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

CS RESTORER
ON 115947

Built in 1903 by Armstrong Whitworth & Co. Newcastle upon Tyne

Length 358.4 ft Breadth 44.0 ft. Depth 20.8 ft. Gross tonnage 3180

Built for the Eastern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Company for cable repair work. 4 tanks were fitted having a total capacity of 31470 cubic feet and a total weight of 1800 tons. Johnson and Phillips supplied the cable machinery consisting of double combined paying out-picking up machine forward and a paying out machine aft. Three bow sheaves and one stern sheave of 4 feet 3inches diameter were fitted. Restorer and her sister ship Patrol left England with full tanks partly for stock in Singapore and the rest to be laid between Balikpapan and Kwandang, a distance of 650 nm, for the Dutch East Indies Government. It was intended that Restorer would be based at Adelaide on cable repair duties but she was sold to the Commercial Pacific Cable Company to replace Scotia which had been lost. Remained in service until 1952 and then scrapped. Chartered on a number of occasions by the United States Army for repair work on the Alaska Communications System.

CABLE WORK

See also Dirk van Oudenol's comprehensive section on CS Restorer, where he adds this information:

The End for C.S. Restorer

Over the next five months after returning from its brief trip to Guam in Feb., 1950, C.S. Restorer was stripped of everything of possible value, especially the rented electronic equipment. In June, 1951, arrangements were completed with ship-breakers Walter Johnson Co. of San Francisco who were to scrap the Restorer. On 28/6/1951, the faithful old ship was shackled to the deepsea tugs Island Sovereign and Pacmar.

For cable ship staff, keeping up with messages from home was always a challenge. Site visitor Hugh Delaney has very kindly provided these cover scans which show how the mail followed its recipients around the world.

In 1947, cable jointer Gordon L Watson was serving on board CS Restorer, and these letters were sent to him by his wife in Canada.

Postmarked March 5th 1947, this letter was sent to Gordon Watson care of the Commercial Pacific Cable Company office at Honolulu, where it was redirected to Midway Island, the next stop along the cable.

Just two months later, on May 5th, another letter was addressed care of the offices of Cable & Wireless in Singapore, the successor to the 19th century Eastern Extension Company.

Copyright © 2012 FTL Design

Last revised: 13 June, 2018

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