A Proper Send-off

When a ship sets sail, it's important to say goodbye properly. And how do you do that? With streamers, of course!

George Jackman, State Library of Queensland

The Stratheden, Hamilton, Australia, 1930s-50s. Source

Sam Hood, Australian National Maritime Museum

The S. S. Ceramic, Sydney, c. 1925. Source

Sam Hood, Australian National Maritime Museum

The S. S. Ceramic, Sydney, c. 1925. Source

Dazzle Paint

In World War One, ships were frequently dazzle-painted-- painted all over with crazy lines and stripes, which served to confuse their locations and outlines to enemy submarines and ships in the days before radar.  These were not only black and white, as they appear in these photos-- shades of blue and acquamarine alternated with grey and black (as in this terrific painting by Group of Seven painter Arthur Lismer). Even at the time observers noted how harbours ended up looking like a floating modernist art show! Fascinating and beautiful... why don't we bring dazzle paint back? :)

Note: some of the very best dazzle paint photographs I found were unavailable for free use by me; if you are interested, dozens more are here. 

Gunboat H.M.S. Kildangan. Source

HMAS Borda. Source

Liner turned troopship HMS Aquitania. Source

HMS Argus, the first British aircraft carrier. Source

Minelayer USS Shawmut, left, being surronded by a smokescreen by the HMS Vampire. Source

HMAS Melbourne. Source

HMAS Kanimbla, WWII. Source

French cruiser FFS Gloire. Source

The Mauretania. Source

HMS Nairana. Source

A brilliant London Transport poster for the Imperial War Museum, 1936, by Edward Wadsworth. Source

Based on this amazing painting.

Animals at Sea Part Two

Another set of wonderful photographs of ship's pets and mascots!

With many, many thanks to the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (UK)-- all images from their collection. 

Part One ! 

A cat of the HMAS Encounter, cozy in a gun muzzle, WWI. Source

Admiral Sir Percy Scott with Peter, the Eland [a type of antelope] mascot of the H.M.S. Good Hope, c. 1908. Source

The Captain with dog Ollie aboard the Holt Hill, c. 1910. Source

Sailors and dog of HMS Laforey, 1915-16. Source

A dog named Monarch aboard the HMS Alexandra, 1887. Source

Mongoose mascot of HMS Emerald, c. 1928. Source

Mr. P. Anderson with dog Russ aboard the Scotia, c. 1902. Source

Poodle aboard an unknown yacht, late 19th century. Source

Rex of the HMS Tiger, c. 1916. Source

Goat mascot of HMS Irresistible, early 20th C. Source

Edward, the Prince of Wales, with a dog aboard the HMS Hindustan, 1911. Source

The Master and Mates with the ship's dog, aboard the Grace Harwar, 1929. Source

A bath for ship's dog Lamps, undated. Source

The mascot of HMS Renown, c. 1941. Source

Apparently a favourite place for cats! Cats of the HMS Hawkins, 1919-21. Source

Ships of Sail

Because we love tall ships. 

The docks at Leith, the port town of Edinburgh, Scotland, 1840s. Source

Soldiers aloft on the ship Garthsnaid, off New Zealand. 1920. Source

Ships in the South West India Docks, London, c. 1880. Source

A ship grounded on a small island off Florida following a hurricane, 1899. Source

The Discovery in Antarctica, 1901. Source

The winner of the last race of sailing ships carrying grain from Australia to the UK, c.1950. The winning time was about four months. Source

Ships on the Thames at Greenwich, c. 1890s. I love the 'ghosts' of moving people in the foreground. Source

Antarctica, 1915-- in Colour!

I remember being amazed looking at a book of photographs from Shackleton's voyages to Antarctica in the early decades of the 20th century -- it felt like looking at pictures of the expeditions through the Northwest Passage, which were mostly before photography was invented at all. And then I found there are not only photographs, there are colour photographs. As I've talked about before, in a post on WWI colour photos, there is just something about colour photography that brings the scene so much closer. 

These photographs are by Frank Hurley, an Australian photographer who went along with several expeditions to Antarctica (as well as photographing both world wars). In addition to being fascinating, they are exceptionally beautiful, created by a true master of the form. 

The expedition is Ernest Shackleton's 1914-1917 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, during which the ship Endurance was trapped in pack ice and ultimately abandoned and crushed. Most of her crew, including Shackleton and Hurley, were ultimately rescued after a fair amount of hardship. 

Photographer Frank Hurley himself under the bow of the Endurance. Source

The Endurance in mid-winter ice. Source

Dog teams scouting a way to land. Source

The bosun John Vincent repairing a net. Source

The icefield preventing the expedition from reaching land, with the Endurance. Source

The rigging of the Endurance coated with ice. Source

Ernest Shackleton himself watching a lead form. Source

A view of the Endurance. Source

The Endurance under full sail. Source

A view of the Endurance through ice and snow. Source

Pets of the Seven Seas

I find it so wonderful how people the world over, at all different times and in all different circumstances, have wanted to have animals with them as pets (see Wartime Pets Part One and Two!). I'm typing with a cat sitting on my feet-- and I love being able to think that people in the past have felt the very same delight for and love of their pets that we still do. 

Today's example of this touching endurance are ship's pets. Both in peace and wartime pets have taken to the seas and been well beloved. Ship's cats certainly have a use in going after the rats and mice, but you soon see in photographs of cats and sailors that this was hardly their only purpose. There are loads of dogs, birds, monkeys... and even more exotic pets, as shall be seen! The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, UK, has a magnificent collection of these photographs, and this shall assuredly be the first in a series. 

Able Seaman 'Just Nuisance', ship's dog in the Second World War. Source

The ship's cat and ship's dog sharing a gun barrel on the HMS Barham, c. 1916. Source

Kitten on a snowy day aboard Steam Yacht 'Morning', 1902. Source

Cat up in the shrouds with seaman aboard the Pommern, date unknown. Source

'Teaching a parrot swear words', as the caption has it, on the Raglan Castle, 1900. Source

Collies aboard the tea clipper Cutty Sark, c. 1885. Source

Even a wallaby aboard the HMS Renown, c.1920! Source

The ship's cat Salvo and dog Shrapnel on the HMAS Sydney, 1940. Source