the cable was in use again early in the evening of 7th January, in spite of bad weather delaying work on tho .vesesl. Leaving Auckland, the.lris 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 iv this position, by: anautomatic 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, tho moon, a^d later the sun. The cable was then picked up, and tests showed- that -the fault lay betwon- tho-. slyip, and' Wellington.' The: Sydney end -was buoyed, and the Iris, then hauled .in four and a-half miles of caTsle. Towards the break the cable was found to bo in poor condition, and one and ahalf 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 cable to the broken end was started at once, but had to be abandoned before midnight owing to bad weather. The weather cleared on Monday morning, leaving'a fresh south-easterly wind and a moderate swell. The work was resumed, and by 7 o'clock that evening 7.6 nautical miles - of' new cable had been laid. The final, splice was slipped, at 7.15 p.m., and the mark buoy peing recovered, a course was set for Auckland. ■«■'"'