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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 IT Intrepid (formerly Sir Eric Sharp)
by Bill Glover

CS IT INTREPID / SIR ERIC SHARP

Built by Swan Hunter Shipbuilders, Wallsend, Newcastle upon Tyne

Launched 25 October 1988. Commissioned January 1989

Length 115.6m  Breadth 18.00m  Draft 6.3 m  Gross tonnage 6141

CS Sir Eric Sharp on the Tyne after launching

Image kindly provided by Kathleen Robson, who worked at Swan Hunter for many years and was secretary to Ian Pike, the shipbuilding manager in charge of the Sir Eric Sharp during its construction at the Wallsend Shipyard.

Built as CS Sir Eric Sharp for Cable & Wireless (Marine) Ltd. and used for cable repair in the Atlantic under the ACMA (Atlantic Cable Maintenance Agreement), based at Hamilton, Bermuda. Cable handling equipment consists of two hydraulic 3.5 m diameter drum engines and an 18 wheel pair, hydraulic linear cable engine. Fitted with one bow and one stern sheave and three cable tanks with a capacity of 1416 cubic metres or 1700 tonnes of cable. Storage for 45 repeaters was also provided. Fitted with ROV 128 for buried cable maintenance.

CS Sir Eric Sharp undergoing sea trials

In June 1999, along with the rest of the fleet, purchased by Global Crossing Inc. A separate and totally independent company, Global Marine Systems Ltd., was set up to carry out cable laying and maintenance.

In 2004 Global Crossing sold Global Marine Systems to Bridgehouse Marine. Of the vessels transferred, Sir Eric Sharp was one of three offered for sale and was purchased by International Telecom and renamed IT Intrepid. International Telecom's ships are based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

See also I.T.'s data sheet on the IT Intrepid.

CABLE WORK AS SIR ERIC SHARP

1989 PTAT I  Shore ends
( With CS Cable Protector & CS Northern)
1989 UK - Holland 12
(With CS Flexservice III)
1996 CJFS Cayman Islands - Jamaica
It was intended to use CS Mercury to lay this cable, but a fire in Mercury’s engine room, while at Bristol, prevented it.

CABLE WORK AS IT INTREPID

2006 Fibralink: Jamaica - Dominican Republic
  Ocho Rios - Montego Bay, Jamaica
  Cable repair Sunoque cable Gulf of St. Lawrence Canada
  Cable Repair, BICS Segment 6 Freeport Bahamas
  Cable Repair, Globenet Cable system, New Jersey USA
  Relay and reburial of 100km of the Globenet system, New Jersey
2007 900 km Ploughing of the Persona Eastern Canada System
  800 km Ploughing of the Shefa 2 cable system, Faroes, Orkney, Shetlands and Scotland
  Installing cable to the Clair and Shallion British Petroleum rigs
  Installation of the 4 domestic segments - Inter Faroes Islands
  Standby maintenance for the 22,000 km Globenet system. USA, Bermuda, Venezuela, Brazil

IT Intrepid in October 2022 at Ogden Point, Victoria BC, Canada
Image courtesy of and copyright © 2022 Lesley Lewis

IT Intrepid, formerly Sir Eric Sharp, working in 2006
on the Montego Bay shore end of the Fibralink
(Jamaica - Dominican Republic) cable.
Image courtesy of International Telecom

In 2007 the IT Intrepid was fitted with extra deck on the
stern with an 30 Ton A Frame and a 1.5 meter SMD plow.

Images courtesy of International Telecom


Cableships Index Page

Last revised: 11 October, 2022

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