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

CS Dacia
by Bill Glover

CS DACIA

The Dacia was launched in 1867, and converted for cable use in 1869 by Sir Charles Bright, initially for use on the West India cables. The ship was cut in half and increased in length by 40 feet to provide room for a large cable tank amidships, and was also strengthened by a broad iron belt on her sides from stem to stern. The ship had a long and successful career as a cable layer, but came to a sad end during the First World War.

Although cable ships were merchant vessels they were considered legitimate war targets and a number were sunk during both world wars.

Cableship Dacia at the time of her sinking was in the process of diverting the German South American cable into Brest. The date of 3 December 1916 shown on the photographs is correct; the date of 1915 given elsewhere is incorrect.

For a first-hand story of life on Dacia in the 1890s, read Captain Basil Combe's diaries.

Research Material Needed

The Atlantic Cable website is non-commercial, and its mission is to make available on line as much information as possible.

You can help - if you have cable material, old or new, please contact me. Cable samples, instruments, documents, brochures, souvenir books, photographs, family stories, all are valuable to researchers and historians.

If you have any cable-related items that you could photograph, copy, scan, loan, or sell, please email me: billb@ftldesign.com