aberdeenline

Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons Sorry to have to disagree again about "first naval fleet" (1891), but this photo is much more recent - the liner looks too modern for 1891. The lighthouse at Bradleys Head was built in 1905 and Robertsons (Cremorne) Point in 1910.

Looks like a regatta flagship. 1920s or 1930s due to the launches not being steam-powered, if you know what I mean.

beachcomber australia Done! It was a bit optimistic hoping for more first fleet images...

Same occasion as ...

The liner is either the Demosthenes or its outwardly identical sister Themistocles, both completed for the Aberdeen Line in 1911, with a yellow funnel. In 1928 both were transferred to the White Star Line Australia service, with the colour scheme of the illustrated ship. The Demosthenes was laid up mid 1931 and soon scrapped. Themistocles survived war service and was not dismantled until 1947. It does indeed seem that the large ship in the photo is the Regatta flagship, and being a pre-WW2 photo it must be dated between 1928 and 1939. So it's more likely that the liner is the Themistocles. nb - the tags to naval ships seem incorrect.

Here's a brief biography of A. Bertram Samuels, who may be the A. B. Samuels in the photo above. His age seems to be appropriate.

TYPHUS, WAR'S DREAD ALLY, BEATEN; News of Dr. Harry Plotz's Vaccine Discovery Comes When Europe Faces Awful Ravages from Scourge. April 18, 1915 The announcement of the discovery of a protective vaccine against typhus fever, the dreadful scourge that dogs the heels of war, following closely upon the confirmation of the germ origin of the disease by repeated demonstrations of a distinct causative agent visible under the microscope, is but another instance of the accuracy of modern laboratory methods and the continual progress of medical science. select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20C1EFE385C1373...

books.google.com/books/about/The_Etiology_of_Thyphus_Exan... indicates that Baehr was a colleague of Plotz. Another copy, at archive.org/stream/etiologyoftyphus00plotrich#page/n1/mod... indicates that "The etiology of typhus exanthematicus" was first published in July 1915 in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. Authors were Harry Plotz, George Baehr, and Peter K. Olitsky.

NYT of June 28, 1915 query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50F11FD3B5C13738... reported that Plotz and Baehr sailed on the Themistocles the previous day for Serbia for a year, armed with 20,000 tubes of typhus vaccine.

More about Dr. Harry Plotz: www.sciencephoto.com/media/227849/enlarge His January, 1947 obituary is here: select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70B17FF3E5A1B7B...

A nice atmospheric photo but the caption needs some review. This is not a photo of the Moldavia (b. 1922) but one of the five "Bay" cargo-passenger liners - the yellow funnel and the single promenade deck gave it away for me. The Australian Government had this quintet built in the UK in a vain attempt to break into the trade between the UK and Australia. All five ships were built in 1921-22 and the Commonwealth Government Line soon sold to the British Kylsant shipping Group! The most famous was the "Jervis Bay", sunk in a heroic action in WW2 (5 Nov 1940). The other four lasted until the mid 1950s. It also seems to be the ship is not anchored but berthed, perhaps at one of the Walsh Bay wharves, and there is no sign of it being in festive dress as the Regatta flagship.

FredV45 It's interesting you point that out FredV45 because a few other photographs in the same series had been mislabelled RMS MOLDAVIA as well. Thank you for pointing out the innacuracy. The photograph below was also mislabelled MOLDAVIA: