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CHAPTER I: THE CABLE SHIP ON REPAIRS
3. Grappling.
The ship now leaves the mark buoy, and steams out about a mile, in a course at right angles to the line of cable, then lowers grapnel and steams back slowly up to buoy, passing and repassing it till [sic] the cable is hooked. Sometimes the ship is allowed to drift with wind or tide while grappling, but this is only done in farily deep water. The speed for grappling is about one or two knots an hour according to the bottom, and is slowest for a rocky bottom. Cable ships generally carry various kinds of grapnel to suit different conditions of bottom met with.