anchors, then.

It was those damn foul lizard beast pretending to be the UK Royal family. I saw them with my own two eyes.

Ok, my next leased line, I'll insist that BT run it down the road all the way from the exchange to the office, then I'll send a bill to the owner of any car who damages it by driving over it, or impound the car.

Were the bottom of the sea cables marked above sealevel with "Do not lower your anchors here" signs?

"It was those damn foul lizard beast pretending to be the UK Royal family. I saw them with my own two eyes."

just imagine if it turns out to be true, the royals ARE lizards and they were responsible for the cut cables..... you will be in some serious trouble.... keep a eye out for a white fiat uno.........

Wonder how long before "No Parking" signs and double yellow lines start popping up in ports?

Paris because she goes down quicker than an anchor.

Well the cables wouldn't be marked above sea level a long way from shore (they generally are marked close to shore to prevent this sort of thing), but they would certainly be marked on the nautical charts of the area. As any sailor knows you don't drop anchors near underwater obstructions since you can either get stuck on them, or you can break the item in question. The sea is a rather large place and with a little thought you can ensure you don't actually break anything.

"Were the bottom of the sea cables marked above sea level with "Do not lower your anchors here" signs?"

According to the reports I have read, yes they were. Specifically there appear to be interdicted areas marked on the charts where you must not anchor.

There is usually some kind of marker, i.e. a buoy or marker of some sort, to indicate a hazard as with road signs. These were either in place, in which case the ships were at fault, or they weren,t then the cable owners were at fault for failing to notify the proper authourity.

The cable should be buried. I'm surprised it lasted more than a month. Don't they have trawlers in that part of the world? The cable owner should be fined for leaving crap all over the ocean.

"Incompetent seamen" - yeah, that must be genetic.

The lab coat, thanks.

The cable owner would have got permission to lay and the cable will undoubtedly be clearly marked on navigation charts. Dragging anchor onto a cable is the marine equivalent of driving a lorry into a low bridge.

under sea cables are so deep that there aren't any human vehicals to submerge that deep so burying them is next to impossible...

@ Vikash Joshi Damn you...you beat me to that punchline...

>/ Thumbs down because its just that deep...

of getting careless with your seamen....

the responsible Seaman may well get discharged...

(with thanks to Bruce Dickinson)

And how do you bury cables under the ocean? Getting them on the bottom, and keeping them is expensive enough the way it is!

Paris because she doesn't hide anything underground either!

Not strictly true, you can now trench cables easily to the edge of the continental shelf, and if they had anchor cable that went deeper than that they wouldn't have much room for cargo!

Ah ok,

I did have a quick google if that was the case, but couldn't find anything to confirm either way.

So my leased line should be ok provided I run it between double yellow lines :)

I think the maximum deapth of the Gulf in this area is only about 90 meters at its deepest. Where as the maximum deapth of the mediteranian is about 5,000 meters. This is quite a large variation in Depth. Still 90 meters is quite deep, but that is only at the deepest point. There are lots of areas that are not that deep.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_gulf

Aliens need to guide us.

On the charts, that is, I think. And the cables are not there.

North or south on the Korean craft? I wonder who sits on their boards of directors...

Smart cookie!

... the others can maybe work out why P.H.

You do realise that the point of anchors is to sink to the bottom and catch onto things to stop the ship moving?

So why are people suprised when they sink to the bottom and catch onto things?

Nononono, an anchor is not supposed to catch on anything other then soft sand and clay. If your anchor hits the bottom while you're doing any speed and gets caught on a nice hard rock, you're in for a whole boatload of structural damages.

Normally, the anchor digs into the ground a bit and causes a ton of drag, although stopping through the use of your anchor (aka, dragging it) is a bad thing (tm), anchors are for keeping your ship in place, not for stopping it.

I'm really surprised at there being any damage.

Aren't those cables wrapped in a secure shell?!

In case anyone cares to know about these things:

The anchors sole job is to assist in dragging out the anchor chain. It is only the anchor chain where it meets the seafloor that provides any effective holding effect comparative to the size of the vessel. For reference typically a ratio of around 1:3 is sought to ensure enough anchor chain is in contact with the seafloor. The ratio is different based on current, winds and size of the cable cutter/vessel.

So that's what the manual says.... In real life lazy people do lazy things when they think no one will notice so things like cables get a bit of touchy feely action from 5 ton anchors.

Paris because She's a vessel for sea men.

I'll bet Paris would know what to do with those seamen!

Its all part of their master plan, you see when the lines go down, everyone has to call for tech support for an explanation.... and since most of these tech support calls go to India it helps them. So, the tech support in this case has an answer and it makes them look good which gives them a higher rating. With all the tech support jobs going to India there you go. Funny, the ship has the name India in it's title........ or is it?

I'm sure not trenching was cheaper.

I am glad they tracked down the culprits but I still suspect it was deliberate. Hopefully they will be able to defend the Internet better in future.

Of course they lay the cables on the floor and nor bury them. It would be damaging for sea life to go plowing up the sea floor and pointless.

Other cables damaged are those in rural areas of the UK. It's blamed on pikies intent on recycling the copper but no one has seen them doing it. It costs BT thousands to fix them and rural businesses who's broadband is poor anyway get cut off from phone and Internet for weeks or months.You would think it was a plot by the local WISP companies but it was not me.

A great deal of cable is buried, either by ploughing, as it's laid, or post-lay burial, where a remotely operated vehicle is used to bury it. The decision to bury or not depends on the soil structure (is it soft enough to plough?) and the risk of it being hit by anchor drag or fishing activity. Otherwise the cable can be armoured with protective metal sheath, again, it depends on the perceived risk.

PH - post lay burial,protective sheath - nuff said

http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/graphics/icons/comment/paris_hilton_32.png

Paris Hilton

Congratulations, all the comments with pictures of PH and nasty comments have finally made me sympathetic towards her.

Only for 30 seconds or so, but still...