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

CS Lady Carmichael / HMTS Alert (1)
by Bill Glover

CS LADY CARMICHAEL / HMTS ALERT (1)

Built in 1871 by A.M. McMillan and Son, Dumbarton

Length 167.8 ft Breadth 25.3 ft Depth 12.1 ft Gross tonnage

Purchased by the Submarine Telegraph Company in 1880 and named after the Chairman's wife. Fitted out for cable repairs with the cable stored in a single hold and one sheave fitted on a boom mounted over the bows. A combined paying out-picking up machine manufactured by the Thames Ironworks was placed on the upper deck. Taken over by the GPO, along with the cables owned by the Submarine Telegraph Co., in 1890. Used to maintain the Channel cables until 1915 when sold for scrap.

CS Alert (1) was involved in cutting the German cables off Britain in August 1914, shortly after the beginning of the First World War.

According to Wikipedia [accessed June 2022]:

In 1918 Alert (1) was sold into mercantile service with the Brito-Franco Shipping Company of Newcastle and initially reverted to her previous name of The Lady Carmichael. Subsequently, in 1920 she was renamed Hobgoblin after having been re-engined. Her name was again changed in 1923 to Norham. In 1927 she was sold to the St. Baldred Shipping Company of Blyth. On 17 July 1932 she was wrecked on the South Training Wall at Redcar and was scrapped after being refloated on 2 August 1932.

CABLE WORK

1902 St. Margaret’s Bay, England - La Panne, Belgium 2
1912 Abbotscliffe, England - Cap Gris Nez , France 4

Cableships Index Page

Last revised: 7 June, 2022

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