CS TELCONIA
Official Number 125780
Built in 1909 by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson
Ltd.
Length 213.2 ft. Breadth 30.9 ft Depth 13.0 ft. Gross
tonnage 1013
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Cable Steamer "Telconia"
(Teleg. Construction & Maintenance Co.)
Fitted with "Welin Quadrant" Davits.
The Welin Davit & Engineering Co. Ltd.,
5, Lloyd’s Avenue, E.C. |
Built for the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance
Company, both to assist the cable layers on major projects and also to
carry out repair work when required. Fitted with two 22 ft diameter tanks,
one forward and one aft, capable of holding 8000 cubic feet of cable.
Two bow sheaves were fitted but no stern sheaves. In service until late 1934
when sold for scrap.
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| CS Telconia’s Bell |
This original bell from CS Telconia belongs to Hank Henderson, who bought it in England some time ago and had it air-shipped home.
Weight: 72 pounds.
Height: 16" (including the mounting tab).
Mouth: 16".
The clapper is not present. |
Telconia, 1909
Photo courtesy of
Victor Henderson |
CABLE WORK
| Captain L. Hoad (see note below): |
1910 |
Conception Bay, Newfoundland - Coney Island, New York |
1910 |
WESTON - 3: Waterville, Ireland - Weston super Mare, England |
1910 |
Bay Roberts, Newfoundland - Sennen Cove, Cornwall, England, with CS Colonia |
1910 |
Ballinskelligs - Halifax. Diversion into Harbour Grace |
| 1914-18 |
Diverted the Borkum - Vigo cable to England |
| 1926 |
Penon - Punta Pescadores cable for the Spanish Government |
| 1926 |
Penon - Cuatro Torres No. 2 cable for the Spanish Government |
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| 1929 |
Cadiz - Arzila cable for the Spanish Government |
CABLE REPAIRS
| Captain L. Hoad: |
1909 |
Tangier - Ceuta, Morocco |
1909 |
Melilla - Zafarin, Morocco |
1909 |
Madeira - St. Vincent 1874 cable |
1909 |
Saö Jorge - Graciosa 1893 cable |
1909 |
Waterville - Le Havre 1885 cable |
1909 |
Valentia - Hearts Content 1873 cable |
1910 |
Weston super Mare - Waterville 1885 cable |
1910 |
Waterville - St. Johns renewal of 1884 cables |
1910 |
Waterville - Le Havre 2 repairs to 1885 cable |
1910 |
Lowestoft - Emden |
1910 |
Sennen Cove - Canso renewal of shore ends 1881 & 1882 cables |
1911 |
Ile Chausey - Pointe du Grouin |
1911 |
Ile D' Ouessant - Ile Molene |
1911 |
Abbotscliffe - Cap Gris Nez |
1911 |
Ballinskelligs - Harbour Grace |
1911 |
Weston super Mare - Waterville 2 repairs to 1901 cable |
1911 |
Brest - Cape Cod 1898 cable |
1911 |
Brest - St. Pierre 3 repairs to 1879 cable |
1912 |
Lowestoft - Norderney 1866 cable |
1912 |
Lowestoft - Borkum 1871 cable |
1912 |
Blackwater - Fishguard 2 repairs to 1883 cable |
1912 |
Nevin, Wales - Newcastle, Ireland No 2 cable |
OTHER DUTIES
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Naval Review off Gravesend |
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Message reads:
Brest 4-12-13 (Thursday)
We are leaving for home in the morning shall be home on Friday
Addressed to Mrs. A. Chivnell, Inglenook,
93 Crofton Rd.,
Plaistow, London E., England |
Site visitor Roger Groombridge has provided the ship’s log of CS Telconia for the voyage of September 10th through October 13th 1926, when the ship was laying and repairing cables for the Spanish Government. The cover of the log gives a summary of the work:
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Abstract of the Ship’s Log, giving a summary of the voyage |
A partial list of the crew:
| Lewis Hoad O.B.E. |
Captain |
| P. Bell |
Chief Officer |
| A.S. Muir |
Navigating Officer |
| J. Matthews |
2nd Officer |
| H. Anderson |
3rd Officer |
| J. Miller |
4th Officer |
| S.E. Chalk |
Chief Engineer |
| H. Marshall |
2nd Engineer |
| G. Trower |
3rd Engineer |
| J. Donovan |
Purser |
| C. Hittrick |
Chief Electrician |
| S. Bourdeaux |
2nd Electrician |
| J. Hicks |
Jointer |
Complete crew list page images:
Captain Lewis Hoad, OBE
Lewis E. Hoad was born to a shipbuilding family in Rye, England in 1854. The earliest record of his service at sea is a mention of his providing meteorological information to the New York Herald newspaper in 1889, when he was Third Officer of SS Helvetia.
Cable company records show Lewis Hoad as Captain of CS Telconia in 1909 - see detailed listing above.
It is believed that the Telconia was involved in cutting German communication links during World War I, and Captain Hoad was awarded the O.B.E. in 1919 for his work as Master of the ship during the war.
The logbook on this page shows that he was still Captain of the Telconia as late as 1926, when he would have been 72 years old. Site visitor Will Ward reports that his father served as an Able Seaman under Captain Hoad on
the Telconia in that year.
Thanks to site visitor Donald Pedley for background information on Lewis Hoad, who was Donald’s wife’s great-grandfather.
Note that recent research suggests that the German cables were cut by CS Alert (1) rather than CS Telconia. |
The six photographs shown below are from a group of eight images printed as postcards. Only two of them have the same design on the correspondence side, so they must have been taken at different locations and dates, and the quality of the images is quite variable.
The first one shown is marked "Frank & Sons, Marine Photographers, South Shields," and the same firm created the 1913 postcard shown above.
As Lewis Hoad appears to have been the only captain of CS Telconia between the launch of the ship in 1909 and his reported death in 1926, he must be the senior officer shown in these photographs, but other than Mrs Hoad, the identification of the other subjects is unknown. The link above has further details of Captain Hoad’s life and career.
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