Edwardian Theatre Stars

Female stars from the golden age of English Theatre (circa 1870 - 1920). Check out the waists on Langtry and Tempest. Link…

The Horn of Africa

600 images from Massawa to the Blue Nile. Link…

Cerise Travel

Hashish: Henry de Monfreid (1879-1974) was a French nobleman, writer, adventurer, watercolourist, smuggler, and photographer, who provided the inspiration for the swashbuckling gun runner in the Tintin adventure "Cigars of the Pharaoh".

Which might explain the reason why this ad has this Tintin like illustration (although Hashish isn't listed, so maybe not)…





Penguin Books' early 'Travel & Adventure' series, published between 1936 and 1959… All of Penguin's ninety-seven 'Travel & Adventure' titles are listed in the archive… An Amazon link is given for affordable modern editions of those titles still in print. Thereafter follows a synopsis and/or extract of each book, together with relevant reviews. Link…

DeMoulin Masonic Lodge Supplies Catalog No. 138

From 1895 to 1955 DeMoulin Bros. Co. produced a huge variety of paraphernalia, costumes, gag devices, and furniture for lodge organizations and fraternal orders. Link…

Billy McCune

"Here I am, my name is Billy McCune. My prison number is 12-20-54." Link…
McCune, who was mentally ill, was convicted of rape and sentenced to die in the electric chair in 1950. A song he wrote on death row caught the ear of the governor, who commuted his sentence to life in prison. It was there, four decades ago, that McCune met a young documentary photographer named Danny Lyon. Link…

Trouvelot

The astronomical drawings of Trouvelot, the man that introduced the Gypsy Moth to America. Link…

Captain Smales and Paddle Steamers

"Thursday, 26th January, began with a heavy N.W. and Westerly gale with a very high sea running. The 'Magdala' was behaving splendidly. About 11 a.m. I remarked to the Mate who was on watch at the time "Isn't she a fine sea boat?" It was his first voyage in her as he had only joined in Glasgow. A little while after, I was standing on the lee side of the bridge watching the heavy rollers as they rolled away to leeward in the hurricane squalls that came along at short intervals and as I stood there the words of the hymn came to my mind "He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm". There was something awe-inspiring in the long heavy billows as they rolled away to leeward, clear of the ship. We had had no observation of the sun since we left Glasgow and I made the dead reckoning at noon to be Lat. 53 - 11 N. Long 15 -57 West. Somewhere about 260 miles West of Ireland. At 10 minutes past noon, during a hurricane squall, ship not steering at the time, a huge mountain of a sea - tidal wave in fact - came rolling and towering above us on the starboard beam. Just a black mountain of water with a white crest on the point of breaking. The ship had not the ghost of a chance, she simply could not rise to it but just gave a sickening roll to wind-ward and the mountain fell on her and rolled right over her from the fore rigging to the main. Over she went and buried her port rail, listing to 46 degrees measured later. What happened was, 600 tons of coal in the bridge space and No.2 tween deck was thrown bodily to Port. The front of the funnel was stove in and the whistle lanyards tightened with the whistle having been knocked inside the funnel. It was howling away full blast inside!"
Find out what happens next here.
I came across this story while browsing the fascinating Paddle Steamer Picture Gallery (yes, that is Acker Bilk on Margate Pier). Link…