Sepia Saturday 222: A Question of Berthage

Last year I had some correspondence with Bill Forster relating to the Stalag XXID Prisoner of War Camp at Poznan in Poland, which I wrote about in the story of Bill Ball and Work Camp 9. Bill had another query in connection with his own research on a group of sailors who also ended up in Stalag XXID:

I have a puzzle in identifying a photograph of a (French?) port where a requisitioned LNER ferry is berthed which carried the troops of the BEF to France in 1939-40. This is in connection with the book I published about my father's wartime destroyer, HMS Venomous, which I update between editions on my web site. I have successfully identified photographs taken by the men on Venomous at Calais on 21 May 1940 and at Boulogne on 22 May 1940 and uncovered some fascinating stories of the refugees they landed at Folkestone and Dover.

HMS Archangel by Eric Pountney
Image courtesy of Bill Forster

But [I] was puzzled by [this] photograph taken by the Wireless Telegraphy Operator, Eric Pountney, until it was identified by members of the "Ships Nostalgia" Forum as the LNER ferry Archangel which was used as a troop transport in 1939-40.

HMS Archangel at northern French port, by Lt Peter Kershaw RNVR
Image courtesy of Bill Forster

I have recently found a further photograph in my own collection taken by Lt Peter Kershaw of a ship which looks very similar berthed alongside a quay with railways wagons. But where was it taken? Venomous escorted troop carriers from the Solent (Southampton/Portsmouth) to Cherbourg, Le Havre and Brest in the first few weeks of the war and I suspect it would have been taken at one of these channel ports. Where there are no letters or journals - as in the case of Eric Pountney - I rely on his photographs to tell the story.

What I've done is had a good look at all three of the ports that Bill mentioned - Cherbourg, Le Havre and Brest - using the myriad of postcard views that are available, many of them on the Delcampe postcard auction web site. European postcard publishers were prolific, and there are a wealth of sources on the net for images of scenic postcards published before, during and after the Great War, up to the mid- to late 1920s. There appear to be far fewer from the 1930s, and I suspect that this may have been due to financial pressures caused by the Depression, although I haven't found a confirmation of what is really just an assumption on my part to explain the apparent paucity of images.


Le Havre, Bassin de l'Eure, undated postcard view
From what I can tell, Le Havre was the only one of the three which had the very distinctive tower lights, one of which appears close to the edge of the quay at centre-left in Bill's Archangel photo. They are very tall, probably of steel construction with a lattice framework, and are characterised by a curious bell-shaped frame for the lamp hanging from a short at the top. The lighting towers appear in most of the postcard views of Le Havre port from the early 1900s until the late 1920s - as in the view above, undated but probably from the 1920s.


The Inner Harbor, Le Havre, by Camille Pissarro, 1903
Image courtesy of The Web Gallery of Impressionism
They are also depicted in many paintings by Impressionist artists, who appear to have congregated in Le Havre before and after the turn of the century. A typical example painted by that "father of the Impressionists," Camille Pissaro, in 1903 includes one of the characteristic tower lights.


La Nouvelle Digue - The New Dike, Le Havre, postcard view, PM 1927

Sadly, I've been unable to find any images of the port, wharves and quays which show railway carriages, or even areas clearly identifiable as railway sidings, although there were tramlines on some of the quays which serviced the ocean liners, I believe. However, I did find a 1927 (postmark) postcard depicting "La Nouvelle Digue" (or, The New Dike), which may well be where railway sidings were later built. The port was extensively damaged by bombing during the Second World War, so looking at modern photographs is probably no use at all.


Bassin des Torpilleurs, Brest, postcard view, PM 1912
None of the postcards I could find for Brest displayed such tower lights.


L'Entrée des Jetées, Cherbourg, postcard view, PM 1908
I did find a postcard view of the port at Brest with a similar tower light, but the design was sufficiently different to rule it out as a candidate for the Archangel's berth. While I can't rule out this particular quay being at some other as yet unidentified port, I think I can be fairly confident in saying that it's not either Cherbourg or Brest. If the Archangel only visited these three ports, then it was, in all likelihood, Le Havre.

I'm grateful to Bill Forster for permission to include the contents of his email and the the HMS Archangel photographs in this article. I have primarily aimed at demonstrating how the huge database of scenic images, in particular of old postcards, now available in various locations on the internet can be used to research and identify our own family photographs. Apart from the postcards for sale on various auction sites such as Delcampe and eBay, there are many web sites created by postcard enthusiasts. A little inventive searching will find the one with a particular focus that you're looking for.

If you haven't yet had your fill of reading about old photographs and postcards, the remainder of this week's Saturday sepians will no doubt have plenty more.

Sepia Saturday 92: All aboard the Bournemouth Queen for the Isle of Wight

When in 1914 Uncle Hallam and Aunt Sarah Payne handed over the family grocery and off-licence at 83 St James' Road, Derby to his younger brother Fred and retired to live Dale Cottage, Ingleby, they were only in the mid-forties. Hallam's mother had died in February that year, his father seven years earlier, and he had inherited a number of residential properties in Derby, from which he must have received a reaonable income.

What did they do to occupy themselves, apart from collecting - and presumably reading - the piles of newspapers and books which filled much of their house? Well, the photographic record suggests that they regularly spent at least a part of their summers visiting various seaside resorts. In Sidewalk Photographers I presented a series of "walking pictures" taken of them with various other family members in Great Yarmouth (1931, 1937 and 1938) and Bournemouth (1932 and 1933).


Passengers aboard the Bournemouth Queen, 15 September 1923
Image © and courtesy of Barbara Ellison
This snapshot was also taken by a professional, but is not a "walkie." Here the photographer has opted to capture his tourist clientele en masse, conveniently gathered together on the top aft deck of an excursion boat. The boat appears to be tied up on the western side of the Bournemouth Pier, the characteristic Dorset cliffs being visible in the background, and possibly the Bournemouth beach huts and amusement arcade at the foot of the cliff. In some respects, it could be considered the same genre of commercial portrait to that of a charabanc outing that my Dutch grandparents had on the Isle of Wight, also in the early 1920s.


Mobile sales tent for Bailey's postcards
Image © Martin Parr, Photography: a critical introduction, Liz Wells
Courtesy of Google Books
Provided the excursion was long enough, as soon as the boat departed the photographer would have time to nip into his dark room, possibly even a small booth on or close to the pier, develop the negative and have a couple of dozen postcard prints of each on display and for sale by the time the boat returned.



The negative was inscribed in black ink - reversed to white on the print, of course - with "Queen 15.9.23" at the lower left, the latter being the date of the photograph, 15th September 1923, and the number "1999" on the funnel, presumably a negative number. An enlargement of the lifebelt hanging over the railings shows that the boat was the Bournemouth Queen registered at Southampton.


Red Funnel Steamers postcard of Bournemouth Queen
Image © and courtesy of Alwyn Ladell
According to Ian Boyle's comprehensive web site Simplon Postcards, devoted to passenger ships, the Bournemouth Queen was a paddle steamer of the Red Funnel Line serving as an excursion ship out of Bournemouth for most of its lengthy career, which included service in both world wars, before being finally scrapped in 1957. There was another Bournemouth Queen based in Poole who also operated on the Bournemouth-Isle of Wight run from 1968 to 1973.


Bournemouth Queen advertising signboard
Image courtesy of Ian Boyle/Simplon Postcards
This photograph of the later ship taking on passengers shows a signboard on the gangway advertising daily trips to the Isle of Wight departing from Bournemouth at 10.15 a.m. and returning at 6 pm, with the opportunity to spend 4½ hours ashore, and coach tours of the island available if booked in advance. Granted this was several decades later, but it indicates that there would have been plenty of time for photo developing and printing before the customers returned.


The back of the postcard reveals the photographer to be "Bailey, 228 A Christchurch Rd., Bournemouth." Alwyn Ladell tells me that Ernest Benjamin Bailey operated first from 240/242 Old Christchurch Road, then later at Glen Fern Chambers/Glen Fern Studios in Bournemouth, and the range of dates that I've seen on similar postcards extends from 1914 to 1940. The negative number clearly visible on most examples could be used to order copies at a later date. This might suggest that negative numbers could therefore be used to establish a date sequence, and thus lead to an estimation of the number of photographs he was taking.


Analysis of postcard negative numbers, Bailey of Bournemouth, 1914-1938 © Brett Payne
However, after a preliminary analysis of the numerous examples of Bailey's postcards available on the net - a selection can be seen on Alwyn Ladell's Flickr photostream - there doesn't appear to be a single sequence of negative numbers, and it's possible he started a new series each season.



My aunt has inscribed the reverse of the postcard in blue pen, with the suggestion that her father (CLLP) is seated 5th from left in the front row, and "Sarah & Hallam also CVP right of funnel ... three rows behind," CVP being CLLP's father and Hallam's older brother. I've had a good look at a higher resolution image of the postcard and, while Sarah and Hallam (shown above) are unmistakeable, I don't think either CLLP or CVP are on that boat.


Passengers aboard the Bournemouth Queen, 16 August 1923
Image © and courtesy of "Billy Voak, The Pagham Wanderer"
paghamwanderer.wordpress.com
This postcard, also by Bailey and taken only a few weeks before Uncle Hallam and Aunt Sarah were in Bournemouth, shows the same vessel but is a far more interesting view of passengers on the foredeck. Apart from the wonderful detail of the excursionists sporting a fine array of hats, clothing and accessories, there is a magnificent view of the holidaymakers arrayed in their deckchairs or promenading past the beach huts and amusement arcades on Bournemouth beach, a few ankle deep in the water, some even preparing to board a smaller pleasure boat. What a different feel it has to the one showing Uncle Hallam and Aunt Sarah, where all are dressed in heavy overcoats, the sun does not appear to be showing its face, and there is no action in the background to liven things up.


Passengers disembarking from Bournemouth Queen, 25 April 1935
Postcard by Bailey, Glen Fern Studios, Bournemouth
Image © and courtesy of Scott Henderson/Striderv
Sometimes he would photograph the passengers disembarking from the steamer, presumably on their return from the Isle of Wight. Perhaps they were given tickets by an assistant, printed with the negative number, and told they could return the next day for the prints.


Coloured Postcard view of Bournemouth Pier from the West Cliff, n.d.
Image © and courtesy of David Gregory/Postcards of the Past
This early postcard view from the West Cliff by an unknown publisher - possibly James Valentine or Photochrom - shows the popular beach and the pier, and a paddle steamer moored beside the latter.


Postcard photo, Bailey, Glen Fern Studios, Bournemouth, 1939
Image © and courtesy of Doreen Smith
As shown by the photograph above of an exuberant group of swimmers at the beach, and another of more sedate beachgoers occupying deckchairs below, Bailey did not restrict himself to the pier, and when there were no excursion boats to be serviced he no doubt touted for business along the waterfront.


Postcard photo, Bailey, Glen Fern Studios, Bournemouth, n.d.
Image © and courtesy of David Vickers/Reminiscene

Pier Approach, Bournemouth, 20 August 1935
Postcard view by Bailey, Glen Fern Studios, Bournemouth
Image © and courtesy of Dorset Coast Digital Archive
A further postcard by Bailey of the Pier Approach, Bournemouth is of a different genre, which indicates that he also produced more general views, and probably had them on sale along with his specific excursion oriented group shots at the tent shown earlier.

Don't forget to head over to Sepia Saturday to be entertained by more photographs, perhaps along a similar theme to either this one or Alan Burnett's image of a London & North Western Railway Co. office in Waterford, Ireland.

Back to Canada on the ‘Old Reliable’

Almost a fortnight ago, in Hospital Blues, I wrote about my grandfather’s wounding at the Battle of Arras in August 1918, his subsequent recuperation back in England, and the desolating loss of his bride of one year, within days of his arriving home from the hospital.


1. Sergeant Leslie Payne (at left) and another, unidentified CEF sergeant aboard the HMT Olympic, January 1919 [1]
Among my aunt’s collection of family photos inherited from her father are a group of loose prints which include a series of eight snapshots taken on board a ship, some including soldiers in Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) uniforms. That they relate to my grandfather is clear since he appears in one of them, garbed in standard issue greatcoat and cap, similar to how he was in the image used in my previous article, standing in the snow, one hand in his pocket. The other soldier, also a sergent, is unidentified, but he looks vaguely familiar, so it may be that I've seen him previously in another of my grandfather's photos.


It is clear that the remainder of the images form a series taken on the same journey from the purple batch number "5 9" stamped on the back of the prints. I have assumed for some time that they were taken by Leslie or a friend on the journey back across the Atlantic to Canada immediately prior to his demobilisation in early 1919.


Leslie Payne's CEF Active Service Form, B.103
from The CEF Paper Trail
Upon returning to the Canadian Machine Gun Depot (CMGD) at Seaford in Sussex in late October, and with the war ending a couple of weeks later, duties must have been light. After another month there, Leslie was transferred to Kinmel Park, near Rhyl in North Wales – as shown by the final entry on his Active Service Form above - in advance of his repatriation to Canada.


Camp at Kinmel Park, early 1919
Marc Leroux, on his excellent Canadian Great War Project web site, described the conditions at Kinmel Park.

For the 17,400 troops at Kinmel Park, conditions were far from ideal. The days were filled with exercises that they thought meaningless, medical examinations, route marches and military discipline and training. For them the war was over and they didn’t see the need. They were anxious to return to Canada, not just to their families, but they also realized that the first soldiers home would have the pick of the available jobs, and no one wanted to come home from the war and be unemployed. At Kinmel Park, there was the military bureaucracy to overcome. Troops awaiting transport had to fill in some 30 different forms with approximately 360 questions. The food they were fed was bad; it had been compared to “pigswill”. At night, the troops had access to “Tin Town” a nearby group of shops and pubs that had inflated their prices to take advantage of the, comparatively, well paid Canadian soldier. After a month of these rates, many soldiers were broke.

HMT Olympic, c. 1919
Image courtesy of Library and Archives Canada
Leslie was one of the fortunate ones. Not long after New Year he was one of a large contingent who entrained for Southampton, where they boarded the HMT Olympic, sister ship of the ill-fated Titanic, according to his service records, around the 9th to 11th January 1919. Originally launched in 1911 and described at the time as the "largest vessel in the world," the Olympic had been commandeered by the British Admiralty and extensively refitted at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast to carry 6000 troops. The image above shows the "Old Reliable" as she became known during her wartime service, displaying a "dazzle" paint scheme and with soldiers lining the railings [2].


2.

3. On board the HMT Olympic, January 1919
The two images above, from my grandfather's set, show what appears to be the foredeck of the ship with soldiers standing around and lined up at the railings. To the right, in the second photo, are some buildings which demonstrate that the ship is berthed in port somewhere.


RMS Olympic berthed in New York, undated
This image shows the foredeck of the Olympic, when berthed in New York a few years earlier, probably prior to her being pressed into service for the war effort. The similarities are striking.


Wounded Canadians on Olympic entering Halifax, October 1916 [2]
This view is from David Gray's comprehensive study of the Olympic's service during the war, well worth a read if just for the first-hand accounts of living conditions aboard [2].


Canadian Troops Embarking for Canada on HMT Olympic

The still above is from a YouTube version of a clip from the Canadian film archive, Images of a Forgotten War, the original of which can be viewed here. About 45 seconds into the clip, the camera pans across the exact view of the Olympic's foredeck shown in Leslie's two photos, leaving me in no doubt that Leslie and friends were on the Olympic.


4. On board the HMT Olympic, January 1919 [1]
In these two photos from my grandfather's trip, possibly taken in opposing directions, four funnels and some of the lifeboats can be seen. Following the disastrous sinking of her sister ship the Titanic in 1912, and the public outrage at there not being enough lifeboats for all of the passengers and crew, the Olympic had been extensively rebuilt and lifeboats were now available for all. Presumably the later 1914-1915 refit, which included the addition of "a 4.7-inch gun at the bow and a 3-inch gun at the stern" also supplemented the number of lifeboats on board. The large gun seen in the photo at the head of this article must be one of the six 6-inch guns which were installed as added protection in early 1917.


5. On board the HMT Olympic, January 1919 [1]
In the background of this shot can be seen the spires of two churches. I wonder if it might be possible to identify these, and therefore decide whether the photographs were taken in Southampton docks, prior to their departure, or in Halifax, after their arrival. My insticts suggest the photos would most likely have been taken soon after their arrival on board, before the novelty of shipboard life had worn off. A postcard of the Olympic and Mauretania berthed in Southampton (here) has a similar church spire in the background, but I'm sure there were church spires in Halifax too.


6.
A further two views show more detail from the deck of the ship, including funnels, cranes, ventilation shafts, railings, lifeboats, benches, cables, pipes and plenty more to delight the naval enthusiast.


7.
This is my favourite photograph from the entire series - a real shipboard shot. Sadly, there are no more in which my grandfather or his friend can be identified.


8.
My guess is that this last photo was taken shortly after they left the Ocean Pier at Southampton Docks, as the Olympic was sailing down Southampton Water towards The Solent, and hence to the Channel, the North Atlantic, and Halifax. An expert in ships of the period might be able to identify the vessel being passed. Coincidentally, Larry Burgus posted a photograph of a very similar ship to this, one in which his father was sent to the war, as a Sepia Saturday article a couple of weeks ago.


Portion of the HMT Olympic's passenger manifest
Southampton-Halifax 18th January 1919
After a trans-Atlantic crossing of about 8 to 10 days, they arrived at Halifax on January 18th at 11.30 am. The passenger manifest (above) includes three other sergeants from the CMGD, both from Winnipeg, and I wonder if one of these could be the soldier pictured with Leslie. They are:
- 440699 Sgt. Valmore Orville Forest, CMGD, enlisted 53rd Bn, Winnipeg
- 859574 Sgt. Charles Murray, CMGD, enlisted 179th Bn, Winnipeg
- 531662 A/Sgt John Mackney Roe, CMGD, enlisted 11th Fld Amb., Winnipeg

Post Script 14 June 2011


Plan of HMT Olympic showing photo locations
(Click image for larger version)
Image © and courtesy of Ralph Currell
This plan of the HMT Olympic, overlaid with the positions and fields of view of my grandfather's photographs, was very kindly sent to me by Ralph Currell, who has an interest in the ship's wartime career.

As might be imagined, due to wartime restrictions on photography there are many areas that are poorly documented, such as the armament, extra life rafts, and so forth. The images on your blog show a number of details that don't often appear in photographs ... they mostly pertain to the armament added to the ship during the war. If you look at my drawing you can see there are six guns (four forward and two on the after part of the ship). Your photos show an interesting stage where the forward guns have been removed (you can barely see one of the deck mountings in cllpayne21.jpg) but the after ones are still in place (as seen in cllpayne20.jpg). The shots of the lifeboats are also instructive. Because of the large numbers of troops carried, the "Olympic" had quite a few collapsible boats and rafts added to her ordinary civilian outfit, and these photos give some clues as to where they were stowed on deck.

You'll notice the second photo (cllpayne21.jpg) is marked as "mirrored". That particular photo is reversed left-to-right -- presumably whoever originally made the print put the negative upside-down ... Most of the photos seem to have been made while the "Olympic" was in port, but cllpayne26.jpg shows the lifeboat davits swung outboard, suggesting the ship is underway.

One curious thing I noticed about the unknown steamer (cllpayne27.jpg) is that the ship is "dressed" with flags running fore and aft via the masthead. I wonder if she was saluting the "Olympic's" arrival, or if it was due to some other festive occasion ... Regarding the photo of the smaller ship, it would probably be difficult to identify. It looks like a fairly typical cargo steamer, of which there would have been many in service. I can't make out any funnel markings that would identify the owners. The landscape in the background might give some clue as to the location though.

Many thanks Ralph, for the interesting information, and the image, which certainly does help to imagine his time on board. It must have been pretty cramped, with all those additional passengers.

References

[1] Eight photographs taken aboard HMT Olympic, January 1919, Loose paper prints, approx. 64 x 42 mm, Collection of Barbara Ellison.

[2] Gray, David R. (2002) Carrying Canadian Troops: The Story of RMS Olympic as a First World War Troopship, in Canadian Military History, Volume 11, Number 1, Winter 2002, pp. 54-70.

[3] RMS Olympic, from Wikipedia.