History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications
from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network
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History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications |
| CS Duplex |
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CS DUPLEX Built in 1872 as the Nentwater for coastal trading, converted to cable use in 1893 and renamed Duplex. Length 214.3 ft. Breadth 30.2 ft. Depth 17.1 ft. Gross tonnage 874
After her purchase from W. Dickinson of Newcastle in 1893, Duplex was used for repair work by the Eastern and South African Telegraph Company, mainly on the west coast of South Africa. The ship gave good service in this work until 1913, when she was sold and used for commercial trading, finally being scrapped in 1931. This cover was sent from Aberdeen, Scotland on 20 September 1894 to Dr. Charles Simpson on CS Duplex, Sierra Leone. It was redirected several times before the final postmark shows that it was at St. Vincent on 19 December.
The scan below of another cover addressed to Dr. Simpson at Sierra Leone in 1894 was provided by site visitor Philip Quirk in October 2022. It was posted from England on 13 September 1894, addressed to Cable Steamer Duplex, c/o Eastern Telegraph Company, Sierra Leone. As with the cover shown above, it was redirected via St Vincent (Cape Verde), St Thomas (Sao Tome & Principe) then back to Sierra Leone. Both covers are postmarked at St. Vincent on 19 December, so it seems likely that after more than three months in transit from England, these two letters to Dr Simpson were finally delivered at about the same time, having almost certainly chased CS Duplex up and down the coast of West Africa while the ship was out on repair operations.
Postcard addressed to Miss Elsie Harvey,
11 Cobden Crescent,
Edinburgh,
Great Britain
CABLE WORK
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Last revised: 9 October, 2022 |
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