Party Party

Nothing written on the back of this photo, but I'm guessing the fifties and somewhere in Europe.  Take a look at the table top, and you'll see a pack of TAT cigarettes.  Now, I hate smoking.  My European mother was a smoker, and every time she lit up, I got a bad headache.  But, because of her habit, I have a working knowledge of American tobacco brands, and I've never heard of TAT.  Love the parasol.

Bad Decision on the Beach

Who thought this photo was a good idea?  Well, that's one of the nice things about film.  Our momentary lapses in judgement don't go away with the press of a delete button.  So here it is, for all to see.  A young woman allowing herself to be ridden on the beach.

Voyage 6

Well, this is it.  The last of the voyage photographs, and the only group that has pictures of native Patagonians.   I wonder what the passengers on this voyage made of them.  The one famous Patagonian that I know about is Jemmy Button.  His real name was Orundellico and he was born somewhere around 1815, give or take a year or two either way.  In 1830, Captain Robert Fitzroy of HMS Beagle,  had a boat stolen by natives while exploring the southern tip of South America and the Straits of Magellan.  When it wasn't returned, he took four natives as hostages.  When the stolen boat still wasn't returned, he took the  hostages back to England.  One died of smallpox, but the other three, including Jemmy, made it to England and became minor celebrities.   A year latter when Fitzroy was ordered on another voyage, this time carrying a young naturalist named Charles Darwin,  the three surviving natives were given  passage back to their homes.  In 1855, Christian missionaries made contact with Jemmy Button's band and found that he still had a grasp of English.  By 1859, the missionaries found themselves unwelcome and were killed.  Jemmy was called to give evidence before a court in 1860.  In 1864, Jemmy Button died.

Written on the backs of the photos, top to bottom.  "Indians in Smiths Chanel,"  "Smyth Chanel,"  "Smiths Chanel,"  "Evening Atlantic side,"  "Smyth Canal Smyth's Chanel difficult pass near straights of Magellan,"  "Straights of Magellan,"  "Smith's Chanel."

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."

Voyage 4

This grouping has the one really, really dull photo of the lot.  Palm trees?  Who takes pictures of palm trees when there are so many seascapes around.  It also has the worst caption of the lot.  Something unreadable, then Tal, Chili.  I went to an online gazetteer and couldn't find anything even close.  If it's the name of a settlement, it might be one that has faded from history.  Maybe the settlement failed because of the palm trees. The top photo is of a town called Tocopilla, yet another small port in the Antafogasta section of Chili that has grown quite a bit since the photo was taken.  In the 2002 census, 23,986 people.   In 2007, an earthquake made 4,000 people homeless out of a population that had grown to 27,000.  Tocopilla is also the hometown of film maker and artist, Alejandro Jodorowsky, director of cult classic, El Topo.  The bottom photo...look beyond the sailboat, and the town that is off in the distance is Punta Arenas, misspelled Arrenas.  Punta Arenas was founded as a penal colony in 1848.  Today it's the capitol of Magellanes & Antarctic Chilena, and is the major resupply port for science stations in Antarctica.

Written on the backs of the photos, top to bottom.  "Tocopilla, Chili," "Straights of Magellan,"  "Straights of Magellan," "(Unreadable) Tal, Chili,"  and "Punta Arrenas near Straights of Magellan."

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?