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April 28, 1909. Wyandotte, Michigan. "Launching party, steamer Benj. Noble." Early on the morning of April 28, 1914, five years to the day after she slid down the ways of the Detroit Shipbuilding Company, the freighter Benjamin Noble went down in a squall on Lake Superior with the loss of all hands. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
I see five young girls all of them pretty in their bonnets. Where are the boys? Perhaps too rambunctious to be confined on that crowded platform? Are they using the wooden scaffolding as a playground? Or did they get to ride the ship down the slipway? Curious.
[By long-established tradition, ship-launching is an overwhelmingly feminine endeavor. - Dave]
Would any formal public occasion call for such a spectacular array of ladies' hats? Or was it particularly a ship-launching thing -- well, except for the Kentucky Derby. And the poor guys, all except one with a black bowler!
The hats look like pastry. Do you think they are special-for-the-day on the girls, or did every kid have such a frothy topper?
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