Sepia Saturday - Boats, Docks and Lighthouses

The Sepia Saturday suggestion for this week seems to be about Boats and Harbors and Docks and Lighthouses.

Of course the first thing I thought of was my own photograph that I titled "The View From The George."

I shot this with my old trusty Nikon 950 while sipping a glass of red wine and resting my tootsies from a miles long walk on the beach, collecting sea-glass for a mosaic I never made. (I still have the glass. Ah, someday...)

The George was one of our favorite stops during frequent journeys to the beach and shops. It was a very pleasant year I spent in Brid; one of the gems of my life.

If you take GoogleEarth to Harbor Road in Bridlington, just outside the Harbour Rock Shop, you can look up at the second floor window of the George where I got this shot.



Ain't technology grand?

But on to the task at hand.

I did a search for Boats, Harbors, Docks and Lighthouses and rounded up some rather interesting rescued photographs for this week.

NEW ADDITIONS

A guy on a wharf with a ship in the background.
He's wearing Saddle Shoes.

The Waban sails at midnight.

(You got ketchup on that shirt. It'll never come out. And look at those pants.)

From a Very Informative Web Site:
The pertinent paragraphs say:

"Built under United States Shipping Board contracts (WW I) by G. M. Standifer Construction Corp., Vancouver, Wash., completed as Waban (USSB) in 1919. Design 1015; 9400 tdw, 402 ft x 53 ft. Owned by Lykes Bros-Ripley SS Co. in 1933. Purchased from USA by British Ministry of Shipping in 1940, renamed Empire Sambar. On March 6-1941 she had an explosion in engine room while at sea; towed in, repaired, and renamed Empire Beaver (M.O.W.T.) in 1942. (Info from Mitchell & Sawyer's "Empire Ships", received from Barbara Mumford).

This was one of 19 ships transferred to Nortraship in 1942, see my page "Ship Statistics & Misc." under Empire Ships for names of the other 18. Taken over at Mersey on April 5-1942 and given the name Norhauk."

So this photograph had to have been taken before 1941.

US Army LT 787 and LT 22.

Here's four ships away from the dock.

A ship passing a stage coach ... well maybe a bus or another ship.

Ferry Boat

A shot of an entertainment crew aboard a troop ship probably. Looks like maybe the '40's.

Algernon Trousers

This really is a found photo. It was found on the sidewalk in front of an old house that was now for rent and empty. Some one had obviously dropped it while moving out. After scanning it, I left it in an envelope at the house next door to the rental for safe keeping in case someone ever returned for it.

Next door just happened to be the studio of Christopher Griffin the world famous artist. Chris and I had become acquainted a few months earlier.

There is a reason for everything.

Now these three photographs come from one of those books of over 300 35mm negatives that I found in a basement of an "antique" mall in Wichita Falls, Texas. They were no doubt destined for a dumpster. What a loss it would have been.

From their content, the date of many of the photographs have been established to the winter of 1944-1945, mostly at Bassingbourn Air Base in the UK.

The photographer was stationed at the base but did have a chance to tour a bit as some of the negatives show. Here are three such photographs. Fortunately he made brief notations in the negative file about many of the photographs.

St. John's Harbor

St. John's Harbor


Ship in the harbor.

I am sure it was all accidental but this snapshot is a work of art to me. The color, the balance, the action, the emotion and the message. It is a very fine photograph. It's just a tourist snap.

I printed a copy of this one slightly larger that the original and framed it with a wide mat.

On the reverse is says merely:
"E. Pascagoula Light"

This is a found photograph of a lighthouse near where the Mississippi meets the Gulf. How it migrated to a junk shop in Oklahoma is anyone's guess.

The East Pascagoula Lighthouse was established in 1886 and destroyed in the hurricane of 1906. See this listing.

Back a couple years ago when I researched the photograph I found only one other photograph and two or three paintings of it.

I liked the photograph so much that I did some adjusting and work on it in Photoshop. Then it was enlarged to 16" X 16" and transferred by a secret method to canvas. Finally, there was some adjusting directly to the canvas.

An exciting shot. Too bad it was so badly damaged before it was rescued.

So as the sun sets slowly in the East, we bid farewell to our visit to the docks.

In the immortal words of Bob and Ray, "Write if you get work and hang by your thumbs."

Now all aboard and bon voyage on your trip back to The Sepia Saturday home page to find another excursion to delight the senses and make you hungry.

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Area 51 and a Half You are probably not authorized to see these.

Don't take my picture! Oh! You DID didn't you! This is a collection of photographs that disappear on the way home from the photo processing shop.

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THE KIDS It is always a mystery how a photograph of any of these precious children could end up lost or abandoned. Here are a few. You will probably say "Ooh..." at least once.

Dee and the Business School
The beautiful Dee. A curious story; What do you see?

WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?

"What are they doing?"