History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications
from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network

CS Restorer
by Dirk van Oudenol

Early Operations

On April 24, 1905, the Restorer reached her Honolulu base, with the British flag, and London painted on her stern. Now began the peaceful years of happy youth. She had a crew of 25 Officers and 75 Asiatics. The ship waited 16 months for her first job, and it was to salvage the Pacific Mail liner S.S. Manchuria from a reef at Waimanalo Bay, near Honolulu. In October of 1906, Restorer was dispatched to Midway to help free the grounded S.S. Mongolia, which ran afoul of a reef on 17/9/1906. The Mongolia was refloated before the Restorer got there, but it was the Restorer that picked up the CPCC Superintendent Colley and his wife, taking them on leave to Honolulu. On Dec. 28, 1906, they left to return to Midway, battling a typhoon all the way. Due to the weather, the bark Carrolton was wrecked at Midway. Divers dove on this wreck in 1998. When the Restorer left Midway with the bark's captain and 14 man crew, her destination was not Honolulu, but Esquimalt, B.C. (next to Victoria). The ship arrived at 5:30pm on Jan. 16, 1907, with snow falling and temperatures from 29F down to 15F, with but 1hr. and 8min. of sun the entire day. A far cry from Honolulu! The reason for this trip was the annual drydocking, the facilities at San Francisco not being available as on the year before. The ship then returned to Honolulu, where a pleasant experience was had by all. On Decoration Day, May 31, 1907, a cricket team from C.S. Restorer successfully challenged the Honolulu 11 and won quite well. Four months later the ship was off on its first bona fide cable repair. This job kept them at Guam for four weeks, returning to Honolulu on Nov. 24, 1907.

Soon after Christmas they were off again for Victoria. Passengers were Capt. Combe's wife and small daughter Vivien, with Mrs. Combe signing on as Stewardess. Arrival at Victoria was followed by the usual drydocking. After a long stay in Victoria, the blow fell on March 18, 1908. Victoria was to be the ship's new base. This was a case of economics. Honolulu had heavy waterfront charges, and a tax on the cable for three miles out to sea. Victoria's (Esquimalt's) greatest asset was the huge drydock (capable of holding the WW II vintage liner Queen Elizabeth), access to cheaper coal (yes dear reader, there really was a time when ships were not only steam powered, but actually burned coal in their boilers), economical purchase of other stores. In the interest of saving on docking charges in view of the continued prospect of inactivity for a long period, the CPCC spent $6,000 on a buoy that was installed in Esquimalt harbour. The ship didn't move until Dec. 18, 1909, and even then was only gone for six days on a minor local job. This was to work on the B. C. Telephone cable running from Victoria to San Juan Island, 4 miles off Telegraph Bay. The firms renting this four core line were B. C. Telephone Co., Western Union Telegraph, The Times & UPA, F. Stevenson & Co. for stock quotations.

June of 1910 saw a brief break in the boredom of months at anchor, with charter work for Canadian Pacific Telegraphs. C.S. Restorer laid the cable from Departure Bay at Nanaimo to Point Grey across the Gulf of Georgia. During the next two years the ship's crew sometimes left the ship to work on cable shore ends for the B. C. Telephone Co..

In Feb. of 1912, there was a most welcome break (no pun intended) in their routine. There was a break in the cable near Midway. Before heading south to warmer climes, the ship visited the Bremerton, WA, drydock, the one at Esquimalt not being available. Not much more than a month later, the ship was back at Esquimalt. From then until the outbreak of WW I in 1914, little interrupted the peaceful routine other than a fire in the forward coal bunker on Oct. 13, 1912.