Buccaneer 1885

TYNE BUILT SHIPS

A history of Tyne shipbuilders and the ships that they built

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Name:	BUCCANEER
Type:	Cable Laying Support Ship
Launched:	07/09/1885
Completed:	09/1885
Builder:	J Wigham Richardson & Co
Yard:	Neptune Yard, Low Walker
Yard Number:	192
Dimensions:	785grt, 460nrt, 580dwt, 190.0 x 28.2 x 20.0ft
Engines:	C2cyl (30 & 61 x 39ins),180nhp
Engines by:	J Wigham Richardson & Co, Low Walker
Propulsion:	1 x Screw, 13.0knots
Construction:	Steel
Reg Number:	91871
History:
26/09/1885	India Rubber, Gutta Percha & Telegraph Works Co Ltd, London
31/07/1914	Wrecked

Comments:	Built as a support vessel for the Company's cable layer SILVERTOWN
	She had no cable machinery but did have two cable tanks. At a later date she was fitted with equipment for cable retrieval
	1885: Assisted in laying the telegraph cables between Bathurst and St Vincent, as well as assisting in laying and repairing cables up and down the West African coast.
	1885 – 1886: Used as an Oceanographic survey vessel between Cape Verdes to Equatorial Africa and Ascension Island, taking soundings and observations of the Ocean currents. After which she resumed her normal role
	1895: Working in the West Indies and Cuban areas
	Cables laid included: Tunas – Casilda; Tunas – Jucaro; Gape Cruz – Manzanillo
	31/07/1914: Wrecked 7nm south of Tamatave, Madagascar
	On a voyage from Reunion to Tamatave with a cargo of submarine cable