[Central Maine Power footage] Reel 7 Accession 0700

Date1938

AbstractIntertitle: "Central Maine Power Co. lays submarine cable across mouth of Kennebec River to Popham Beach, June 7, 1938." Intertitle: " Cable manufactured by Simplex Wire & Cable Co. 2,750 feet 3-conductor #4 Anhydrex AA-60 Rubber Insulated Steel Armored Submarine Cable for 6,900 V.W.P." "Central Maine Power Co. Mr. John Collins Plant Engineer Mr. Ralph Bragg Division Supt. Mr. John Heskett Division Line Foreman Mr. Bill Gove Crew Foreman and 18 men" Intertitle: Guests: Mr. E.P. Noyes Director of Safety Central Maine Mr. Everett Morss President, Simplex Mr. Ernest W. Davis Electrical Engineer, Simplex Mr. Arthur W. Coombs Salesman, Simplex" "Approaching Bay Point to land first shore end." A small tug boat pulls a flat barge with a reel of able toward a lobster shack on a raised piling dock. Pan to the shore showing various small houses on a hillside. Intertitle: "House of Stephen Etnia." Pan small harbor with small houseboat tied up to pole dock. Intertitle: "Fort Popham and beach for which we were headed. Note flow of tide." Long shots of the fort in the distance, and the barge in the foreground with a large reel of cable on board, marked "Simplex". Intertitle: "Unloading cable crossing signs." Views of work crew unloading from the barge two large signs which say "Cable Crossing Do Not Anchor", and hauling it them up the rocky beach and propping them up for installation. Intertitle: " Starting Bay Point end of cable to the shore." Long shot of the barge with work crew starting to roll out some of the cable from the reel. The end of the reel is pushed up the rocky shoreline where men carry it to the place where it will be attached to power. Interitltle: "John Collins, Plant Engineer Central Maine, Ernest W. Davis, Electrical Engineer, Simplex Arthur W. Coombs, Salesman, Simplex" More views of the cable barge, with various men standing around. Intertitle: " Earl Gilley, Champion Lobster Eater". View of a man sitting in the stern of a dinghy, eating lobster. Intertitle: "Lunch hour" Two men stand by the large reel of cable on the flat barge on the Kennebec River. View of the harbor at low tide with a shack marked "Lobster" on top of a pole dock. Several boats are tied up to the dock. Pan across the harbor to Fort Popham, with waters of the river showing the effects of tidal current. Intertitle: "Bay Point-Terminal Pole and Trench" View from the barge looking at the rocky shore with the two wooden signs "Cable Crossing Do Not Anchor" on the rocks. Intertitle: "Jockeying barge into position to start for Popham Beach" Views on the barge as it starts to pull away from the terminal, and views of the cable as it is played out from the reel. Intertitle: "Under weigh - Cable guarded with snubber" Quick view of cable being played off the stern of the barge. Intertitle: "Note Brakes on Reel". View of two men pushing down on wooden brakes on either side of the reel to guide its speed as it unravels. Intertitle: "Taking Popham Beach end of cable ashore" Views of the barge beached at Popham Beach, and men beginning to pull cable up the shore. Intertitle: "Popham Beach Terminal Pole" Very brief view of the electric pole on the beach.