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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 Restorer
by Dirk van Oudenol

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Peace Again

Army "Discharge"

It was the morning of 7/3/1946 that the flag bedecked C.S. Restorer, again under the command of Capt. J. H. Connelly, tied up at Yarrows wharf in Esquimalt. By this time, Capt. Gagnon had retired permanently. Purser Sid Pearce was also again on board, busily typing up the complex paper work involved in returning the ship from the USATS to her owners. Strikes all along the Pacific Coast delayed her sailing for tropical climes, as did the wait for new propellers. A collective agreement was signed on 29/8/1946, between the crew members who were represented by the Seafarers International Union of North America represented by William M. McLaughlin, and the CPCC represented by Capt. J. H. Connelly. The Agreement covered such things as hours of work, cable loading, etc., but unfortunately, as later events were to prove, not enough points were covered.

Troubled Pacific Voyage

Restorer's first post WW II voyage, 3/1/1947 to 29/7/1947, was plagued with problems. Most of the mechanical repairs done in 1946 broke down under the stress of constant use in very heavy seas, and had to be repaired at sea in often very stormy weather. Also, the water cooler would only dispense warm water and certain aspects of the cooking left much to be desired. There were differences between individual crew members and between officers and crew. When the ship got under way in what turned out to be a severely aborted voyage, the first stop was in Seattle to take on cable, then it was off to Honolulu. In general terms, the idea was to work cable at Honolulu, Midway, and in the Philippines, and then proceed to Singapore where it was to be based for about two years while it worked cable in the then Dutch East Indies. The idea was then to proceed to Australia for about a year's work, then back to Victoria.

The first stop was Honolulu, where Restorer stayed for about six weeks. For business reasons the cable could not be shut down Monday to Friday. Weekend only work was possible. The shore ends into, and out of, Honolulu were replaced. This involved the use of extra heavy shore end cable, required due to the coral reef, having to be floated to shore on steel drums. It was pulled up on shore by the use of a D8 Cat that used a convenient palm tree as a pulling point. At this point in time there was a solid bank of palm trees between the Royal Hawaiian and Moana Hotels and Diamond Head. While on cable work here the crew watched the cruise liner S.S. Lurline coming in from San Francisco, and the yachts participating in the San Francisco - Honolulu Yacht Race coming around Diamond Head. On weekdays, the crew not on duty aboard ship were free to tour Oahu or surf at Waikiki while they remained on full pay. Life on a cable ship can be really rough

Click on image for larger view
Click on image for larger view
Copyright © Dirk van Oudenol
Some of Restorer crew on Oahu, Feb. 1947

Copyright © Dirk van Oudenol
2 O.S.'s, Dave Lowry & Frank Cotten,
Honolulu, Feb., 1947

Due to Restorer having been on government service in WW II, some of the crew were able to get a limited tour of the then high security Pearl Harbor. Among other sights was the rusting USS Arizona and a bow to stern below deck tour of a submarine that had seventeen Japanese flags stenciled on the torpedo tube covers, not bad for only 1 ½ years service! During this tour this writer was befriended by a navy sailor who had, or had access to, a 1947 Oldsmobile convertible. Later others and myself were taken on a tour of Honolulu. To me, the most memorable part was being driven along Kapiolani Blvd. at 80mph during the late afternoon, because there was virtually no traffic! No doubt the traffic situation has changed.

Click on image for larger view
Click on image for larger view
Copyright © Dirk van Oudenol
Loading extra heavy shore end cable
on barge, Honolulu, Feb., 1947


Copyright © Dirk van Oudenol
Shark caught off Waikiki, Feb. 1947


The next leg of the trip was a very rude awakening. In mid March Restorer left Honolulu for Midway, fighting a really vicious typhoon all the way. Being very young then, this writer involved some risk and took some spectacular pictures of the Restorer making like a destroyer in a grade B Hollywood patriotic type movie. There were times when the foredeck was under solid water. Later, in a very cautious venture to the stern railing, both propellers were seen completely out of the water, and then racing at which times the main engine governors locked. They had to be hammered to get them to release. When the stern came down very hard, the force of the propellers hitting the water would sometimes cause the engines to turn briefly in the opposite direction. The ship was both plunging and rolling very badly. Once, it rolled from 37 deg. on one side to 37 deg. on the other side. Due to the terrible pounding, some linkage in the steam powered steering gear broke, and the ship had to be steered by the big manual wheel in the stern until repairs were made. Both main engines separately broke down with bearing problems caused by the pounding they were taking. Some 800 miles away in the same typhoon, a wartime built T2 tanker broke up and sank, but Restorer eventually made it to Midway to do some cable work. While at Midway, Restorer was written up in two issues of The Midway Mirror - Sage of the Islands, a locally produced paper.

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Copyright © Dirk van Oudenol
Typhoon at Midway, March, 1947

Before leaving Midway, Restorer had to buy Bunker A Navy Fuel to replenish its tanks greatly diminished after fighting the typhoon. Trouble with the water evaporator required us to buy distilled water from the U. S. Navy. The single riveted coal bunkers were no problem when converted to Bunker C Fuel, but leaked 'like a sieve' with Bunker A Fuel, and we were constantly wiping up the leakage.

The next leg of the trip took the ship to the Philippines, with stops at Tabaco and Sorsogon for minor cable repairs, then on to Manila. It was in Manila that things came to a head and, as a supervised vote among the crew indicated, a majority of the crew declined to sail the ship to its next port, Singapore. Restorer lay at anchor in Manila Bay for a month, everyone sweating heavily in the heated landlocked environment of Manila Bay. We spent the time doing little work and much time gazing at some 600 (we were told) ships sunk in Manila Bay. The crew was allowed shore leave, but it was too dangerous to venture much beyond the Old Walled City and the immediate downtown area, both of which were in ruins due to the war. Very heavily armed police in full combat gear manned sandbagged enclosures at many of the more important intersections, and there was the almost constant din of exploding grenades and the rattle of machine gun fire as the Philippine Army battled the Huk guerillas on the outskirts of the city.

Eventually, a homeward bound route was agreed upon, and the ship left for Guam where some work was done on the shore ends. The ship then left for Fanning Island, passing within 125 miles of the then recent A-Bomb Test at Bikini Atoll. The trip took 15 days, all of it in a beam sea. It was a pleasure to arrive at our destination after two weeks of constant heavy rolling, and drop anchor offshore, all the more so from this writer's point of view, as it was my birthday.

When we anchored, the scene that greeted us was strictly a scene out of colonial days. Instead of casually dressed individuals in a motorized launch, a 'whaleboat' type vessel manned by a large number of coolies at the oars, and the Cable Superintendent in uniform, complete with pith helmet and sitting under the Union Jack flag, rowed out to meet us. Some of the deck crew went ashore to work on the shore ends. Due to the supply boat from New Zealand being grossly overdue, the people of Fanning Island were desperately short of supplies. We gave them most of ours, as we were only a couple of days steaming from Honolulu, where more supplies for the ship were obtained. As Restorer was about to leave, it was found the big vertical compound anchor capstan engine had a serious problem. The deck crew got out the manual capstan bars, and, while singing an old sea shanty, raised the anchor manually.

Main Menu
| Home | Contact Email | Prologue | 1901 - 1904 | Joint Reports 1903 - 04 | Early Operations | First World War | Peace | Second World War | 3rd Naval Armed Guard Report | Winter Cable Laying | 11th Naval Armed Guard Report | Peace Again | Home And Back To Work | C.S. Restorer's Final Days Part 1 | C.S. Restorer's Final Days Part 2 | Services Rendered by C.S. Restorer | The End For C.S. Restorer|

Copyright © 2006 Dirk van Oudenol

Last revised: 6 December, 2015

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