Hull Trawler Challenge

Mystery #2 – Who took the photographs?

Thursday, February 26th, 2009 | Challenges | 4 Comments

This is one of the most intriguing set of photos I have ever acquired. For their age they are certainly very high quality, both technically and in composition, and the hand-colouring is to an exceptional standard. They also seem just that bit out of the ordinary – showing real working lives rather than formal portraits or carefully composed landscapes or building.

I suspect that we’ll never find out exactly who took the photographs, but maybe somewhere there’s some clue that will provide some sort of answer. But there are lots of other questions linked to this…

Are there any known photographers who took photos on ships in Hull?

Why were they taken? Were they commissioned by the owner, the Hull Steam & Ice Co. Ltd, which is the common link between these two ships?

Is there any chance it could have been a crew member or someone else linked to these two vessels who had an interest in photography?

Over to you…

Share:

Mystery #1 – When were these photos taken?

Thursday, February 26th, 2009 | updates | 1 Comment

Although we know the two main ships that these photos are of, lots of mysteries remain. Through these articles I’ll be posing some questions that I hope people will be able to help answer.

When were they taken?

Latest news: from comments received so far it appears we can date these to between 1908 and 1914, but it may be possible to narrow this down further…

This seems to me to be one of the most fundamental questions that will itself answer lots of other questions. We have detailed, accurately dated crew lists for the SS Canada and SS New Zealand, but over the years many men worked on board these ships, so having a date will narrow it down.

What clues do we have?

The earliest they could possibly be is August 1898, the date that the SS New Zealand was launched. The latest date would be 1916, when both ships were requisitioned by the Admiralty during WWI (SS Canada never returned to fishing after that).

Do we have any evidence in the photographs themselves? The fact that they are hand coloured lantern slides doesn’t help at all as they were popular for a long period. So we have to turn to the subjects. Do the clothes that the men, and in two cases woman (or were they?) wear help? And what about the single shot of a man, possibly the owner, more formally dressed (see right)? I’m no fashion expert, so all comments and opinions are welcome…

Share: