A seismic cable system for joining the free ends of a seismic cable utilizing a connector which will separate when subject to a predetermined load. The system includes a first cable connector section that is rotatingly mounted directly on a first free cable end and a second cable connector section that is rotatingly mounted directly on a second free cable end. One cable connector section seats within the other cable connector section and the two sections are fixed to one another with a shear pin. The system is particularly useful when utilizing non-conducting, flexible cable or rope to deploy and retrieve a plurality of stand-alone, self-contained seismic data acquisition units secured to the cable.