History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications
from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network
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History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications |
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Cable
Stamps - Australia-Tasmania, CJFS, ECFS, EMOS 1, IOCOM, ITUR, Malaysia-Sabah, Netherlands Antilles |
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Thanks to Bill Glover for providing the stamp images and text for this page. All material on this page is copyright © 2005 Bill Glover |
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1936 AUSTRALIA
- TASMANIA The first submarine telephone cable between Australia and Tasmania. Laid by CS Faraday (2) in 1935, from Apollo Bay, Victoria to Stanley, Tasmania. The cable was manufactured
by Siemens Brothers and was the first telephone cable insulated with
paragutta.
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CJFS CAYMAN ISLANDS - JAMAICA FIBRE SYSTEM. A repeaterless fibre optic system linking Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. It was intended to use CS Mercury to lay this cable, but a serious engine room fire put paid to that idea and CS Sir Eric Sharp undertook the laying. Alcatel manufactured the 868 km of cable at their Calais factory and Cable & Wireless (Marine) Ltd undertook the main lay:- Georgetown, Grand Cayman - Stake Bay, Cayman Brac - Buccaneer Beach, Montego Bay, Jamaica. Shaw Park Beach, Ocho Rios, Jamaica and Port Antonio, Jamaica were linked into the system via a branching unit. The final landing point was Harbourview Beach, Kingston, Jamaica. Information supplied by Roger Langton, Global Marine Ltd. |
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ECFS
St Kitts 1995 10c EAST CARIBBEAN FIBRE SYSTEM links fourteen islands from the British Virgin Islands to Trinidad and is the longest repeaterless fibre optic system in use. CS Mercury undertook the laying of the 1729 km main cable as well as most of the shore ends. MV Bahama Sky, an offshore supply vessel, was chartered to lay shore ends at Tortola, Guadeloupe, St Lucia and Trinidad. As CS Mercury could not carry all the cable a freighter, MV Christina I, was chartered to carry the balance. Islands in the system are British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Kitts, Antigua, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Vincent and Grenada. |
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EMOS 1 Turkey 1991 500l A fibre optic cable linking Palermo, Italy with Lechaina, Greece; Marmaris, Turkey and Tel Aviv, Israel. Consisting of three pairs which are split en route through branching units. CS Vercors laid the whole of the cable. Each pair of fibres are capable of transmitting 1920 telephone calls in each direction. The device shown on the stamp is a repeater, not a branching unit. It's not possible to split a cable using a repeater. |
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IOCOM India 1981 1r CS Cable Venture laid this link between India and Malaysia. The cable was 1349 nm long. CS Recorder (3) laid the Penang shore ends and CS Cable Venture those at Madras.
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ITUR Italy 1996 Special cancellation The 3527 km fibre optic cable links Palermo, Italy with Istanbul, Turkey; Odessa, Ukraine and Novorossijsk, Russia. CS Vercors laid 2840 km of cable and 21 repeaters including the sections from Istanbul to Odessa and Novorossijsk using a branching unit in the Black Sea, plus part of the Palermo - Istanbul section including the shore ends. The identity of the cable ship used to lay the rest of the cable is unknown to me. The section from Istanbul to Odessa
and Novorossijsk was opened for service in August 1995 and that from
Palermo to Istanbul in 1996. |
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MALAYSIA - SABAH Malaysia 1980 10-50c Laid by KDD Maru in 1979 from Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia to Kuching, Sabah (Sarawak). |
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NETHERLANDS ANTILLES
Netherlands Antilles 1973 15-45c The 700 nm cable with 34 repeaters
was laid between Curacao - St Maarten - St Thomas.
Inauguration Submarine Cable Curacao - St Maarten - St Thomas |
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Many additional stamps are shown on the pages linked from the Stamps Index page
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Last revised: 18 May, 2010 |
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