victorianhats

The S.S. St. Paul, operated by the American Line, was built in Philadelphia at the William Cramp & Sons shipyard and launched in 1895. She was the identical sister ship of the S.S. St. Louis, launched in 1894. (Related web page.) On board the St. Paul, on November 15, 1899, Guglielmo Marconi issued The Transatlantic Times, the first newspaper ever published at sea, using information received by radio transmission from his wireless telegraph station on the Isle of Wight. (Related web page.) In 1908, the St. Paul was involved in a collision with the British cruiser HMS Gladiator, which sank but was later raised and scrapped. (Related web page.) In 1918, the St. Paul was purchased by the U.S. government, but keeled over at the pier in New York Harbor while undergoing conversion for military use and never saw service. Apparently, she was salvaged and returned to private operation, as I found a reference to poet John Allan Wyeth taking passage to Europe aboard her in 1920. (Photo of the St. Paul on its side in New York harbor.) Interesting sidelight: Near the bottom of this web page is a photo of a jazz band called Fate Marable's New Orleans Harmonists playing on board the St. Paul. No date is given.

Thanks for the info whyaduck; such a stunning image!

I really enjloy this image, the subjects seem unaware of the photographer, and their poses are striking. Excellent tones! -- Found in a search. (?)

Hi, this photo has been discussed in one of the threads in the Flickr Commons group, and we'd love to have this added to the group pool.

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called soulful group, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

A very pretty lady.

Matronly but warm face, could be your granny.

This is my great grandmother, she was born in Battersea Surrey England in about 1853 and died in Ipswich Queensland Australia. She had 10 children.