History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications
from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network

Canadian Government Cables
by Bill Glover

Off the eastern seaboard of Canada there are many islands, a number of which have been joined by submarine telegraph and telephone cables. In addition a number of power cables have also been laid, one such system being between Vancouver Island and the mainland. This consisted of seven cables, five of which were laid by CS Ocean Layer in 1956 and the remaining two by HMTS Monarch (4) in 1958. All were manufactured by W.T. Glover & Company Ltd.

Another such scheme consisted of laying four power cables across the St. Lawrence River from Manicouagan to Petit Métis. Telcon manufactured the cables and chartered HMTS Monarch (4) to carry out the laying. They developed a number of faults and were eventually sold for scrap, the purchaser employing a retired cable ship captain to undertake recovery.

CANADIAN OVERSEAS TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION (COTC)

COTC was set up in 1950 to take over the Canadian assets of Cable & Wireless Ltd., and Canadian Marconi. These assets in Newfoundland had been taken over in 1949 when Newfoundland became part of the Canadian Federation. COTC subsequently changed its name to Teleglobe Canada and was privatised, becoming a subsidiary of Teleglobe Inc.

COTC has been involved in a number of major cable projects, owning a 9% stake in TAT 1; owners of CANTAT B; part owners of ICECAN; sole owners of the Port Alberni - Vancouver section of COMPAC. In 1971 it took part in a joint venture with Cable & Wireless in CANBER and again in 1974 with the GPO in CANTAT 2.

CABLE SHIPS

NEWFIELD

Built in 1871 by R. Thompson Ltd., Sunderland.

Length 206.4 ft. Breadth 29.1 ft. Depth 16.8 ft. Gross tonnage 785

Purchased by the Canadian Government in 1880 and fitted out for cable repair work. In service until 1900 when she ran aground off Digby, Nova Scotia.

TYRIAN
Official Number 60459

Built in 1869 by R. Duncan & Company, Port Glasgow.

Length 237.5 ft. Breadth 30.2 ft. Depth 19.9 ft. Gross tonnage 1039

Purchased by the Canadian Government and fitted out for cable maintenance in 1902.

In September 1909 Tyrian, under Captain Dickson, carried "a score of reporters" waiting for news of Peary's Arctic Expedition of that year, and met Peary on his return [New York Times, 20 September 1909].

The ship remained in service until 1935, when she was broken up.

LADY LAURIER

Built in 1902 by Fleming & Ferguson, Paisley.

Length 214.9 ft. Breadth 34.2 ft. Depth 17.2 ft. Gross tonnage 1051

Designed and built as a cable ship to replace Newfield. Johnson and Phillips supplied all the cable machinery. Based at Halifax until 1959 when broken up.

JOHN CABOT

Built in 1965 by Canadian Vickers, Montreal.

Length 313.25 ft. Breadth 60.25 ft. Draught 34.2 ft. Gross tonnage 5097.

Built as a dual purpose ice breaker/cable ship operated by the Canadian Coast Guard for COTC. The original cable machinery was supplied by the Equipment Division of Submarine Cables Ltd., and was identical to that fitted in Alert (4). Three cable tanks with a capacity of 34400 cubic feet, equivalent to 400 nm of cable were fitted. In 1971 Dowty linear haul off/hold back gear was fitted to the forward cable engines.

Suffered a serious fire in 1974 and was subsequently refitted. Sold in 1994 to Teleglobe Consulting Co. Ltd., Montreal, with Cable & Wireless acting as managers. Sold again in 1996 to McDermott Subsea Services and sent to Teesside for refitting as a cable ship. Sold to Elettra s.p.A., Naples on completion and renamed Certamen. Operated by Italcable in the Mediterranean, laying cables manufactured by Pirelli.

Research Material Needed

The Atlantic Cable website is non-commercial, and its mission is to make available on line as much information as possible.

You can help - if you have cable material, old or new, please contact me. Cable samples, instruments, documents, brochures, souvenir books, photographs, family stories, all are valuable to researchers and historians.

If you have any cable-related items that you could photograph, copy, scan, loan, or sell, please email me: billb@ftldesign.com