LAYING OF COOK STRAIT CABLE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4884, 16 November 1876, Page 3

LAYING OF COOK STRAIT CABLE.

(prom our special correspondent.)

The cable steamer Agnes has returned after performing the greater part of the task far which she left this port on November 6. -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 perhaps it would be difficult to find a term more' appropriate to describe the laying of the first cable connecting this island with the Southern Island. Of course the cable was more of a novelty then. The cable, which is now almost laid across the entire length of the Strait, came out in the Zealandia, from which it was taken by the Agnes, after considerable amount of money h'ad been paid to the former on demurrage. When once the work of transhipment was commenced, however, no delay was permitted to take place, men being engaged night and day until the task was completed bn Monday morning, the 6th November. That afternoon at 1 o’clock the Agnes with thirty-seven miles of cable on board, steamed out of Port 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 treneh was dug leading from the tidal limit to the cable house. By 7 o’clock this was done. All the arrangements on 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 shore 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 a.m. The cable was now passed round the drum of the paying-out gear, and the machinery set in motion. . The ship steamed ahead, and the line commenced to run out cheerily. The electrical condition of the cable was perfect. Fine 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 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 Saturday 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, Agues is so well adjusted that should any hitch occur in the cable tank, the ship can be 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 out, at the rate of a little over six miles au 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 mUes. This type was joined to a five mile length of heavy shore end when the ship lay at our wharf; and while on 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. Fish, who made the final splice in the. New Zealand and Australian cable, aad 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 , seven miles from the cable-house in Lyell Bay the buoy with the tricolor telegraph flag marks the present limit of the cable and of the day’s ' work. The Agnes will have to await the arrival of a further length of seven and a half miles from Home with which to complete the

The cable steamer Agnes left Worser Bay on the 9th November about three o’clock, and picked up the cable in the Strait without the slightest difficulty. It was successfully buoyed before half-past seven, and she again returned into the harbor a little after nine last night. As to the allegations which have been made as to the rocky character of the bottom where the cable is laid, it may be mentioned that it is not rocky at all, but actually consists of blue mud, which Captain Sims considers the best species possible.