Some More Life Aboard Ship

 

I've been making occasional trips to an antique mall in L.A., and every time I go there, I find another picture or two of shipboard life.  Anyway, it's become clear that they are all from the same source, and since I have no idea how many more, I'll find, I've gone back to the other two posts I've put up and added "life aboard ship collection" in labels so those who are interested can see everything already posted.  Anyway, I'm still thinking ocean liner.  The Matson Line sailed from the California coast to Hawaii, and, of course, there were ships sailing to the far east as well as the far shorter trip to Catalina Island, just off the coast of Southern California.  

Coasting on the Steamer

Almost certainly not on the Dorothy Bradford.  Written on the back of the top photo, "Ray & Gladys on board boat going to New Haven, Conn.  June 5, 1932."  The second photo, "Ray & Gladys on Steamer coming home from New Haven, Conn.  June 5, 1932."  We don't know what Ray and Gladys were doing on their day trip to New Haven, but they look like they had fun.  Even durung the great depression life went on.

The S.S. Dorothy Bradford

I live in Los Angeles and I've always wondered why ships aren't a regular part of local transit.  We've got ferries to Catalina Island, but why not commuter service between Santa Monica and south bay with stops in places like Long Beach and Redondo.   Oh well, just another suggestion to be ignored.

So, the S.S. Dorothy Bradford was built by Neafie & Levy of Philadelphia, PA.  She was built in 1889 for the Cape Cod Steamship Company and was originally named the S.S. Charlotte.  I couldn't find anything on when the name change occurred.   The Cape Cod Steamship Co. went out of business in 1937, and The Dorothy Bradford was sold for scrap after years of servicing the Provincetown route on Cape Cod.  I couldn't find what the other ports on the route were but Boston seems like a good bet as well as the off shore islands. 

This card was published by H.A. Dickerman and Son of Taunton, Massachusetts.  There are a lot of postcard publishers out there and it's not always possible to find out any information about individual  companies, but I did find a bit about H.A. Dickerman.  They were in business from 1907 to 1936.  They specialized in scenics and dominated the Cape Cod market.  There's a postmark on the back, "PROVINCETOWN MASS SEP 5 2 PM 1922"  It was mailed to "James Morris 23 something or other street," (The writer makes their M's, N's, W's and U's all alike.)  "Framingham, Mass."  No message.

Dorothy Bradford was the wife of Puritan William Bradford the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  She fell off the Mayflower and was the first European to drown in New England.   As accomplishments go, not a very notable one.

An Ocean Voyage

I've crossed the English Channel a couple of times, been to Catalina, and taken the ferry between Port Angeles and Victoria half a dozen times or more. I've never crossed an ocean by ship, and I regret having been born after the days of trans Atlantic liners.  From the twenties I would think.

S. S. Alcoa Pennant

It's not often that I get to post something with an exact date, but I can with this one.  The Alcoa Pennant was launched on June 6, 1941.  She was built by Consolidated Steel at their shipyards in Wilmington, California.   The ship was built for The Alcoa Steamship Company and was supposed to transport bauxite, but World War 2 changed all that.  After completion, including the addition of deck guns, on January 26, 1942, the Alcoa Pennant was put on indefinite charter by the U.S. Navy, and despite her slow speed, and time spent in war zones, manged to survive the conflict.  She was scrapped in Mobile, Alabama in May, 1965.

Mildred Takes A Trip 1

I've had very mixed feelings about posting Mildred's photo album.  This one's a bit different for me.  I didn't buy it for the photos, I bought it for the album itself.  It's very small, let's say  little bigger than a postcard, and the pictures are a very odd sort, some interesting, and some not so much.  Too, while most photo album are easy to disassemble, making it easier to scan the images, that isn't the case with this one.  I was afraid to untie the leather ribbon, and I was also afraid to open the album and lay it out flat on the scanner.  In the end, I took the risk, bent it open and scanned.  Finally, there's only one photo per page, so there won't be any full page scans to show position.

I suspect that Mildred was the photographer and isn't seen in any of the photos, but I like to think that that is wrong, and that Mildred is the young lady in the center of the first snapshot.  Another guess, Mildred and her family have taken a trip to see a son and brother who was in the United States Navy.  That tower in the background is clearly from a battleship.  It's the second photo that I really like.  Two people are well hidden behind the flowers while maybe Mildred is off to the side, clearly visible.

More to come, click on Mildred's album in labels to see the rest.  At least, once I get them posted.

The Photographer's Foot

I'm not even going to try on the translation.  Hell I can't even make out the handwriting.

I've written about this before in other posts but hey why not repeat myself.  I'd love to take an ocean voyage and that's a problem.  The age of trans Atlantic passenger service is pretty much over.  At least the type I'm interested in.  Had I been born about 50 years earlier, I could have booked passage on a nice ship meant to get from point A to point B.  Cabins, shuffle board, and the Captain's table.  Now, it's cruise lines that are this weird hybrid of Las Vegas and floating shopping mall.   The actual Vegas bores me, and my idea of shopping is making a list, buying what I need, and getting out of there as soon as possible.  On a cruise ship, I'm kinda stuck.

I'm thinking the twenties or thirties.

What Kind of Boat Is This?

I bought this one because I like boats.  No other reason.  When I got it home and put the magnifying glass to it, I thought it might be from the Pacific northwest.  It looks like the boat's name is Orcas.  I assume that's a variation on Orca, and, since before a few decades ago, most of the country used killer whale....well, who knows it's just a guess.  It looks like it has a steam engine.  

Relax

Written on the back, "Now who says I didn't take it easy coming over?  Every second and never had such a quiet relaxed time.  Hope on next trip will be with You & Chaty to Manilla?  Why not?"  It might be difficult to relax with Chaty along.  Of course, Chaty might be short for something other than Chatty. and since Manila is misspelled.....well, who knows.

World War 1, On The Move

More from the camera of O.D. Caldwell.

Both of the Caldwell posts seem to be about movement.  Most of the battle damage photos look like they were taken from a moving train, and they were all of different locations.  Today's post show men in trains and men on ships.  But, are they on the way to war, or are they on the way home?  I prefer to think that the war was over for these men, and they were headed back to the U.S.  That's why I put the Statue of Liberty picture last.

Cherbourg

This one's labeled "Ferry tender at Cherbourg."  I have no way of knowing, but I hope this photo is from the twenties, the years when the lost generation, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Henry Miller, and many other Americans headed of to Paris to become writers, painters, or drunks.  An era I wish I had seen.

Now, for a bit of shameless self promotion.  Every so often I pick up a few non photographic bits of ephemera.  I also find images from the net that I enjoy visiting from time to time. (Considering my background and interests, it's no surprise that those images are mostly photographs.)  To make things easy, I've put them up on another blog, www.fairuse-wjy.blogspot.com.  For those who have enjoyed this nautically themed post, in the past few months, I've put up an activities schedule from an Italian ocean liner, a passenger list from The Matson Lines, and a nineteenth century oil painting of a S.F. Bay ferry.

On Shipboard

Now this is the way to travel.  I hate flying.  I'm not afraid to fly.  I don't worry about crashing and I'm not all that bothered by security.  But flying is boring.  For hours, you're sealed up in a metal tube, strapped to a seat, and there is no relief until arrival at an airport that could be anywhere in the world. Flying isn't travel, it's transport, and the trip doesn't really start until the airport is a good ten miles in the rear view mirror. After all, what can be done with an airport.

 But travel by car, train, or ship is a whole other thing.  I've been across the English Channel a couple of times and Port Angeles to Victoria more times than that.  Wandering around, going out on deck, talking to people, and being able to walk away if the conversation isn't worth the time.  I've never been on one of the big cruise ships, and quite frankly, I'd prefer to miss that experience.  But I'd love to wander around the world on one of the smaller, older ones still in service, and a state room on an old transport ship....I'm not sure that's possible anymore, but one can hope.

Voyage 5

Is the family in the first photo the photographer's family?  I would think so, but of course, we'll never know for sure.  All photos are labeled "Magellan Straights."