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
CS Dix Décembre / Ampere (1) by Bill Glover

CS DIX DÉCEMBRE / AMPERE (1)

Built about 1860

Built as the Dix Décembre and purchased by the French PTT to lay the Oran - Cartagena cable in 1864. Siemens and Halske of London were the contractors for the expedition. Fitted with a single paying out/picking up machine manufactured by Easton and Amos, installed at the stern of the vessel under the supervision of Charles Siemens. The cable was coiled on a large drum mounted vertically in the hold. On the first attempt the cable fouled the drum. In 1870 renamed Ampere (1) and in 1907 new cable gear was installed. Used to maintain Anglo-French cables until 1925 when she was scrapped.

Diagram of the Dix Décembre from
Traité de Télégraphie Sous-marine

CS Ampere (1)

CABLE WORK AS DIX DÉCEMBRE

1864	Oran, Algeria - Cartagena, Spain
1866	Corsica - Leghorn (Livorno), Italy

Cableships Index Page

Last revised: 11 July, 2015

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