7.
83
screen could be further improved by slight re-arrangements of the chains.
This leaves only the fairway and the Kowloon side really vulnerable from the East, and, if it were thought necessary, block and cable or chain protection could be provided to cover this section at no great expense. As an alternative inexpensive protection, the two telephone cables of the Colonial Government might be lifted from their present position and be relaid on the East side of the pipe line, thereby giving cable protection on both sides.
From enquiries made regarding the occurrence of dragging anchors I am of opinion that this danger only occurs at fairly long intervals, and the scheme proposed is designed to minimise as far as practicable, the
con sequences of such an accident.
pipe line is designed so that the weakest points are the flanged joints while the flexible joints are placed at the concrete blocks which function as anchor blocks.
For this purpose the
Assuming however that the pipe is hooked by the dragging anchor of a large ship, what would be the probable consequences?
The pipe when hooked would move against the anchor blocks and bend, the flexible joints at the blocks would come into action and deflect slightly, and the anchor would tend, if the blocks held, to slip along either to the flanged joints at the middle of the three hundred feet section or continue slipping to the anchor blocks where the next flanged joint is situated. These flanged joints are designed to break before the anchor blocks
move, so that the anchor would be allowed passage through, thus limiting the damage to one three hundred feet section.