History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications
from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network
|
History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications |
|
Cableship Stamps - B & C |
|
| Thanks
to Bill Glover for providing the stamp images and text for this page.
All material on this page is copyright © 2006 Bill Glover |
|
Malagasy Republic 1976 200f Built 1917, Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd Length 222.5 ft Breadth 32.2 ft Depth 19.2 ft Gross tonnage 1049 First cable repair ship owned by the French PTT and based at Le Havre for maintaining French coastal and Anglo French cables. During WW2 manned by Royal Navy personnel and used for harbour defence work. Returned to the French PTT in 1945. Then based at Brest maintaining Anglo French cables and French Atlantic cables. Sold for scrap in 1962 CABLE WORK 1957 France - Algeria |
MARCEL BAYARD Cyprus 1975 50m Built 1961, Chantiers et Ateliers Angustin Normand Length 387.1 ft. Breadth 51.3 ft. Depth 21.6 ft. Gross tonnage 4500 Named after a Submarine Cable Department chief engineer. Owned by the French PTT and used to maintain the French Atlantic cable network. In 1982 the ship caught fire and was completely gutted whilst undergoing repairs at La Seyne sur Mer. It happened the day before she was due to sail to Bermuda for maintenance work on the Atlantic cables. Sold to Spanish shipbreakers. Reg Blain, who served on the Marcel
Bayard when it was stationed in British Columbia, writes: CABLE WORK 1962 Oran - Perpignan |
|
British Virgin Islands 1986 60c 1986 50c Ghana 1983 2c30 1989 200/2c30 Built 1964, Cammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead Length 371.3 ft. Breadth 49.2 ft. Depth 19.1 ft. Gross tonnage 4058 Owned by Cable & Wireless. Based at Manila, Philippines for the maintenance of cables in the Indian Ocean and South East Asian waters. CS Cable Enterprise was taken out of service at the end of 2001 and was expected to be sold for scrap early in 2002. CABLE WORK |
(CABLE ENTERPRISE continued)
|
|
British Virgin Islands 1986 $1 British Virgin Islands 1986 $1.50 Built 1962, Lubecker Flenderwerke A.G. Length 493.8 ft. Breadth 61.7 ft. Depth 29.5 ft. Gross tonnage 8910 Owned by Union Kabellgungs & Schiffarts and named NEPTUN (3) operated as a cable ship by Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke. Sold in 1965 to the United States Undersea Cable Corporation. In 1971 she was sold to International Marine Operations Inc., a subsidiary of ITT. Purchased by Cable & Wireless in 1975 who refitted and renamed her CABLE VENTURE. Sold in 1998 for scrap. CABLE WORK as NEPTUN (3) 1963 Eastern Test Range
No 1 cable All these cables were for military use. Neptune 3 was based at Subic Bay, Philippines as repair ship for the above. |
(CABLE VENTURE continued)
CABLE WORK as CABLE VENTURE 1978 ASEAN - Philippines
- Singapore See also the Cableships page on Neptun/Venture |
|
Ascension 1999 35p Built 1905, Swan, Hunter Wigham Richardson Ltd. Length 283.0 ft. Breadth 37.1ft Depth 16.2ft Gross tonnage 1959 Built for the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company Ltd. Sold to the Eastern Telegraph Company in 1912. Chartered shortly after by the Western Telegraph Company for repair and renewal of cables on the east coast of South America. Followed by similar work for the Eastern in the Red Sea and down the east coast of Africa. In 1919 based at Zanzibar for the maintenance of cables in the area. Severely damaged in a storm, repairs were carried out in Durban and Cambria remained there as repair ship for the St Helena - Cape Town cable. Put up for sale in 1928, but was taken over by Imperial & International Communications Ltd. in 1929. Transferred to the West Indies in 1930 as repair ship. Refitted in 1935 then carried out renewal work on cables between Montevideo and the Amazon delta. This was followed by a transfer to the Mediterranean and then back to the West Indies and South America. 1939-41 was spent in the Atlantic before a final return to the West Indies. On the 8th November 1945 while anchored in Montevideo harbour Cambria was hit by the Uruguayan ship Almirante Rodriguez Luis and sank. CABLE WORK 1906 Shetlands
- Faroes - Iceland |
CHANTIK Norfolk Island 1983 30-45c Oil rig supply vessel normally based in Singapore, chartered especially for this task CABLE WORK 1982 ANZCAN Norfolk Island shore ends |
|
Ascension 1999 50p Built 1902, Swan, Hunter Wigham Richardson Ltd. Length 487 ft. Breadth 56 ft Depth 27.6 ft Gross tonnage 7891 Built for the Telegraph Construction & Maintenance Company Ltd., specifically to lay the Bamfield - Fanning Island section of the Pacific Cable. No other ship was capable of carrying the cable in one piece. In 1928 the vessel was sold to the Norwegian Whaling Company A/S Thar Dahl of Sandefjord who converted her into a factory ship and renamed her Torodd. In 1934 she was sold to another whaling company, Norseke Hvalproduktor A/S Oslo who renamed her Sydis. Again sold in 1937 to a German company Oelmuhlen Walgang Konsortium, Berlin and renamed Sudmeer. The vessel was sunk during the early part of World War 2.
1902
Bamfield (Vancouver Island) - Fanning Island |
WILLIAM CORY Ireland 1979 13p Built 1857, C. Mitchell & Company, Newcastle Length 244.4 ft Breadth 35.2 ft Depth 24.3 ft Gross tonnage 1578 Built as a collier. Chartered by Glass Elliot & Company and later by the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company. CABLE WORK 1858
Suffolk - Holland |
Next page: Cableship Stamps D - G
Back to the Cableship Stamps index
|
Last revised: 12 March, 2013 |
|
