```json
{
    "title": "Flickr: When the cable breaks…",
    "url": "https://performancezen.com/2007/01/17/flickr-when-the-cable-breaks/",
    "datePublished": "2007-01-17",
    "dateModified": "2022-05-18",
    "language": "en-US",
    "description": "When I lived in Victoria, BC, there was always a ship idling in the harbour, engine turning over, a low steady hum that was always there when you went to…",
    "author": "spierzchala",
    "publisher": "Performance Zen"
}
```

# Flickr: When the cable breaks…

When I lived in Victoria, BC, there was always a ship idling in the harbour, engine turning over, a low steady hum that was always there when you went to the water.

Well, they have built an on-shore power plant for that ship, and it looks like they may have brought in a new one, but the vessel is always there...waiting.

![Photo: \[Alistair Howard\](http://www.flickr.com/photos/allstar/)](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/43/117447276_f3eb8006d9.jpg)
Photo: [Alistair Howard](http://www.flickr.com/photos/allstar/)

When a cable breaks out in the North Pacific, this ship is gone in an hour. Apparently there are cable repair ships stationed all over the world...waiting.

[Here's Neal Stephenson's article](https://web.archive.org/web/20040202042327/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass_pr.html) on the [first segment of FLAG](https://www.submarinenetworks.com/systems/asia-europe-africa/flag), and the whole submarine cable business.