Another Life Aboard Ship

 

 I swung by a favorite antique store of mine and found some more life aboard ship photos.  This is the first one that has a passenger.  Anyway, I have no idea what kind of passenger service this was.  I've been buying these photos in the Los Angeles area, so my mind goes right to ferry service to Catalina Island, off the coast of Los Angeles, and Long Beach.  There were also coastal steamers when this picture was taken, running all along the Pacific coast.  San Diego to Vancouver, Canada.  There were also gambling ships just beyond the three-mile limit.  And then there were cruise ships that went to places like Hawaii and the far east.  Click on the Life Aboard Ship Collection in labels to see what else I've already posted.  I've got at least two more photos to go.  

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.  

Life Aboard Ship

 

Not the United States Navy.  At least I don't think so.  The formal, white uniform makes me think passenger ship. 

Queen Elizabeth

That's her in the funny hat.  Actually, this one is captioned, "R.M.S. QUEEN ELIZABETH. Nassau. Cruise of 1965."  We are not amused.

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.

Cruising In Luxury

 

Alright, the bottom picture is kind of crappy, but I don't like to edit stuff from collections, even small ones.  As a matter of fact, the top two photos aren't that great, and the color restoration setting clearly has some limitations, but....

One of our local radio stations (Local is Los Angeles.) has an ask the mayor show.  I was on my way out the door, I was getting ready to turn off the radio, and the last thing I heard was that one of the questions for that day was about ferry service between Ventura and L.A.   To a lot of people that will seem like a daft idea, but I say why not?  As a matter of fact, I think an L.A.-Ventura connection isn't ambitious enough.

 As the population of our state increases, as the need to get around grows, it only makes sense to add boat traffic to the mix.  If I need to get to San Diego from Los Angeles, I'd rather take the light rail to the Santa Monica pier and a coastal ferry to San Diego than sit on the I-15.  Yes, I know, there's already trains, planes, and buses, but why not add sea travel into the mix.  Hey, L.A. to San Francisco, Oakland to Eureka or Crescent City, it all makes sense to me.

I know what some people will say.  "Won't it be expensive?"  We subsidize mass transit, Amtrak, and if it ever gets built, we'll subsidize high speed rail, so I don't see  the difference.

All pictures dated "WEEK OF OCT. 25-58 RN"

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.

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.

ERSONS

Yes I know.  It's actually persons, as in lifeboat capacity.  Was this couple out for a stroll on the deck, or were they checking out the boats, just in case.  Maybe they saw A Night To Remember, the best Titanic movie ever made, just before boarding ship.

I don't know him!

Written on the front, lower, border, "Southampton-Taking train for London."  Written on the back, "I don't know him!  He must have been standing at next compartment.  Boat comes up to dock on left, and so-to London."

Southampton has been a major British port for centuries.  It's been a hub for passenger ships since the nineteenth century.  When this picture was taken, it was also a ferry port, connecting England with Europe.

R.M.S. Aquitania

Both of these photos are labeled, "Aboard Aquitania."  There are no names or dates on these two pictures, so there's nothing for me to look up about the passengers, but it was pretty easy to find information about the ship.

R.M.S. Aquitania, owned by The White Star Line, was launched in 1913, and had it's maiden voyage between England and New York in May 1914. Along with the Mauretania and Lusitania, it was one of the grand trio of White Star liners, and was known as the ship beautiful.  It completed only three round trips before being taken over by the British Admiralty during World War 1.  Aquitania's war service started as an armed merchant cruiser, then as a hospital ship, and finally a troop transport.  After the war, it was returned to The White Star Line, and resumed passenger service on the north Atlantic run.

 The 1920s was the last great age of express ocean passenger service.  While the United States had begun restricting emigration, a major profit center for ocean liners, Aquitania had enough first and second class passengers, as well as mail contracts, to operate in the black.  After the stock market crash of 1929, Aquitania became more of a cruise ship, taking passengers on holiday to the Mediterranean.  It was quite popular with Americans and, during prohibition, became famous as a booze cruiser.

 In 1940, Cunard White Star (The two companies had merged in 1934.) had planned to retire Aquitania and replace it with R.M.S. Queen Elizabeth, but the second world war gave the ship a few extra years of service as a troop transport, mostly in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.  After the war, Aquitania was used to transport war brides and their children to Halifax, Canada.  In 1949, the ship was once again returned to it's civilian owners.  Poor maintenance during the depression and the war had taken it's toll.  The deck plating leaked in rough seas, some of the bulkheads were so corroded that a fist could be pushed through the metal.  During a party, a piano fell through the floor.  In December of 1949, Aquitania was taken out of service, and was scrapped in 1950.  Aquitania was the last four stacker (smoke stacks)  in regular service.

Aloha, A New Travelers Collection

There it was, sitting on EBay with no one willing to bid.  Hey, it was cheap, so why the hell not.  This latest collection is photos from a person or family that liked to travel.  Some of the images have people, some don't.  A few are labeled, most not.  A handful are of places I recognize, but many of them will be posted as mystery locales, with the hope  that someone out there in blog land can set me straight.

Even though I've never been to Hawaii, this one was easy.  I've seen pictures and movies of Aloha Tower and Honolulu Harbor before.  But where are all the hotels?  The tower opened in 1926, and the building boom didn't start until the late fifties to early sixties.  So, somewhere in a 30 to 35 year window.

Like most of my other collections, this one will be spread out over a few months.  Look for travelers collection in the labels section at the bottom of the post.

Aloha, Bon Voyage, And All That Stuff

It's always problematic trying to read personalities form photographs.  This one presents a rather interesting contrast.  Twins, one crying, with her arms crossed in a classic defensive posture, even for a small child, and the other, all confidence, staring into the camera.  Did little miss confidence push the crier around.  Did she dominate, leading her sibling into all sorts of scrapes.  Or maybe, the crying sister is mad because her parents wouldn't let her stand on the ship's rail.  Maybe the crying child is the dominate one, all angry because she wasn't allowed to go and do something fun,but dangerous.

Note that the sisters are wearing leis.  That doesn't mean they are headed to Hawaii, though.  They could be on a day trip to Catalina or even Nantucket.  From the late forties through early fifties would be my guess.

All of Us

I picked up this photo here, in southern California, so it's tempting to write that it's a shot of an outing to Catalina. (Click on Catalina in the labels section to pull up some examples.) Then again, the 1920s when this picture was most likely taken, was the era of passenger ships. Travelling from Los Angeles to San Fransisco, Seattle or Victoria, British Columbia was more likely to be done on a coastal steamer than by car. Too, liners were the main way to get to Hawaii, Asia, Europe or any place else not in North America. Then again, the twenties was also the era of gambling ships. With prohibition in force, and no handy casinos, southern Californians took small boats to ships anchored just outside the three mile limit where they could gamble to their heart's content and drink all the booze they could pay for. Written on the back, "All of us." Is it just me, or does the guy in the upper left look a lot like Eugene O'Neill?

S.S. Transylvania, The West Indies Run

When I buy these small collections of photographs, I'm usually drawn to only a few of the images. In this case, it was the photograph of the gentleman in his Tuxedo. Labeled, "Sabatine, Fred 1934 on ship," I at first thought he was a passenger on a cruise, but on closer inspection I began to think that he might have been the ship's photographer. Look closely, next to the chair, and a number of 8 x 10 film holders can bee seen. Used in large format view cameras, 8 x 10 film would most likely have been used in a passenger liner's photo studio, while a smaller format would have been used for candid shots taken in the ship's lounge. A probable scenario is that Mr. Sabatine set up his camera, and had an assistant press the shutter. (The 8 x 10 negative, trimmed out to about a 6 x 8 area was included in the sale.) Also, there is a hair printed into the chair. White in color, it would have been on the neg when printed. For a ship's passenger, it would most likely have been reprinted or spotted, but as a keepsake for the photographer, it wouldn't have been necessary. Finally, I couldn't help but notice the finger nail staining on Fred's right hand. Common for people who process black & white film without gloves. I know, I had purple nails for the first year I worked at a lab. Anyway, this is what I've been able to find out about the S.S. Transylvania, identified on the map. The Transylvania's keel was laid down in 1919 at Fairfield & Co., LTD. Glasgow, Scotland. It was built for the Anchor Line, a subsidiary of Cunard. It was launched on March 11, 1925, and made it's maiden voyage to Moville and New York. It had three funnels, even though only one was functional, two masts and twin screws. It was designed to carry 279 first class passengers, 344 in second and 800 in third. On March, 28, 1929, the Transylvania ran aground near Cherbourg, France. It was refitted several times. In 1935 (?) it made a voyage to Bermuda, and from 1937-39 was on a regular run from New York to the West Indies. On Sept. 7, 1939, it was requisitioned by the British Admiralty for use as an armed merchant cruiser. On Aug. 16, 1940, it was hit by a German torpedo, fired from the U-56. It was taken in tow, but sunk off of Malin Head in Northern Ireland. 48 lives were lost. Underwater pictures of the Transylvania, sitting upright and nearly intact can be seen at www.deepimage.co.uk/wrecks/Transylvania/Transylvania-wreckimages.htm Pictures of the Transylvania afloat can be seen at www.irishwrecksonline.net/details/Transylvania815.imagepage.htm There was another ship named the Transylvania in the Anchor Line fleet. It was sunk by a German torpedo in the first world war. As far as the other photos in this group, Crystal Cave in Bermuda was discovered in 1905 and has been giving tours ever since. It's labeled, "1934 Fred Sabatine, 1934 Bermuda, Bermuda." The picture of the capitol building and the house with the flamingos are both labeled, "Havana." The capitol building in Havana was modeled after the U.S. Capitol and was built in 1929. After the Cuban revolution in 1959, it was no longer used for governance, and now houses the Cuban Academy of Sciences. When I noted that the Transylvania made it's first voyage to Bermuda in 1935, I placed a question mark after the date. If Fred Sabatine was a ship's photographer and he was on the Transylvania on that first trip, then the date on the back of the Bermuda picture doesn't match what I've been able to find on-line. That doesn't necessarily mean anything, since a wrong date could have been written on the back of the print, years latter, from memory. For pictures made by a ship's photographer from the S.S. Lurline, click on cruise ships in the labels section. Added: I've run down an obit for Fred Sabatine from the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. Fred died on Sunday, Nov. 7, 1999, at the age of 96. He and his wife Alice, owned the Modern Photo service in Bangor, Pennsylvania. In his obit, it mentioned that Fred had studied photography in New York City, and that he had been a cruise ship photographer, working out of New York.

S. S. Lurline, Cruise Ship

I've managed to dig up quite a bit of information about the S.S. Lurline. It was built at the Bethlehem Shipyards in Quincey, Massachusetts in 1932 for the Matson Shipping Lines. It was used in the San Fransisco, Honolulu, Los Angeles service. After the attack on Pearl harbor, it became a troop transport. Returned to Matson in 1948, it returned to the Hawaii cruise routes. Sold in February of 1963, it was renamed the Ellinis and sailed out of Rotterdam. For more info, go to www.maritimematters.com/lurline32.html The photograph looks like it's of people on a dock, waiting for the Lurline to either arrive or depart port. The life preserver has LAHD printed on it. I'm sure the LA stands for Los Angeles, but HD? Hawaii dock, maybe? My guess, from the early to mid fifties.