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Ghost Ship: 1916
September 1916. "Kron Prinz Wilhelm, German ship, interned in U.S. in tow." The former passenger liner, pressed into ... over a year. After the United States entered the war, the ship was seized by the government, rechristened the USS Von Steuben and ... It would be interesting to know what kind of armament this ship carried as a "raider." It certainly looks innocent enough from this view. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/22/2012 - 7:09pm -

September 1916. "Kron Prinz Wilhelm, German ship, interned in U.S. in tow." The former passenger liner, pressed into service as a commerce raider by the Imperial German Navy at the start of World War I, being towed from the Norfolk yards to Philadelphia. During its eight months on the high seas -- after leaving New York Harbor with 2,000 tons of coal -- the converted 15,000-ton cruiser sank more than a dozen Allied ships and took hundreds of prisoners. Running low on supplies, its crew and prisoners beset by a variety of illnesses, the battered vessel sought refuge in April 1915 at Newport News, where its sailors were interned for over a year. After the United States entered the war, the ship was seized by the government, rechristened the USS Von Steuben and converted into a troop carrier. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Wilhelm's GunsIt would be interesting to know what kind of armament this ship carried as a "raider." It certainly looks innocent enough from this view. What a great story this would make for a period-piece motion picture! [Exactly what I was thinking. The Wilhelm led quite a dramatic life. The ship seems to have been lightly armed. Wikipedia says two 88mm guns, one machine gun and two 120 mm guns. And of course a lot of small arms. Attacking mostly unarmed and much slower merchant ships, it didn't need much in the way of guns. It was basically a modern-day pirate ship that sailed around under the British flag. It would hail an Allied ship, steam alongside and then raise the German flag instead of the skull and crossbones, send a boarding party, take prisoners, scuttle the enemy ship and be on its way. - Dave] SailsVery interesting. Even though it is obviously a coal powered ship it has masts and rigging indicating that it could also be sailed under wind power. [That "rigging" might be antennas for the ship's wireless. Experts? - Dave] Rusty!Wow, what a rustbucket. The MastsI believe the masts and rigging are cranes used to lift cargo out of the ship's holds. No SailsNo sails on that ship. The rigging lines visible in the photo are heavy stays to support the masts for the lookout (crow's nest), for cargo handling when a boom is slung, and for the ship's wireless. The antennas would run fore/aft between the masts, but they were much thinner wires and don't show in the photo. The Q-ShipSpot on... Like you said, a Raider (or Q-ship on our side) depended on spoofing by fooling the warships and preying on the unarmed (or lightly armed) merchants and so did not need heavy arms. Some cut away portions of the gunwale and covered with painted canvas (or other material) sections that could drop away to expose the guns. I met an old man that was a victim of some German raider during WWII off the west coast of Africa. He was on a sailing merchant ship when they were captured, put adrift on a lifeboat, and witnessed the scuttling of their ship. They were a week at sea before landing at some fishing village in Africa and made their way back to a port and in time back to the USA where he continued in the merchant marine through the remainder of the war. Wait a minute: Timeline?So the picture is from Sept 1916, and the ship is (still?) completely messed up. In April 1915 the battered ship had sought refuge; sailors interned for over year; and then sent home sometime in 1916? (US enters the war in April 1917.) Is one of these dates incorrect? [The dates are all correct. After the United States entered the war, the sailors (who, after their ship was sent to Philadelphia, remained at Norfolk in a "German village" they constructed that became a popular tourist attraction) became prisoners of war and were sent to POW camps in Georgia. - Dave] Wartime shortagesI've read in many accounts that things became quite hard in the States when they finally entered the Great War, and that there were many shortages in raw materials and goods and services due to the conversion to a wartime economy. But interestingly enough, even though there was a very important use of American infrastructure to turn out war materiel, there was not a complete production reconversion as in WWII. Many car companies, for example, did reduce their output and produce trucks and ambulances for the armed forces, but they nevertheless were still able to produce (and sell) cars to the civilians. This photo is very interesting, because it shows the importance of these huge and heavy pieces of manufactured equipment in the war effort of any economy. Ships were still the main way to carry large amounts of supplies and soldiers across the Atlantic, and yet they were of strategic importance to any country involved in the war effort. Being a pirate ship under an enemy flag, and considering the cost and time it would take to build an equivalent ship in war conditions, it is evident why the government commissioned this ship to serve under the U.S. flag. I just can't help wondering; of course I know the States had an active shipbuilding industry back then, but, did they build special-purpose ships during the first World War, like they did with the famous Liberty Ship of the 1940's? Where, how, how many ships they built? And what happened to the many converted steamboats that were used for transporting troops during the war? Were they returned to their owners? Did any of them resume civilian passenger service after the war? Like is always the case with Shorpy, a very interesting and educational photo, worth a lot of research. Thanks for sharing! Armed Merchant CruisersKronprinz Wilhelm, like most fast passenger liners including British ships like the Lusitania, were designed (in their blueprints) to serve as armed merchant cruisers in the event of war. For example Lusitania had gun mounts on her port and starboard sides, although guns were never mounted. This was all part of a scheme in which the various governments could subsidize the construction of civilian liners with funds from their navies on the grounds that they could be used as warships. Their speed made them faster than just about anything else on the seas, but that speed meant burning a lot of coal, which was a problem for a country like Germany that couldn't send out regular supplies to its raiders. They also couldn't stand up to even an obsolete warship, as the Kronprinz Wilhelm's sister ship Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse found out when she went up against the aged HMS Highflyer. Later, more successful German raiders tended to be slower more nondescript merchant ships like Wolf II which sank 35 merchant ships and 2 warships in a 451 day cruise, or the sailing ship Seeadler, which sank 15 ships in a 225 day cruise. Additionally,..Halfway up the mast there's a crow's nest, which would have dated from the ship's use as a liner. Viewers of "Titanic" will remember the scene just prior to the collision with the two sailors in the same post. A WarshipI believe that Kronprinz Wilhelm's decrepit state is due to the fact that she was considered a warship, and under international law she couldn't be repaired or even maintained once she was interned. On the other hand, ships like the Imperator, which weren't converted to warships could be maintained by their crews, and could even sail back to Germany. The big problem for them was the blockade - at both ends of the trip. The Royal Navy and the dominion navies (the Royal Canadian and Royal Australian Navies) maintained a blockade of American ports. Their ships would lurk just outside the territorial limit waiting for German ships to try to make a run for it and then seize them. HMCS Niobe operated off New York until 1915 when she was declared "worn out" and HMCS Rainbow operated off Seattle. She even managed to capture a pair of German schooners that tried to escape that port. [The ship could have been fixed up before heading out to sea, but the captain chose to stay put. Below: New York Times. - Dave] World War I Emergency ShipbuildingThe answer to Miguel Chavez's question is yes (I'm tempted to write of course). There was a program to produce -- I'm not sure we can say mass produce in that period -- relatively simply designed cargo ships called Hog Islanders at a shipyard at that location (I think it might have been near Philadelphia). Also there was a crash program to produce concrete ships (they would be called ferrocement ships today), becasue steel was in such short supply. Rather surprisingly, they looked just like contemporary steel cargo ships. Also, shipyards in Maine swung into high gear to produce large numbers of wooden, mostly sail-powered schooners, although I don't think there was any Government program behind this, just private industry sensing a chance for a profit. The last of the concrete ships is partly visible above the water off Cape May Point, New Jersey, to this day. I believe these programs were almost complete failures. The innovative new designs, while they were economical of materials and labor to produce, didn't start hitting the water in numbers until the war was practically over. In addition, many of them had mechanical or reliability problems and were not successful in a functional sense, either. The Hog Islanders were the most effective at carrying cargo and many of them remained commercially viable until 1929, when the bottom fell out of the shipping market. A few of the Maine sailing ships remained viable till World War II. Possibly Mr. Kaiser and his associates studied this period's failures and that's how the Liberty ships were so successful. Passenger ships of that era.Those wires are cables for supporting the masts. In regards to captured German cruise ships, there were quite a few that had serious electrical problems. In some cases wiring inside the walls would short and cause fires inside the walls themselves. A few ships burned completely. The Kron Prinz Wilhelm from what I read was used by the US Navy until 1923 and scrapped. A shame. Ships of this era are works of art. Hard-used Navy shipsThe USS Santa Olivia was a civilian cargo ship taken over by the Navy as a troop ship. My grandmother's uncle was an officer on her. Below: the ship on completion in July 1918 and then probably in May 1919, when she looks like a rust bucket. I think they just ran the ships back and forth across the Atlantic constantly with no time to paint them. Coming to AmericaThis is the ship my great great grandfather came to America on! High-Difference CamouflageSome great photos of dazzle-painted ships here and here. Early camouflageI don't think that early camo schemes like dazzle were intended to deceive the viewer in the sense of not seeing the target but to confuse the outline to make identification more difficult. If a ship could be identified (or at least its class) then the apparent size of the image could make the range estimation much more accurate if looking though a periscope, and the size of the bow wave could improve the speed estimate, raising the probability of a hit. I have seen pictures of ships painted with a false bow wave so that its speed would be overestimated, resulting in a torpedo miss instead of a hit. Anything that reduced the probability of a hit was helpful. DazzlingI have no doubt that Dazzle Camouflage is (or rather was) effective in the days when visual sighting rather than radar or sonar was the principal means of identifying a target. The thing is though that for a modern viewer it is difficult to imagine how it could be. We see the images in monochrome and usually under ideal conditions - the ship is in port or stationary. But of course the paint jobs weren't all - or even usually - black and white and the ships that the U-Boat skippers saw were moving through seas at various states and weather conditions. I guess what I'm saying is that when we see black & white photos of ships in Dazzle Camouflage we aren't even getting part of the true effect. Dazzle CamouflageIf you've ever used a typical manual-focus 35mm camera, you might be able to picture one of the intended effects of "dazzle": making it hard to line up the linear elements in the split image of a rangefinder. Optical rangefinders, using two widely spaced lenses, were the principal method used in warships of this era to determine the distance between them and the target. In principle, you could see a dazzle-painted target plainly but still have difficulty hitting it with guns or torpedoes. Painting ShipLooking over the images on Shorpy's there aren't many times when I wish that a black & white photo were in colour, but some of these ship pictures are among them. The photos of the Santa Olivia are a huge contrast, but would she have looked as much like a rust bucket in the second photo in colour than she does in black & white. The paint work on the dazzle camouflage patterns in the first picture are so sharp and clear that you'd wonder that it deceived anyone. How much of the appearance of the "rust bucket" version of the ship is dirt and grime and rust, and how much is a more effective effort to deceive? I think Kronprinz Wilhelm was a rust bucket, almost certainly after almost a year of internment following her time as a raider. The Baron came to America - Twice.The ship's namesake is Baron (Crown Prince) Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. It's interesting to note the Germans used his title and first name(s) while the US used his title and last name. He was a Prussian trained command officer who met Benjamin Franklin in Paris just as the War for Independence was breaking out in America and volunteered to come to America to help the effort - he was looking for work to help alleviate his personal debt and had heard Benjamin Franklin was going to be in Paris and travelled to meet him. He was endorsed by the French government just as France was forming their alliance with the Americans. He volunteered at first to come (later he was paid) and assist the American war effort and was immediately dispatched to join the American forces. He arrived in the US shortly before the American government was being driven out of the capital in Philadelphia by the British and was present during the exodus. He met up with Continental Army General George Washington at Valley Forge during that cold winter and began his efforts at organizing and training the Army. It's from him that the US developed its concepts of military structure and training programs still in practice today, including command structure, elementary concepts of boot camp and right down to the "in your face" training methods of Drill Sergeants still in use today. He was one of the three Commanders in charge of one of the Divisions when General Cornwallis was trapped and forced to surrender at Yorktown, VA - effectively ending the War for Independence. Incredible photo! Named after the eldest son of Kaiser WilhelmKronprinz means Crown Prince, or heir to the throne. The German term usually translated as "Baron" is "Freiherr" and is the lowest title of German nobility. This ship would have certainly been named after the Crown Prince of Germany, Wilhelm, the eldest son of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Know as "Little Willie" by the allies, he served during WWI as commander of the German 5th Army until the battle of Verdun, and then in command of an Army Group until the end of the war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm,_German_Crown_Prince (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Harris + Ewing, WWI)
TRX: 1910
... Publishing Company. View full size. Open Air Ship's Wheel This is likely an emergency wheel located close to the ... ends in "DØ" The beginning is obscured by the flag Ship's Wheel I don't remember seeing a ship's wheel quite so exposed to ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/19/2023 - 3:58pm -

Mobile, Alabama, circa 1910. "Unloading bananas." Tropical Refrigerator Express reefers at the ready. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Open Air Ship's WheelThis is likely an emergency wheel located close to the steering mechanism. The regular-use wheel is forward, in the bridge of this steamship. BananasThis was about a decade into the long march of the United Fruit Company through Latin America, leaving in its wake "banana republics", untold injustices, and the lasting model for multinational corporations. Open door policyI'm guessing that the reefers are in "ventilated car" mode, since bananas, while temperature sensitive, don't require the level of cooling some products do (namely frozen ones). The hatches are in the up position to facilitate air flow, rather than for icing. Where's Harry?I don't see the tally man. Norway?I can’t make out the name of the boat, and regardless it doesn’t appear that there’s a country listed, but the flag looks Norwegian to me. Does that even make sense? Mr TallymanThe tallyman and his buddy are on post, they even arranged a bench to check the unloading in comfort. The banana boat is NorwegianAs evidenced by the flag. It's from Bergen and its name ends in "DØ" The beginning is obscured by the flag Ship's WheelI don't remember seeing a ship's wheel quite so exposed to the elements outside of a pirate movie. Sidewheeler IDJas. A. Carney 1894 according to page 219 of the 1910 Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United Stares WHAT Bananas?I see coal and not bananas! "Yes, we have no bananas?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QqkrIDeTeA or if you prefer originals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDd8shcLvHI Where's the Day-O? Yes, we have no ...I'm banana blind -- not one in sight. Yes -- bananas!Look carefully at the conveyor just above the righthand white ventilator. The conveyor consists of a series of slings, each one lifting a bunch of bananas. Hellø BodøHere we see the diminutive 181-foot Norwegian steamer Bodø, launched as the Xenia in 1894 at Bergen by Bergens Mekaniske Versteder for Bergh & Helland of that city. At 666 gross and 398 net tons, it was powered by a triple expansion steam engine supplied by a Scotch boiler. It became the Bodø in 1899 and was chartered to the United Fruit Company to haul fruit, primarily bananas, between Jamaica and the the East Coast. United Fruit chartered many Norwegian vessels around the turn-of-the-last century beginning in 1899. Later named Plentingen, Polar, Samos and Ikaria, it was dismantled in Greece in late 1928. It has appeared before on Shorpy (as has a similar comment of mine!) Gaillard-Johnson Coal CompanyFrom the 1909 Mobile city directory. When cities had more than one telephone company. Coalyard located at foot of St. Anthony. Phone Bell 248 or Home 51. [City directories go back to before people even had telephones. - Dave] Walking the GangplankAs a free-range kid in Mobile, I have personally watched bananas being unloaded from a ship, circa 1950. It was nothing like this photo. There was a slanting gangplank between the ship and the dock, and a continuous line of men descending with stalks of bananas over their shoulders. I recall the gangplank being wooden, but am not sure of this. Nor do I recall how the men got back on board, but obviously they did. “Lighter”I’m interested in the boat off to the right of the ship. It’s actually a barge called a Lighter. These were, and in some cases still are, used to service ships in port. In this case the Lighter is providing coal to fuel the steam boilers. It has never been clear to me where the term came from. Some have suggested it’s from the German “Lichter” as some barges were used to off load (lighten) small deliveries to shore from large ships. Another great photo. Source of photo?The source of this great photo is described as Detroit Publishing Co., Library of Congress, but I am unable to find this photo at the Library of Congress website. Could someone provide me with a link to the photo? I've tried every search term I can think of. [This was one of a group of hundreds of damaged glass negatives added to the LOC archive in February. They have yet to be captioned, so will not show up in search results. - Dave] (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Mobile, Railroads)
Fish Grotto: 1957
... full size. Stacked Figureheads Strangest looking ship's bow I have ever seen. It's as if a second, larger deck was added to the ... adjacent to the famous Transamerica Pyramid, the cargo ship Niantic, complete with 13 cases of champagne.) Although Bernstein's ... 
 
Posted by Rute Boye - 08/04/2012 - 4:40pm -

Bernstein's Fish Grotto restaurant on Powell Street in San Francisco in 1957. I like the building facade; when someone said "take a bow," Bernstein's took it literally! Color slide by my father. View full size. Stacked FigureheadsStrangest looking ship's bow I have ever seen. It's as if a second, larger deck was added to the original bow to increase the street presence. I suppose the neon tubes snaking out of the hawseholes are supposed to represent shrouds. Any nautical Shorpy readers know if this type of hull is patterned after an actual sailing vessel? Fanciful part of SF's pastBernstein's restaurant apparently took its nautical exterior from an earlier chapter in San Francisco history. During the Gold Rush, the shallow Yerba Buena Cove adjacent to boomtown San Francisco was rapidly filled to create badly-need commercial space, and many ships in the harbor ended up literally surrounded by the the encroaching city. The attached image, although with some artistic license, shows the result: ships entombed in dry land converted into hotels, warehouses, and residences. The upper parts of the stranded ships were eventually dismantled or burned, but to this day there are at least forty buried hulks beneath today's financial district and South of Market areas. (One was discovered in 1978 immediately adjacent to the famous Transamerica Pyramid, the cargo ship Niantic, complete with 13 cases of champagne.) Although Bernstein's was located on Powell Street, far away from the filled-in Yerba Buena cove, the spirit of '49 was definitely there. Hello ColumbusSome sites such as Time Shutter indicate the ship was modeled after the Nina. "The ship that never goes to sea"The entrance to Bernstein's Fish Grotto faithfully follows in size and detail the Nina, flagship of Columbus. The Ship is goneThe building is still there but it couldn't be more bland if they tried. View Larger Map MemoriesI lived in and around San Francisco in 1968 and 1969, but for the life of me, I can't remember this landmark. Does anyone know if it existed then? Ship's OriginThe ship represented Columbus' Nina but the design was pure whimsy. The second deck would never have been seen on a real ship. For more info on Bernstein's, see: SAN FRANCISCO'S LOST LANDMARKS. Every SF library has a copy. Photo - Interior of Bernsteins. I know it's an ancient post, but... My family moved to SF back in the early 70s when I was maybe 11 or 12, My younger brother and I were explorers and climbers. One of the first places we discovered and 'explored' was the grotto. We climbed up the side of the boat to reach the rope and board walkways, then got on deck and had fun playing around for a bit. Then we discovered that directly below the walkways were storage rooms open to the sky behind dummy pilings. On further exploration, we learned that the doors from the storage rooms to the restaurant proper were not locked. Odd thing is, when we mentioned it to a friend of my mom's who managed the place, we got in trouble for trespassing, but they never did anything to secure the place. Was still 'easy access' when I moved out of SF in 1980. ANY photos very appreciatedHi, My great-great-grandfather John E. Mullen built the exterior and interior of Bernstien's Fish Grotto in about 1912. I am trying to build a scale replica for the family to keep forever and would SO appreciate any more info, and especially photos of the inside and outside. I am posting a drawing that we have of him building the façade that was part of a portrait of him for the fun of it (hand lettering is by him) Thank so much in advance! All the best, Craig Elliott (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Panama Canal: 1915
... mess would give a Navy Chief an apoplectic fit! Cargo ship experience A navy Chief rarely works on cargo ships. What is probably happening is the ship is loading or offloading cargo. You can see the canvas hatch cover stuffed ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/10/2012 - 12:19am -

Circa 1915. "North approach, Pedro Miguel Lock, Panama Canal." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. ShipshapeLooking at the steamer on the left versus the one on the right I think the crew needs to be doing some major work to that deck below them! That mess would give a Navy Chief an apoplectic fit! Cargo ship experienceA navy Chief rarely works on cargo ships. What is probably happening is the ship is loading or offloading cargo. You can see the canvas hatch cover stuffed aft of the rear hatch. While you are moving cargo, bits of packing material and small bits of bulk cargo end up on the deck. Blame the 60 stevedores for that. Then when they get a little rain, all that junk gets washed aft to just forward of the deckhouse, where you see it in the picture. There is a scupper outboard there, but it quickly gets clogged. You see where someone has laid boards down to keep their feet dry. I am sure the deck will get swept after cargo ops. At least someone has cleared the scupper to get the water off the deck. 2 locks, plenty of waiting.The caption reads "North Approach", and the mule tracks begin here, so I think this really is the line of ships waiting to be towed into the locks. Computer glitchSomeone's cursor is caught in the picture! LockedThe ships are in a lock. Cargo is not moved on or off a ship there. I have been through the Canal five times and there are no cargo facilities there. A few docks for the tourists, but cargo would most likely be handled in Balboa. The first time I went through was in 1955 and we took the train that paralleled the Canal back to the Caribbean side. The passenger cars were wooden with lanterns for lighting. It looked like a movie set from some '30 film. 1910?I thought the Canal wasn't completed until 1914. Sleeping on deckmust have been nice option as to down below in the humid tropics, the ship on the right has a canvas between two lifeboats and a couple of mattresses on the deck. Locking Through Together?All of the ships in the photo seem to be moored to the bollards on the concrete. With the smaller size of the ships during this era it might be possible for more than one ship to fit in a lock chamber. Could it be that all of these ships are within their respective locks and in the process of completing the locking operation in the direction of the arrow, that is "up". There are tracks for the mechanical mules to pull them through, but there isn't one in sight. I suspect that when the lock chambers fill completely the mules will pull each ship out of the lock chamber in sequence. Ship and Tow Vessel?Notice the four-masted, square rigged sailing vessel (bark?) astern of the foreground steamer on the right. The lowest yards on each mast are tilted to clear the lock accoutrements. The bowsprit appears very near, perhaps over, the stern of the steamer. Could the steamer, which seems to be pretty small, be the larger vessel's tow boat? Not sure what (if anything) that would say about conditions on the steamer's decks. Cargo/passenger ship on leftDoes anyone know the name of this ship? It would make a wonderful model of a cargo ship that also carried passengers. Somewhat typical of the banana boats of the period. Thanks. Jay Beckham (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC)
Nautical New York: 1900
... tied up to the south of the pier. I would guess the ship to be a commercial barque but hopefully someone more expert in rigging ... 1917 according to one source. I found this picture of the ship. There are small differences, but the paint scheme is the same. Opinions? ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:39pm -

New York City circa 1900. "Shipping at East River docks." More maritime Manhattan. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Earl Of ???I'm having the hardest time reading the name on the transom of the vessel tied up to the south of the pier. I would guess the ship to be a commercial barque but hopefully someone more expert in rigging will step in to correct the record. Of the name, the left side looks possibly to be "Earl of" but I can't piece out the rest. It's a bit like trying to read the 7th line of the Snellen eye chart without my glasses. Earl of DunmoreIt was sunk by a German submarine in 1917 according to one source. I found this picture of the ship. There are small differences, but the paint scheme is the same. Opinions? British ship. "Earl of Dunmore"British ship. "Earl of Dunmore" in both pictures above, is on the left in top picture, where I believe she is lying at 19th street or pier 11, east river New York. the lower image is of this ship at Port Pirie S. Australia circa 1894. Earl of Dunmore was under command of a Shetlander (Capt. T. Kay) from her completion in 1891 - 1903. I am currently working on a scale model of this ship at 1-48 scale, and also writing up the history of ship and master, any one who has any information on this ship or information on anyone who sailed with her I would be delighted to hear from them, or if I can help anyone interested in the same I will do my best. my e-mail is. joekay18@gmail.com Barque Earl of DunmoreLaunched 1891 on the River Clyde. Rigged with double top and topgallant sails. Journal of the Royal Naval Reserve, 1892. Earl of Dunmore, ship; outbreak of fire at Chittagong, January 5, 1892, when laden with jute. Inquiry held at Chittagong, February 6, 1892. Fire apparently intentional. Conduct of stevedore suspicious. Round the Horn Before the Mast, 1902 By Basil Lubbock Friday, 21st July, 1899, San Francisco. — The four-mast barque Earl of Dunmore came into the wharf next to us this morning, fifty-two days from Newcastle, Australia. She is nothing like such a fine ship as the Royalshire; though her tonnage is greater, her masts and spars are half the size of ours. She is a Glasgow-built ship, like the Royalshire, and is overrun by a wild crowd of Scotch apprentices. The Hobart Mercury, August 15 1903. A London Ship on Fire in Sidney Harbour. A Sensational Scene. SYDNEY, August 14 … The barque Earl of Dunmore, which arrived from London on Sunday, and is lying off Chowder Bay, was discovered to be on fire at 2 o'clock this morning. Included in the cargo was 130 tons of dynamite and gunpowder, and the crew lost no time in attacking the flames, but in spite of their best efforts the fire, which gained a firm hold on the cargo of the forehold, spread fiercely and rapidly. In this hold was stored a large quantity of inflammable material including oils, turpentine, and tar. This caused dense pungent smoke in great volume, which hampered the efforts of the seamen. There are four hatches on the vessel, all of which have been nailed down, and nobody has been below for several days. Captain Menke, his wife and child were transferred to the pilot steamer for safety. A steamer with the Harbour-master on board arrived alongside the burning ship within half an hour of the receipt of alarm, and directed salvage operations. Powerful pumps on the Harbour-master's boat poured water equal to 2,000 gallons per minute into the hold In which the fire was raging, but the flames made headway. A lot of cargo was stowed on deck, and much of this caught fire. The sailors, in order to avert the danger where it presented itself of the fire running along the decks, seized burning bales and cases, and threw them over-board. When the deck cargo was cleared away there was a much better chance of getting at the seat of the outbreak, but the fire had the mastery for a very long time. Presently the flames spread to the vessel's rigging, and the decks began to grow hot. Captain Menke ordered that the decks should be cut away, in order to afford more access to the burning cargo, but as soon as the sailors chopped away some of the planking they found iron sheathing underneath. It was decided at 4 o'clock, as the flames stall raged with undiminishable fierceness and the weight of water poured into the hold was beginning to cause the vessel to sink at the bows, to beach her. Pumping operations were temporarily discontinued, and a steel hawser having been passed to the tug Hero, with some difficulty the vessels anchor was freed from the bottom, and partly lifted, and the Earl of Dunmore was slowly towed towards Rose Bay, where she was beached. The ship had in her forward hatch a quantity of wax matches and underneath was stored a quantity of oils and other cargo equally combustible. It is presumed that rats got at the matches, and caused the conflagration. The Melbourne Argus, December 19, 1908. Earl of Dunmore. Furious Gale. An adventure which is not likely to be soon forgotten by her crew befel the four-masted barque Earl of Dunmore, on her voyage to this port from Fredrikstadt, Norway. Whilst “running down her easting” across the Southern Ocean the barque was sorely tried by a terrific Westerly gale accompanied by seas which Captain Mencke describes as the highest and most dangerous that he has experienced for many years. Gigantic billows swept the decks from poop to forecastle at frequent intervals threatening serious injury to the ship, and necessitating extraordinary vigilance on the part of the crew to escape danger. The disturbance arose on the 20th November, in lat. 42deg. south and lon. 6Odeg. east, lasting, without abatement for a whole day The use of oil to quell the seas was freely resorted to, large quantities being poured over the vessels sides; but despite this expedient, heavy bodies of water thundered over her as she sped before the gale. All movable objects on deck were dashed about in the flood whilst some disappeared overboard on the receding billows. A complete clearance was made of the galley … pots, pans, and other cooking utensils being washed out of the apartment to the unspeakable dismay of the cook. Several of the crew were thrown down by the seas and narrowly averted meeting with serious injury, a few bruises and scratches being the only ill effects. In the meantime squalls of alarming intensity completely drowned the voices of officers and crew until ultimately the storm gradually “blew itself out,”and affording them breathing space. The Earl of Dunmore which is laden with timber met with such light and baffling winds in the earlier stages of her voyage that she did not cross the equator until the fifty-eighth day out. Quite a different experience, however, then awaited her, and she made a capital run of 46 days from the line to Hobsons Bay averaging 220 mile per day for this period, and thus converting what promised to be a protracted voyage into a good one. On her previous voyage to Melbourne the Earl of Dunmore accomplished a splendid passage of 78 days from New York. Captain Menke who is in charge of the vessel, is accompanied by his wife. One's still thereMost of those buildings are long gone, but the one at center, beyond the three closely-spaced masts in line with the right edge of the Earl of Dunmore, seems to still be there (mostly, anyway) at the SE corner of Broad St and Exchange Place. It's the bldg at the right edge of another Shorpy pic. The narrow slab extending toward the camera from that building has been demolished in the last few years. A 1927 view of the building, in the lower left corner of the aerial pic. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC)
Savannah: 1905
... street. Finally A Pepsi-Cola sign. Interesting ship Cabins all around, but the way it is riding high in the water it seems ... cargo hatches I could see. Re: Interesting ship I posted a link to the photo on the Southern Railway Historical Society ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/09/2012 - 1:19pm -

Circa 1905. "The docks at Savannah." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Is something amiss?Looks like there has been a derailment in the middle of the street. FinallyA Pepsi-Cola sign. Interesting shipCabins all around, but the way it is riding high in the water it seems to wait for bulk cargo as well. I wonder what it was and how it got stowed on board. No big conspicuous cargo hatches I could see. Re: Interesting shipI posted a link to the photo on the Southern Railway Historical Society Yahoo group, and one of the members, Bob Hanson, a resident of Georgia, posted the following comment: "The ship on the left taking coal appears to be either the City of Atlanta or the second City of Columbus (sister ships) of the Ocean Steamship Company of Savannah, a subsidiary of the Central of Georgia Railway." Steam and Sail.Looks like the need to get that coal onboard to stop the listing to port! Not too much cargo goes on board this ship, only one noticeable cargo hatch forward towards the bow and only one crane to service it. And yes this ship does have sails as well. You can see a furled sail on the aft mast. Back in those days sails were breakdown insurance and used to help supplement steam power. Savannah Docks, Detroit's finished productA 1904 postcard from the Detroit Photographic Company, titled, "Ocean Steamship Co's Docks, Savannah, Ga." from the New York Public Library Collection. The faded message is dated March 30, 1906, and reads: "Margaret & Irene, Arrived here this morning, we had a fine trip, been doing Savannah all day. We found it a lovely place and the weather like July in New York. Oh, it is just lovely. We take train to Atlanta tonight. Marie & John" Potential Disaster In Savannah?I should have gone into a little more detail in my earlier comment. I really wish that smoke/steam was not obscuring the view of the locomotive as much as it is. The tender appears to have derailed in the middle of the street. It looks as though it might have become detached from the engine. If so, and the water supply to the engine was interrupted, then everybody in the area should be running for their lives. I've posted some photos to my Flickr site of a 1948 boiler explosion that illustrates what happens when a steam locomotive runs out of water while the firebox is hot: www.flickr.com/photos/michaeljy/3514234654 Also, notice that something has happened to the boxcar on the left side of the street, causing its load to shift and push its door out at the bottom. It looks like it might be loaded with bales of cotton. This poses a great dilemma for the railroad, since the door is barely hanging on and could fall off at any time. Those things are heavy. The car is half blocking the street, and it can only be moved with the greatest care, perhaps it can't be moved at all until the problem is fixed. Meanwhile, all of this has blocked the rail access to this entire area, meaning that until these problems are solved, these extremely busy docks cannot be serviced. Sleek That passenger/packet freighter sure has the sleek lines of that time. I like that architecture! It must have taken a long time to shovel all that coal from the barges into the bunkers of the ship. [Coaling was accomplished with a mechanical conveyor, seen here in its raised position. - Dave] I didn't notice the conveyer. That will speed things up a lot but the end is really nasty like using the grain legs in Buffalo, NY. I can't decide if I like the ships more or the mishmash of rooflines in this photo! Coaling at SavannahAs one always interested in the early 20th century coal economy (e.g. Berwind's Eureka Coal), any chance for an application of ShorpyZoom™ on the coal barges in this photo? Gone To HistoryI tried finding this location, but the port of Savannah has changed so much that it is impossible. This area is likely under where the Talmadge Bridge now is. Re: Coaling at SavannahWhat a dirty and labor-intensive job that was! Looks like there might be as many as a dozen or so men on that barge next to the ship, including one at the bottom of the ladder. There is no sign of any motorized vessel in the area, so I guess they had to use a combination of wenches and lines from the ship, along with sheer manpower, to maneuver the barges around as they were emptied. The mechanical bucket, scuttle, collier, or whatever it was called, looks as though it had to be filled manually in the barge (as opposed to a clamshell-type contraption). Even with that many hands working, moving that much coal had to be a back-breaking task. But I guess people back then were accustomed to such. [If any wenches were used, it wasn't for coaling. - Dave] Steady as she goesThe sails on the ship to the left were probably only used as a staysail to stop the boat from badly rolling in swells, as there seems to be lots of rigging and substantial shrouds to get in the way of efficiently using wind power as a backup if the engine conked out -- you wouldn't want all your passengers too seasick. The Cadsbyis the vessel in the center of the picture opposite the liner in the foreground. In the Cadsby photo, the vessel seen in the background may be the same as in the original, not sure. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Railroads, Savannah)
U.S.S. Onondaga: 1864
... Low in the water. It would not take much to swamp this ship. Questions? Why were they built to ride so low? What is in those little ... How Low Can You Go? Not a lot of freeboard on the good ship Onondaga. [The Onondaga was, as noted in the caption, a monitor or ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/09/2012 - 5:20pm -

1864. "James River, Virginia. Monitor U.S.S. Onondaga; soldiers in rowboat. From photographs of the Federal Navy, and seaborne expeditions against the Atlantic Coast of the Confederacy." Wet plate glass negative. View full size. HangersDoes anyone know what the three objects hanging over the side of the boat are? Appropriate HeadgearFor once, someone's wearing a boater in a boat. . . . Low in the water.It would not take much to swamp this ship. Questions? Why were they built to ride so low? What is in those little bags tied next to the oars on the sides of the rowboat? I suspect the older man with the pipe at the stern using a rough stick is acting as a rudder. Interesting snapshot of life! How Low Can You Go?Not a lot of freeboard on the good ship Onondaga. [The Onondaga was, as noted in the caption, a monitor or ironclad. - Dave] historical shipI looked the Ol' Onondaga up and she had quite a history. She was built in New York and sent to Virginia where she saw several important engagements. She was decommissioned in 1865 and sold to the French navy and refitted with rifled cannons of just over 9 inch. Replacing the 8 in smooth bore guns of American vintage. She was scrapped in 1902. Pretty impressive! Buffers-low in the waterMonitors were built very low in the water in order to present as little as possible of a target to an enemy gunner. They were very useful in inland waterways, on the open seas, in any bad weather, they would be in serious danger. My guess on the three bags on the launch is they are buffers to keep the wood of the boat's side from getting banged up when it is up against a wharf or another vessel in wavy water BumpersThose, probably leather, bags over the rowboat's side are fenders/bumpers meant to protect the sides of ships when docking. Today we use plastic fenders which are plastic and much larger (shaped like a serious hot dog). Ride So LowMonitors were river craft essentially floating gun platforms. They are not ships in the normal sense. Their freeboard (distance between the main deck and water line) was very small so they would present less of a target to opposition fire. Heavily armored above the main deck, they could withstand direct hits from the guns of the day without serious injury. Boat FendersThe small round objects hanging over the side are boat fenders, used to prevent damage to the rails when the boat is moored alongside something like a dock or the Onondaga. These are probably made of leather, and if they contain anything, it's probably more leather padding or perhaps a disk of soft wood. According to Wikipedia ....The good ship Onondaga was built in 1864, near the end of the Civil War and was sold to France after the war. She continued in service in the French Navy until 1903. The delivery cruise to France must have been terrifying. Interestinghttp://americancivilwar.com/tcwn/civil_war/Navy_Ships/USS_onandaga.html Across the waves.The Onondaga was sold to France after the war. How did they deliver it? Surely they didn't sail her! OnandagaThe bags on the longboats are probably bumpers, designed to keep the boat from being damaged when at a dock, or tied up alongside a ship with a low freeboard. Monitors were designed by Ericsson to sit low in the water to improve stability by bringing the mass of the turret down, and to make them a far more difficult target to hit. The hull was protected by the water and it was hard to strike below the waterline. This made them maneuverable and hard to hit but could make them very unseaworthy in bad weather. Monitor - Ericsson's original "cheesebox on a raft" sank off Cape Hatteras in a 1862. Other monitors were designed to be more seaworthy. Onondaga hull was built entirely of iron rather than wood like earlier monitors. As for Onondaga, she was sold back to her builder in 1867 and then sold to the French where she served as a coastal defense ship. She was scrapped by the French in 1904, making her the longest lived of the Civil War monitors. Those hanging thingies ...look like bumpers to me. They are all at the right height. Low FreeboardThe very low freeboard on this (and every other) monitor was designed to make the ship very hard for another ship to hit with cannon fire. When the monitors were "cleared for action", everything but the turrets were stripped down and stored or thrown overboard. The rigging and life boats were eliminated, and the ship was steered from a small armored box only a few feet high. Even the funnel (chimney) was dismantled so that only a small stub protruded from the deck so as to present the smallest target possible. Monitors worked fairly well in protected estuaries, bays, and navigable rivers, but monitors were notoriously poor sea-going ships. Many foundered and were lost, often with all hands, in heavy seas. In every other nation, the monitors were regarded as a design fluke and were not widely copied. The U.S., however, continued to use monitors well into the 1880s and beyond....mostly because Congress refused to fund a modern navy. Does anyone know what the three objects hanging over the side ofThey are fenders. Why so low?Why were they built to ride so low? To make a small target. Great in battle. Not so good at sea, as the original USS Monitor proved. What is in those little bags tied next to the oars? I was curious about that, too. I couldn't Google up an answer, but my guess is simple oarlocks. Place the oar in the slot, then flop the weighted line over the shaft. The high-tech nature of the civil war continually surprises. Even though it was still a time of cavalry and slavery, there were also ironclads, telegraphy, balloons, Gatling guns and railroads. Freeboard or Lack Thereof...If you look up the U.S.S. Onondaga on Google you will find that after the war it was decommissioned and then transferred to the French navy. With so little freeboard how did they get it to France? I can understand the low freeboard patrolling the coastal rivers, but even there it probably had to enter the Atlantic to get from the northern ports to the southern ports. How dey do dat? Could the three objectsCould the three objects hanging over the side be fenders? That is: padding for when the bout bangs alongside the mother ship? Lil' bagsThose little bags are in fact bumpers to protect the side of the row boat from damage. FendersThey be fenders to protect the boat's planking when coming alongside I should think. Those wooden things on theThose wooden things on the side of the boats are most likely to prevent scuffing and other damage, when the boat is moored. Unfortunately I have no idea, what is the proper English word for those. these days they are made of plastic, and resembles big, straight sausages.... Hanging ObjectsI think they are cushions, to keep the side of the boat from banging directly against the side of another vessell when boarding, disembarking etc. FendersBoat fenders, that is, is what the little bags are. Hangers maybeI'm thinking those are clean drinking water for the rowers. I'd suspect the guy to theI'd suspect the guy to the left of the guy smoking a pipe is the one who actually has a hand on the tiller. As far as the three objects handing over the starboard gunwale, they might be fenders, although they do seem small. As far as the freeboard goes, it is very low in the water. The Monitors were susceptible to being swapped as evidenced by the original USS Monitor, which went down in a storm off the coast of North Carolina. FendersThe objects hanging over the side of the small boat(s) are probably fenders, meant to keep the painted wood from grinding against the edge of the larger boat - which would be particularly punishing given the low iron deck of the Monitors. Hangers@GeezerNYC Bumpers Nautical KnowledgeThe hanging things on the boat are fenders, aka bumpers, that prevent rubbing and damage when alongside other boats and docks. They are still required gear for boats of all sizes, though of different design. The gent with the pipe is probably putting his stick in the water. The tiller is more likely in the hands of the soldier in the aft. The boats in the background have rudders and tillers, so this should one as well. Barrier?In the background, are those sunken ships forming a barrier? I'd rudder not bump, if you don't mind.Following exhaustive research efforts, our crack Civil War historical artifacts team members have reached a somewhat tenuous conclusion. After sometimes heated discussions, it has been narrowly decided that the device held by the pipe smoking gentleman in the above photo should be rightfully placed under the "P.S." category of 19th century naval devices. In layman's terms the P.S. would simply designate this instrument as a "pushoff stick." Either that, or the man was an utterly misguided landlubber with a proclivity in providing great mirth to the more nautically savant. In regard to the mysterious pouch-like objects hanging from the sides of the launch, the less than timorous artifacts team has proffered the suggestion that these would likely be called bumpers in today's parlance. Please note that our team does take all our suggestions quite lightly. On monitors and freeboardsMonitors, throughout their history (Roughly the U.S. Civil War to WWII), were built to be coastal ships. A large freeboard (which means more ship to build, and a larger target) was not necessary because the ships were never intended to leave inland waterways or shallow coasts. This also worked well with U.S. foreign policy which was more concerned with its own waters. I'm sure many people are familiar with the story of U.S.S. Monitor (the original monitor) which was swamped and sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras. Monitor FactoidsThe "monitor" was a radical new warship design by engineer John Ericsson during the US Civll War. The standard high-sided wooden warship with its "broadside" of guns was still designed for sail power and to repel boarders. He conceived a fully mechanized ironclad "ship-killer" that presented a much smaller target and had several much larger guns housed in heavily armored rotating turrets. This proved quite deadly against wooden ships especially in breaking through blockades. Although not totally seaworthy, most waves washed harmlessly over the low deck. The concept gradually evolved to larger more seaworthy battleships with "real" armor-plated hulls, but the large, turret mounted guns became the new standard. The "canteens" alongside the rowboat are fenders to keep its hull from scraping against the sides of the ship. IDing the ObjectsThe things hanging over the side of the boat are called bumpers, buoys, or fenders. They're to stop the sides from hitting and scraping other boats and docks. Hangers...Id say these are used to draw wather from boat. Sorry for my poor enlish :/ The Objectsare bumpers. Coiled rope inside tarred leather to keep from scratching the boat or the ship. Much like the rubber ones we have today. She was a river monitorRiver monitors were not designed with high freeboard because it was needed. They were not supposed to put to sea, and the lower the freeboard the better because it made less of a target. HTH Re:HangersMy best guess is they are bumpers to protect the wooden sides of the rowboat when along side a ship or wharf. Notice the other rowboats pictured have them as well. What I see here is the bumpers were fitted for the average ship or dock and the ironclad, being so low in the water, caused the scraping and damage to side of this rowboat below the bumpers. Built low for a reasonWonderful photo! One of the ideas behind the Union's ironclads (called "Monitors" after the archetype U.S.S. Monitor) was that if little sticks above the water, there is little to effectively shoot at. Hence, the only things that are exposed are the (heavily armored) revolving gun turret(s). Note that this ship has two revolving turrets, in contrast to the U.S.S. Monitor, which just had one. Needless to say, though, these monitors were not the greatest thing to be used in rough open seas -- that's how the U.S.S. Monitor was lost. The Confederates took an entirely different approach (as with the C.S.S. Virginia, née Merrimack). Their ironclad vessels were heavily armored structures built upon traditional wooden hulls. Because most of the Confederate ship stuck out of the water, it would have to employ a lot more armor plating which added weight and made it much less manueverable and less able to be employed in shallow areas. Low FreeboardIndeed, as earlier comments note, this monitor has unusually low freeboard (not sure if they all did; certainly, all monitors had relatively low freeboard compared to "normal" ships.) The function of this feature was to reduce the target area that could be hit by shellfire, both to make hits less likely and to reduce the weight of armor required to cover the vertical side. (The deck was also lightly armored, since the technology of directing long range fire made a plunging, high angle hit very unlikely; the deck armor was enough to deflect a glancing hit whose angle of fall was only a few degrees). What was neglected in this design compromise was the fact that there was hardly any reserve buoyancy...a leak too big for the pumps to control would result in the deck edge going under and the ship sinking in a rather short time...and in fact, this happened to the Monitor herself on an open ocean passage on the last day of 1862. The objects dangling over the rail on the boats (both the manned boat in the foreground and the empty boats tied up to the ship) are probably fenders, although they look rather small for the purpose. Needless to say, protecting the side of a small, lightly built wooden boat coming alongside a vessel armored with iron was quite important. Re: Hangers (@GeezerNYC)I'd think that the objects on the boat are fenders, to keep the boat from banging into docks or the ship. MonitorThe Monitor-class ironclads like that in this photo were designed to offer as little a target to Confederate artillery as possible; most of their hull was kept below water, and practically the only structures above it were the chimney (those were steam-powered ships) and two revolving, armored turrets. The most famous of these ships, the U.S.S. Monitor (which gave its name to this class of vessels) took part in the first battle between "ironclads", or ships made or covered on metal, which took place on march 9, 1862, and is known as the Battle of Hampton Road. Quoting from an excellent article on Wikipedia: "...While the design of Monitor was well-suited for river combat, her low freeboard and heavy turret made her highly unseaworthy in rough waters. This feature probably led to the early loss of the original Monitor, which foundered during a heavy storm. Swamped by high waves while under tow by Rhode Island, she sank on December 31, 1862 in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. 16 of 62 crewmen were lost in the storm." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Monitor Rubber Baby Buggy Boat BumpersMy guess on the 3 objects hanging off the side of the rowboat (and visible on some of the other rowboats in the photo) is that they are "Boat Bumpers" a.k.a. "Dock Fenders". These prevent the side of the boat from coming in direct contact with another boat or the dock when the boat is tied up. FendersI took those things hanging from the gunwale of all the small boats in the photo to be fenders, used as a cushioning bumper when tied up against a dock or another hull. Modern versions: http://tinyurl.com/m4jgzu Somehow it crossed the Atlantic!According to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Onondaga_(1864) after it was decommissioned in 1865 it was sold to the French navy and here's a photo of it in Brest http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cc/USS_Onondaga_60211.jpg I can't imagine it out in the Atlantic, even on a very calm day! objects on side of boatThey look like typical boat bumpers of the small variety.. Hangers Answer?Ballast, or bumpers. It's a monitorYes, it would be easy to swamp this ship- it was designed for inlets and calm waters; it is a double turreted descendent of the Monitor- the famous ironclad that did battle with the Merrimack/Virginia. It sits so low in the water so as to be an extremely difficult target. The turrets, along with relatively petite size allowed the monitor vessels to be extremely maneuverable and effective- although the crew had qualms with living below the waterline- which is why there are so many canopies on deck. Johan Eriksson, the designer of the original Monitor was one of the first developers of the propeller, and on his signature ship he patented hundreds of brilliant inventions from a then state-of-the-art ventilation system, to the rotating gun turret, and the first operable marine toilet. HangersCould be to scoop out water eh? three objects"Does anyone know what the three objects hanging over the side of the boat are?" Bumpers. Re: Hangers, et al.The 3 little bags visible near the oars are the Civil War-era version of fenders. They were generally filled with corncobs or sawdust and served as spacers to prevent the wooden boat from brushing against the ironclad and becoming damaged. Of more interest is the canvas coverings over parts of the ironclad. These signify that the monitor is in Union-held waters as they would never be used where there was a risk of battle. Ironclads were just that, iron plates laid over a wooden hull and still vulnerable to fire. The Answer: Fenders!The bag-shaped objects are fenders, or as you land-lubbers would say, bumpers. You hang them over the side to save your paint job when you're tied up to the dock or to a ship. I'm guessing they're made of leather or rubber. The Onondaga sits low in the water to decrease her vulnerability to enemy artillery fire -- by design, not by accident. Re: U.S.S. Onondagathose little thingys are bumpers for pulling next to a stell ship with a wooden boat. This was definitly a 'Lessons Learned' device From a River Far Far Away . . .The two circular towers that have awnings on them - they remind me of Jabba the Hutt's sail barge in Return of the Jedi. I'm just saying. Monitor designThe design of the USS Monitor and follow-on ships such as the Onondaga were revolutionary for the time. The idea of mounting one or two guns in a rotating turret versus rows of guns along the sides of a ship enabled monitors to bring more accurate firepower to bear more quickly, and most importantly, independently of the direction of the ship's travel. While some earlier ships had turreted weapons, I believe the USS Monitor was the first to rely on its turret as its only weapons station. Monitors were low to the water to provide a smaller silhouette for the enemy gunners. Most shipboard cannons at the time would have had rather low, flat trajectories, which would have slammed into the sides of opposing ships rather than higher trajectories which would have sent plunging fire through the decks. Obviously a ship that sat lower in the water would have presented a much more difficult target for other ships--it practically didn't have sides to hit! It also made them difficult to see--in the days before submarines, these were the original stealth ships. These ships were generally designed to work in what are now called "littoral" operations, close to shore, in bays or rivers. In those environments, heavy sea states that would cause a problem with the low freeboard design were not a major concern. Riverboat steamers had similarly low freeboards. As for the items hanging along the gunwales of the rowboat, the look like bumpers to protect the rowboat and its mothership from bouncing off one another. Today they're a rubbery plastic, but I don't know what they would have been back then, maybe cork inside a waxed canvas bag? Re: Hangers>Hangers >Submitted by GeezerNYC on Sat, 08/01/2009 - 10:29pm. >Does anyone know what the three objects hanging over the >side of the boat are? They look to be bumpers. All the boats in the background have them, or some form of them, too. Low in the waterTo answer Woodchopper's question, Monitors (originally intended for harbor defense as floating batteries) were designed to expose as little of the ship above the waterline to minimize the target available to enemy gunners. With less to see, there is less to hit. While naval architecture changed over the years, this design is coming back into vogue with naval designers in examples like the DD(X) programs. BumpersUpon reading ALL the comments and not finding a clue and after a thorough and painstaking research I have come to the conclusion that those three objects hanging over the side of the boat are bumpers! Now hold down the applause. You can thank me later. More if you haven't googled yet...http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/onondaga.htm (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Civil War)
Mrs. Claus: 1949
... the tree, but I'm curious about what appears to be the ship's wheel. Is that a clock or a decanter full of Old Spice? Ship's Wheel It looks like a thermometer. Grandpa was a chief engineer ... 
 
Posted by delworthio - 12/16/2008 - 7:17pm -

Christmas 1949 in Valparaiso, Indiana. That's Grandma in a Kodachrome slide. View full size. Very Very MerryNow this is what I call a Christmas tree. Scotch, cigars and hazmat tinsel. Don't ForgetDave, you missed the bourbon and the ashtray. Now that's a Merry Christmas! We Need More Like This!This is Christmas for the grownups. I heartily approve! It is a Christmas MiracleI love all the wonderful gifts under the tree, but I'm curious about what appears to be the ship's wheel. Is that a clock or a decanter full of Old Spice? Ship's WheelIt looks like a thermometer. Grandpa was a chief engineer in the merchant marine so I'm sure that provided the theme for lots of gifts. He probably placed it over by all the Old Spice and ships in bottles. While in the Navy during WWI he met this fine lass in England, married her there, and shipped her home to St. Louis while he finished his tour of duty. If only they had reality newspaper serials back then. "We thought we would place this English girl literally in the middle of the United States with people she's never met, including her new mother-in-law!" Smokin'Grandma enjoyed a good stogy, eh? Ship's wheelIt's a decorative thermometer. Its twin is illustrated and described on this page of an antique dealer's site. Scroll down to the thermometer listings. [So it doubles as a flask, right? And hopefully has a lighter built in. Put it all together and you'd have a little thermostatically controlled stove. - Dave] Yum.Looks like some nice fruitcakes there on the right. Or maybe it's Grandma's famous Wensleydale Loaf. Een More MerryBoth Schenley and Old Forester. (And just think, that used to be the norm and not worthy of comment.) Scotch-IrishI heartily approve of a "grownup Christmas" too! My fiance has asked for a bottle of good scotch and Bailey's Irish Cream for Christmas -- doubt that we will save those for New Year's Eve. Unfortunately the bottles won't be under a tree as beautiful as this one. With two tree-climbing, ornament-batting cats, I've had to settle for my ceramic tree since 1994. HeavyThose aren't fruitcakes, just decorative doorstops. But then, again, aren't they the same? Christmas decorationsYou don't see those silver icicles on today's trees. How I miss them. ZeldaThis lovely lass reminds me of my grandmother Zelda Small, my mother's mum. I was born 12:28 a.m. on December 27, 1949, two days after this picture was taken; missing the Christmas due date much to Zelda’s chagrin. As a young boy, I remember presents wrapped gaily in simply printed papers with thin curling ribbons just like this used more like string than decorative embellishments. This photo represents what was quite a nice bounty for the times. Martha-Stewart-styled rooms filled with mansion-scaled decorations and piles of elaborately wrapped gifts touching the ceiling all came progressively later peaking in the 80s and 90s. Everyone has now either passed on or the younger ones are now living in their new families. I am back to this simpler Christmas and I cherish every moment of it. Thank you for this "memory spark." I am preparing for a very small party and have to mull some cider for a friend from Marseilles. Merry Christmas Charles Worthington Tasteful TinselGramma Delworthio had a nice, light touch with the tinsel for a midcentury lady. Hoosier HolidaysI have so enjoyed all the family holiday pictures you have shared of late - especially this one from Valpo (I am a lifelong Hoosier myself). Even though I never knew any of these people personally, still I grew up with people very much like the ones depicted in your family photos. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Christmas)
A Dickey Christmas: 1919
... still practicing law in the Washington area. Marklin Ship Actually the ship is a Marklin USS New York. Count the rear portholes at rear; in the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/20/2023 - 3:27pm -

"Dickey Christmas tree, 1919." The family of Washington, D.C., lawyer Raymond Dickey. 8x6 inch glass negative, National Photo Co. View full size. It's Not Christmas Without The DickeysAlways look forward to the latest Dickey Christmas picture. If someone made a book of all the pictures I would buy it. They intrigue me, despite their gloominess! I would love to see what they looked like smiling. I read they lived at 1702 Kilbourne NW in Washington DC, it can be found on Google Street View. I wonder what it looks like inside there now. Happier than they look.I would bet they aren't nearly as gloomy as their pictures suggest. Clearly this is a family that loved Christmas enough to get a tree that all out of proportion to the room, decorate it haphazardly and have the most unflattering portraits made of themselves. This is not the picture of a rigid, organized, disciplinarian father with an iron fist. Children of the DamnedI think the younger Dickey boy is attempting to will them out of yet another Dickey Christmas with yet one more rotund tree. Judging from the molecular disturbance around Dad and Sis, I think his efforts at quantum phase-shifting just might be working. We'll know for sure when the gunboat disappears. Well of course they're upsetThats a Marklin "La Dague" Steam powered Torpedo Boat worth between $18,000 and $20,000. And someone has already broken off one of the smokestacks. I would be upset too! Dickeyensian ChristmasThey may well have been the most pleasant of families, but their consistently disturbing Christmas portraits always seem to hint at some dark, Stephen Kingesque, ongoing abuse; something along the lines of "Sybil." Unanswered prayersKid at center: "Please don't let the mold eat me like it has the rest of the -- oops, too late!" Obviously a lawyer ahead of his time.He and his family are already thinking "This will eventually be Public Domain". Good and EvilThe younger brother's Christmas prayer is that his evil sister and her voodoo doll will leave home and never return. While their older brother, Emilio Estevez, keeps his distance from this entire clan huddled beneath the Griswold family Christmas tree. The doll fits in with the family well.The eyes have it. Meet the DickeysDoing a quick Google on Raymond Dickey, I found that there was a Raymond R. Dickey who was a political intimate of William Casey, late head of the CIA and a "Republican Party Stalwart". He died somewhere in the second half of the Twentieth Century (one of the sons?) Also there is a J. Raymond Dickey (grandson?) still practicing law in the Washington area. Marklin ShipActually the ship is a Marklin USS New York. Count the rear portholes at rear; in the picture there are about 6, the other ship proposed has nine visible. What do you mean? Smile? I *am* smiling. Xmas Lesson #1When the tree is too tall, cut at the bottom, not at the top. The weight of the world -- or something -- seems to be pressing down on this family. Is it the tree? The ceiling? Dickey family informationI found the Raymond Dickey family in the 1910 and the 1920 US Census. In 1910 Raymond and Rose lived at 1358 Otis Place NW with two children, Granville and Alice, and two servants, a 33-year-old woman and her 16-year-old son. The son also worked as a laborer in a store. When the house last sold in 2003, it was 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 1,776 square feet. In Street View below, 1358 is the house to the right, trimmed in blue and white. In the 1920 Census Raymond and Rose lived at 1702 Kilbourne Place NW with four children (welcome John and Raymond Jr.) and four women lodgers, all in their early 20s, two were sisters. One was a stenographer and three were clerks. When the house last sold in 1996 it was 5 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2,631 sf. In Street View it is the house painted white. Raymond was born in Maryland and Rose in Indiana. Why they chose such an unusual Christmas tree each year is still a mystery. Bah, humbugThe Dickey family's collective ponder of father's comment regarding the cost of photography has been captured for the archives. A good son will pray that he doesn't blur the investment. Remnants of the Kaiser's army may have returned to the toy factory, but shell shock has impacted quality control. Regardless, Marklin models must have been a difficult get in 1919, even for wealthy Americans. The toy museum is worth a visit if you go to Goppingen. I have a treasured photo of my father's Christmas tree circa 1919-1921. The cast iron carbide cannon under the tree now sits on my living room end table. The tree is decorated with dozens of unlit candles in clip-on candle holders. Scary! Six years too early for the Office PartyI thought, by digitally adding some color, that it might would improve their holiday outlook ... but then I realized their real problem. No doubt, they are despondent over the fact that they are six years too early for the Office Christmas Party-1925! Trite but trueI've said it before and I'll say it again, with no judgment or unkindness intended, but merely as an observation: Mrs. Dickey is hammered. More Dickey family informationSome years are a little off, but I think I have the correct family members. Raymond Dickey wed Rose Maxwell in 1901 when Raymond was 23 and Rose was 21. Her father, the Reverend John A. Maxwell performed the ceremony in Washington. Raymond died in 1940 at the age of 62 and is buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Prince George's County, Maryland. Rose died in 1967 at the age of 87 and is also buried in Cedar Hill. It appears she did not remarry. Granville was born in 1902. In 1924 he graduated from the College of Journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago, where he was a member of the varsity swim team, and in his senior year was named a member of the all-American swim team. In 1928 he married La Verne Carnes and the couple settled in Chicago where Granville was an advertising manager for a large wholesale house. By 1942 he was living in Maryland and employed at the U.S. Conservation Corps in DC. The move may have been due to a divorce and remarriage. He divorced in 1941 and an Evening Star death notice said Granville’s second wife passed away April 5, 1945. Granville died in 1948 at the age of 45 and is buried in the same cemetery as his parents. His obituary references his surviving sister as Mrs. Alice Beaton. I could not find Alice. Raymond Jr.'s 1981 obituary referenced survivors included his sister, Mrs. John Beaton of St. Croix, Virgin Islands. I did not find a grave or obituary for John. But in the 1940 Census I found a 28yr old J. M. Dickey, attorney, born in DC. Divorced, he was living at the Stonewall Jackson Hotel in Clarksburg, West Virginia. I did not find anyone who might be John in the 1950 Census. He was referenced as a survivor in Granville's 1948 obituary, but not of Raymond Jr. in 1981. Raymond Jr. became a very influential Washington D.C. lawyer. His first law firm was Dickey and Dickey in which he was a partner from 1940 (when he was 22) to 1942. This would seem to be with his father or brother, except his father died in 1940 and his brother was in West Virginia. Married three times, twice divorced, Raymond died of cancer in 1981 at the age of 63. A place of internment was not given. AgonyOur family went thru the agony of Christmas pictures every year. Since we lived overseas, my folks would have the pictures taken in September. That gave my mom enough time to get the prints, write the annual missive, and get them in the mail in October. She mailed them via surface mail (would take just about two months to get to the US) since in those days air mail was too expensive for the number of folks the missive went to. I was so thankful one year that I was going to be leaving home in July. I thought I would not have to go thru the agony. Nope, the folks just took the pictures a week before I left. And the following year, when I was not home, my folks had my grandparents take a photo in July and mail the negatives home. I tried to find out when the Dickey photos were taken. Curious as to whether these photos were taken early to share with friends or taken in December just for the family. Unfortunately, at LOC, all I could find is the year taken, no month. Poor Mrs. DickeyHammered or not, she has to put up with Mr. Dickey. And there’s less speculation about his consumption habits, because we’ve seen the outline of his flask in other years. (The Gallery, Bizarre, Christmas, D.C., Kids, Natl Photo, The Dickeys)
U.S.S. Franklin: 1916
1916. "U.S.S. Franklin, used as training ship. Admiral Farragut's flagship." Harris & Ewing Collection glass ... she could steam at 10¼ knots, but of course had a full ship rig in her prime. She was active from 1867 to 1877, when she became a receiving ship at Norfolk. She was sold in October 1915, so they could have been ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/22/2012 - 9:31pm -

1916. "U.S.S. Franklin, used as training ship. Admiral Farragut's flagship." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Tattered sailsAye me mateys, the years have not been kind to the old frigate. Two By TwoIt looks like Noah's Ark collided with a beach house. The FranklinAccording to Donald Canney in "The Old Steam Navy" Vol. 1, the Franklin was begun in 1853 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, and completed at a leisurely pace, being launched in 1864. The last traditional frigate with broadside guns on two decks, she could steam at 10¼ knots, but of course had a full ship rig in her prime. She was active from 1867 to 1877, when she became a receiving ship at Norfolk. She was sold in October 1915, so they could have been preparing to scrap the venerable ship in this photo, in Norfolk or elsewhere. The Floating Apartment HouseThis picture is what my imagination would come up with if I were to wonder what an apartment house would look like at sea. I'm sure there is a logical explanation, but I like the Dali sensibility of it. Ahoy, super...That thing looks like the Admiral got lost in a fog and rammed a tenement. Ancient MarinerThat is some crazy houseboat! The old bit underneath, with the elaborate carving under the "porch," is amazing. First words to my mind?What a monstrosity! I've heard of houseboats...But apartmentboats and officeblockboats are a new one to me. Down to the Sea in BungalowsWow. The ultimate Sausalito summer place. Perhaps the only thing to add here is an image of the USS Franklin as she appeared when still in active service. U.S.S. ConstitutionIt was quite common to use aging wooden ships as receiving ships. They'd build a barracks structure on top of the original hull and new recruits or men returning from a voyage whose ships were undergoing refit would be housed aboard. It was cheaper than buying land and building barracks. A similar thing was done with the USS Constitution and lasted until 1905. Stuff HappensIsn't that "porch" actually a poop deck? Full Speed In All Directions!Or, none. This ship appears to be a refugee from some H.P. Lovecraft imaginary universe, where everything is just a little off-kilter. Just enough to be nightmarishly disturbing... Next stop CozumelNo much worst aesthetically than the overgrown, topheavy cruise ships that prowl the seas these days. So it's a training ship, huh?I can't even imagine what anyone assigned to this floating rowhouse would be training for, unless the Navy was trying to get involved in selling siding door-to-door. Flying DutchmanThis isn't the USS Franklin. It's the Flying Dutchman from the Bermuda Triangle! Hidden majestyI'm sure any admiral would be impressed when told that this . . ship . . was to carry his flag. A Ship ShopThe Franklin was a receiving ship at the Naval Training Station near Norfolk, Virginia, and also housed some shops that served the whole station. My grandfather's duty station was on the Franklin after he returned from a trip around the world on the USS Louisiana with the Great White Fleet in 1909 -- must have been quite a letdown. We have a newspaper clipping about my grandfather's shop on the USS Franklin from sometime between 1909 and 1915: Since the station first started there has been a busily humming shop where navy trousers and torn jumpers are mended and made whole again. A very small charge is made for the tailoring of uniforms and chief Doyle's ready good humor is known all over the station. The clever fingers of his crew of skilled workmen have saved many a sailor from expending his pay for a new outfit when it could be made whole again by a bit of mending. Topheavy to say the least...How much ballast must be in the hold to keep her from rolling over? I wish my Grandfather were alive to comment! Like an icebergThere is more below the waterline than you think. Just a little more canvasThe old gal must've been a real leaker by then also. I'll surmise that canvas underneath her hull must run from stern to stem! (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Harris + Ewing)
Monster Truck: 1917
... with irony quotes. National Photo. View full size. Ship By Truck! Washington Post, December 10, 1919. “Ship By Truck!” It's Quicker. Long distance out-of-town hauling ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/17/2014 - 11:43pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1917. "Harry Haas -- Jacobs truck." Prehistoric "transportation," complete with irony quotes. National Photo. View full size. Ship By Truck! Washington Post, December 10, 1919. “Ship By Truck!” It's Quicker. Long distance out-of-town hauling our speciality. Phone North 9500, North 9501. Jacobs Transfer Co., 111 Florida Ave. Everything Old Is New AgainAre those solid rubber tires? If so, bet it was a rough ride. All it needs is to get the rims chrome plated and maybe add some "spinners" and it would be "da bomb" today. Run-FlatsThese must be the original puncture proof tires. Rim questionFive out of six spokes on the rear wheel have some kind of clamp on them. Any ideas what it is? [My guess: They hold the inner and outer halves of the rim together. - Dave] Tools Could they have made the sign for the toolbox any larger? WOW! Rim Clamps For Chains?I believe I have seen these types of clamps on other old vehicles to secure tire chains. Re Rim Question and Everything OldThey're some kind of spoke clamp. Yes, those tires are solid rubber. Although pneumatic tires had been available for passenger cars since shortly before the turn of the 20th Century, pneumatic truck tires did not come along until 1919. Solid rubber vehicle tires as on this baby were last made in 1929. By the way, this is a good opportunity to suggest replacing your tires if they're more than six years old, the limit generally given by the industry. (I attended a hearing on a State of Maryland tire aging bill in Annapolis a few months ago.) Your tire "birthday" appears on the sidewall after the letters "DOT" (Dept. of Transportation). You should see four digits; the first two are the week of the year the tire was made, and the second two are the year, so e.g., 3009 = the 30th week of 2009. Even if your low mileage 1998 luxo motor home's original tires look good still, they aren't, despite how much tread they have. The Award Winning White TruckThe truck is a circa 1916 White. Based on similar pictures it is most likely either a 3 or 5 ton model. In 1918 wheelbases for these big trucks were 163" for the 3 ton and 169" for the 5 ton. These heavy model White trucks changed very little in outward appearance all the way through about 1928. White Trucks were used extensively throughout WWI overseas. "In the Battle of Verdun the only White trucks to break down were those disabled by shells. The result was that 2,500 of them [the White Standard Model A] received the distinction of [being awarded] France's Croix de Guerre.'" (Time Magazine, Sep 26, 1932) I wish I had more information about this story. Smaller White trucks were the chassis underpinning the buses in Yellowstone Park from 1916 through WWII. The story of these buses is at the following web site. http://www.geyserbob.org/Buses-White.html (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Natl Photo, Railroads)
Bromo Tower: 1912
... the structure, apparently made of wood, either part of a ship or standing on the dock, against the background of the further State ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/27/2024 - 12:20am -

Baltimore, Maryland, circa 1912. "Baltimore waterfront and skyline." Dominated by the Emerson Tower at left, better known as the Bromo-Seltzer Tower, surmounted by a giant, 20-ton Bromo bottle. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Giant stepladder?I'm wondering about the structure, apparently made of wood, either part of a ship or standing on the dock, against the background of the further State Tobacco Warehouse, below and left of the word State -- anyone know what that is? What a headache!The Bromo-Seltzer clock remains, but the 51-foot bottle and its equipment (it rotated!) had to go because of structural concerns. By 2002 the tower was empty, but it was refurbished into the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower, providing artist's studios/shops and a Bromo-Seltzer museum. The BasinThis was known as the Basin to the Baltimore of 1912. All the low structures fronting the water are facing Light Street, still a major north/south route. Most of the upper end of the Light Street waterfront was rebuilt after the Baltimore Fire of 1904. The low clock tower in the left foreground is part of the office and terminal of the Baltimore Steam Packet Company, the "Old Bay Line". This was the starting point for lines to the Eastern Shore of Maryland as well as Washington and Richmond. The Old Bay Line would survive until 1960/61. Note the men with wheelbarrows hauling coal into the fuel bunker of that first boat. Labor was cheap in 1912. Maybe someone who knows his steamboats can identify some that we are seeing here. Inner harborYou'll still find ships in the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, notably the USS Constellation--but they're not going anywhere. (Sadly, the same has recently become true for the larger Port of Baltimore, we hope temporarily.) The Inner Harbor area underwent a hugely successful redevelopment as a tourist destination in the 1970s and 80s. The focus today tends toward sports (Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the Ravens' stadium), gambling (Horseshoe Casino), and lots of condos. Bromo-SeltzerWas one of the great cure all medicines that actually survived the Pure Food and Drug Act and is still available today. For a very long time it was used for everything from upset stomach to a popular cure for the "morning after" blahs. There is a story about the famous comedic actor WC Fields who reportedly staggered into the dining car one morning on a train, obviously hung over from a night in the bar car. The steward asked if he could get Mr. Fields a Bromo, to which he replied; "No. I couldn't stand the noise." Coal BargesLoading that ferry steamer with wheelbarrows of coal sure looks like a hard day's work. What's that building to the left of the tower?The one with the substantial external framework visible. Could that be a refrigeration/icemaking building, with the structure holding up the cooling towers? The other thing I note is most buildings over maybe 8 stories have at least one water tank on the roof. Fire protection, water pressure in the structure, or both? Details, DetailsWhat's up there? Click to embiggen. Bananas, Oysters and Smokey JoeBaltimore is a hot and humid city so when we were young (late 1940s & early '50s) we would head to this area on our bikes to catch a cooling breeze and hope the banana boat was in so we could watch the stevedores unload it near Pratt and Light and maybe catch a snake hissing it's its way out of a bunch. Farther down Pratt was docked a Baltimore Skipjack loaded with all manner of seafood and oysters from the Eastern Shore of Maryland and the if asked politely we could con the hand there to shuck us an oyster. We young Baltimoreans were a brave bunch. Over on Pier 5 on Light Street was the home of the intrepid and much loved icon Smokey Joe. You might not hear her but you sure could see her steaming up the Patapsco from Love Point. The ferryboat known more commonly as Smoky Joe than by its real name, the Philadelphia, steamed three times a day for 16 years from Pier 5 Light Street across the Chesapeake Bay to Love Point. By the time it was retired in 1947, Smoky Joe had managed to sail into the hearts of Baltimoreans and those on the Eastern Shore. Described as a “Dumpy double-ender,” the boat earned its nickname because of the telltale trail of black coal smoke that belched from its two tall funnels (reduced to one after an 1935 refit). The ferry was a perpetual smudge on the city’s skyline. Another fond memory of Pratt and Light area is the Wilson Line’s Bay Belle, which would ferry you across the Chesapeake Bay to the bay beach towns of Betterton and Tolchester. In the days before the Bay Bridges were built this was a way to escape the heat and humidity while seated on the forecastle of a boat steaming across the Bay. All the above just reside now in the memories of Baltimoreans of the 1940s and '50s, since the whole place is now gentrified and one can't go into a long closed bar owned by a big and sassy lady at Pratt and Light who had with the language of the seamen who patronized her place. Oh yes, she could cuss but if she heard you cuss you had to put a dollar in the cuss jar which went to the Little Sisters Of The Poor on Calvert Street. I remember it wellWe saw the Bromo Tower when we toured Camden Yards in the spring of 2019! And also the beautiful Pandora building, 250 West Pratt. (The Gallery, Bizarre, Baltimore, Boats & Bridges, DPC)
S.S. Olympic: 1911
... familiar because? Because the Olympic was a sister ship to both the Britannic and Titanic, and the smallest of the three, but not ... War One was starting up, and never served as passenger ship. She was put into service as a hospital ship, and struck a mine near ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/18/2012 - 7:05pm -

New York. June 21, 1911. "White Star liner S.S. Olympic guided in by tugboats Geo. K. Kirkham and Downer." Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. Luckiest woman in the worldAlthough Olympic's two sister ships Titanic and Britannic had tragic ends, Olympic's worst event in her 24-year career was her 1911 collision with the British warship HMS Hawke in the Solent (the strait between mainland England and the Isle of Wight) when her captain ordered a turn that caused a collision with the Hawke, much to the surprise of the Hawke's captain (who probably muttered "amateurs!"). Repairs caused a delay in the completion of the Titanic and, when the all-better-now Olympic lost a prop blade sailing from New York in February 1912, a blade from the Titanic was used to replace the one that was lost, pushing Titanic's first/final voyage to three weeks later, very probably creating her iceberg collision destiny. The captain of both the Olympic during the Hawke wreck and the Titanic was Edward Smith (who died with Titanic). The luckiest woman? That'd be Violet Jessop, a young woman who was a stewardess on Olympic when the Hawke collision occurred, a stewardess who survived Titanic and, while serving in World War One as a Red Cross nurse, escaped from Britannic when she sank in the Aegean Sea after hitting (it's thought) a mine. By the way the rearmost (aftest?) smoke stack on all three of these ships was a dummy, to make the designs more balanced. The stacks were used for ventilation. Here's Nurse Jessop in her Britannic uniform. Too bad they scrapped it.It would have saved James Cameron a lot of CGI work. Looks familiar because?Because the Olympic was a sister ship to both the Britannic and Titanic, and the smallest of the three, but not by a lot. Olympic was the world's largest ocean liner between the time she was launched and 1934 or so, when the Queen Mary came into service, except for during the very brief careers of the two sister ships. Everyone knows about Titanic. Britannic was launched right about as World War One was starting up, and never served as passenger ship. She was put into service as a hospital ship, and struck a mine near Greece in 1916 and sank. RMS OlympicGoogle-Wiki has a very informative article on this ship. For instance, like the Titanic, when she first went to sea she was equipped with twenty lifeboats, enough for half the people on board. When White Star received public condemnation for this after the Titanic disaster, it scurried around and secured additional, second hand, collapsible lifeboats from troop ships, for the Olympic. Some were rotten and could not be opened. 'And so they went to sea once more, "Sensation" they for aye forswore.' (Apologies to W.S. Gilbert.) In 1918, she sank the U-103, that was attempting to torpedo her, by colliding with it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Olympic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6dB2RA8Kno Not the largest ship in the world for longThe Olympic class liners were quickly outclassed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Imperator The three Imperator class ships also had far improved interior volume then any ship previous including the Titanic. They were the first ship to break up the exhaust into many smaller pipes. On the Titanic the funnel casing ran straight up the middle of the ship. She Carried The MailBecause she was equipped and certified to carry the mail, Olympic's actual title (like Titanic) was not 'SS' (Steam Ship) but 'RMS' (Royal Mail Ship). Sister Bitannic was an HMHS (Her Majesty's Hospital Ship). Many old photographs and film mistakenly identify Titanic but are in fact Olympic. The way to tell the difference between the two is the open promenade deck (below the boat deck) as seen here on the Olympic, which was enclosed on Titanic after Olympic customers had complained of the cold there. According to author Walter Lord, after the Olympic was decommissioned in 1935, her interior wood panelling was sold off and used to decorate the interior of British pubs. Not Her Majesties Hospital Ship BritanicSince it was the Edwardian era, it would have been His Majesties Hospital Ship Britanic. Running on 4 Cylinders?It is well known that No. 4 funnel on TITANIC was a dummy, and also that the three "sister ships" were not true sisters but differed in a number of respects, including principal dimensions; they might not be called sisters were they in existence today. In this photo it looks to me like there is smoke coming out of No. 4 funnel, which in the most famous sister was a dummy. Does that mean this was a "real" funnel in OLYMPIC? Smoke is plainly to be seen above No. 1 and 3, with maybe a tiny wisp above No. 2. Isn't it at least a little odd that all boilers seem to be active as the ship is just maneuvering into harbor? While the ship's engines would be used in docking, with tugs to help, it doesn't seem that full power would be needed and letting some boilers cool off would be more economical of coal. Is it possible the photo was touched up to show smoke where there was none in reality? Smoking RoomThe aftmost stack was a dummy as far as the main boilers were concerned, but was still used for ventilation of other machinery - 'donkey' engines, cooking smoke, et c. Olympic & TitanicThe two were sister ships. They were built to the same plans. Britannic was the most different of the three. The Olympic & Titanic had the exact same dimensions. Titanic simply had more enclosed space than Olympic, which was factored into her gross tonnage figures (tonnage was not weight, but a measurement of internal space) and made her the "largest" liner in the world. Olympic was the world's largest ship for about two years (discounting Titanic's brief reign) until the Imperator came out in 1913. The dummy funnel was used for ventilation and also exhausted smoke from the galleys. Full power could still be needed while moving into port, so I doubt they would begin shutting down boilers at this point. The Hudson has very strong currents. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC)
Joined at the Ship: 1942
July 1942. "Decatur, Alabama. Ingalls Shipbuilding Company. Construction of ocean-going barges for the U.S. Army on the Tennessee River. A shipfitter and his helper. They are C.R. Willingham (right) and E.L. Sparkman." Acetate negative by Jack Del ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/16/2023 - 11:07am -

July 1942. "Decatur, Alabama. Ingalls Shipbuilding Company. Construction of ocean-going barges for the U.S. Army on the Tennessee River. A shipfitter and his helper. They are C.R. Willingham (right) and E.L. Sparkman." Acetate negative by Jack Delano. View full size. A welder named SparkmanReally? [The welder is Willingham. - Dave] The helper of a welder isn't a welder, too? He's got the cap. Great title, DaveIf you look to the left of E.L. Sparkman at knee level, there is a rectangular mark drawn in chalk. I assume this is an area to be the cut out. If you look to the right of C.R. Willingham at calf level there is the same mark, but with an incomplete note "Leave sto". Does anyone know what was supposed to be left? A Powerful Spark(man)?A quick virtual visit to Decatur and nearby communities shows big doings for the Sparkman family -- schools, parks and law firms all carrying the electrically charged moniker. Was E.L. the progenitor with the power? That toolI think is a puller to draw steel plate (or sheet) together, getting a good fit to then weld. I welded for 40 years and I'm guessin'. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Jack Delano, WW2)
Maritime Mystery: 1909
... Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size. Ship Sunk In Crash, The Other Beached The headlines are reporting the ... March 10, 1909, in heavy early morning fog. Although one ship sank and the other was beached, no lives were lost. The New York Times ran ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/20/2012 - 2:26am -

March 1909. Bridgeport, Connecticut. "7 P.M. -- Boys selling papers at the depot. Smallest one has been selling for eight years." The headlines: We see the words SINKING and IN FOG. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size. Ship Sunk In Crash, The Other BeachedThe headlines are reporting the collision of two coastal steamers off Cape Cod on March 10, 1909, in heavy early morning fog. Although one ship sank and the other was beached, no lives were lost. The New York Times ran the story on March 11. As for the chipper newsboy second from left, maybe he grew into those ears later on. That Sinking FeelingOn March 10, 1909, the H.F. Dimock, bound from New York to Boston, and the coastwise steamer Horatio Hall of the Maine Steamship Company collided in the eastern Vineyard Sound shortly after 8 a.m. while sailing at half speed in a heavy fog. The accident occurred in Pollock Rip Slue, not far from where the H.F. Dimock had collided with the Alva in 1892. Captain John A. Thompson of the H.F. Dimock brough his vessel alongside the Horatio Hall so that the latter's five passengers could be transferred. The Horatio Hall sank at the edge of the channel. Most of her crew left in lifeboats and were picked up by the H.F. Dimock, but Captain W. Frank Jewell, the pilot, first mate, and two seamen remained in the pilot house, which remained a few feet above water. (They were picked up later.) The H.F. Dimock left the scene at 11:15 a.m. and sailed slowly toward Orleans Life-Saving Station, where she was beached. The passengers and crew were removed by the lifesavers under Captain James H. Charles. Moderately damaged, the H.F. Dimock was later hauled off the beach and towed to shipyard for repairs. Cape Cod CollisionLooks like it's this one : http://www.capecodtoday.com/news/CC-History/2012/03/10/1909- two-steamers-collide-in-pollock-rip http://www.wreckhunter.net/DataPages/horatiohall-dat.htm Why are they different?The three in the front are wearing knickers, no neckties, and are holding newspapers; the three in the back are wearing long pants and neckties, and do not appear to have papers. While age is the difference, could it have been more than that? Did the older boys sell to a different customer, the riders, needing a more formal approach, while the youngers sold to the yard workers and such? Or was it first class vs coach? Mystery Solved?Sounds like this could be a possible candidate for the sinking and fog incident: New York Times, March 11, 1909 Ship Sunk In Crash, The Other Beached Horatio Hall and H.F. Dimock Collide In the Fog Near Pollock Rip CHATHAM, Mass., March 10 — Blanketed by a dense fog and proceeding at half speed, the coastwise steamer of the Maine Steamship Company, the Horatio Hall, Portland for New York, and the H. F. Dimock of the Metropolitan Line, New York for Boston, met in the middle of the narrow channel known as Pollock Rip Slue today with a crash that sent the Hall to the bottom within half an hour and caused the Dimock to run ashore six hours later on Cape Cod Beach, where the passengers and crew of the Hall were landed without loss of life. Horatio Hall, H.F. DimockThese newsboys were likely hawking their March 10, 1909 evening editions that were headlining the crash of the Horatio Hall and the H.F. Dimock in dense fog off the southeastern coast of Cape Cod,. The collision happened at 8 that morning and the Horatio Hall went to the bottom with no loss of life. Sources: Nashua Telegraph, March 10, 1909 and the Lewiston Journal, March 11, 1909 March 10, 1909The H.F. Dimock collided with the Horatio Hall off of Cape Cod in dense fog. The Horatio Hall is a marked dive spot at Pollock Rip. More here. R.I.P. Horatio HallFrom the Cape Dive Club website: Site Name: Horatio Hall Type of Vessel: Passenger/Freighter Dimensions: 296’ x 46’ x 17’ Tonnage: 3168 Built: 1898 Sank: March 10, 1909 Cause of Sinking: Collision with the H.F. Dimock Location: Pollock Rip Summary: The Horatio Hall was carrying approximately 45 passengers and crew and a general cargo that included paper, sheepskins, potatoes, scrap brass, and cloth worth about $100,000. The Hall was traveling from Portland, Maine to New York City during heavy fog when the Dimock struck it. The Dimock collided into the port side of the Horatio Halls hull penetrating fifteen to twenty feet. The Dimock saw that it might be able to save passengers, so it continued to push the Hall towards the shoal and it allowed for the passengers to jump from the Hall to the Dimock to be rescued. There was no loss of life. Since the hurricane deck of the Hall remained above the water once the boat settled, much of the Hall was salvaged before it was cleared with explosives. 3-10-09Two Steamers Collide in Pollock Rip. Horatio HallGoogle searching suggests it could it have been the Horatio Hall. I bet it was the H.F. DimockShe went down after colliding with the the steamer Horatio Hall in dense fog off Chatham, Mass., on March 10, 1909. [It was the Horatio Hall that sank. The Dimock was beached. - Dave] Skeleton Coast Partially covered headline ending in "TON" could be "Skeleton". On September 5th 1909 the Eduard Bohlen sank off the Skeleton Coast in a heavy fog. Or I'm wrong. [I suspect that's COLLISION, not "Skeleton." - Dave] What,Me worry? GrowingI'm not sure if the fella with the jug ears ever grew into them or later became known as "Kilroy". I'm wondering if the young man in the middle ever grew into his coat. Lewis Hine book outI don't know if it's been mentioned, but there's a new biography of Lewis Hine out by Alison Nordstrom and Elizabeth McCausland. The BBC produced a piece on the book and Hine today, which can be seen here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17673213 Note: the article contains a video. H.F. Dimock was prone to accidentsH.F. Dimock had a very checkered seagoing career with many accidents recorded; both groundings and sinkings (after which she was subsequently raised and repaired.) Her name appears often in books about wrecks and collisions in the waters in and around New York during the early part of the 20th century. (The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine)
Our New Facility: 1905
... to the answer. Thanks. A Water Tank To test model ship hulls? A submarine pen? Or a sewer? Ahoy, Matey? Looks ... be that it might be a facility for finishing boats. Ship Model Basin? Would that be the Ship Model Basin at the Marine ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/21/2012 - 4:51pm -

So here's this new facility -- state of the art. Except it's over a hundred years old. And we've misplaced the caption. Who can tell us what this is? View full size. UPDATE: Nobody identified this as the world's first indoor skateboard park. But it turns out that Nobody is wrong. The original caption from circa 1905: "New engineering building, big testing tank, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor." Towing tank at U-Mich.Looks like the towing tank at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Located right near the West Hall Engine Arch on Central Campus. Seafood processing facilityMy first thought was a German gas chamber. My second thought is a animal processing plant and since you just had shots of oysters, I will guess a sea food processing facility where the food is cut up and the waste is dropped into a water chute to be disposed of. Of course the waste is where fish sticks come from. I don't know and look forward to the answer. Thanks. A Water TankTo test model ship hulls? A submarine pen?Or a sewer? Ahoy, Matey?Looks nautical to me -- perhaps for the early stages of a hull. The slot is for the keel, the cutout close to the camera is for the bow. Just a thought. State of the ArtI know the answer will come from a fellow Shorpian as to what this is. My guess would be that it might be a facility for finishing boats. Ship Model Basin?Would that be the Ship Model Basin at the Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratories at the University of Michigan? Tow TankMarine Hydrodynamics Lab, West Engineering Building, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Modern SlaughterhouseThe problem is that it's not finished. Clearly they're going to put floorboards, or something, across the deep part. But it's hard to tell. So my money's on abattoir, as borne out by this Monty Python sketch. Whale eraThe world's longest abatroph? ["Abatroph"? - Dave] FascinatingWhatever it is, it looks unfinished. there are scraps of lumber lying about the place and there are planks laid across the supports for what will become proper walkways in the near future. I see a couple of shovels and a wheelbarrow down in the narrow trench. The walkways along both sides of the room are interesting, as are the exposed bolts sticking up from the concrete walls in the foreground and along both sides of the large trench. It almost looks like it could be used for building boats of some kind, but they would not fit out through the narrow opening at the lower end. I hope that YOU know what it is, 'cause I sure don't! Is it a drydock for small submarines? The HoneymoonersThis could well be the training facility for new sewer workers. I can picture Ed Norton taking his first class and going home to tell Ralph Kramden how enlightening it was. Still towing after all these yearsGoogle "university of michigan marine tow tank" to find videos and other information about the tank. Ship models are attached to a frame which moves the hull the length of the tank. The engineers can "ride along" next to the model as it makes it journey. Now sophisticated sensors and computers record the data. Fermentation room?Just a guess, but with all those heaters along the wall and the steel doors and platform, something was cookin' in there. They may have yet to tile or seal over the concrete form. It looks like product was dumped through the doors to the platform and shoveled into the tank for processing. There may have been an auger or screw running along the deeper trough to mix and eventually aid in moving the product through the "U" shaped portal. Possibly the inentical concrete forms on either side in the foreground allowed screen filtered liquid to be separated from the solids for further processing or bottling. It could have produced beer, wine, or maybe Sauerkraut. [We know the answer now -- it's in the caption. - Dave] Wade in NW FloridaWade in NW Florida [Not even warm. - Dave] THE HYDRAULIC LABORATORYFrom "Calendar of the University of Michigan - 1904-1905": This laboratory occupies a space 40 by 60 feet on the first and second floors of the north wing, adjoining the steam laboratories. A canal four feet wide, fourteen feet six inches deep, and forty feet long extends across the middle of the laboratory. Water enters this canal from the naval tank and is returned to the tank by a centrifugal pump in a well at the far end of the canal. This canal is provided with bulkheads, screens, and weirs, and is arranged for testing the flow of water over weirs and through no22les up to a capacity of ten cubic feet per second. The bulkhead between the naval tank and the canal is arranged for weirs and no22les so that tests may be made for flow from a still water basin as well as in a running stream. The naval tank itself is arranged for bulkheads dividing it into three basins, each one hundred feet long. By means of a sluice in the bottom of the tank these basins can be connected to the hydraulic canal and the centrifugal pump, so that water can be pumped from one of the basins and delivered into either of the others. The lab oratory" will also have two weighing tanks for calibrating purposes, each holding six hundred cubic feet. A 36-inch pressure tank, designed for 25o pounds pressure, extends through two stories. This affords means for no22le and motor experiments under high heads. An open tank eight feet wide, sixteen feet long, and five feet deep rests on a platform near the ceiling of the second floor. The centrifugal pump supplies this tank, which serves as a forebay for water wheel tests under heads up to about twenty-five feet. Michigan Hull Test TankI used to look in awe at this. I'd take a walk by the long indoor window alongside this tank, while I attended freshman classes at the University of Michigan. It is (was?) in the West Engineering Building on Central Campus, at NW corner of South University and East University Avenues. I'd see lots of hull designs being tested, mostly for large Navy ships and submarines. Great photo. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC)
Old French Market: 1890s
... interest include many horsecars and an arc lamp on a boom. Ship Chandler's Grocer wagon and Deutsche Grocery at left. Photo by William ... View Larger Map The pictured ship chandlers and grocers are long gone, replaced by brightly colored ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/28/2013 - 12:41pm -

Circa 1890s. "The old French Market, New Orleans." Points of interest include many horsecars and an arc lamp on a boom. Ship Chandler's Grocer wagon and Deutsche Grocery at left. Photo by William Henry Jackson. View full size. William RedmundAt the St. Charles Theatre: "The Great Emotional Actor" 1850 - 1915? Photo from here. +118ishBelow is the same view from August of 2008. Portions still standingGoogle Street View won't let me get quite the same angle, but here's a similar view of the Old French Market today, with several of the buildings on the left side of the street in the Shorpy photo still visible: View Larger Map The pictured ship chandlers and grocers are long gone, replaced by brightly colored umbrellas and open-air dining. Ship chandler"Ship Chandler's Grocer wagon" I always thought of a chandler as a a soap and candle maker, but looking it up I see that is also such a thing as a "ship chandler" -- a supplier of general provisions and equipment for ships -- of which I was unaware. I wonderWhy all the spouts on the rain gutter of the structure in the middle ? interesting time for the QuarterBy the 1890's the French Quarter was known as Little Palermo, with the recent immigration of Sicilians to New Orleans. There was a turf war between the Provenzano and Matranga gangs, leading to the killing of Chief of Police David Hennessy. A not guilty verdict led to 11 of the 19 indicted being lynched. The national newspapers first used the word Mafia to cover the big story back then. Many Italian immigrants moved away from the Quarter, but you can still buy a muffuletta at Central Grocery located footsteps from where this old picture was taken. 1900s Hipster MarketThe photogenic corner of the French Market also seen on Shorpy: Circa 1906 Circa 1910 The following description hits many of the key features of today's urban farmers' markets: a wide array of local produce, convenient access to public transportation, unique people-watching, multilingual service, and plentiful coffee stands. The Picayune's Guide to New Orleans, 1900 French Market. You know it by the busy rush, the noisy rumbling of carts and wagons, the ceaseless clatter of foreign and native tongues all commingled, the outlandish garbs and curious faces, and the strange, novel, cosmopolitan scene, nowhere else to be witnessed on the American continent. The market is open daily between 5 a. m. and 12 m.; but Sunday morning between 8 and 9, is the best time to visit it. Every stranger goes to see the French Market. There is no more remarkable or characteristic spot in New Orleans. Under its roof every language is spoken. The buyers and sellers are men and women of all races. The French Market comprehends four distinct and separate subdivisions under a special roof. These devisions are called respectively the “Meat Market,” the “Fish Market,” the “Fruit” and “Vegetables” markets. Around these is a fringe of fruit stalls and coffee stands. (The Gallery, New Orleans, Stores & Markets, Streetcars, W.H. Jackson)
Aquatic Park: 1966
... Japan I'm curious about the Japanese Group 2 merchant ship docked pierside on the right -- the rising sun is clearly astern. Maybe ... characters. Click to enlarge. Klaveness ship I made a mistake in my post. That ship is not Klaveness, it looks to ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 09/08/2018 - 10:23am -

For a change, here are some cars in San Francisco that aren't 90 to 100 years old. My favorite part, though, is the family photo op in progress over on the left, which I just now noticed. I was in Ghirardelli Square when I took this Kodachrome slide in summer 1966. View full size. Chevrolet Impala 1963Those two guys in the white shirts checking the Super Sport flags on the front fender. Hopefully it was a 409. Great SpotAnd it looks like the folks by the VW Bus and the very red service truck are waiting for you to take the shot and join them. Nicely timed. That green VWI wonder if it's the same one that kept appearing during the "Bullitt" chase scenes? Intriguing Moment!My eye was drawn to the red Chevy truck on the right, perhaps belonging to a sign company, with a very tall stepladder and another lying on its side on the sidewalk -- looks almost like a setup for a slapstick comedy movie, especially with the remarkably large man walking toward it in the background. I wonder if the guys in the white shirts might have been looking at that 1962 Cadillac convertible parked at the curb. Impressive car. Made in JapanI'm curious about the Japanese Group 2 merchant ship docked pierside on the right -- the rising sun is clearly astern. Maybe its a the delivery of transistor radios, or the first Honda motorcycles. It certainly wasn't the first of many that brought cheaper merchandise to the USA. Japanese shipsDowner asked about one of the ships. I just happened to go over to Pier 45 that day and took this shot of them. The closer is the Djakarta Maru; even fully enlarged all I can make out of the other is [Something] Maru in small letters below five Japanese characters. Click to enlarge. Klaveness shipI made a mistake in my post. That ship is not Klaveness, it looks to be instead a K Line ship (Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha) Gray car at far leftLooks like an Austin A55 Cambridge. '55 Olds 88Grey and white car parked in front of the Cadillac convertible. Aquatic Parkcirca 1930s Japanese shipThe grey vessel was owned by K-Lines, which still exists to this day and operates car carrier and container vessels. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, tterrapix)
Sleepy Sailors: 1899
... was barely seaworthy. When the main guns were fired, the ship would come close to capsizing. The Navy chalked it up as a learning ... very fortunate they never had to fight a battle in this ship. The Smoking Lamp Is Lit But it's soon time for taps, taps, lights ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/07/2024 - 4:23pm -

Aboard the U.S.S. Massachusetts circa 1899. "Ready to turn in." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by Edward H. Hart for the Detroit Photographic Company. View full size. Rust in PeaceAfter being used for target practice, now she's a habitat for marine life. Located near Pensacola in the Gulf of Mexico. https://www.nps.gov/articles/ussmassachusetts.htm MassashoelessLet's see ... one, two, three, four, five, six ... yep. The AI continues to improve, but it still can't quite get the extremities correct. [Five, actually. - Dave] The Iron SheikThe guy with the pipe looks like a young Iron Sheik !! Liberty call? No, thanks.These boys are all in. Seventy plus years later, I never worked this hard in the Navy. Never! Terrible U.S.S. MassachusettsThis as one of the first "modern" battleships commissioned by the U.S. Navy. Top heavy and unstable, it was barely seaworthy. When the main guns were fired, the ship would come close to capsizing. The Navy chalked it up as a learning experience and soon learned to design much better vessels. These sailors were just very fortunate they never had to fight a battle in this ship. The Smoking Lamp Is LitBut it's soon time for taps, taps, lights out, silence about the decks. Do the bosun's mates hit the rack in the fo'c'sle? Who knows ... Forgive me for mentioningBut good lord man! Those sailors look like bums. Different times, different NavyI too was struck by the somewhat rough appearance of these fine specimens of patriotic American young men. But it is worth noting that this was 1899. Potable water had to be stored on the ship in huge tanks and restocked whenever the ship pulled into port. This would have been part of the routine of refueling (loading and storing coal in the ship's bunkers) and reprovisioning (food water etc.). Because water was needed for drinking and cooking, it was not normal for enlisted men to have many opportunities for bathing at sea. If the weather was congenial, saltwater hoses might be rigged on the weather decks and the crew might be allowed to strip and take a communal shower. But in general, the past was dark, dangerous and stinky. Even on the crack Atlantic liners, first-class passengers had to make an appointment with the bath steward to take a bath at sea. The second-class and steerage passengers generally had to make do with basic washroom facilities. Private bath and water closet facilities were more or less unknown for even wealthy passengers in this era. As late as 1912 on the Titanic; most of the first-class passengers still had to hoof it down the hall in their bathrobes and slippers when nature called in the middle of the night. And of course, this is not an ocean liner. It's a warship with little in the form of creature comforts. And lastly, in those days, men, especially those from the working class, were not typically accustomed to what we might call regular bathing. For some of these men, a regular bath might have meant "the first of the month whether I need it or not." It would not be until well into the 20th century that freshwater evaporators and condensers became standard on ships at sea. By the Second World War, times, social attitudes and very importantly, marine engineering had evolved dramatically. With the exception of smaller craft and submarines, most ships had a primitive form of evaporator which allowed for the production of a limited amount of potable water at sea. Men might not have been able to shower every day, but they were able to bath with some regularity. Even as late as the 1980s when I first joined, we were regularly lectured about the evils of taking a "Hollywood shower" while at sea. Thirty seconds of water to get wet. Water off while you soap up. And then no more than another minute or so of running water to rinse off. By time I retired from the Navy, things had improved to a point that I would almost call the heads a luxury spa compared to what those poor sods in 1899 had to live with. UrgThe smell must have been unimaginable. Notice to MarrinersFrom tomorrow rations of wax will be strictly controlled as it has come to the attention of officers that mustaches are being over-waxed. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, E.H. Hart)
Dry Dock: 1910
... of the century ships. Great stuff! Battleships This ship is either the Delaware, BB-28, or the North Dakota, BB-29. The ... in casements on the second deck along the sides of the ship. North Dakota It could very well be the USS North Dakota, BB-29. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/08/2012 - 2:03pm -

Circa 1910. "Brooklyn Navy Yard, dry dock No. 4." The battleship is unidentified, but probably not for long. Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. "Pocket Battleship"These vintage warship pictures are fascinating. So this is the USS North Dakota, eh? BB-29, caught with her pants down, as it were. I know little about old battleships, but to my eye this one appears kind of small. Looking at the turrets and gun muzzles in particular, plus the apparent overall size. Since my knowledge is limited I would have guessed this to be a heavy cruiser. I wonder what its dimensions were? Back in my PA days I used to visit the USS Olympia in Philly. I loved the lavish wood paneling in the wardroom and the brass fixtures in the engine room. And I've always liked the "reverse" bow profile of those turn of the century ships. Great stuff! BattleshipsThis ship is either the Delaware, BB-28, or the North Dakota, BB-29. The distinguishing characteristic is the arrangement of the cage masts and funnels: in the order mast-funnel-mast-funnel. Also, the secondary battery is located in casements on the second deck along the sides of the ship. North DakotaIt could very well be the USS North Dakota, BB-29. According to Wikipedia it suffered an oil-tank explosion and subsequent fire, and this could be a photo of it being refitted and fixed up after said incident. USS North DakotaThis is the USS North Dakota. She and her sister-ship, USS Delaware, had a second funnel behind the mainmast while the next two dreadnoughts in the US Navy, USS Florida and USS Utah, had two funnels inside of the masts. The USS North Dakota also had three stripes on the second funnel whereas the USS Delaware only had two. I'm still trying to ID the pre-dreadnought docked beyond the warehouse. USS FloridaThis could be the USS Florida (BB30) which was launched in May of 1910. The USS New York (BB34) and USS Arizona (BB39) were launched subsequently in 1912 and 1915, respectively. [This ship looks like it's been around the block a few times. - Dave] Or around the Horn a few times. I should've noticed that. Sisters, Not Twins Delaware and North Dakota looked the same from the outside, but the former had reciprocating engines and the latter had turbines. Reciprocating engines had better fuel econmy in this period (before reduction gears) while turbines were less vibration prone and could produce more power in the same volume. In this case the engines seem to have been rated the same and therefore the piston engines' better efficiency seemed to make them an obvious choice, leading to a few later US battleships being engined with recips. The British converted to turbines in Dreadnought (1906) and never looked back. NoDakLooks like USS North Dakota (BB-29) to me. Brooklyn Navy Yard 2011 I took this photo yesterday from the same spot as the original. There have been crews here attempting to clean up the area around this dry dock and make it into more of an attraction. The water hasn't been drained for years, but the dry dock on the other side of the building on the left (featured in a previous post) is one of the oldest active dry docks in the country. The Navy Yards is an amazing place to work and to visit. Tours are offered every weekend and it's a great thing to check out if you are in the NYC area. Delaware Class BBChecking through the photos I could find, I believe this is either the Delaware (BB28, launched February, 1909, commissioned April, 1910) or North Dakota (BB29, November, 1908, April, 1910). One identifier to me were the low mounted casement 5 inch guns. Also of interest and something I had not seen before is the large below water port towards the bow. This I believe is the starboard 21 inch torpedo tube. USS Delaware/USS North DakotaI think it's either the Delaware (BB-28) or the North Dakota (BB-29). The bridge and forecastle match the Delaware class. They were both commissioned in April 1910 and went on a cruise to Europe that November, so it could be either. Can anyone identify the battleship in the right background? The other battleshipLooking at the photo I notice that the turret does not have the squared, boxy look turrets have in other classes but rather angle upwards from gun ports to the rear of the turret. Looking at photos of the various battleship classes circa 1910 shows only the South Carolina class (South Carolina, BB26 and Michigan, BB27) having this angled turret armor. The South Carolina class was the first to have the cage type masts and also the first to superimpose the turrets, ie, putting a turret directly behind and above the other changing battleship appearance to what we are most familar with. An Amazing PictureI have been through many dry docks in my military service but this amazing on many aspects. One being the year and the size of the ship. Modernization and technology was starting to take effect as we know it. Dry docking 1910 and 2011 -- not much difference. Whoa! That's a lot of bricks! Fire damageThe USS North Dakota was at the Brooklyn Navy Yard at least twice in 1910 - in June and again in October. On September 8, 1910, an oil explosion on board killed three sailors, and put the ship at risk. Six members of the crew were awarded Medals of Honor for their heroism in the immediate aftermath of the explosion. And today it looks likeIt just so happens I took a tour of the old Brooklyn Navy Yard a few months ago. I believe that this is either the same dry dock or the one next to it. The "innards" cranes, tracks, etc... have been replaced over time. Additional photos of the dry dock in its present state are here. UmmmIf this is the Brooklyn Navy Yard, why is th Williamsburg Bridge on the LEFT? Shouldn't it be on the right? Or has the yard shrunk about a mile in intervening years? [The camera is facing northeast into Wallabout Bay, and the bridge is where you'd expect it to be -- straight ahead and a little to the left. - Dave] Ship in the right backgroundThe shape of the turret makes me think it could be a Pennsylvania/Tennessee class armored cruiser, not a battleship. Hard to tell. Navy Yard tenant nowI have a studio overlooking this dry dock. It is no longer in use and there are cranes surrounding it that must have been added after this photo. My studio is in the building to in the left of the photo second floor 5th and 6th window from the end. The Navy YardShortly after September 11, 2001, I looked at some warehouse space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The guy that was showing me around had bought the property shortly before. One of the features that he thought might impress me was that it was bomb proof. It seems the Navy built the 6 story structure as an ammo depot during WW2. AvastIt looks like this modern metal marvel has two old school crow's nests. The question not answeredWhy are there no identifying markers on the bow? Was it typical not to mark the ships? Details First the Crow's Nests are probably just that. Remember these ships didn't have radar, so the only way to detect any other ship or objects in the water was visually and the best place to detect things visually is not from the bridge but from the highest point on the ship, in this case the top of the cage mast. You'd send lookouts up, and either have high powered binoculars up there already or send them up with them. As far as identifying markings on the bow, the don't appear to be in use during this period, at least not in the U.S. Navy. In fact I don't believe they were in use for battleships at the time of Pearl Harbor. I'm given to understand that they'd have their names on the stern in brass letters, but that was pretty much the only obvious identification from off the ship. Battleship in backgroundMy first guess was way off base. Especially since there is only one aft turret. I'm glad now that one did not get posted. With one aft turret, two gun positions near the stern (the boxy squares) and a gap between the upgrade cage mast and the rear stack, this is a Connecticut class battleship. I notice a band at the top of the rear stack, and assume this is an identifier but I did not see a photo to pinpoint which of the six ships this might be. Dakota or Delaware The USS North Dakota had a large open chock built into the side of the ship behind the hawse pipe. The Delaware did not. This is the Delaware. The ship in the background is a Connecticut class battleship. Cannons - still in use in 1910?Even with the turret mounted big guns, a bit of old school Naval design seems to have remained in place; are those cannon sticking out the sides?? re: Cannons - still in use in 1910?The guns on the side are the ship's secondary armament. In this case they are fourteen 5" guns in casemates. The guns were placed there to deal with smaller ships close in - like destroyers or torpedo boats - that the main battery couldn't depress low enough to hit. I love Shorpy commentsI always learn something when I read through the comments and I especially enjoy the lack of trolling. Even when someone is corrected it is usually done with manners and grace. Additional reason to identify ship as DELAWAREIn looking at photos of DELAWARE and NORTH DAKOTA while in this configuration at navsource.org, I spotted an additional reason to identify the ship as DELAWARE. A close look shows that the pole mast atop the after cage mast is mounted on the *forward* side of the mast on DELAWARE and on the *aft* side on NORTH DAKOTA. This ship appears to have the pole on the fore side, hence more likely to be DELAWARE. Funnel stripes can vary from year to year so are not as reliable by themselves. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC)
Name That Ship!
Another slide from the past. This ship may be, according to a web history I found, the Argentina, but my ... all of the (then) 48 states. Bidding $24,444,181 per ship, Ingalls Shipyards—still the largest private employer in ... Kong for extensive refurbishing to return her to cruise ship status, she was instead sold to scrappers in November 2004 and renamed ... 
 
Posted by Jim Page - 09/21/2012 - 9:35pm -

Another slide from the past. This ship may be, according to a web history I found, the Argentina, but my recollection from those days was that it was named the Amazon Princess or something similar. My dad worked on the vessel as an electrician during slack periods in his flying, and he took me up in his float plane to watch it being launched. It was 1958 or so at the Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. I was in the first grade, so my memory is rather hazy regarding details. Dad had built a little ramp/turntable tiedown for his pontoon-fitted Super Cub on the Pascagoula River not far from the F.B. Walker and Sons Dry Dock. I have several photos of all that if anyone is interested in seeing them. View full size. See more photos?Jim Page, we are Shorpy-ites, so, of course, we want to see more photos! Plus, I grew up in Gulfport, so this is close to home. TwinsThese two ships (the white hulled one on the left and the one to its right that is surrounded by scaffolding and has a crane off its starboard quarter) were the last passenger luxury ocean liners ever built in the United States. Parts for their construction were gathered from all of the (then) 48 states. Bidding $24,444,181 per ship, Ingalls Shipyards—still the largest private employer in Mississippi—had won the contract from Moore-McCormack Lines to build replacements for aging ships of the same names that had been built in 1928. The earlier ships were owned by the United States Federal Maritime Board and operated by Moore-McCormack Lines. As part of a $3,500,000,000 program to rebuild America’s merchant marine fleet, the Federal Maritime Board contributed about $20,000,000 toward the cost of building the two new passenger liners. They were known by many names during their more than 45-year careers. Perhaps some of us sailed on them without knowing their original names. On the left is the S.S. Brasil (correct spelling), which was launched on December 16, 1957. Renamed the Universe for scrapping, she was beached at Alang, India in late 2004. From 1996 to 2004, as the Universe Explorer, she had been part of the Semester at Sea program sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh and administered by the Institute for Shipboard Education. During her career she had been known as: Brasil (1958-72); Volendam (1972-75); Monarch Sun (1975-78); Volendam (again, 1978-84); Island Sun (floating hotel in Quebec, 1984-85); Liberté (1985-87); Canada Star (1987-89); Queen of Bermuda (1989-90);, Enchanted Seas (1990-95); and Universe Explorer (1995-2004). In Hong Kong for extensive refurbishing to return her to cruise ship status, she was instead sold to scrappers in November 2004 and renamed Universe. Later that month the Universe, f/k/a S.S. Brasil sailed for Alang, India, where she was beached at high tide on December 7, 2004. - - - The one to her right is her sister ship, the S.S. Argentina, which was launched on March 12, 1958. Renamed New Orleans for scrapping, she was beached at Alang, India in December 2003. During her career she had been known as: Argentina (1958-72); Veendam (1972-72); Brasil (1974-76); Monarch Star (1976-78); Veendam (again, 1978-84); Bermuda Star (1984-90); Enchanted Isle (1990-94); Hotel Commodore (floating hotel in St. Petersburg, Russia, 1994-95);, Enchanted Isle (again, 1995-2003). On December 30, 2000 the Enchanted Isle docked at Violet, Louisiana after her owner declared bankruptcy. Between December 30, 2000 and September 5, 2003 the Enchanted Isle was sold a number of times, but never left the dock. On September 6 the last buyer renamed her New Orleans and soon began repairs that would allow her to sail under her own power to the breakers in Alang, India. The New Orleans, f/k/a S.S. Argentina, arrived there on December 4, 2003 and was beached five days later. Information on the full careers of both the S.S. Brasil and the S.S. Argentina can be found here on the right side of the list under "The Modern Fleet (1958 to 1969)." Another site with great pictures can be found here. Be sure to follow the "SS Brasil & Argentina to SS Universe Explorer INDEX" links at the bottom of the page. Yes, More PhotosI would love to see what photos you have from that time frame. I was 23 yrs old when I started work at Ingalls in July 1957 as a helper in the Fab Shop. I remember the Brasil and Argentina very well. That is the Brasil on #1 Way, apparently being launched. Argentina is just south of her. By 1958 I was a pipe welder working on the Eagle Tankers and the destroyers. After suffering through a couple of layoffs, like all shipyard workers, I eventually became a piping inspector in the nuclear submarine program and then advanced to a test director. That was the most enjoyable time of my working career. Sea trials with Admiral Hyman Rickover, first dives to test depth, working with ships crews to complete the construction, idiot officers and competent enlisted men, freedom to perform what needed to be done to get the job done and many stories to tell - most of which people would tend not believe. Of all the Boats I worked on, Haddock was my favorite. I left Ingalls in 1974 when they ended their participation in the Submarine program and joined the Bechtel Power Corporation. They were a fine company to work for and took me all over the United States and part of the far east working on nuclear power plants. I have many tales to tell that would probably bore the horns off of a Billy Goat. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Air Ship No. 9: 1904
New York circa 1904. "Dreamland Park, Air Ship Building, Coney Island." Step right up to see the Santos-Dumont Airship ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/09/2012 - 6:19pm -

New York circa 1904. "Dreamland Park, Air Ship Building, Coney Island." Step right up to see the Santos-Dumont Airship No. 9 -- only a dime. Extra added Axis-flavored attraction: swastika decorations on this Japanese pagoda, the "Revels of Japan" tea house; the airship was in a hangar out back. View full size. 1904?Hitler didn't adopt the swastika as the Nazi party symbol until 1921, thought the Thules were using it before then. It could be being used in the original Asian usage, although it was also used as a good luck symbol for early aviators according to wikipedia. [Swastikas of various designs have been a popular symbolic and decorative motif for centuries. When you see them applied to a Japanese pagoda decades before WW2, it's a foreshadowing too eerie not to point out. - Dave] Station 51WHY is there a firefighter stepping out of the frieze two doors to the left? [It's the "Fighting the Flames" exhibit building. - tterrace] Overdone advertisingIn case you missed it, you can get some Horton's Ice Cream here! Forget the Airship, go next door.I'd love to see what's inside the " Temptations of St. Anthony"! [Below, an excerpt from this article by Jeffrey Stanton. - Dave] Louis Mann offered his 7 Temptations of St. Anthony show which was ballyhooed to attract male patrons. After the snickering audience had been relieved of their dimes and gathered in a small room, a curtain was withdrawn to reveal a large oil painting. In it, on the right was the good saint praying hard, while behind him and beyond his vision, was a lady barely draped in garments. The ticket seller disappeared behind the painting and began lecturing about the history and times of the saint. When the audience became restless, the panel on which the siren was depicted was removed and replaced by another. TemptingEvidently one of the temptations of St. Anthony was Horton's Ice Cream so we have some common ground here. Alberto Santos-DumontThis wonderfully odd man was a major pioneer of aviation. He rode his little airship around Paris as his personal transportation. He'd show up at restaurants with it, and park it in the back. He was shattered by the military use of aviation, and basically died of a broken heart. Santos-Dumont and the wristwatchMen used pocket watches during this period, but Alberto Santos-Dumont complained to his friend Louis Cartier that while flying his hands were occupied at the controls and he couldn't reach into his pocket to check the time. Cartier designed a wristwatch for him, and propelled by Santos-Dumont's fame, the wristwatch soon replaced the pocket watch as the timepiece of choice for men. Cartier still produces a line of watches named for Santos-Dumont. Sure, the swastika is hard to missBut what's the significance of those "pound" signs? How about the triangle in a circle? Maybe the building was used for AA meetings during the off season. (The Gallery, Aviation, Coney Island, DPC)
To Mars in the Air Ship: 1905
Circa 1905. "Along the boulevard -- Revere Beach, Massachusetts." All aboard for the Red Planet! 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. A little traveling music professor, if you please Haven't m ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/23/2022 - 1:33pm -

Circa 1905. "Along the boulevard -- Revere Beach, Massachusetts." All aboard for the Red Planet! 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. A little traveling music professor, if you pleaseHaven't made a comment on Shorpy for a very long time but this photo hit me with the time travel blues. Wouldn't it be great to travel back to 1905, walk along looking in the shops, checking out what the people were wearing, listen in to their conversations to see what the talk of the day was, and best of all - strike up a few conversations to hear their opinions on whatever subject they chose. It would be fascinating. Thanks to Dave and his Shorpy, a journey of the mind is a welcome trip. More Evidence I'll take your word on the shirt collar but is he using (or trying) to use his phone? Possibly not time travelling rather a glitch in the Matrix. He may have been gone a picosecond later. Fun & FrolicMeanwhile, in "The Pit" -- Slide, Chutes, Whirl-a-Gig, Barrel of Fun, Crazy Stairs, the Twirler, Shaker and Trick Steps. A man from another eraThis man doesn't look dressed like those of his time. He does not have a hat, he has a shirt with rolled up sleeves, tight pants and neatly combed back hair. He looks more like a man from the 1950s. Really unbelievable. [A 1905 shirt collar, though. - Dave] Still thereThis picture was taken probably within minutes of Rough Riders: 1905, just below this post. The same boy is sitting in the same place, to the far right, on the wall by the pavilions with his back to Broad Sound and his front to the idle pursuit of people-watching. Looks to have been an uncomfortably hot day; he was probably trying to decide between a Lemonade "To Order" and a soda fountain Coca-Cola, from Trask's. Both a bargain at five cents. Beach bonfire in waitingBurned. (Of course !!) Multiple times: First in 1918 (taking out some structures to the to the left [not seen] and the Metropolitan Hotel on the right). Then again in 1927. That fellow on the left, It seems that it was his casual Friday. Very daring for him not to wear a full woolen suit with a hat on a hot, humid, sunny summer day. I dig his style. By threesI think our dear editors at Shorpy are feeling antsy for warmer days. But hey, soon it will be March, and the winds will blow in warmer. But thank you for this trifecta of Revere Beach. I too would like to step into a booth or through some "gate" and find myself there -- a warm summer day, sitting along the wall and just absorbing everyday life in 1905. I'd have to dress the part to not draw attention. I'd rummage through the attic to see what I can find. Just for an hour to start, lest I be arrested for vagrancy. To Mars in an AirshipIn 1905 Billy Murray's great song was released. I wonder if they were dancing to that tune in the Nautical Gardens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxoZrqnkElU (The Gallery, DPC, Swimming)
Dog, Paddle: 1942
... by Arthur Rothstein. View full size. Abandon Ship? Looks to me like this little boat is taking on water, since Mr. Hall's ... they're close to shore. The dog seems to have abandoned ship. Keep paddling! Mom, Dad, keep paddling, my feet are getting wet! ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/26/2023 - 2:35pm -

June 1942. "Sheffield, Alabama (Tennessee Valley Authority). Kenneth C. Hall, wife and daughter rowing on the Tennessee River." Acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein. View full size. Abandon Ship?Looks to me like this little boat is taking on water, since Mr. Hall's foot is submerged. One hopes they're close to shore. The dog seems to have abandoned ship. Keep paddling!Mom, Dad, keep paddling, my feet are getting wet! Let's get there before we sink! I don't think Arfy will rescue us! By the way, they ARE paddling, not rowing. To row you use two oars and face backwards. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Boats & Bridges, Dogs, Kids)
Ghost Ship: 1909
... with the loss of all hands. After 90 years as a "ghost ship," its wreck was discovered at a depth of 400 feet off Knife Island in ... the vessel is Olive Noble, eldest daughter of the ship's namesake, president of Detroit's Capitol Brass Works and organizer of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/15/2018 - 4:04pm -

April 28, 1909. "Launching party, freighter Benjamin Noble, Wyandotte, Michigan." 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.         Top-heavy with a cargo of steel rails, the Benjamin Noble capsized in a squall 20 miles out from Duluth on April 14, 1914, vanishing into Lake Superior with the loss of all hands. After 90 years as a "ghost ship," its wreck was discovered at a depth of 400 feet off Knife Island in 2004, the front half buried in 40 feet of mud -- "heavily overloaded, just a submarine waiting to happen." "Grease the skids"Here we see the origin of the term. They were a Hardy Lot!Let's say the folks there average, oh, 165 pounds each. That's about 5,000 pounds of live-load on that rickety platform! And to have what looks like the "trigger" lines running below the reviewing stand? No chance of something snagging the flimsy framework of cobbled-together lumber and bracing — is there? A hardy, and trusting, lot indeed. [If anything does go wrong, they'll be Hardy Buoys. - Dave] Suppose anyone there's named Bob? The Noble OliveThe young lady with the large bouquet who christened the vessel is Olive Noble, eldest daughter of the ship's namesake, president of Detroit's Capitol Brass Works and organizer of the Capitol Transportation Company that owned it. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Detroit Photos, DPC)
Chelsea Piers: 1912
... Interesting story about the company that owned all of the ship lines at these piers here . The Nebo Man Years before the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/15/2024 - 3:02pm -

New York, 1912. "New Chelsea Piers on the Hudson." Feast your eyes on this veritable visual smorgasbord. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Gloriously Good! Cork TippedProbably my favorite things to look for in these pictures are the advertising signs. I never smoked or even saw a Nebo cigarette, but now I'd like to just because of that sign. One of the things I miss the most from my childhood and early adulthood is the wide variety of tobacco advertising and many of these old signs are getting to be valuable to collectors. Imagine the price of a big Nebo sign if you could even find one! White Star LinesWhere the Titanic was headed when it had an unexpected detour. The Carpathia would tie up there and discharge the survivors. Here's your Hopkins Manufacturing Building....View Larger Map Play ball! (or anything else)With commercial* and passenger shipping long gone, several of the piers have now been repurposed into a huge, multi-sport athletic facility. Their nautical past hasn't completely vanished, however, as they contain docking facilities for several party/dinner-cruise ships and a marina. Prior to the athletic facility's opening about 15 years ago the piers had been decrepit for many years. The streetcar yard in the lower right is most likely that of the 23rd Street Crosstown Line, which ran along the street of that name from river to river. It was among the last of Manhattan's streetcar lines to be "bustituted" in the mid-1930's. Today the athletic facility is a fairly long walk from the nearest subway station, that of the C and E trains at 23rd Street and Eighth Avenue, but that certainly hasn't hurt its popularity. * = shipping certainly hasn't disappeared from New York Harbor, it's just that with the advent of container shipping most activity has relocated to New Jersey, with some in Staten Island and Brooklyn Working hardThey're working up a sweat in the upper floor offices of the Steel Construction building! Funnels and mastsThe sight of all those funnels and masts poking up from the successive piers is a visual tease of the very best kind. Not the Night before ChristmasLease. The Cross & Brown Company has leased for the Clement Moore estate the plot 100 X 95 feet at 548 to 554 West Twenty-second street for a term of years at an aggregate rent of $250,000. The property will be improved with a four story and basement fireproof building, to be occupied by the Hopkins Manufacturing Company of Hanover. Pa., as a carriage factory. James N Wells's Sons were associated as brokers In the transaction.' NY Sun - Oct 15 1911 Would you stay at the TERMINAL Hotel? Does anyone ever check out? Somewhere out thereA traction modeler is dreaming of the layout he'll base on this photo as soon as his Significant Other agrees to give up the spare room. Strictly Limited EngagementA swift plummet down the Google hole reveals that "A Scrape o' the Pen" was a Scottish comedy that ran for just under three months at Weber's Music Hall. The names of the actors in the cast read like pitch-perfect parodies of themselves, perhaps from a unmade Coen Brothers period film. I note only the delightful Fawcett Lomax, who sailed back without delay after the show closed to Liverpool, aboard the Lusitania, in December, 1912. Drafting - the old way!My eyes, too, were drawn to the top floor of the steel construction building. The white shirts and ties, and the tell-tale bend of the torso, makes me believe that this is the drafting room. No CAD terminals, just wonderful old T-squares, triangles, and compasses. Those were the days! Not just a flash in the pan"A Scrape O' The Pen" apparently entertained a worldwide audience over several years. Here's a 1915 review from a run in Adelaide, Australia: A Scrape o' the Pen. In the olden days in Scotland no funeral was complete without its professional mourner, and in Mr. Graham Moffat's Scottish comedy, "A Scrape o' the Pen," which opens at the Theatre Royal on Saturday, Mr. David Urquhart, who delighted theatregoers here as Weelum in "Bunty Pulls the Strings" will humorously depict Peter Dalkeith, a paid mourner, which profession he has adopted, owing to his being jilted by the girl of his choice. This, and such old-time customs as Hogmanay, first footing, &c, have provided Mr. Moffat with excellent material for his new comedy. The story of the play is concerned with the romantic marriage of a young boy and girl according to Scottish law, the young fellow leaving for Africa immediately after signing the papers, and the subsequent adventures of the wife he leaves behind. Mr. and Mrs. Moffat are appearing in the original parts of Mattha and Leezie Inglis, and will have the support of a newly-augmented company of Scottish players. Pier 62On the west side of Manhattan piers are numbered by this method: the cross street plus 40. Thus, Pier 62 (the number above the "American Line" pier) is located on 22nd Street. Therefore Peter's estimation that the streetcar yard is on 23rd Street appears to be correct. Interestingly, this photo captures a streetcar about to enter or exit the yard. If there is a clock in view, a date in 1912 for the photo, a streetcar schedule and some streetcar records still around, we might know which streetcar, which direction it was heading and who was driving it. Might even find the fare collection records and know how many people rode that run that day. Ahhh, history's mysteries. Quaker StateAttached is an advertisement, perhaps another Billboard, flacking Old Quaker Rye Whiskey. Looks like 3 Clubmen welcoming their Bootlegger, possibly Benjamin Franklin. Quakers are allowed to imbibe but not at the Meeting House. Can anyone tell meThe purpose of the frameworks that extend above the edges of the pier roofs? My guess is that they re to prevent the rigging of masted ships from tearing into the roofs themselves - anyone have a better guess? Highly sought afterbut rarely found; honesty in a rye whiskey. Chelsea PiersThe steel frameworks on the roofs held the tracks for the rigid or roll-up heavy pier side doors during vessel unloading. One of the few...trucks in this picture: just above the Old Quaker whiskey sign. Broadway JonesThe great George M. Cohan wrote the script, composed the score, directed, and starred in "Broadway Jones," a comedy about a boy who inherits a chewing gum factory, saves the company, and wins the heart of the girl. His father, Jere, and his mother, Nellie, costarred. I can tell youThe girderwork at the edges of the finger piers can also be used in conjunction with ships' tackle to extend the reach for loading and unloading cargo. Henry B. Harris of Titanic fame presents - "The Talker"Interesting that a partially hidden billboard for the 1912 play "The Talker" produced by Henry B Harris would be so close the the White Star Line pier. Harris being a celebrity who lost his life on board the Titanic in April of 1912. Two largest shipsThe twin funneled liner at Pier 60 appears to be the White Star Liner RMS Oceanic (1899) and, further away at Pier 56 is the RMS Campania (1893). And on our leftin the distance is 463 West Street home of Bell Labs, where many devices we take for granted were invented. And in the distance to the right, over in Hoboken one can see the North German Lloyd piers, and to their right the Holland America pier which appeared earlier in Shorpy. Mercantile Marine Co.Interesting story about the company that owned all of the ship lines at these piers here. The Nebo ManYears before the Marlboro man rode the range there was Nebo man looking so cool with color coordinated tie and hat plus I'm sure he lit that match with the tip of his thumb's fingernail. Dog ParkIs that where the dog park is now? In the bottom right hand corner, where all the train/trolley cars are parked? (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC, Streetcars)
Ship's Apothecary: 1900
Circa 1900. "U.S.S. Newark , the apothecary." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by Edward Hart, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. And drink them both together Two parts Lime, one part Coconut. Caduceus vs Rod of Asclep ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/19/2012 - 11:02pm -

Circa 1900. "U.S.S. Newark, the apothecary." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by Edward Hart, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. And drink them both togetherTwo parts Lime, one part Coconut. Caduceus vs Rod of AsclepiusThere is, or was, a controversy over the use of the Caduceus (two-snakes and staff) symbol on the Petty Officer's patch. It appears that the symbol should have been a one-snaker known as the Rod of Asclepius. Both symbols are seen in medical symbols today. Among other users of the Rod of Asclepius: the AMA, the US EMS (Star of Life emblem), and Veterinarians. Wikipedia ("Rod of Asclepius") traces the error to a 1902 decision by a US Army Medical Corps officer. If this photo pre-dates that decision, then it appears the Navy was ahead of the Army in this trend-setting choice. In today's military the Navy's medical-related enlisted rating badges still use the Caduceus. The Army collar device is also the Caduceus. In a bit of Pentagon non-standardization, however, the US Air Force medical types display the Rod of Asclepius. (I don't believe the Marines have a medical corps - they borrow from the Navy.) Flying BottlesThe shelves full of neatly labeled bottles have no restraints. In any kind of a sea they would be flying off the shelves. The other strange item is a balance. No way that would work well even when tied up at a mooring. [They're all sitting in stationary holders. - tterrace] In Modern TimesWe'd call that a compounding pharmacy. Looks like lots of raw materials on those shelves. Wonder where the "medicinal" brandy is located? UniformityAnybody know why a first class petty officer is wearing a double-breasted blouse? Thought that was only for chiefs. Navy Hospital Corpsman RatingI joined the Navy in '66 to avoid being drafted into the Army and sent to Viet Nam. Before I knew it I'd been selected to join the Hospital Corps (NOT my choice!) I found out quickly that I'd be shipped overseas with a Marine detachment to patch up Jarheads on the frontlines. No the Marine Corps doesn't have any medical personnel and though they are loathe to admit it they are part of the Department of the Navy. I'm sure the only Navy rating they have any respect for would be Hospital Corpsman! Fortunately I passed out during a training film on hemorrhaging (arterial) and got sent to the fleet. Never happier to pass out in my sweet charmed life! Comments from other usersI have to say that I am so impressed by the vast amount of knowledge shared by all of the people who leave comments on the photos posted here. As opposed to other websites like Reddit, it is clear that there is a diverse, well-read, well-educated and more mature demographic at this site than any other. I am always amazed by the facts and trivia that readers share here, as evidenced by the comments below. This is the perfect place to visit for intellectual stimulation and should be required reading for anyone with an interest in history. Agree with IrishI completely agree with Irish's comments. The knowledge level of Shorpy readers can be astounding. I served on board nuclear submarines in the Navy and so pictures such as this one really get my interest. Navy submarines usually carry a single Hospital Corpsman to provide medical care for the crew. It will be someone senior with a lot of experience and training. Medical evacuation off of a submarine is not always possible so the Corpsman must be ready to perform procedures that a Medical Doctor would usually perform. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, E.H. Hart)
Drink Schlitz: 1900
... Anyone know?? What are they used for??? A 'wet ship?' What looks to be rotting planks at the bow of 'Commodore' makes ... Michigan, the river was redirected into the Sanitary and Ship Channel and since January 1900 the Chicago River has emptied into the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/09/2016 - 12:13pm -

September 1, 1900. "Chicago River elevators at Chicago, Illinois." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Elevator Purpose?? Anyone know??What are they used for??? A 'wet ship?'What looks to be rotting planks at the bow of 'Commodore' makes one wonder if she had her pumps running most of the time. Beer Elevators ! Grain elevators are normally a transshipment or storage point for grain. Where I live local farmers bring their harvested grain to the local elevator where it is held till it is sold to different buyers. It all flows downstreamThe flow of the Chicago River was reversed eight months before this photo was made. Instead of flowing into Lake Michigan, the river was redirected into the Sanitary and Ship Channel and since January 1900 the Chicago River has emptied into the Mississippi River. Ironically, given the subject of this image, St. Louis' breweries quickly alleged that water from Chicago was ruining the Missouri city's beers, a claim that was later disproven. Grain ElevatorsSALE OF CHICAGO ELEVATORS.; Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Makes a Big Purchase. CHICAGO, Feb. 25. (1899) -- The St. Paul and Fulton elevators were sold to-day to the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company for $400,000 by the Chicago Railway Terminal Elevator Company. Within sixty days the railway company will operate them as a part of its system of Chicago terminal houses. I assume the elevators were each named after landmarks, such as Iowa (in this photo), St Paul, and Fulton. The Chicago Railway Terminal Elevator Company was in the process of winding down its operations. The purchase price for the two elevators ($400,000) is about $11,000,00 in 2016 dollars. A copy of the original article is here... http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1899/02/25/page/9/article/big-deal-in... Schlitz, the Beer that made Milwaukee FamousThe city of Chicago passed an ordinance in 1900 regulating the size of billboards. The Gunning System was an advertising company typical of those the city was trying to reign rein in. The company took exception to the law and lost in court. The instant ad was obviously done prior to enactment of the ordinance. The elevator purpose? Prior to the elevators and reliable rail service, Midwestern grain moved to Chicago in fabric sacks. Sacks were suitable in some cases, but loading large amounts of the stuff into ship holds was inefficient and thus costly. The elevator was designed to unload the grain in bulk from rail cars, store it as necessary and then transfer it to ships in bulk. The process is still in use today. Elevate the level of conversationGrain elevators are simply storage bins where grain is collected and stored until it is transferred to a ship or railcar for further movement. In the boxcar era of our photo, boxcars loaded about half full of loose grain were unloaded through grates into the basement, where the grain was then hauled by augur or conveyor [hence, the elevator] up to the top of the facility, where it was dumped into large bins. Note the chutes along side of the building...here is where the grain was off loaded to a ship or barge. Note also each chute has its own cyclone dust collector attached. Dust is a great danger in elevators, as it is highly explosive. I recall a huge elevator at Texas City, Texas blowing up circa 1970. All that was left was the concrete floor and some rubble. I refer to all this in the past tense, but grain elevators are still in use today, although the boxcars have been replaced by covered hoppers. This elevator in the photo is a good size for its time, although elevators can get much larger than this one. Of course, grain elevators are commonly seen many miles from any ship. Farmers haul grain to elevators where the it's collected for movement to a port or manufacturing facility. In the MidwestIn the midwest, the term "elevator" is used for most any grain storage facility. The Gunning System"Outdoor advertising has a certain value which is determined by the character and density of the population. It is a general plan for merchants to follow display advertising out into the rural districts, along the highways, and the larger wholesale stores of the cities even follow the railroads out for considerable distances, where people may read as they ride. This form of advertising is handled, as a rule, by special advertising agencies, such as the Gunning system, who buy up and control space in many communities." From: “Introduction to Business Organization” SAMUEL E. SPARLING, Ph.D.. Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin (1906) Grain elevatorThe grain elevator does away with the labor-intensive loading and unloading by sack. The basic idea is that the grain is dumped from the rail car through a grate into a hopper underneath, to be conveyed by elevator bucket into a bin or silo, which can then be fed by gravity, auger or conveyor into trucks, barges or other railway cars. A wheat grading system is needed so that one farmer's grain could be combined and stored with another farmer's crop of the same grade. The first steam-powered grain elevator was invented in Buffalo in 1842, but the system flourished and developed in Chicago. I grew up in the land of the wood-cribbed design of grain elevator prevalent throughout Western Canada from the early 1900s though the 1980s. The St. Albert elevators (below) are typical. I also found a colorized alternative of the Chicago view. When launched on July 22, 1875, at Clevelandthe Commodore, operated by the New York Central and named in honor of Vanderbilt, was the largest vessel on the Great Lakes. It was retired in 1912 and laid-up at Buffalo. The Illinois Naval Militia purchased the vessel that year and brought it to Chicago as a training platform, and in September 1918 the Navy commissioned it USS Commodore IX-7 where it served as a receiving ship for recruits. The following year it became a naval armory for the Naval Reserve, beached at the site of where a a new land-bound armory would be built in 1929. No longer of use and in the path of the proposed Outer Drive, on December 12, 1930, the vessel was torched and burned to ash at the foot of Randolph Street. The armory that replaced the Commodore was razed in November 1982 so that the notorious "S" curve on the Lake Shore Drive could be straightened and widened. The CommodoreLooks like the full inscription on the side of the Commodore is "New York Central & Hudson River RR Line". If so, then a ship named after "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt makes perfect sense. Vanderbilt united his Hudson River RR with the NY Central RR and bought or leased lines all the way to Chicago, including freight shipping lines. LocationWe're looking north along the South Branch of the Chicago River at about 14th Street just west of Clark. That's the Iowa Elevator on the left built in 1880 & served by the C&NW railroad, and Rock Island Elevators B on the right & A in the background both served by the CRI&P railroad. Anyone have any information on the sailing ship "Commerce of Cheboygan" in the picture? Not A Cold Rolled Steel SpecialBut good work anyway. You got the name. You got the product. You got your catch phrase. You got the message. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Buffalo NY, DPC, Railroads)
Brooklyn Bound: 1910
... forever grateful! Best, Jeremy Butler Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument Just southeast of the Brooklyn Bridge is the Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument in Fort Greene Park. The monument was dedicated on ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/05/2023 - 10:42am -

New York circa 1910. "East River bridges from the Singer Tower" -- the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg spans. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Early America was on the moveI am surprised at the high amount of sophisticated building construction for 1910 -- and so soon after the financial panic of 1907. The "never say die" and "get it done" attitude of our country was extraordinary. ["Early America" was about 250 years before this photo was taken! - Dave] "Great deal" “I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn I’ll sell cheap." I Wish This View Were Farther UptownFor years I've been hoping to find a view from circa 1910 of east Harlem, specifically of Union Settlement. Alas, this photograph is too far downtown to show that area. Union Settlement basically took up the block defined by 104th and 105th Streets, and 2nd Avenue and 3rd Avenue. My great-grandfather Gaylord White was the head of this ongoing community center from 1901 to 1923. I've found the NYC tax photos of the building from the 1940s, but no images have cropped up from earlier. If Shorpy or Shorpy's followers ever track down Union Settlement images, I would be forever grateful! Best, Jeremy Butler Prison Ship Martyrs' MonumentJust southeast of the Brooklyn Bridge is the Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument in Fort Greene Park. The monument was dedicated on November 14, 1908, so was brand new when this photo was taken. The monument commemorates the 11,500 American soldiers who died in captivity aboard 16 British prison ships during the American Revolution. My, how you've grownHere is a Google Earth view of roughly the same area today. I spotted one surviving building, at 84 William Street. It's to the right in the 1910 photograph and behind the skyscraper with the red dot in the attached photograph. Street View below: Hey, I can seethe farm where my house will be in 20 years. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC)
Kate Adams: 1906
... Ship's bell The bell of the Kate Adams is in the catalog of the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/09/2023 - 4:16pm -

Memphis and the Mississippi River circa 1906. "Unloading cotton at the levee." At rear, the sidewheeler Kate Adams. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. A little history of the Kate AdamsA short and somewhat entertaining read: https://memphismagazine.com/ask-vance/the-end-of-the-lovin-kate/ Ship's bellThe bell of the Kate Adams is in the catalog of the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia, where it was on display at least at one point. A 2017 article in Memphis magazine says that the "famous bell" was salvaged when the Kate Adams burned there on January 8, 1927, shortly after appearing in a silent film version of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The Kate AdamsSome background on this elegant steamboat -- https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2550321547 https://memphismagazine.com/ask-vance/the-end-of-the-lovin-kate/ (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC)
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