Summary

This is a section of the shore end of a submarine telegraph cable.

The shore-ends of a telegraph cable could extend several miles from land on either coast. Shore-end cable was manufactured separately from the main deep-sea cable, and was constructed to be of greater strength than the main cable to withstand the more severe conditions close to shore. The shore-end section of the cable could weigh up to or more than twenty tons to the mile, and measured more than an inch or two in diameter at the shore end. The diameter would diminish gradually, in its last few hundred yards, to the ordinary size of the main deep-sea cable, with which it was joined. The shore end cable and the main length cable had the same core, but the core was wrapped differently and covered outside by a winding of several thick strands of galvanised iron wires.

Physical Description

Cable has 7 conductors. Each conductor is a 7-wire strand, with each wire having a diameter of about 0.7 mm. Each conductor is covered with insulation to a diameter of about 5 mm. The 7 conductors are gathered together and embedded in more insulation to form a core with a diameter of about 18 mm. The core is wrapped in a layer of 24 armouring wires, each of about 2.5 mm diameter. Another layer of insulation brings the diameter to about 25 mm. An outer layer of 12 armouring wires, each of about 8.5 mm diameter, with a left-hand lay, completes the cable.

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