The Troublesome Yankee Schooner

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Today I’ve got a seafaring saga to share with you – the story of a four-masted Yankee schooner that was photographed while visiting New Zealand in the 1920’s.  There are no pirates in this tale, but there is just about everything else.  There are ghost ships, tempests and a mutiny.  Also Nazis, sort of.

The photograph is from my private collection, found in an album of maritime related snaps that I picked up some years ago in an antique shop in Christchurch.  I imagine that the original owner must’ve been a lighthouse keeper, or retired sea dog, as nearly every photograph is of a visiting ship, and while there are no dates each vessel has been lovingly named.  Whoever took the snapshots must’ve loved the sea.

There are some warships, some steamers and some recreational yachts, but there is one vessel that stands out as odd – a four masted “Yankee Schooner” called the ‘Forest Home’.

The Yankee Schooner 'Forest Home' New Zealand 1920's Lemuel Lyes Collection

The Yankee Schooner ‘Forest Home’ in New Zealand waters, 1920′s
Lemuel Lyes Collection

I’m a sucker for tall ships and this one is no exception, she is an absolute beauty.  However she does seem a little out-of-place.  The age of sail was all but over in the 1920’s and fully rigged tall ships were becoming a rarity; and what exactly is a Yankee schooner doing hanging out in New Zealand waters anyway?  There is a story here…I can sense it. Continue reading →

One Year of History Geek!!!

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There is cause for a bit of celebration as today marks one year since I started this little foray into the blogosphere.  Occasions such as this are worthy of a vintage conga line!

The public dancing in Mercer Street, Wellington. Negatives of the Evening Post newspaper. Ref: EP/1959/0678-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23263452

The public dancing in Mercer Street, Wellington. Negatives of the Evening Post newspaper. Ref: EP/1959/0678-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23263452

My aim was to post at least once a week for a year and with seventy posts I’ve managed to exceed that.  Along the way I’ve met some fantastic people, been welcomed into an inspiring community of bloggers, made national headlines by sharing the story behind this ferret pinching and heart stealing rogue and bantered with several radio hosts.

Learning the ropes of setting up and running a blog has been an interesting learning experience.  It has also been entertaining seeing what search terms people have used to find my blog.  Here are a few highlights:

history of the sick bag

will new zealand be invaded

how to stay safe during a bombing raid (this one made me a little worried…)

what do you do after a bombing raid (yay, they survived!).

men wearing aprons

spying on wife on beach (thanks to this post I’m guessing)

silly geeks (guilty as charged)

Besides the beautiful Daniel Tohill, the most sought after subject I’ve blogged about is this post on the recent combat history of T-34 tanks.  Scarcely a day goes by without many international visitors looking for information on where they might still be in service and the post has even resulted in my being invited to a tank museum in Moscow (an offer that I really should take up when I can afford it!).  However the most satisfying visits for me are those by people who find my blog while searching for information on extremely specific snippets of New Zealand history – often subjects that have little other internet presence.  I like to think that I’m helping fuel other people’s interest in our fascinating past.

So what is on the horizon?  Well I’m pleased to announce that I have no intention of ending History Geek anytime soon.  There are plenty of stories still to share from my own collection of historical ephemera, plenty of previously unpublished photos, some war stories to share from the front-lines of archival research and some big historical centenaries are just around the corner.  Yes, I’m looking at you Kaiser Wilhelm.  And also a particularly big bi-centenary the year after that.  See, I haven’t forgotten you Napoleon.

This year also marks 150 years since the British invasion of the Waikato so I’ll be dedicating some time to sharing some stories from the New Zealand Wars.  On top of all that there are also a few special surprises in store.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the past year – especially my regular readers.

© Lemuel Lyes

Message from an ANZAC

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On 25th April 1915, New Zealand and Australian forces landed at what would become known as ANZAC Cove.  It wasn’t the first time that New Zealanders went into battle, and it wouldn’t be the last, but the exploits of our soldiers in that campaign have become legendary.  It is sometimes easy to forget that these were all real people, each there for their own reasons and each expecting that they would make it home.

For many the journey to the front would’ve been their first overseas experience and many of them scrawled excited messages on the back of postcards to send home to loved ones.  As a collector of vintage postcards I keep an eye out for any that may have been sent by soldiers.  Like this one here sent from Egypt.

Postcard sent by New Zealand Soldier in 1915 Lemuel Lyes Collection

Postcard sent by New Zealand Soldier in 1915
Lemuel Lyes Collection

Postcard sent by New Zealand Soldier in 1915 Lemuel Lyes Collection

Postcard sent by New Zealand Soldier in 1915
Lemuel Lyes Collection

Here is a transcription:

Dear May,

A card I promised, I am here and well having the time of my life, this is a wonderful place, did not know I was alive till I got around here.  This will be my last letter till after firing line.

With best wishes to all, Jim Cotterill

In the top left corner he adds.

Goodbye.  Good luck May, Jim.

The message is dated May 27th, it is marked with a NZ Expeditionary Force postmark on May 31st and arrived in Wanganui on July 15th 1915.  Jim was on his way to Gallipoli along with other reinforcements for the Wellington Infantry Battalion.

It is easy to imagine how awe-inspiring a place like Egypt would’ve been for soldiers on their way over to the war.  It is a sentiment that is often expressed in the messages sent home to loved ones.  Unlike the first New Zealanders to have arrived in Egypt, Jim would’ve had a fair idea of what lay in store for him at the front – the landing at Gallipoli had taken place just over a month earlier, and many of the bloodiest battles were still to be fought…

On 18th August 1915 the Wanganui Chronicle posted a list of the latest N.Z Casualties and Private J. G. Cotterill is on the list of those wounded in action.  He was evacuated to Cairo hospital with a severe head wound and sent back to New Zealand on the hospital ship Willochra.  Of the 8556 New Zealanders that landed at Gallipoli; 2721 were killed and 4852 were wounded.  Today we remember not just their sacrifice, but also that of those who fought in every other war.

© Lemuel Lyes

Flying to the Taieri

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Today I thought I’d share a snippet of aviation history that I found during some “front-line” ephemera collecting.  It also has a bit of cricket geekery thrown in for good measure along with a D-Day reference AND a tropical cyclone.

In the digital age most of my collecting is now done over the internet and while this can make it easier to find awesome stuff I do often lament the decline of collectable fairs and antique shops.  Fortunately it seems that secondhand bookstores are slightly more resilient and they remain a regular source of interesting historical ephemera.  Some bookshop owners make a point of trading vintage postcards or photo albums but there are also others that simply come across interesting bits and pieces of ephemera by chance; often these are items that have been used as bookmarks.

Here is an interesting exercise – have a rummage through some of your own books and see if you can find any ad hoc bookmarks that you had forgotten about.  Perhaps you might find a grocery shopping list from 2006, or a postcard someone had sent you, a receipt from your last overseas holiday sitting in an unfinished novel or perhaps if you are lucky a banknote!  Secondhand book dealers regularly find random bits of paper inside books that they have purchased and that is what I go hunting for.

What I love about this way of collecting is that it really is a lucky-dip draw, I never know what might show up and as always it is up to me to do the research and give the item some context.  Here is one such find I picked up from a local bookstore:

NAC Flight Information Sheet Lemuel Lyes Collection

NAC Flight Information Sheet
Lemuel Lyes Collection

Here is the back:

NAC Flight Information Sheet (Back) Lemuel Lyes Collection

NAC Flight Information Sheet (Back)
Lemuel Lyes Collection

This is a flight information sheet that was once passed from passenger to passenger on a commercial aircraft, filling the role that the speaker system does today.  It notes everything from the altitude and air temperature to the arrival time and the latest cricket score.  What else can we figure out from the details it gives?  What year could this be from? Continue reading →

Dining on the Titanic

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A year ago today I was fortunate enough to attend a dinner commemorating the centenary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.  It wasn’t just any dinner, but a complete re-enactment of the last dinner that was served to the First Class Passengers on that fateful night.  So today to mark the 101st anniversary I thought I’d share some photographs from the evening.

First I should mention that I do have a bit of a “Titanic thing”.  If you have any interest in history then it is hard not to get caught up in the story of the world’s most famous shipwreck.  However what I find the most fascinating about the Titanic is the sheer amount that we know about her short career.  If not for the iceberg then I suspect she would’ve ended up in a scrapyard like her sister ship the RMS Olympic and all but absent from popular memory. Instead the story of the Titanic has been immortalized by historians, writers, researchers and film makers.  I can even say that I’ve made my own tiny contribution to the historical record – last year some History Geek research made headlines in New Zealand.

There is simply no equivalent.  We know more details about the Titanic and her crew than we do any other ship from that era.  Through that research we can better understand and appreciate everything from the history of immigration and transportation to fashion and social structure.  Also cuisine.

As my regular readers already know, I’m a collector of maritime ephemera including vintage ship menus.  Previously I’ve shared the stories behind menus from the Dutch liners Nieuw Zeeland and Nieuw Holland.  So as a collector of vintage menus it was a chance of a lifetime for me to actually partake in some of the dishes that were served to passengers on the Titanic.

The menu was as close as possible to the original meal served to First Class Passengers on April 14th 1912.  The main variance is that some dishes that would’ve been served separately were condensed into single courses.  Here it goes:

First Course:  Shucked and shelled oysters served on a zesty salsa with a hint of coriander

DSCF0628The array of cutlery was intimidating to myself and most of the my fellow 21st century diners but the advice given to Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’ saw us right – “Just start at the outside and work your way in”. Continue reading →

A Mystery Ship in Port Said

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As a follow-up to my earlier post on the HMAS Encounter I thought I’d share another photograph from the same collection.  Last time the identity of the ship was written on the back of the image by the photographer, but this time I know a lot less about the subject – only that it is a French warship in Port Said and that the image was taken by a New Zealand soldier in 1917.  So for the last couple of evenings I’ve been reading up on French battleships.  A riveting topic if ever there was one.

First of all, here is the snapshot.  As with most the items from my collection it is possible this is the first time it has been published.

French Warship, Port Said 1917

French Warship, Port Said 1917

Before I launch into the quest to unmask the identity of this mystery battleship I first have to point out HOW AWESOME THIS BATTLESHIP LOOKS!  Check out those sexy tarpaulin covers and the wide angled hull.  The Star Wars geek in me ponders if ships like this were the inspiration behind Jabba the Hutt’s sail barge.  But putting the inter-galactic musings aside, what is the real identity of this mystery ship? Continue reading →

Ready for the Party 1941

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First of all, apologies for the brief absence on the blog front.  I’ve been rather busy lately with the exception of an uncharacteristic migraine which waited until Otago’s regional holiday before ambushing me and rendering me useless, but I can’t complain, at least I’m not off to war like these guys…

Soldiers wearing gas-masks in the Western Desert, 1941Lemuel Lyes Collection

Soldiers wearing gas-masks in the Western Desert, 1941
Lemuel Lyes Collection

I came across this snapshot in a secondhand bookshop and fell in love with it.  It appeals to me for a number of reasons.  First of all, if any of my friends were sent off to war then this is exactly the kind of Facebook profile photo that I’d expect to see show up within 24 hours of their first gas mask drill – it screams “social media profile shot”.  Similarly, if Instagram was around in 1941 then I like to think that this would be the kind of image that would’ve been uploaded.  It is a photograph I can relate to.

It also reminds me of my first foray into collecting militaria.  At the age of about 14 I bought an original WW2 ‘Brodie’ helmet as seen in this photo.  I found it in a local antique shop and thought it incredible that my paper-run pay could purchase a genuine (not to mention wearable) antique from the Second World War.

A few months later in an army surplus store I found an even more appealing piece of military head-ware – a gas mask circa 1970′s/80′s.  Fortunately it was never called upon to protect its owner during times of war or apocalypse, but it proved its worth merely for its entertainment value at dress-up parties and on at least one occasion at the dinner table after a sibling engaged in a particularly offensive flatulence campaign directed at yours truly.  The gas mask was faulty and did little to improve the quality of the air but it was an extremely effective way to make a protest at the use of such an inhumane weapon.

In my opinion the sight of adults dressed up in full anti-gas kit in the middle of the desert is always going to be amusing.  If you enjoy this snapshot then I can recommend the movie Jarhead.  My favourite scenes in that movie combine the comic gold that is military desert camps and gas-masks.

The message on the back of the photo suggests that the photographer was also amused by the scene, unless “Ready for the Party” was meant as a euphemism for “Going to War” in which case it is a little bit depressing.

"Ready for the Party" 1941Lemuel Lyes Collection

“Ready for the Party” 1941
Lemuel Lyes Collection

I like to think that there was humour behind this comment but even if it was a euphemism then there is at least solace in knowing that while the use of gas was feared by many it didn’t repeat the horrific role that it had played on the battlefields of the previous world war.

The two soldiers are likely members of the 2NZEF and the photograph was taken somewhere in the Western Desert in 1941.  It was a busy year in the Mediterranean; the New Zealanders saw action in Greece, Crete, Egypt and Libya.  Some time in-between all that fighting two soldiers dressed up in gas-masks and had their photo taken.  Seventy-three years on and even if it is a little wrong, I can’t help but be amused at the sight.  What do you reckon?

© Lemuel Lyes