Voyage 3

What would have been the best part of this voyage?  The long days at sea, or port calls at small South American coastal towns?  I'm just glad that someone who knew how to take a good photograph was a long for the trip.   The first photo is of Talcahuana, Chili.  According to the 2002 census, Talcahuana had over 250,000 people.  On February 27, 2010, an 8.8 earthquake and tsunami hit the Chilean coast near Talchuana and made 80% of the population homeless.  The mayor estimates that it will take at least a decade to recover.   The port in the final picture is Gatico, like Caleta Coloso, seen in the first post from this collection is in the Antofogasta section of the country.  It has less than 1,000 residents as of 2002.  Click on the second photo in the column to get a better view of the steamship in the distance.

Written on the backs of the photos, top to bottom, "Talcahuana, Chile,"  "Magellan Straights,"  "Straights of Magellan,"  "Evangelisten, West of the Magallen Straights,"  and "Gatico, Chili."

The Voyage 2

Is it just me, or do others find the new Blogger set up to be needlessly complex and not all that good.  Oh well, what can you do.  The tech heads are our new rulers.  I suspect, one day, we'll all have to pay tribute to the technically inclined.  A little bow, touch the cap brim, and say, "Please sir, can you look with pleasure on my unworthy self."

So, back to the southern seas collection.  Imagine a world, before air travel, before the Panama Canal, when  getting cargo or passengers from one ocean to another required a voyage through the southern seas.  The route from Atlantic to Pacific involved a trip through the Straits of Magellan.  A narrow channel between the mainland of South America and Tierra del Fuego.  The straits were protected from the harsh conditions of the open ocean, but still subject to bad whether, powerful and unpredictable currents, and shallow reefs.

Written on the backs of the photos from top to bottom, "Smythe Canal,"  "Smythe Canal,"  "Straights of Magellan,"  Gletseher Bar,  Straights of Magellan, Crossing the Bar,"  Magellan Straights," and "German Sailing Ship."  Note, a strait is a narrow channel between two pieces of land.  Straight is, well a straight line.  The photos may have been taken by a seaman, but one who didn't know the difference between the two words.

And why doesn't the spellls chekr wokr?

The Voyage 1

I found this interesting collection of photos from a sea voyage, taken sometime in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, that I'll be putting up over the next few weeks. I don't know whether they were taken by a professional photographer, a crew member, or passenger.

Written on the back of the first photo in the column, "German Sailing Ship Thekla, Atlantic" Much to my surprise, I was able to run down some information on the Thekla. It was built in 1892 in Newcastle, England was registered in Hamburg, Germany and ran aground in a hurricane at North End Beach in Algoa Bay on the east coast of South Africa. It was carrying a cargo of sugar from Mauritius. The second photo is labeled, "Smith Chanel." The third, "Caleto Coloso, Chile." Today, Caleta Coloso is a private port owned by Minera Escandida, Ltd., a Chilean copper company and is used to ship copper ore. Caleta Coloso is in the Antofagasta area in northern Chili. The fourth photo is labeled, "Cape Pillar Straights of Magellan." The final photo is labeled, "Cape Forward Straights of Magellan."

Number 700, Olita Brown and Her Dobro

Post number 700, (I never thought it would last this long.) and it's time to visit the past. When I first started putting up these old photos, I wasn't getting a lot of visitation. In a good week, I was lucky to get a dozen or so hits, and it wasn't uncommon to not have any. Because so many of the early posts have gone unseen, I've decided to do a repeat from those early days every so often. At least every 100, maybe more often, but not that often. This snapshot of Olita Brown and her Dobro was put up on August 8, 2009, and then I wrote a very brief paragraph about the history of the Dobro guitar. This time, I'm just going to suggest that the viewer click on the image to bring it up in a bigger window and check out that wild dress she's wearing. I can't imagine it was store bought. Click on musical instruments in the labels to see the original post and get a very brief over view of the Dobro.

Fishing in Color

A very faded color. That's the problem with old color snapshots. They have a tendency to turn pink. At least this guy looks like he had fun, if not a lot of success. Stamped on the back, "THIS IS A KODACOLOR PRINT MADE BY EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY T. M. REGIS. U. S. PAT. OFF. Week Ending Nov. 3, 1956 II Ro 1"

Spring

The ice is breaking up on the lake and, while it's still a bit chilly, those winter coats aren't needed anymore. But where was this picture taken? I wish I knew.

Dancing the Night Away

How did she get on the dance floor without knocking stuff over? At the very least, that dress must have kept other dancers off the dance floor.