A seismic data acquisition system comprising a composite marine seismic cable and a winch, the composite marine seismic cable comprising a sensor cable and a lead-in cable for providing electrical connections to the sensor cable, and the winch comprising a first cable compartment for the lead-in cable and a second cable compartment for the sensor cable, wherein the lead-in cable and the sensor cable may be deployed or recovered independently of each other. There is also a method of deploying a composite seismic cable comprising a lead-in cable and a sensor cable