Nagasaki

This is it.  The last of my nautically themed images...at least for awhile.

No, this postcard was not mailed from Nagasaki by a happy passenger making a first visit to Japan.  It was mailed from the New York offices of The Hamburg-Amerika Linie to the Reading Eagle in Reading, Pennsylvania.  It's a press release.  Pre-printed on the back of the card....

"New York, April 12, 1930

The "Resolute" arrived on time this morning at Nagasaki, as reported by radio-gram.  On the way there were Travel Lectures and a Bridge Tournament.

At Nagasaki, on the Island of Kyushu, Western Japan, the "Resolute" was greeted by the mayor and all other city Authorities, who gave our passengers a Luncheon with an address of welcome and Geisha Dances under the Cherry Blossoms.  This delightful reception was in Suwa Park, where is the Bronze Horse Temple, overlooking beautiful Nagasaki Harbor.

This is the place where resided if fictionally Puccini's Madame Butterfly and Pierre Loti's Madame Chrysantheme and their creators could not have chosen a more charming spot as the locale of their tragic romances.

Here every lover of the romantic and beautiful has felt a responsive thrill.

HAMBURG-AMERICAN LINE.

Printed in Germany."

I'm sure it would be possible to find out if the Resolute actually docked when this card said it did, and whether or not the entire city leadership showed up to celebrate it's arrival or not, but it is a pre-printed card, so I have my doubts.

Hamburg Amerikanische Paketfahrt Actien-Gesellschaft, (I'm glad I won't by typing that again) or in English, Hamburg American Packet Shipping Joint Stock Company,  was founded in 1847 to do one thing...make money from European emigrants headed to the United States.  As it's profits grew, the Hamburg-America Line expanded service to all  continents, excluding Antarctica. It became  the largest shipping company in Europe, and at times, the largest in the world.  In both World War 1 and World War 2, most of it's fleet was wiped out, but the company managed to survive both times.  In 1970, Hamburg-America  merged with Bremen based North German Lloyd to form HAPAG-Lloyd, still one of the world's largest shipping companies.  

Hamburg-America had a number of famous ships in it's fleet.  In 1939, The St. Louis, named for the French saint, not the city,   had a passenger list made up almost entirely of Jewish refugees.  After being denied entry into Cuba, the United States and finally Canada, it's captain refused to return the ship to German ports until he had found nations willing to accept his passengers.  Eventually he manged to get entry visas in a number of  European countries.   All except  England would be over run by the Nazis just a few years latter.

A far less famous ship, but one with an interesting history was The Amerika.  It first saw headlines in 1912.  While making a crossing from Hamburg to New York, it encountered heavy pack ice.  Its captain ordered his ship to come to a full stop, and also ordered a general advisory broadcast on the new Marconi wireless system.  With one exception, the Titanic, ship captains in the area either ordered a halt or slowed their ships to a crawl until daybreak. In 1914, The Amerka was at company docks in Boston when war was declared between Germany and Great Britain.  Realizing that it would be almost impossible for the ship to get back to its home port without being either captured or sunk, The Hamburg-America Line ordered the ship to stay in port.  When the United States entered the war, The Amerika was still in Boston and was immediately seized by the United States Shipping Board for use as a troop transport.  During the war, with its name Anglicised to The America, it carried troops to Europe as part of the navy.  After the war it brought them home as part of the army.  Returned to the U.S. Shipping board, in 1920, it was assigned to The United States Mail Steamship Company and after that companies demise, it was transferred to the United States Lines.  The America was a passenger liner on the north Atlantic run until 1931, when it was decommissioned and placed in mothballs.  With American entry into World War 2, it returned to service as a troop transport for the army with a new name,  The Edmund B. Alexander.  The ship survived the war undamaged, and continued in service ferrying troops,  and their dependents home, until 1949.  Returned to mothballs, it was scrapped in 1957.  I'm sure that the ship's designer saw his handiwork as an elegant and comfortable  way for passengers with a certain amount of money to get from Europe to the United States and back  Instead, his ship spent a large part of its life as a troop transport, dodging torpedoes in the north Atlantic.

Now, take one last look at this postcard.  In 1945, Nagasaki became the second city  (so far) to be destroyed be an atomic weapon.  Old photographs and postcards are a way of seeing a world that has disappeared or, sadly, been destroyed by one of the many wars of the past 100 years.  I don't think we're an admirable species.

Grace Arrives Safely

Postmarked, "NORFOLK, VA MAY 11, 12:30 PM 1931"  Addressed to "Mrs. Mattie Richardson, 4 Judson St., Haverhill, Mass."  And the message, "Mon. 7-45 A.M.  Dear Sister & Barbara, Just arriving at Norfolk.  Have had a nice trip.  A little rough & foggy.  Have been able to eat 3 meals a day which is more than most can say.  Grace"  Sounds like an adventure.

The Merchants & Miners Transportation Company was founded in 1852 providing passenger service between Boston and Baltimore.  Eventually, it would push routes south, beginning service to Miami in the twentieth century.  In 1926, the company bought three sister ships from the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company.  I've found a photograph, on the net,  of the particular ship design and it matches the illustration at the top of the card.  The Fairfax, The Chatham, and The Dorchester were used for the Florida run, they carried 314 passengers and 90 crew.  A few automobiles could be carried in the ship's hold for an extra charge.

With American entry into World War 2, the entire fleet of the Merchants & Miners was taken for use as troop transports by the U.S. Army.  The Fairfax survived the war, and after the war's end was sold to a Chinese company and  renamed the Chung Hsing.  The Chatham was torpedoed and sunk of Belle Isle Point, South Carolina,  in 1942.   It was the sinking of The Dorchester that made the news.  On the night of February 3, 1942, the ship was hit by a German torpedo 100 miles from Nassarssauk, Greenland. 675 people out of 906 on board died.

Among the dead were four army chaplains, Father John Washington (Catholic), Reverend Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed), Rabbi Alexander Goode (Jewish) and Rev. George Fox (Methodist).  The four chaplains gave up their life vests to others, and linked arms as the ship slid beneath the surface.  The captain also died.

After the war, the company didn't have enough capital to buy back or replace lost ships.  In 1948 they began liquidating assets and went out of business in 1952, 100 years after the founding of the company.

Because this card is a half tone, lots of little dots, I was unable to get a usable scan with out using the de-screen setting on the scanner.  That's why the images are a bit out of focus.

Little Gerhard In New York

As a rule I don't like to publish the backs of postcards, but my German is just too week to try and translate this message myself.  Limited to one term in college, almost forty years ago, I can make out Dear Mother and Dear Father, something left behind in Hamburg(?), the Zeppelin seen flying over New York.  If any actual German speakers would like to leave a reliable translation in the comments section, have at it.

I was able to find Gerhard Hansen's obituary in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  He was born September 30, 1921 in Flensburg, Germany.  His parents were Hans and Frieda Hansen.  He arrived in the United States when he was five years old, so 1926 or 1927.   He would have been fourteen when he sent this postcard to his parents in Wickliffe, Ohio.  After his military service, presumably in World War 2, he became a math teacher, married and fathered several children.  He died on May 10, 2011.

Scant information on a life that lasted 89 years.  I'd love to know why Hans and Frieda took their young son to the United States in the mid twenties.  After World War 1, Germany went through a period of economic disruption, including a period of hyper-inflation.  And of course,  that led to the rise of a number of fringe political parties including the Nazi party.  Were Hans and Frieda just looking for a better life, or were they political and saw the hand writing on the wall, and got out while it was still possible?  Perhaps they were right wingers who flirted with the German American Bund.  I'd love to know.  And what about Gerhard himself?  Had he made a visit back to Germany? Was he returning through New York?  If so, was he happy to be back in the USA, or did he long for the Germany of his early childhood?  And what about his military service? As a German speaker, he could have been in military intelligence, translating documents and interrogating prisoners, or he could have been just another grunt.  I'd love to know.

The RMS Queen Mary made her first voyage in 1936, the year this post card was mailed.  She was built at the John Brown & Company ship yard in Clydebank, Scotland.  Her first captain was Edgar Britten, seen on the  card.  Her owners were The Cunard White Star Line.  In 1940, The Queen Mary was requisitioned by the British government for use as a troop transport.  She was returned to her owners in 1946, and resumed the north Atlantic run in 1947.  By the late 1950s, few people were using ocean liners to cross the Atlantic. Jet airliners had become the favored means of travel between the United States and Europe.  The Queen Mary's last voyage was in 1967.  Put up for sale, the city of Long Beach, California outbid a scrap yard.  The ship has been used as a floating hotel and tourist attraction ever since.  In her final few years of service, the crew would often out number the passengers.

Interesting story about how the Queen Mary got it's name.  The ship's owners wanted to name it the Victoria.  As a courtesy, they approached King George V to ask his permission.  "Your majesty, we'd like your permission to name our newest liner after England's greatest queen."  "My wife," he replied, "would be delighted."   I have no idea whether the story is true or not, but it's a good one.