Trip of the S.M.S. Ship Charlotte 1907-1908, Travel Album illustrated with 185 Real Photographs

Item Details

Germany, 1908

This is an amazing photographic account of the German steam frigate S.M.S. Charlotte on one of her last cruises (1907-1908) before she was decommissioned from sailing duty (though she was briefly recommissioned during WWI). The album includes a printed list of officers and ports visited in the front, then charms with 185 real photographs, 5 large and 180 smaller in size (about 3 ½” x 4 ½”). The images are all captioned, nicely detailed and printed.

While the images of the various ports (in Germany, the British Isles, Morocco, the Caribbean, Cuba, Charleston, Bermuda, and Belgium) are nice, of greater interest are those of the ship operations themselves. The seamen are seen working the decks, hauling ropes and baskets, rowing in tenders to port, or at inspection. Leisure was also documented, where men sit listening to a small band, swim, or watch a bicycle race. There is one with a cow being hoisted onboard but my personal favorite shows 3 officers having their picture taken with two pooches on their hind legs, looking slightly bewildered. Another shows a couple of tiny puppies!

The historic album has cloth separated from one side of the spine as shown, and a small chip to the gilt front endpaper. The photos and album pages are for the most part in very good condition, with one frame tear and some photos starting to slip a bit from their frames.