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History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications |
CS Buccaneer |
CS BUCCANEER Built in 1885 by Wigham Richardson & Company, Newcastle upon Tyne Length 190.0 ft Breadth 28.2 ft Depth 12.8 ft Gross tonnage 823
Built for the India Rubber Gutta Percha and Telegraph Works Company (IRGP) as a tender to CS Silvertown and so was not fitted with cable machinery, there were two cable tanks each 22 ft dia by 10 ft deep. Later a paying out-picking up machine was fitted on the forward weather deck, twin bow sheaves were also installed. During the 1885 cable laying expedition, Buccaneer, under Captain A.S. Thomson, carried out extensive soundings and during this exercise discovered an easterly flowing current under the westerly flowing surface current. In service until 1914 when wrecked. Site visitor Peter Worthy’s great-grandfather, Richard Ginman Wood, worked for the IRGP as a cable engineer and hydrographer in the first part of the 20th century. This photograph of Buccaneer, date and location unknown, is from his photo album.
CABLE WORK
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Last revised: 27 February, 2023 |
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