Mercury Prepares to Make Cable Laying History
by Philip J. Beacall
Even the usually imperturbable English innkeeper could be forgiven for raising an eyebrow when the navigating officer placed an order for “ninety-five pints to be going on with.” But after the fashion of his kind he coped manfully, assisted by his staff, although an accompanying order for sandwiches to go with the beer posed a problem when the bread supplies ran out halfway through the cutting operations.
It all happened on the coach journey bringing the Spanish crew of the new cable ship Mercury from Southampton to join the ship at Birkenhead where she has been built by Cammell Laird and Co. (Shipbuilders and Engineers) Ltd., and it provided yet one more example of the many and varied tasks which Cable and Wireless officers take in their stride. Navigating Officer John Neal accomplished the task of getting the crew safely to Merseyside in the Company’s best tradition, and a more substantial meal and pleasant lodgings awaited them at Liverpool’s famous Gordon Smith Institute for Seamen where they settled down happily until Mercury was ready.
The final weeks of a new ship’s metamorphosis in the shipyard of its birth are always hectic and full of problems. Fitting out the Mercury proved no exception, and the layman, watching an army of nearly a thousand shipyard men putting the final touches before the acceptance trials, could be forgiven for doubting that order could ever come from such seeming chaos. But it does, and the tangled miles of electric cable, the hammerings, sawings and sparkle of acetylene burners are eventually finished with and cleared away. This year shipyard men have had an additional handicap from notorious summer weather which has made such jobs as caulking decks a tricky business.
But, as the chief officer, Captain Robert Bowen Riddle, said during a particularly hectic Saturday morning at the shipyard: “These things have a handy knack of falling into place”, and when Captain G. E. C. Reynolds, C.S. Mercury’s Commander, takes over after the acceptance trials, he is assured of a well-found and happy ship, and the world’s fastest and most modern cable layer as well.
Before that he and his senior officers will have tackled a score of daily problems in dealing with 1,600 cases of stores, 30 miles of grappling rope and buoy rope to be spliced, and thousands of items of working gear and spare gear. There will also be the freighter load of cable for the laying trials off the coast of Portugal or, if the weather is bad, in the Mediterranean, and the important human aspect of forming the new team of officers and men into a happy entity.
The 29-year-old purser, Robert Arthur Gray, has an important role to play, too. For him the most difficult time during the ship’s preparation is the period immediately following her handing over when he must prepare the accommodation for the 135 officers and crew. First task of the purser’s staff is the unpacking of the cases of stores which have been arriving at the shipyard during the immediate months before handing over. They include such items as a thousand pieces of linen, blankets, towels, etc., to make up the 135 berths, 5,000 pieces of glassware and crockery, 2,000 pieces of cutlery and silverware for cabin, saloon and messroom use, and, of course, every conceivable cooking utensil to stock the three modern galleys.
Gray was at Head Office a short time ago completing the order for stocking C.S. Mercury’s pantries and deep freezes with two months’ supplies of victuals and dry goods which included turkeys, mincemeat, dried fruits and similar commodities which will be a feature of the Christmas Day menus.
If the ship’s company get tired of rainbow trout, asparagus tips and other gourmet’s delights, they will have pigs’ trotters, tripe, baked beans and sardines to fall back on, for all these items are included in the bill of fare. Gray has also to ensure the Spanish crew of 74 have food to their taste, and 28 lb. of garlic will make certain their dishes do not lack flavouring!
Gray joined the Company in August, 1957, and was promoted purser the following May. He has served on C.S. Recorder, Retriever, Lady Denison Pender and Electra.
The initial order, which covers over 300 different items, includes more than 3 tons of meat, 224 lb. pigs’ trotters, 100 lb. tripe, 1,000 lb. of ham and bacon, 1,400 lb. of poultry, including 200 lb. of duckling and 400 lb. of turkeys, 31 cases of tinned meats as well as several kinds of sausages, 3,000 lb. of fish, ranging from cod to rainbow trout and salmon, 30 cases of tinned fish, including shrimps, crab, lobster and salmon, 7,200 eggs, 4,000 lb. flour, 4 cwt. of rice, 3 tons of potatoes, 6 cwt. of onions, 36 cases of tinned fruits, 6 different kinds of cheese, 448 lb. of butter, 1 ton sugar, 350 lb. coffee, 300 lb. tea, 50 cases of tinned milk, 250 lb. biscuits, 440 lb. jam, marmalade, syrups, honey, etc., and nearly 1,000 bottles of sauces, pickles, salad cream, vinegar, and 5 lb. of bicarbonate of soda !
The extensive dry and refrigerated storerooms on the main deck include a large deep freeze cabinet which ensures a plentiful change of diet during Mercury’s long periods at sea.
Small wonder then that after all this, and the taking on in London, of 1,200 miles of cable and fifty repeaters, the ship’s company, is rarin’ to go on a maiden voyage to the Pacific which will make cable laying history.
The Officers and Petty Officers of C.S. Mercury
| Commander |
Capt. G. H. C. Reynolds |
| Chief Officer |
Capt. R. B. Riddle (Acting) |
| Second Officers |
P. Watts (Acting); J. H. Neal |
| Third Officers |
W. J. Venables; D. J. Hider |
| Fourth Officers |
K. M. Humphrey; D. S. Macfarlane |
| Apprentice |
I. R. Bosworth |
| Chief Engineer |
E. M. Pentney |
| Second Engineer |
J. V. Scicluna (Acting) |
| Third Engineers |
R. L. Smith (Acting); K. Routledge |
| Fourth Engineers |
A. P. Taylor; D. Cassidy |
| Junior Uncertificated Engineers |
J. Thompson; J. Jenkins; J. W. T. Thompson |
| Senior Electrical Engineer |
J. M. Hunter |
| Electrical Engineers |
W. T. Robson; J. Coates |
| Chief Cable Engineer |
P. J. A. Cousins |
| Second Cable Engineers |
R. S. Pitt; C. D. Parkin |
| Assistant Cable Engineers |
F. E. Lowe; A. D. Law |
| Submarine Cable Technicians |
A. E. Weekas; P. G. Miller |
| Radio Officers |
J. Otley; J. C. Pyburn; J. D. Cotton |
| Purser |
R. A. Gray |
| Assistant Purser |
—— |
| Surgeon |
Dr. L. A. Gess |
| Chief Steward |
C. A. V. Arkell |
| Boatswain |
E. G. Gulliver |
| Carpenter |
W. M. Dix |
| Deck Engine Drivers |
G. R. Logan; J. Beresford |
