253.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :~~
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C.O.885
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ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
Ships, and
Ac.
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shall receive at the same time a thorough coating of chalk and water, and shall be kept wet while remaining on board ship.
The Contractors shall supply the necessary steamship or steamships for the transport appliances and laying of the cable. Such steamship or steamships shall be provided for the stowage for laying of cable with iron water-tight tanks of suitable dimensions and construction, and thoroughly secured. The ship or ships used for laying shall also be provided with a suitable testing-room or rooms, and shall be fitted out with all necessary machinery and appliances for laying and testing the cable, buoying, grappling, picking up, repairing, &c., including electrical instruments and batteries. The machinery and appliances to be similar to those which were used during the laying of Transatlantic cables, subject to such improvements as the Contractors may deem it advantageous to introduce. In any case means shall be provided to indicate and record continuously the percentage of slack and the strain on the cable while paying out in depths exceeding 500 fathoms.
Position of Cable.
Laying.
? Observa.
tions.
Testing.
Condition of the
cable when laid.
The course of the cable shall generally follow the route given by the Government Engineers, but the exact position in which the cable is to be laid, and the percentage of slack, shall be in the absolute discretion of the Contractors.
During the laying, a daily report, giving the position of the ship, the distance run, and the length of cable paid out, is to be furnished by the Contractors' Engineer in charge of the laying of the cable to the Government Engineer on board, and for such report the form used during the laying of Transatlantic cables shall be adopted. During the process of paying out or hauling back of the cable all reasonable information about the progress of the work shall be given by the Engineer in charge to the Government Engineer on board. The said Government Engineer on board may from time to time request the Contractors to forward short messages on Government business through the cable during laying, and the Contractors shall so forward such messages as soon as, in the opinion of the Engineer in charge, this can be done without interfering with his operations.
The position of the ship while laying the cable shall be determined by frequent observations, and a British Admiralty chart or charts containing the courses of the cable as laid shalt be furnished to the Government by the Contractors as soon as may be practicable after the completion of the laying.
Every facility shall be afforded to the Government Engineer, at reasonable times, to test the cable during shipment and transport. During the laying the testing shall be exclusively in the hands of the Contractors, and shall be open to the inspection of the Government Engineer.
The method of testing, and the instruments to be employed therein, shall be similar to those employed during the laying of Transatlantic cables, subject to such improve. ments as the Contractors may deem it advantageous to introduce.
The cable when laid shall be electrically perfect, and in good working order, that is to say, its condition shall be such that electrical signals can be easily and regularly exchanged between the two terminal points of the cable, and when not interfered with by earth currents or other disturbing causes beyond the control of the Contractors, such as shall permit of its being regularly worked for the transmission of messages. Its condition shall also be such that it shall be possible, with proper appliances and skilful operatora, to obtain a speed of
words per minute, when the cable is not interfered with by earth currents or other disturbing causes beyond the control of the Contractors.
The Contractors shall provide accommodation and victualling for, at most, three representatives or officers of the Government on board each ship transporting and laying- the cable, during the time such vessel is engaged at sea for the operations forming the presenta subject of this Specification.
Accommo- dation for Govern-
ment re-
tiven.
Protection.
Shore-end.
The cable shall, while on board ship, be carefully guarded against the damage that may arise from exposure to heat, either from the proximity of boilers, steam pipes, &c., or from the rays of the sun.
Trench for The Contractors shall, at each landing place, bury the cable in a good and sufficient trench. The cable to be buried shall have a length of not less than 100 yards, and may, at the option of the Contractors, be of a lighter type than the shore-end cable.
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No. 6.
MR. M. H. GRAY to MR. MERCER.
The India-Rubber, Gutta-Percha and
Telegraph Works Company, Limited. DEAR MR. Mercer,
Silvertown, London, E., January 2, 1900. As requested in your letter of the 16th December, I have gone through the evidence which I gave before the Pacific Cable Committee in November, 1896, and find no reason to modify the opinions which I then expressed. There are, however, several matters which have occurred since the date above inentionel to which I would like to draw attention. One of these is the laying of the cable between Brest and Cape Cod, which was laid by a French Company under a French Government Subsidy in 1898. This cable has a length of about 3,200 nautical miles, and is thus the longest cable laid up till now, being only 360 miles shorter than the proposed Vancouver-Fanning Island section (this refers to question No. 362 in my evidence).
Another point (question 434 et seq.) has been cleared up by the completion of the survey between Vancouver and Fanning Island; from this we can see that, as anticipated in my reply, the bottom to the north of Honolulu has been found to be fairly regular and offers no unusual difficulty to cable laying,
As regards the material required for cable making, considerable changes have taken place since we drew up our tender in 1894; the price of all material has risen, for example-steel wire, which we could have obtained then for say £16 per ton, now costs £22; and iron wire, which could then have been bought for £7 10s. per ton, now costs about £14
From the beginning of 1894 to the present time there have been made over 22,000 nautical miles of cable, in the manufacture of which I estimate that some 3,500 tons of new gutta-percha have been employed; this constitutes a severe drain on the gutta market, which is a comparatively limited one. I further estimate that, leaving to one side the contemplated British Pacific cable, there are some 25,000 to 30,000 miles of cable in prospect as about to be laid; this will call for some 4,300 tons of new gutta-percha. I have little doubt that several of the cables about to be laid are projected, and their manufacture is timed by those opposed to competition so as to make the market for material tell as severely as possible on the capital cost of the cables, British and American, shortly to be laid across the Pacific.
Besides the above mentioned work in view 1 believe that the French Government has now under consideration a scheme for laying cables to unite French Colonies at an estimated total expenditure of £4,000,000,
The above are the principal points which occur to me in connection with the Pacific project.
Please excuse the unavoidable delay in replying to your letter.
Believe me,
W. Hepworth Mercer. Esq.,
Colonial Office, Downing Street, S.W.
DEAR SIR.
No. 7.
Yours faithfully,
M. H. GRAY.
MR. F. R. LUCAS to MR. MERCER.
Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, Limited. Offices, 38, Old Broad Street, London, E.C.,
January 11, 1900.
Ox my return from Cape Town your Tetter of December 16th has been handed to me, in which you enquire if anything has happened to modify the opinions which
I expressed in 1896 on the subject of the proposed Pacific Cable.
In reply I have to inform you that since the above date I have been employed as Engineer of this Company in laying several deep sen cables, namely, from Bermuda to Jamaica, rid Turks Island, for the West India Direct Cable Company, and from England to Gibraltar, Malta, and Alexandria, and from Cape Town to St. Helena and Ascension - for the Eastern Telegraph Company.
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