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1896. "U.S.S. Maine -- the actors." Some of the seafaring thespians glimpsed earlier here and here. 8x10 glass negative by Edward Hart. View full size.
The two end men in blackface are clearly Mister Bones (left) and Mister Tambo (right), two mainstays of a minstrel show of the period.
It is to be hoped that any of these players still part of the crew two years later managed to be ashore on liberty when the coal bunker fire ignited the magazine.
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