CANTAT-2 was the second Canadian

transatlantic telephone cable A transatlantic telecommunications cable is a submarine communications cable connecting one side of the Atlantic Ocean to the other. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, each cable was a single wire. After mid-century, coaxial cable came into use ...

, in operation from 1974 to 1992. It could carry 1,840 simultaneous telephone calls between Beaver Harbour,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

and England. The parties involved were

Canadian Overseas Telecommunication Corporation Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

(now

Teleglobe VSNL International Canada or Tata Communications (Canada) ULC (formerly Teleglobe) is an international telco carrier. The company is a subsidiary of Tata Communications, part of India's Tata Group and based in Montreal, Quebec. Part of their r ...

) and the British

General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II in 1660. ...

. The cable was rerouted to

Sable Island Sable Island (french: île de Sable, literally "island of sand") is a small Canadian island situated southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and about southeast of the closest point of mainland Nova Scotia in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island i ...

as Sitifofog 2000 for a period, and was eventually decommissioned. The work on the U.K. end of the cable involved an accident in which ''Pisces III'', engaged in repeater burial of the newly laid cable on the shelf off Ireland, sank. The submersible sank in of water and was recovered with the crew safe after 76 hours.

References

Scotian Shelf: An Atlas of Human Activities
Submarine communications cables in the North Atlantic Ocean Transatlantic communications cables British Telecom buildings and structures 1992 disestablishments in Nova Scotia Infrastructure completed in 1974 Canada–United Kingdom relations 1992 disestablishments in England 1974 establishments in England 1974 establishments in Nova Scotia {{Telecom-stub