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 Mirror (1) & Norseman (3) by Bill Glover

CS MIRROR (1) & CS NORSEMAN (3)

CS Mirror (1) at Alcabre beach in Vigo Bay, Spain
Copyright © 2016 Roberto Hernández

This watercolour of CS Mirror (1) was painted in 2016 by Roberto Hernández, and is reproduced here by his kind permission. More ship paintings may be seen at his website.

Roberto’s painting below shows (from left to right) CS Mirror (1), CS Chiltern, and CS Great Northern, berthed in Vigo for supplying, coaling, and other services.

Built in 1886 by Napier & Sons, Glasgow

Length 255.7 ft Breadth 34.1 ft Depth 17.6 ft Gross tonnage 1545

Built for the Eastern Telegraph Company and named Mirror (1). Fitted with four cable tanks with a capacity of 16,677 cubic feet of cable. Cable machinery supplied by Johnson & Phillips.

Based in the UK until sold to the Western Telegraph Company in 1904 and renamed Norseman (3). Used by Western on cable repair work until 1924 when she became a cable hulk moored in Pernambuco Harbour and renamed Norna (2). Finally scrapped in 1933.

CS Norseman (3)

CABLE WORK

1897	Vigo, Spain - Gibraltar

The ship's clock shown below is marked on the dial:

EASTERN TELEGRAPH CO. LTD.

"MIRROR".

There is a repair label attached to the back, dated 1925:

“Blumenthal Michel, expert chronometer, watch and clockmaker late of Messrs Marks & Co., Bombay & Poonah, port and lights administration Suez.”

It seems likely that the clock was removed from CS Mirror after she left the cable service in 1924.

Binnacle clock marked
EASTERN TELEGRAPH CO. LTD.
"MIRROR"

Last revised: 22 August, 2016

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