21274 " The Isle of Weight Submarine Cable " LAYING AN UNDERWATER CABLE TO THE ISLE OF WEIGHT INDUSTRIAL FILM
Taking place in the spring and summer of 1972, this color film details live footage of the laying of a 123kV, three core, oil-filled power cable submerged between Lepe, England and Thorness Bay, Isle of Wight, a popular tourist center. At that time, the bulk of electricity was provided via two underwater (sub-marine) cables. The Southern Electricity board decided to install a third cable (1:32) and hired Balfour, Beatty & Co., Limited. To make this continuous cable for a 3-mile sub-marine crossing, it was manufactured in manageable drum lengths (2:07-2:19) and joined together into a coil on Lois, a German ship refitted for this task (2:33). Before jointing could begin, a drum of cable had to be mounted on the foredeck. The cable was pulled through the joint bay and coiled onto the turntable with the trailing end resting in the bay. The leading end of a second cable was then fed in (2:45-3:11). The ends are exposed, cut, joined together, and secured with a sleeve (3:08-3:23). Next, the conductors are exposed and joined, using a special brazed joint (3:24-4:24), which was then examined by portable x-ray equipment (4:29). The cores are then reinsulated with layers of paper tape for flexibility (4:50-5:06), followed by metalized paper tape screens (5:17) and the oil ducts replaced (5:23). The sleeve is then lead-soldered shut (5:30). Vacuum pumps remove any trapped air (5:49). Six-millimeter diameter armored protection wires are now wrapped (6:04) around the joint and welded (6:17). Next, 30 feet of whipped tar sisal yarn (6:25) is applied over it. The jointed cable is now coiled onto the turntable (6:37) and the procedure repeated until nearly 5,000 meters of cable is prepared. The 30-ton drums of cable (6:54) are now loaded onto the Lois (7:17-7:50).To begin laying the cable, tugs pull the Lois (8:49) offshore to Lepe where the leading end of the cable was hauled to shore with a winch (10:14). Barrels attached to the cable (10:40-11:00) acted as buoyancy floats as the cable passes on land through a trench (11:30). Once attached, the barrels are released and the cable allowed to sink to the bottom of the seabed. <p>The Lois is now pulled by three 600-horsepower tugboats on its way to Thorness Bay, laying cable behind it at 1.5 meters per second (12:06-12:35). The turntable speed is controlled by hand using air brakes on the rim (12:39). The first joint slides easily into the water (13:09). Navigation signals (13:28) warn other boats away. The process continues towards the two beacons on the island (14:10) until reaching shallow waters, where the Lois is moored (15:22). The final day involved pulling the remaining cable to the island (15:36) by winches on land, again using drums to float the cable (16:31). On shore, the cable is moved over rollers (17:02) to its final destination and jointed (17:37). A small power terminal station is connected to this line (18:00) to transfer electricity, as is oil equipment (18:30).<p><p>In 2014 the undersea cable seen in this film was replaced using specialist submarine cable and installation technology by the Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks.<p><p>We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: "01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference."<p><p>This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com