History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy

	History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network
Charles Skilliter CS Faraday, HMTS Monarch (3)

Introduction: Charles Skilliter, born in 1887, served as third mate on CS Faraday in 1912, and as an officer on HMTS Monarch (3) in the 1920s. Nothing else is known about his cable service.

Thanks to Nick Rees for sharing his grandfather's documents and photographs.

--Bill Burns

Charles Skilliter
Two stripes - First Officer

Nick writes: My grandfather, Charles Skilliter, served on the Faraday from 13 May 1912 till 27 July 1912 as 3rd mate, in the North Atlantic. He did have his master's certificate, number 040292, but as far as I know was never master. His service on the Faraday was at the same time as that of James Cope.

His continuous certificate of discharge only goes up to 1913, when he was serving on the Hurunui. There is nothing from this date, but I was always told he was on a cable ship, and a note on the back of the photographs of Monarch shown below dates them to the early 1920s .

He died in mysterious circumstances in the mid 1920’s in Alexandrovsk, either shot or committed suicide. Nobody knew. The only record, found in foreign office papers from 1926 in the National Archives at Kew, is “Charles Skilliter death certificate.”

Charles Skilliter next to the paying-out machinery
at the bow of HMTS Monarch (3)
Three stripes? - Chief Officer?

Officers of HMTS Monarch (3), 1920s
Charles Skilliter is the tall figure at right rear - two stripes

Cable sheaves at right centre.
HMTS Monarch (3) was used primarily as a repair ship.

Charles Skilliter is the tall figure in the centre of the back row

Charles Skilliter's Continuous Certificate of Discharge
beginning on 9 May 1904

Entry in Charles Skilliter's Continuous Certificate of Discharge
showing “Cable S.S. Faraday, North Atlantic”