View allAll Photos Tagged Completion
friendships based on rhododendron trees – soft
pink, almost invisible against the broad leaves – and
solid stolid torso extending arms to
bond shapes to forms,
are robust.
the friends perceive.
blossomkisses
offered
received
reciprocated
now hand-in-hand the friends reach
out to the rhododendron tree, and
in that brief gesture eternity is created,
circle-completion in the timeless garden of
rhodendrons trees and friendships
©eep
for my soulfriend, Evelyn, Saanich, BC... this just came to me this morning while I processed this remarkable rhododendron tree... who knows where I'll go with it! This tree was the first thing I saw when I looked out the back window from the suite that was ours in their house. It was near midnight; but a light was shining on the tree. One look and I knew it was so right to be there and that the rest of our time would be just as beautiful.
my textures with help from picmonkey & pixlr
True end is not in reaching of the limit, but in a completion that is limitless...
- Rabindranath Tagore
Raphael (1483-1520) and workshop (Giulio Romano - Giovanni da Udine (for floral frescoes and festoons) - Raffaelino del Colle - Giovan Francesco Penni) Wedding banquet - Loggia di Amore e Psiche (about 1518) - Villa Farnesina - Rome
La Loggia, situata nel piano terreno e composta da cinque archi che sono attualmente chiusi da vetrate protettive, prende il nome dalla decorazione ad affresco dipinta nel 1518 sulla volta dalla scuola di Raffaello su disegni del maestro, dove si raffigurarono episodi ispirati all’Asino d’oro di Apuleio, della favola di di Amore e Psiche, già impiegata nel Quattrocento per immagini di argomento nuziale.
La loggia serviva da palcoscenico per le feste e le rappresentazioni teatrali organizzate dal proprietario.
Per dare un carattere festoso e spettacolare all’ambiente, Raffaello trasformò la volta della Loggia d’ingresso in una pergola, come se i pergolati e i padiglioni del giardino si fossero prolungati all’interno della Villa in ricchi festoni. Al centro due finti arazzi : il sontuoso Convito degli Dei, in cui la fanciulla ingiustamente perseguitata viene infine accolta nel consesso divino, e Le nozze di Amore e Psiche, culmine simbolico dell’intero ciclo.
Tuttavia, è da ricordare che l’impianto generale dell’affresco e l’ideazione delle singole scene e figure si devono alla geniale intuizione di Raffaello, ma agli affreschi lavorarono spesso numerosi artefici della sua bottega, tra cui Giovan Francesco Penni, Giulio Romano e Giovanni da Udine, autore, in particolare, dell’esuberante trionfo dei festoni di fiori e frutta.
The Loggia takes its name from the decoration frescoed on the vault by Raphael and his workshop in 1518. The frescos represent episodes from the fable of Psyche, narrated in Apuleiu’s Golden Ass, which had already been used in the fifteenth century for nuptial imagery.
The loggia was also used as a stage for celebrations and theatrical performances organised by Agostino himself.
To give the space a festive and theatrical feel to it, Raphael also transformed the vault of the Loggia into a pergola, adorned with magnificent hanging festoons, as though the greenery of the gardens had invaded the Villa itself. In the centre he designed two fictive tapestries which depict the concluding scenes: the splendid Council of the Gods, where the unjustly persecuted girl is finally received by the gods with divine complacence, and the Marriage of Cupid and Psyche, the symbolic culmination of the entire cycle.
However, although the general layout of the cycle and planning of the individual scenes and figures are attributed to the intuitive genius of Raphael (proven by a number of autographic sketches), the actual completion of the designs into frescos was carried out by his numerous workshop assistants, including Giovanni Francesco Penni, Giulio Romano and Giovanni da Udine. The latter, in particular, was the creator of the exuberant triumphal festoons.
After completion of Operation Desert Storm, the USS Missouri paused briefly in Australia and Hawaii en route home to Long Beach Naval Station. There her officers and crew received a hero’s welcome by thousands of friends and family.
But the USS Missouri had one final mission to complete.
On December 7, 1991, the Missouri returned to the historic waters of Pearl Harbor for the 50th anniversary commemoration of the attack on the Hawaiian Islands (the start of America's involvement in WWII). Moored a short distance from the USS Arizona Memorial, the Missouri and Arizona provide a symbolic connection from the “day which will live in infamy” to the formal ending of World War II (signed on the deck of the Missouri).
Her final mission complete, the officers and crew of the Missouri now prepared for the difficult task of retiring the historic battleship. On March 31, 1992, the Missouri was decommissioned for the final time; the last active service battleship in the world, her departing officers and crew the last battleship sailors.
Though her active naval service is complete, her legacy is not forgotten. On January 29, 1999, after years of dedicated community effort, the Battleship Missouri returned to service as centerpiece of the Battleship Missouri Memorial in Pearl Harbor.
Information above taken from the Battleship Missouri Memorial website:
This image was taken from across the harbor at the Pearl Harbor Visitors Center. Editing was completed in Photoshop CS6 and final conversion to black & white was done with Nik Silver Efex Pro II.
The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, is a triangular 22-story, 285-foot-tall (86.9 m) steel-framed landmarked building located at 175 Fifth Avenue in the eponymous Flatiron District neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan, New York City. Designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick Dinkelberg, it was one of the tallest buildings in the city upon its 1902 completion, at 20 floors high, and one of only two "skyscrapers" north of 14th Street – the other being the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, one block east. The building sits on a triangular block formed by Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and East 22nd Street – where the building's 87-foot (27 m) back end is located – with East 23rd Street grazing the triangle's northern (uptown) peak. As with numerous other wedge-shaped buildings, the name "Flatiron" derives from its resemblance to a cast-iron clothes iron.
The building, which has been called "one of the world's most iconic skyscrapers and a quintessential symbol of New York City", anchors the south (downtown) end of Madison Square and the north (uptown) end of the Ladies' Mile Historic District. The neighborhood around it is called the Flatiron District after its signature building, which has become an icon of New York City. The Flatiron Building was designated a New York City landmark in 1966, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.
In 1901, the Newhouse family sold "Eno's flatiron" for about $2 million to Cumberland Realty Company, an investment partnership created by Harry S. Black, CEO of the Fuller Company. The Fuller Company was the first true general contractor that dealt with all aspects of building construction except design, and they specialized in building skyscrapers. Black intended to construct a new headquarters building on the site, despite the recent deterioration of the surrounding neighborhood. Black engaged Burnham to design the building, which would be Burnham's first in New York City, would also be the first skyscraper north of 14th Street. It was to be named the Fuller Building after George A. Fuller, founder of the Fuller Company and "father of the skyscraper", who had died two years earlier. However, locals persisted in calling it "The Flatiron", a name which has since been made official.
Once construction of the building began, it proceeded at a very fast pace. The steel was so meticulously pre-cut that the frame went up at the rate of a floor each week. By February 1902 the frame was complete, and by mid-May the building was half-covered by terra-cotta tiling. The building was completed in June 1902, after a year of construction.
The Flatiron Building was not the first building of its triangular ground-plan: aside from a possibly unique triangular Roman temple built on a similarly constricted site in the city of Verulamium, Britannia; Casa Saccabarozzi, Turin, Italy (1840); Bridge House, Leeds, England (1875); the Maryland Inn in Annapolis (1782); the Granger Block in Syracuse, New York (1869); I.O.O.F. Centennial Building (18760) in Alpena, Michigan; the Phelan Building in San Francisco (1881); the Gooderham Building of Toronto (1892); and the English-American Building in Atlanta (1897) predate it. All, however, are smaller than their New York counterpart.
Two features were added to the Flatiron Building following its completion. The "cowcatcher" retail space at the front of the building was added in order to maximize the use of the building's lot and produce some retail income. Harry Black had insisted on the space, despite objections from Burnham. Another addition to the building not in the original plan was the penthouse, which was constructed after the rest of the building had been completed to be used as artists' studios, and was quickly rented out to artists such as Louis Fancher, many of whom contributed to the pulp magazines which were produced in the offices below.
The Flatiron Building became an icon of New York City, and the public response to it was enthusiastic, but the critical response to it at the time was not completely positive, and what praise it garnered was often for the cleverness of the engineering involved. Montgomery Schuyler, editor of Architectural Record, said that its "awkwardness [is] entirely undisguised, and without even an attempt to disguise them, if they have not even been aggravated by the treatment. ... The treatment of the tip is an additional and it seems wanton aggravation of the inherent awkwardness of the situation." He praised the surface of the building, and the detailing of the terra-cotta work, but criticized the practicality of the large number of windows in the building: "[The tenant] can, perhaps, find wall space within for one roll top desk without overlapping the windows, with light close in front of him and close behind him and close on one side of him. But suppose he needed a bookcase? Undoubtedly he has a highly eligible place from which to view processions. But for the transaction of business?"
When the building was first constructed, it received mixed feedback. The most known criticism received was known as "Burnham's Folly". This criticism, focused on the structure of the building, was made on the grounds that the "combination of triangular shape and height would cause the building to fall down." Critics believed that the building created a dangerous wind-tunnel at the intersection of the two streets, and could possibly knock the building down. The building's shape was blamed for the 1903 death of a bicycle messenger, who was blown into the street and run over by a car. However, the building's structure was meant to accommodate four times the typical wind loads in order to stabilize and retain the building's iconic triangular shape.
The Flatiron was to attract the attention of numerous artists. It was the subject of one of Edward Steichen's atmospheric photographs, taken on a wet wintry late afternoon in 1904, as well as a memorable image by Alfred Stieglitz taken the year before, to which Steichen was paying homage. Stieglitz reflected on the dynamic symbolism of the building, noting upon seeing it one day during a snowstorm that "... it appeared to be moving toward me like the bow of a monster ocean steamer – a picture of a new America still in the making," and remarked that what the Parthenon was to Athens, the Flatiron was to New York. When Stieglitz's photograph was published in Camera Work, his friend Sadakichi Hartmann, a writer, painter and photographer, accompanied it with an essay on the building: "A curious creation, no doubt, but can it be called beautiful? Beauty is a very abstract idea ... Why should the time not arrive when the majority without hesitation will pronounce the 'Flat-iron' a thing of beauty?"
A 1919 image of the 165th Infantry Regiment passing through Madison Square's Victory Arch. The Flatiron Building is in the background.
After the end of World War I, the 165th Infantry Regiment passes through the Victory Arch in Madison Square, with the Flatiron Building in the background (1919).
Besides Stieglitz and Steichen, photographers such as Alvin Langdon Coburn, Jessie Tarbox Beals, painters of the Ashcan School like John Sloan, Everett Shinn and Ernest Lawson, as well as Paul Cornoyer and Childe Hassam, lithographer Joseph Pennell, illustrator John Edward Jackson as well the French Cubist Albert Gleizes all took the Flatiron as the subject of their work. But decades after it was completed, others still could not come to terms with the building. Sculptor William Ordway Partridge remarked that it was "a disgrace to our city, an outrage to our sense of the artistic, and a menace to life".
The Fuller Company originally took the 19th floor of the building for its headquarters. In 1910, Harry Black moved the company to Francis Kimball's Trinity Building at 111 Broadway, where its parent company, U.S. Realty, had its offices. U.S. Realty moved its offices back to the Flatiron in 1916, and left permanently for the Fuller Building on 57th Street in 1929.
The Flatiron's other original tenants included publishers (magazine publishing pioneer Frank Munsey, American Architect and Building News and a vanity publisher), an insurance company (the Equitable Life Assurance Society), small businesses (a patent medicine company, Western Specialty Manufacturing Company and Whitehead & Hoag, who made celluloid novelties), music publishers (overflow from "Tin Pan Alley" up on 28th Street), a landscape architect, the Imperial Russian Consulate, the Bohemian Guides Society, the Roebling Construction Company, owned by the sons of Tammany Hall boss Richard Croker, and the crime syndicate, Murder, Inc.
The retail space in the building's "cowcatcher" at the "prow" was leased by United Cigar Stores, and the building's vast cellar, which extended into the vaults that went more than 20 feet (6.1 m) under the surrounding streets, was occupied by the Flatiron Restaurant, which could seat 1,500 patrons and was open from breakfast through late supper for those taking in a performance at one of the many theatres which lined Broadway between 14th and 23rd Streets.
In 1911, the building introduced a restaurant/club in the basement. It was among the first of its kind that allowed a black jazz band to perform, thus introducing ragtime to affluent New Yorkers.
Even before construction on the Flatiron Building had begun, the area around Madison Square had started to deteriorate somewhat. After U.S. Realty constructed the New York Hippodrome, Madison Square Garden was no longer the venue of choice, and survived largely by staging boxing matches. The base of the Flatiron became a cruising spot for gay men, including some male prostitutes. Nonetheless, in 1911 the Flatiron Restaurant was bought by Louis Bustanoby, of the well-known Café des Beaux-Arts, and converted into a trendy 400-seat French restaurant, Taverne Louis. As an innovation to attract customers away from another restaurant opened by his brothers, Bustanoby hired a black musical group, Louis Mitchell and his Southern Symphony Quintette, to play dance tunes at the Taverne and the Café. Irving Berlin heard the group at the Taverne and suggested that they should try to get work in London, which they did. The Taverne's openness was also indicated by its welcoming a gay clientele, unusual for a restaurant of its type at the time. The Taverne was forced to close due to the effects of Prohibition on the restaurant business.
In October 1925, Harry S. Black, in need of cash for his U.S. Realty Company, sold the Flatiron Building to a syndicate set up by Lewis Rosenbaum, who also owned assorted other notable buildings around the U.S. The price was $2 million, which equaled Black's cost for buying the lot and erecting the Flatiron. The syndicate defaulted on its mortgage in 1933, and was taken over by the lender, Equitable Life Assurance Company after failing to sell it at auction. To attract tenants, Equitable did some modernization of the building, including replacing the original cast-iron birdcage elevators, which had cabs covered in rubber tiling and were originally built by Hecla Iron Works, but the hydraulic power system was not replaced. By the mid-1940s, the building was fully rented.
When the U.S. entered World War I, the Federal government instituted a "Wake Up America!" campaign, and the United Cigar store in the Flatiron's cowcatcher donated its space to the U.S. Navy for use as a recruiting center. Liberty Bonds were sold outside on sidewalk stands. By the mid-1940s, the cigar store had been replaced with a Walgreens drug store. During the 1940s, the building was dominated by clothing and toy companies.
Equitable sold the building in 1946 to the Flatiron Associates, an investor group headed by Harry Helmsley, whose firm, Dwight-Helmsley (which would later become Helmsley-Spear) managed the property. The new owners made some superficial changes, such as adding a dropped ceiling to the lobby, and, later, replacing the original mahogany-panelled entrances with revolving doors.
In 1959, St. Martin's Press moved into the building, and gradually its parent company, Macmillan, rented other offices as they became available, until by 2004, all 21 floors of the Flatiron Building's office space was rented by Macmillan. During its tenancy, Macmillan renovated some of the Flatiron Building's floors. for its imprints such as Tor/Forge, Picador and Henry Holt and Company. Macmillan, which is owned by Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck of Stuttgart, Germany, wrote about the building:
The Flatiron's interior is known for having its strangely-shaped offices with walls that cut through at an angle on their way to the skyscraper's famous point. These "point" offices are the most coveted and feature amazing northern views that look directly upon another famous Manhattan landmark, the Empire State Building.
Because the Helmsley/Flatiron Associates ownership structure was a tenancy-in-common, in which all partners have to agree on any action, as opposed to a straightforward partnership, it was difficult to get permission for necessary repairs and improvements to be done, and the building declined during the Helmsley/Flatiron Associates era. The facade of the Flatiron Building was restored in 1991 by the firm of Hurley & Farinella. Helmsley-Spear stopped managing the building in 1997, when some of the investors sold their 52% of the building to Newmark Knight-Frank, a large real estate firm, which took over management of the property. Shortly afterwards, Helmsley's widow, Leona Helmsley, sold her share as well. Newmark made significant improvements to the property, including installing new electric elevators, replacing the antiquated hydraulic ones, which were the last hydraulic elevators in New York City.
During a 2005 restoration of the Flatiron Building a 15-story vertical advertising banner covered the facade of the building. The advertisement elicited protests from many New York City residents, prompting the New York City Department of Buildings to step in and force the building's owners to remove it.
In January 2009, Italian real estate investment firm Sorgente Group, based in Rome, bought a majority stake in the Flatiron Building, with plans to turn it into a luxury hotel. The firm's Historic and Trophy Buildings Fund owns a number of prestigious buildings in France and Italy, and was involved in buying, and then selling, a stake in the Chrysler Building in Midtown New York. The value of the 22-story Flatiron Building, which is already zoned by the city to allow it to become a hotel, was estimated to be $190 million.
In July 2017, Macmillan announced it was consolidating its New York offices to the Equitable Building at 120 Broadway. By June 2019, Macmillan had left the building, and all 21 office floors were vacant. Following Macmillan's departure, the owners of the Flatiron Building, the family-owned GFP Real Estate, planned to use the absence of tenants to upgrade the interior of the building. GFP planned to install a central air and heating system, strip away all interior partitions – leaving triangular open floors – put in a new sprinkler system and a second staircase, and upgrade the elevators. The lobby would also be renovated. The cost would be $60–80 million and the project was estimated to take a year. The owners were interested in renting the entire building to a single tenant, hiring a high-profile real estate agency to find a suitable tenant. The executive director of the ownership company said: "The building was born as a commercial property, and we want to keep it as such." As of November 2020, the building is empty, and the full renovation is expected to take at least until 2022.
In the nordic darkness, there are lights amidst it all. Ship traffic has historically been really important for us humans and it still is. In this photo, I could capture the moment of a ship coming to pier, with the movement captured along as well. This shows how slow, yet still fast and deliberate the movement is. There is calmness, but in the same time the ship is in move - passengers and cargo waiting the completion of this leg of their travel.
Viking XPRS ferry arriving at Helsinki, returning from Tallinn, Estonia. HDR shot.
I drew friend's Blythe by Photoshop.
She's site is www1.odn.ne.jp/momolita/
The completion of my LNER/BR Gresley V2 2-6-2. I started work on this model months ago and haven't stopped work on it until now. It runs very smoothly, going around curves and points with ease. This model was originally designed with smaller wheels, but when changed to the XL wheels the whole model looked much more realistic.
The tender was also another challenging component, using the last of my dark green and orange pieces to create the lines on the sides of the tender.
This model so far is my most accurate and smoothest (in terms of running) yet. My next steamer will be a streamlined LMS coronation class, along with finishing my P2. Enjoy!
Prospect Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux after their completion of Manhattan's Central Park. Main attractions of the park include the 90-acre (36 ha) Long Meadow; the Picnic House; Litchfield Villa, the pre-existing home of Edwin Clark Litchfield, an early developer of the neighborhood and a former owner of a southern section of the Park;[5] Prospect Park Zoo; a large nature conservancy managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society; The Boathouse, housing a visitors center and the first urban Audubon Center;[6] Brooklyn's only lake, covering 60 acres (24 ha); the Prospect Park Bandshell that hosts free outdoor concerts in the summertime. The park also has sports facilities including seven baseball fields in the Long Meadow, and the Prospect Park Tennis Center, basketball courts, baseball fields, soccer fields, and the New York Pétanque Club in the Parade Ground. There is also a private Society of Friends cemetery on Quaker Hill near the ball fields, where actor Montgomery Clift is interred. (wikipedia.com)
Dr. Jones, you choose the wrong friends. This time it will cost you.
A month or so after completion i'm finally getting around to uploading one of my fave Mocs of the year so far. I'm super happy with how this turned out, i managed to "Mocafie" set 7623 "Temple Escape" by including all the features the set did and just getting rid of the playability and replacing it with the detail you don't find in the set. I hope you enjoy!
This ones for you Simon!
A worker burnished a propeller that has been cast by pouring molten recycled metal into moulds set in the earth floor of the rudimentary workshop.
There are numerous such enterprises set back from the banks of the Buriganga River servicing the needs of the ship building yards in Dhaka.
Dhaka, Bangladesh. © David Hill March 2025
Dates for the completion of 207 W. Superior St. vary from 1872 to 1896. A demolition permit was issued for the property in April 2024. The adjacent building, a pre-Chicago Fire structure next door at 720 N. Wells St., will also be demolished.
NOTE: A revision permit was issued in January 2026 for The Lake, a new social club under construction at 205 W. Superior St. With progress now up to the third floor on the exterior, the permit calls for “exterior material changes and architectural details.” The project’s rendering, which has existed for a few years, displays a design by New York City’s Robert A.M. Stern Architects, with Chicago’s GREC Architects as the architect of record. It shows a four-story building topped by a partial fifth level, with a connected four-story portion in a different design. The arched windows on the second floor are in line with what can be seen now at the construction site; however, there is no information on the expected changes.
Standing at the Derwent Mouth having completed our journey from Ladybower Reservoir, 55 miles later. Now to find a new adventure that will keep us going!
This image from April of 2007. Car is in basement of Calderwood building, and almost ready to be installed in "hidden" chamber.
Who would have thought that thirty years after the start of the Class 50 withdrawal programme (50011 in February 1987 being the first condemned) that I would be seeing in the Nottingham/Derby area on a regular basis a Class 50 in service on general main line duties. That locomotive is of course 50008 Thunderer and here it is stabled at Derby between duties, 27th October 2017.
Locomotive History
50008 was originally D408 and was built at the English Electric Vulcan Foundry works, Newton-Le-Willows. It entered traffic, allocated to Western Lines (Crewe) in March 1968 on Crewe – Glasgow West Coast Main Line duties. With the completion of the West Coast Main Line electrification to Glasgow in 1974 thirty five class 50’s were transferred to the Western Region, however 50008 was one of the fifteen locomotives retained by the London Midland Region until finally transferred to the Western Region in May 1976. In 1978 it was decided to name the class after Royal Navy warships and on the on the 1st September 1978 50008 was named Thunderer with the plates being fitted without ceremony at Laira MPD. In the early 1980’s it was decided to refurbish the class 50 fleet and 50008 entered Doncaster works for refurbishment and was released back into traffic on the 21st December 1981. 50008 worked it last train in November 1991 but was not officially withdrawn until June 1992. Following withdrawal it was sold to Pete Waterman who resold it to Sea Containers in 1998 however neither owner undertook any real work on the locomotive and it quietly decayed stored in the open at LNWR Crewe. In 2006 it was sold to a private individual who has funded its overhaul and the locomotive is again operational.
The fourth ship to carry the name HMS Thunderer was the fourth Orion class battleship built for the Royal Navy and was the last vessel to be constructed by the Thames Iron Works. She was the last and largest warship ever built on the River Thames, and after her completion her builders declared bankruptcy. The Orion class battleships displaced 22,000 tons and were armed with ten 13.5 inch guns in five super-firing turrets, all mounted on the centreline. She was laid down on the 16th April 1910, launched on the 1st February 1911 and was commissioned in May 1912. HMS Thunderer was the first Royal Navy battleship fitted with the Dreyer fire-control table which was effectively the world's first automatic computer and ten years ahead of any other navy's developments. She was also the first of her class to carry Captain Percy Scott's new director firing system, which made her top-shooting ship in the 1912 trials. HMS Thunderer served with the Grand Fleet through out the First World War and was present at the Battle of Jutland on 31st May 1916, firing just 37 13.5" shells, she was not damaged by German fire. As a result of the Washington Naval Convention, she was decommissioned in 1921 and from 1922, she served as a seagoing training ship for cadets, the sole survivor of her class. In November 1926 she was sold for scrap and broken up at Blyth.
Just a few more things to do, skirting boards, pictures on the walls. Also waiting on a chair and rug that I ordered from Etsy
Seville Cathedral is built on the site of the former Almohad Mosque. After its completion in the early 16th century, Seville Cathedral supplanted Hagia Sophia as the largest cathedral in the world, a title the Byzantine church had held for a thousand years.
The cathedral was built to demonstrate the city's wealth, as it had become a major trading center in the years after the Reconquista in 1248. In July 1401, city leaders decided to build a new cathedral to replace the grand mosque that served as the cathedral until then.
The Giralda is the former minaret of the mosque that stood on the site under Muslim rule, and was built to resemble the minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech, Morocco. It was converted into a bell tower for the cathedral after the Reconquista, although the topmost section dates from the Renaissance.
Nearing completion of its moult from juvenile to 1st winter. The juv covert feathers are always retained but the gingery marks on the sides of its nape will soon disappear.
To celebrate the completion of Rowan's Tale, I threw a little New Year's Eve party and did a photo shoot of the characters in it.
The Hot Mess: Aggi
Misfit elf from a far off world that she thought had been destroyed. Has been happily settling into her new life with help from Jessie and friends.
The Castaway: Rowan
The shuttle incident has left him stranded. After the initial shock of meeting Aggi has passed, waiting for rescue might not be so bad after all - if he can survive.
Aggi:
Hair: Sintiklia - Irma
Gown: Sofia - Reese Star Gown
Rowan:
Hair: No Match - No Prince
Suit: Native Urban - Monaco Suit
Narae40 new body nearing completion.
2nd pre-order gift parts
Assembly test
Narae40's Body sizes
*Height - 44cm
*Eyeball size - 10mm
*Wig size - 6.5inches
*Head circumference - 6.5inch
*Neck circumference - 6.5cm
*Shoulder width - 7cm
*Chest circumference - 17cm
*Waist circumference - 13cm
*Hip circumference - 21.5cm
*Arm length(from the shoulder point to the wrist) - 13cm
*Wrist circumference - 4cm
*Leg length(from the waist point to the ankle ) - 25cm
*Length from groin to ankle - 20cm
*Ankle circumference - 5cm
*Foot size - 5.5cm
Bathroom reno from Sept. 14, 2015 (demolition day ) to Dec. 2 (substantial completion date).
The homeowner made a decision on door and drawer handles, and they were installed in January. Contemporary cabinet hardware is by Richelieu, in "nickel" finish.
The small gouge in the wall, which happened when the counter top was being slid into position, has just been repaired. Now that that is done, the construction work in this room has finally been completed (five months after it began).
The homeowner decided not to install a window blind, at least for the time being.
In this reno, everything in the bathroom was removed and replaced except the ceiling fan and the chrome-finish Progress Lighting fixture above the mirror. However, it has a different look now - it was rotated 180 degrees and the 100W incandescent bulbs were replaced with 60W LEDs. The fixture now provides a different tone of light.
Cabinet is by Redl, stained "Dark Oak"; vanity top is Bianco Carrara marble with a honed finish and square wrap edge profile. Rectangular undercounter ceramic vessel is by Ronbow; chrome faucet is from the "Fen" series by Neptune. Chrome finish towel bar and toilet paper holder are the "Urania" model by Nameeks.
The backsplash is one row of 4" x 6" glass tiles by Ames, "Elements" series, in the colour "platinum", grout is by Custom in the colour "pewter", and the metal edge profile is by Schluter, in "chrome".
Porcelain floor and wall tiles are "Arabesque" by Casa Roma, in the colour "Ice", with matte finish on the floor and semi-polished finish on the walls. Chrome shower door handle is from C. R. Laurence Co., Inc. Chrome-finish hardware inside the shower stall is by Neptune, "Fen" series.
The homeowner tested 5 different colours of paint in this room before settling on Aura "Storm" by Benjamin Moore, in matte finish. Ceiling was painted "Cloud White", also by BM, in matte finish. Oak window trim and baseboards were painted "Cloud White", in pearl finish.
To see the reno work in sequence, and 5 "before" pix, click on my "FOLLOW THE BATHROOM RENO" album.
I figured after showing you two ends, I would share a middle.
Funny thing is, I have wanted to do a photo series like this using the human body and have just never gotten around to it. Instead, it took a snowshoe trip up to Mirror Lake to find it.
View of the Tyne Bridge roadway nearing completion, 25 September 1928 (TWAM ref. 3730/15/22).
The Tyne Bridge is one of the North East’s most iconic landmarks. These photographs were taken by James Bacon & Sons of Newcastle and document its construction from March 1927 to October 1928. They belonged to James Geddie, who was Chief Assistant Engineer on the construction of the Bridge with Dorman, Long & Co. Ltd. of Middlesbrough.
(Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.
After its completion in the early 16th century, Seville Cathedral supplanted Hagia Sophia as the largest cathedral in the world, a title the Byzantine church had held for nearly a thousand years. It is the third-largest church in the world as well as the largest Gothic church. Since the world's two largest churches, the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida and St. Peter's Basilica, are not the seats of bishops Seville Cathedral is still the largest cathedral in the world.
Seville Cathedral was the site of the baptism of Infante Juan of Aragon in 1478, only son of the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. Its royal chapel holds the remains of the city's conqueror Ferdinand III of Castile, his son and heir Alfonso the Wise and their descendant king Pedro el Cruel. The funerary monuments for cardinals Juan de Cervantes and Pedro González de Mendoza Quiñones are located among its chapels. Christopher Columbus and his son Diego are also buried in the cathedral.
The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See was registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, along with the adjoining Alcázar palace complex and the General Archive of the Indies. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seville_Cathedral
Originally dating to around 1320, the building is important because it has most of its original features; successive owners effected relatively few changes to the main structure, after the completion of the quadrangle with a new chapel in the 16th century. Pevsner described it as "the most complete small medieval manor house in the county", and it remains an example that shows how such houses would have looked in the Middle Ages. Unlike most courtyard houses of its type, which have had a range demolished, so that the house looks outward, Nicholas Cooper observes that Ightham Mote wholly surrounds its courtyard and looks inward, into it, offering little information externally.[9] The construction is of "Kentish ragstone and dull red brick,"[10] the buildings of the courtyard having originally been built of timber and subsequently rebuilt in stone.[11]
The moat of Ightham Mote
The house has more than 70 rooms, all arranged around a central courtyard, "the confines circumscribed by the moat."[10] The house is surrounded on all sides by a square moat, crossed by three bridges. The earliest surviving evidence is for a house of the early 14th century, with the great hall, to which were attached, at the high, or dais end, the chapel, crypt and two solars. The courtyard was completely enclosed by increments on its restricted moated site, and the battlemented tower was constructed in the 15th century. Very little of the 14th century survives on the exterior behind rebuilding and refacing of the 15th and 16th centuries.
The structures include unusual and distinctive elements, such as the porter's squint, a narrow slit in the wall designed to enable a gatekeeper to examine a visitor's credentials before opening the gate. An open loggia with a fifteenth-century gallery above, connects the main accommodations with the gatehouse range. The courtyard contains a large, 19th century dog kennel.[12] The house contains two chapels; the New Chapel, of c.1520, having a barrel roof decorated with Tudor roses. [13] Parts of the interior were remodelled by Richard Norman Shaw.[14] wikipedia
16th century-late 19th century
The house remained in the Selby family for nearly 300 years.[3] Sir William was succeeded by his nephew, also Sir William, who is notable for handing over the keys of Berwick-upon-Tweed to James I on his way south to succeed to the throne.[4] He married Dorothy Bonham of West Malling but had no children. The Selbys continued until the mid-19th century when the line faltered with Elizabeth Selby, the widow of a Thomas who disinherited his only son.[5] During her reclusive tenure, Joseph Nash drew the house for his multi-volume illustrated history Mansions of England in the Olden Time, published in the 1840s.[6] The house passed to a cousin, Prideaux John Selby, a distinguished naturalist, sportsman and scientist. On his death in 1867, he left Ightham Mote to a daughter, Mrs Lewis Marianne Bigge. Her second husband, Robert Luard, changed his name to Luard-Selby. Ightham Mote was rented-out in 1887 to American Railroad magnate William Jackson Palmer and his family. For three years Ightham Mote became a centre for the artists and writers of the Aesthetic Movement with visitors including John Singer Sargent, Henry James, and Ellen Terry. When Mrs Bigge died in 1889, the executors of her son Charles Selby-Bigge, a Shropshire land agent, put the house up for sale in July 1889.[6]
Late 19th century-21st century
The Mote was purchased by Thomas Colyer-Fergusson.[6] He and his wife brought up their six children at the Mote. In 1890-1891, he carried out much repair and restoration, which allowed the survival of the house after centuries of neglect.[7] Ightham Mote was opened to the public one afternoon a week in the early 20th century.[7]
Sir Thomas Colyer-Fergusson's third son, Riversdale, died aged 21 in 1917 in the Third Battle of Ypres, and won a posthumous Victoria Cross. A wooden cross in the New Chapel is in his memory. The oldest brother, Max, was killed at the age of 49 in a bombing raid on an army driving school near Tidworth in 1940 during World War II. One of the three daughters, Mary (called Polly) married Walter Monckton.
On Sir Thomas's death in 1951, the property and the baronetcy passed to Max's son, James. The high costs of upkeep and repair of the house led him to sell the house and auction most of the contents. The sale took place in October 1951 and lasted three days. It was suggested that the house be demolished to harvest the lead on the roofs, or that it be divided into flats. Three local men purchased the house: William Durling, John Goodwin and John Baldock. They paid £5,500 for the freehold, in the hope of being able to secure the future of the house.[8]
In 1953, Ightham Mote was purchased by Charles Henry Robinson, an American of Portland, Maine, United States. He had known the property when stationed nearby during the Second World War. He lived there for only fourteen weeks a year for tax reasons. He made many urgent repairs, and partly refurnished the house with 17th-century English pieces. In 1965, he announced that he would give Ightham Mote and its contents to the National Trust. He died in 1985 and his ashes were immured just outside the crypt. The National Trust took possession in that year.[8]
In 1989, the National Trust began an ambitious conservation project that involved dismantling much of the building and recording its construction methods before rebuilding it. During this process, the effects of centuries of ageing, weathering, and the destructive effect of the deathwatch beetle were highlighted. The project ended in 2004 after revealing numerous examples of structural and ornamental features which had been covered up by later additions.[1]
As with most Otters, this one has a very interesting history as written by Otter Historian Karl E Hayes.
Otter 296 was delivered to the United States Army on 1 November 1958 with serial 58-1688 (tail number 81688). It was delivered from Downsview to Crissy Army Airfield, San Francisco where it served the Presidio of San Francisco for a time before joining the 17th Aviation Company at Fort Ord, California. It was transferred in January 1962 to the 18th Aviation Company for service in Vietnam and continued to fly for this unit in Vietnam until March 1966, when it was returned to the ARADMAC depot at Corpus Christi, Texas for overhaul. Otters were returned from Vietnam to the depot for major overhaul aboard either USAF C-124s or C-133s. On completion of the work 81688 was airlifted back to Vietnam in May 1966 and joined the 54th Aviation Company.
The Otter is mentioned a few times in the 54th’s unit history. During June 1968 the Otter was hit by enemy fire at Cao Laun. During September 1968 “the Photo Mission had a frustrating week with aircraft 688 pumping oil out of the collector box and, by way of the slipstream, all over the camera lens”. In October 1968 “on take-off out of Plantation Airstrip at Long Binh, 688 experienced an erratic take-off during which the landing gear was slightly damaged. Landing was made at Vung Tau without incident. During 1969 the Otter was based at Long Than North. In January 1970 it made an emergency landing at Vinh Long after engine failure.
81688 continued flying for the 54th Aviation Company until January 1971, when Army use of the Otter in Vietnam came to an end. It was taken on charge by the 56th Transportation Company and then the following month by the 388th Transportation Company at Vung Tau where it remained in storage until May 1971. 81688 was one of five Otters in Vietnam selected by the Army for transfer to the Fuerza Aérea de Nicaragua (FAN) under a Military Aid Program. The five were shipped from Vung Tau, arriving at the port of Balboa in Panama. From the port the five were towed with wings removed to Albrook AFB., where they were re-assembled by the Army’s 590th Aviation Maintenance Company and refurbished and repainted, ready to be handed over to the FAN in June 1971.
With the FAN 81688 received the serial FAN-1014. It continued to fly for the FAN throughout the 1970s and was the only one of the five Otters to continue flying after the fall of the Somoza dynasty in Nicaragua in July 1979. The following year the air arm became the Fuerza Aerea Sandinista and was increasingly supplied with Soviet equipment. In 1987 there was a clear out of what was left of the original western- supplied equipment. Four T-28 Fennecs, an IAI Arava and several Hughes helicopters and the Otter were sold. The Otter and the T-28s had been purchased by Venture Aviation Services Ltd., of Vancouver, who arranged with Victoria Air Maintenance of Victoria, BC for the repatriation of the aircraft. They were loaded onto trucks at Managua and driven to Costa Rica. By Bill of Sale dated 11 May 1987 a Nicaraguan government agency, Suplidara de Negocios SA., of Managua, transferred ownership of the four Fennecs and the Otter, described by its then military identity of YN-BKB, to Victoria Air Maintenance. The aircraft were shipped from Costa Rica to Victoria on Vancouver Island where work started on rebuilding the Otter and converting it to a civilian aircraft.
By Bill of Sale 7 August 1987 Victoria Air Maintenance transferred title of the Otter to Venture Aviation Services who on the same day transferred title to C&S Enterprises (Hawkesbury) Ltd., a firm of aircraft brokers who had bought the Otter for sale on. It was registered as C-FANJ to C&S Enterprises on 4 November 1987. A buyer was quickly found for the Otter, 40 Mile Air of Tok, Alaska and by Bill of Sale 9 November 1987 ownership was transferred to 40 Mile Air, to whom the Otter was registered N5056Q on 2 December 1987.
40 Mile Air were an existing Otter operator and N5056Q was painted at Victoria into their house colours of black lower fuselage, white upper fuselage and a cheatline of two shades of blue, the same colour scheme as their existing Otter N1037G (77). The re-assembly, overhaul and civilianisation of the aircraft was also completed. A Canadian registration was required to test fly the aircraft and it was registered C-FAWZ to Victoria Air Maintenance for that purpose between 19 January and 01 February 1988. In March 1988 the Otter reverted to N5056Q and was delivered that month from Victoria to Tok, Alaska where it entered service as part of the 40 Mile Air fleet, serving the Alaskan bush country. During this period Victoria Air Maintenance had also been preparing Otter N3125N (394) for 40 Mile Air, so that the company then had a three strong Otter fleet.
With 40 Mile Air N5056Q was based at Tok and was heavily engaged in supporting mineral exploration camps out in the bush. It flew into remote mining camp airstrips such as Slate Creek, Pogo and Robertson River. At one stage it flew alongside the company’s other Otters N1037G and N3125N on a large exploration project at Yukon Flats. N5056Q was damaged on take-off from the Fairbanks International Airport on 10 February 1989. The pilot reported that before the flight the wings and stabilizer were swept, leaving a layer of “polished” frost. Freight was loaded and the aircraft was serviced to bring the fuel level up to 120 gallons. After start, taxi and run-up the pilot began his take-off from the approach end of the 10,300 foot runway, with 35 inches manifold pressure and 2,250 RPM. At about one hundred feet above the ground he adjusted the power to 30 inches and 2,000 rpm and raised the flaps to climb at 82 knots. However the Otter did not climb and would not accelerate in level flight.
The pilot increased the power to 31 inches and 2,100 rpm but he believed there was a definite loss of power. The Otter was damaged when the pilot aborted the take-off on snow-covered terrain beyond the end of the runway. An investigation revealed that the take-off gross weight exceeded the maximum limit by 130 pounds and that the entire aircraft was covered with a coating of frost. The wrecked Otter was transported back to Victoria Air Maintenance for rebuild. That crash however marked the end of its career with 40 Mile Air.
By May 1989 the repairs had been completed and by Bill of Sale 19 May 1989 40 Mile Air sold the Otter to Central Patricia Outfitters Ltd., of Pickle Lake, Ontario to whom the Otter was registered as C-FFIJ on 16 June 1989 and delivered across the country from Victoria to Pickle Lake. It was flown first to Sioux Lookout, Ontario where a set of floats were fitted and then on to Pickle Lake where it entered service alongside two Beavers. The new owners traded as Bottenfields Winisk Air, providing the usual range of bush services around north-western Ontario. The Otter remained in basic 40 Mile Air colour scheme but with Winisk Air fuselage titles. By July 1991 it had 6,488 hours on the airframe and this had increased to 7,340 by June 1993. On 2 April 1993 the Otter had operated a flight from Pickle Lake to Sioux Lookout with a defective radio, which the pilot had failed to write up in the aircraft’s journey log, leading to his licence being suspended for seven days.
In April 1994 C-FFIJ was flying on a contract for a lumber company, transporting a large amount of building material (133,975 pounds) from Kabania Lake, which was 38 miles north of Pickle Lake, to Fishbasket Lake, a distance of 41 miles. Fifty trips had been flown and on 6 April the Otter was to fly the fifty first and last trip. The Otter was taking off from the ice strip when, to quote from the accident report: “The aircraft was reported to be just below maximum take-off weight. The wheel-skis struck a three foot high snow bank at the end of the ice strip and the pilot aborted the take-off. The left strut collapsed and the left wheel assembly was driven into the fuselage. The pilot had accepted a 5 to 10 knot tail wind for the take-off and reported a strong gust at lift off”.
Gold Belt Air Transport Otter C-FCZO (71) was brought in from Pickle Lake to fly the trip. The load was transferred from FIJ to CZO and it attempted to take off a couple of times but was unable to do so. The load was taken off and weighed and found to be 2,000 pounds overweight. “A build-up of extra weight left from the first fifty trips had been loaded on the fifty first trip, resulting in an enormous over-load on what would have been the final clean-up trip”. As a result the pilot of FIJ was fined $500 by the Minister for Transport for operating the Otter in such an overloaded condition. In the meantime, after temporary repairs at the scene of the accident, a ferry permit was issued on 8 April for FIJ to fly from Kabania Lake to Pickle Lake and on to Bar River, Ontario for permanent repairs. These were completed by 21 June 1994 and the Otter resumed service with Winisk Air.
On 25 May 1995 Otter C-FFIJ went on lease from Central Patricia Outfitters to Leuenberger Air Service of Nakina, Ontario for six months and at the end of the lease was bought outright by Leuenberger Air Service, by Bill of Sale 31 December 1995, at a time when Central Patricia Outfitters / Bottenfield Winisk Air was closing down. FIJ flew as part of the Leuenberger fleet of Otters for summer 1995 and summer 1996 until sold at the end of that season. The buyer was Jeanne C. Porter who together with her husband owned Bald Mountain Aviation, based at Homer-Beluga Lake, Alaska.
By Bill of Sale 14 October 1996 Leuenberger Air Service transferred title to Vazar Aerospace of Bellingham, Washington and by a further Bill of Sale 5 February 1997 ownership was transferred to Jeanne Porter. The Otter, still registered C-FFIJ, was noted at Vancouver Air Maintenance’s facility at Victoria during April 1997, being repainted and readied for its return to Alaska. On 27 May 1997 a ferry permit was issued for a flight from Victoria to Ketchikan. The Canadian registration was cancelled on 9 June 1997 and the Otter registered N103SY to Bald Mountain Air Service Inc. This company also operated Beaver N102SY. In April 2001 these were joined by a second Otter N104BM (118) and all were kept very busy.
As the company website explained: “We are Gary and Jeanne Porter, owners and operators of Bald Mountain Air. We are both lifelong Alaskans and take great pleasure in showing our guests all that we know and love about Alaska. Among our great loves are the mountains and waters of South-Central Alaska. There we find one of Alaska’s greatest natural wonders – the great brown bears of Katmai National Park. Our all-day tour is kept to a small group. Our pilots are selected not only for their flying expertise but also thorough understanding of bear behaviour and will also be your guide”. Then aircraft were used, on floats, to fly to whatever location in the four and a half million acre Katmai Park where the bears were to be found. Tours were also conducted to Kodiak Island for bear viewing.
At the end of the summer 2001 season, N103SY was advertised for sale, on EDO 7170 floats, with a total time of 10,300 hours on the airframe. It had an asking price of $360,000. The Otter was eventually sold and was registered to Craig M. Schweizer of Kenai, Alaska on 19 June 2003. It arrived at AOG’s facility at Kelowna, BC in April 2004 where it was converted to a Walter turbine, with the M601 engine. It was painted into a colour scheme of black lower fuselage, cream upper fuselage and blue cheatline, with Mavrik Aire titles on the tail. The Otter then flew to its Kenai base, to fly for Craig Schweizer’s company, Mavrik Aire, this being a trading name of Exousia Inc. It flew alongside Beaver N613WG and some single Cessnas. The company provided the usual range of bush services, including fly-out fishing and hunting charters, bear viewing and scenic flights. Mostly it flew hunters. For example, on 1 September 2004 it flew hunters from Kotzebue to a lake at Noatak National Preserve, where they hunted caribou but in a place and at a time when such hunting was prohibited. Craig Schweizer was subsequently prosecuted for this.
N103SY continued to fly for Mavrik Aire for a few years. Main base was at Kenai but during the summer months it often deployed north to Kotzebue from where it flew hunters out into the bush. It was also used in winter and during April 2007 was based at Bethel hauling mining equipment to Kisaralik Lake in the Kilbuck Mountains. On 12 June 2007 the Otter was re-registered to Ascention LLC., of Kenai, another Craig Schweizer company, but continued to fly for Mavrik Aire. Trouble struck the following month. “The Anchorage Daily News reported earlier this week that Craig Schweizer, son of imprisoned Montana Freemen leader Leroy Schweizer, lost his aviation licence in July for multiple safety and legal violations. But Craig Schweizer says that is baloney and maintains that FAA inspectors have a vendetta against him because of his family ties to the Freemen, the defunct self-described ‘Christian Patriot Group’ famously headed by his father”. According to various newspaper reports, the FAA revoked Mavrik Aire’s operating certificate and also revoked Craig Schweizer’s pilots licence and aviation mechanic’s licence, citing a long list of violations.
Craig Schweizer appealed to an Administrative Law judge and an appeal hearing was held in Anchorage on 8 and 9 August 2007. The FAA administrator produced witnesses who gave evidence of a long list of violations of rules, both by Mr Schweizer and by Mavrik Aire. Among these witnesses was a former Mavrik Aire pilot who testified that he made numerous trips in the Otter when it was substantially over-loaded due to incorrect weight and balance information provided by Mr Schweizer. When the pilot brought this to his attention he flew into a rage and was so angry that the pilot abandoned the Otter in the field. Evidence of this nature clearly did not help Mavrik Aire’s case and the Law Judge dismissed the appeal. Mr Schweizer and Mavrik Aire appealed further to the NTSB but on 21 September 2007 the Board also denied the appeal and affirmed the Law Judge’s decision. That was the end of the road for Mavrik Aire, which was closed down, leaving Otter N103SY in store in the company’s hangar in Kenai.
In February 2008 N103SY was advertised for sale by Island Aero Services of Victoria, BC on behalf of its owner Ascention LLC. It was for sale on EDO 7170 floats, with 12,100 hours on the airframe and with an asking price of $995,000. The buyer of the Otter was STOLAirus of Kelowna, BC where the Otter arrived in July 2008. Its US registration was cancelled on 31 July 2008 but it was not immediately re-registered in Canada, as it was to spend several months at Kelowna being overhauled and refurbished. By October 2008 it had been stripped of its paint scheme and re-painted white and work continued on preparing the Otter for re-sale.
The Otter was advertised for sale by Arctic Aerospace Inc of Vancouver, a company associated with STOLAirus, in February 2009. The advert gave total airframe time of 12,128 hours, an increase of 28 hours since February 2008, and an asking price of $1,395,000. The advertisement quoted a registration of C-FXZD, although the aircraft was not at that time on the Canadian register. That remained the position as at December 2009, the Otter still at Kelowna and advertised for sale by Arctic Aerospace, alongside serial 465, which was also for sale as a Walter Turbine Otter. C-FXZD was eventually registered to Arctic Aerospace Inc, Richmond, BC on 27 April 2010, still advertised for sale in September 2010, painted all white and still parked at Kelowna.
More than two and a half years after it had arrived in Kelowna, the Otter was sold, being re-registered C-GRRJ to its new owners, 3097448 Manitoba Ltd., (Adventure Air) of Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba on 12 April 2011, and was painted into Adventure Air’s colour scheme and acquired company titles on the side of the fuselage. Adventure Air is a leasing company, as well as an operating company, and already owned a number of Otters. The delivery flight from Kelowna to Lac du Bonnet took place on 19 April 2011, in the course of which an incident took place near Castlegar, BC. The Otter climbed into Class B airspace without obtaining a clearance from air traffic control. The pilot contacted ATC while descending back to 12,500 feet to advise he had made an emergency climb due to icing. Having arrived at Lac du Bonnet, RRJ entered service as part of the Adventure Air Otter fleet.
As well as leasing out its Otters, Adventure Air also flew in support of their own fishing operation, Jacksons Lodge and Outposts, with several lodges located throughout north-eastern Manitoba, within three of Manitoba’s beautiful Provincial Parks – Atikaki, Nopiming and Whiteshell. RRJ was used to service this business. It was based at Red Lake, Ontario during summer 2013 flying fishermen to lodges, on charter to lodge owners. An incident was reported on CADORS for 17 June 2014 at the Lac du Bonnet water aerodrome. The float-equipped Otter was climbing about three minutes after take-off when the pilot observed flames from the engine exhaust and the engine lost power. The pilot conducted a forced landing on Lac du Bonnet. There was no damage to the aircraft and no injuries. The engine was removed and sent to the Czech Republic for repair, after which Otter RRJ returned to service.
On 25 August 2016 C-GRRJ was registered to Peter Hagedorn Investments Ltd., trading as Chimo Air Service, and began operating from the company’s base at Red Lake, Ontario. It retained the previous colour scheme but without titles. As at January 2018 the Otter was still registered to this company.
Chimo Air Service provided general charter work out of Red Lake as well as flying the fishing lodge guests of Chimo Lodge and Outposts, also owned by Peter Hagedorn. The main lodge was at Roderick Lake and there were numerous outpost camps, all located in the Ontario bush country to the north of Red Lake.
After many years of carrying on this business, Peter Hagedorn retired in the spring of 2018 and sold both Chimo Air Service and Chimo Lodge and Outposts to Superior Airways Ltd, an established charter operator also based at Red Lake. At that time Superior Airways operated a fleet of Cessna Caravans and Piper Navajos. From then on Superior Airways owned the fishing lodge business, as well as Chimo Air Service, which it closed down. Henceforth the fishing lodge business would be serviced by a fleet of two turbine Otters, one piston Otter, a Beaver and two Cessna Caravans, all operated by Superior Airways. On 16 April 2018 the three former Chimo Air Service Otters, turbines C-FODQ (111) and C-GRRJ (296) and piston Otter C-GYYS (276) were all registered to Superior Airways Ltd and for summer 2018 were flying out of Red Lake for their new owner.
Dated Southampton, December 7, 1930.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
History
United Kingdom
NameRMS Aquitania
NamesakeAquitania (Roman province in France)[3]
Owner
1914–1934: Cunard Line[1]
1934–1949: Cunard White Star Line
1949–1950: Cunard Line
OperatorCunard Line
Port of registryUnited Kingdom Liverpool, United Kingdom
RouteSouthampton-New York (1914) (1920–1939) (1945–1948) (1945–1950) Southampton-Halifax (1948–1950)
Ordered8 December 1910[1]
BuilderJohn Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland[1]
Yard number409[2]
Laid downDecember 1910
Launched21 April 1913[1]
Christened21 April 1913 by the Countess of Derby
Acquired24 May 1914
Maiden voyage30 May 1914[1]
In service30 May 1914
Out of service1950
FateScrapped in 1950 at Faslane, Scotland.[1]
General characteristics
TypeOcean liner
Tonnage45,647 GRT[4]
Length901 ft (274.6 m)[4]
Beam97 ft (29.6 m)[4]
Draught36 ft (11.0 m)[1]
Decks10
Installed power
Direct drive Parsons steam turbines;[4]
59,000 shp (44,000 kW)
PropulsionFour shafts[4]
Speed
24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph) (service)
25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) (max)[4]
Capacity
1914: 3,230[1]
618 1st class passengers
614 2nd class passengers
2,004 3rd class passengers
1926: 2,200[1]
610 1st class passengers
950 2nd class passengers
640 tourist class passengers
Crew972[1]
RMS Aquitania was a British ocean liner of the Cunard Line in service from 1914 to 1950. She was designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland. She was launched on 21 April 1913[5] and sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on 30 May 1914. Aquitania was the third in Cunard Line's grand trio of express liners, preceded by RMS Mauretania and RMS Lusitania, and was the last surviving four-funnelled ocean liner.[6] Shortly after Aquitania entered service, World War I broke out, during which she was first converted into an auxiliary cruiser before being used as a troop transport and a hospital ship, notably as part of the Dardanelles Campaign.
Returned to transatlantic passenger service in 1920, she served alongside the Mauretania and the Berengaria. Considered during this period of time as one of the most attractive ships, Aquitania earned the nickname "the Ship Beautiful" from her passengers.[4] She continued in service after the merger of Cunard Line with White Star Line in 1934. The company planned to retire her and replace her with RMS Queen Elizabeth in 1940.
However, the outbreak of World War II allowed the ship to remain in service for ten more years. During the war and until 1947, she served as a troop transport. She was used in particular to take home Canadian soldiers from Europe. After the war, she transported migrants to Canada before the Board of Trade found her unfit for further commercial service. Aquitania was retired from service in 1949 and was sold for scrapping the following year. Having served as a passenger ship for 36 years, Aquitania ended her career as the longest-serving Cunard vessel, a record which stood for six years until overtaken by RMS Scythia's service record of 37 years. In 2004 Aquitania's service record was pushed into third place when Queen Elizabeth 2 became the longest-serving Cunard vessel.
Conception
The origins of Aquitania lay in the rivalry between the White Star Line and Cunard Line, Britain's two leading shipping companies. The White Star Line's Olympic, Titanic and the upcoming Britannic were larger than the latest Cunard ships, Mauretania and Lusitania, by 15,000 gross register tons. The Cunard duo were significantly faster than the White Star ships, while White Star's ships were seen as more luxurious. Cunard needed another liner for its weekly transatlantic express service, and elected to copy the White Star Line's Olympic-class model with a slower but larger and more luxurious ship.[4][7][8] The plan for the building of that liner began in 1910. Several draft plans were conceived in order to determine the main axes of what should be the ship for which an average speed of 23 knots was planned. In July of that year, the company launched the construction offers to several shipyards before choosing John Brown and Company, the builder of the Lusitania. The company chose Aquitania as the name for its new ship in continuity with those of its two previous duo. The three ships were named respectively after the Ancient Roman provinces Lusitania, Mauretania, and Gallia Aquitania.[9]
Aquitania was designed by Cunard naval architect Leonard Peskett.[4] Peskett drew up plans for a larger and wider vessel than Lusitania and Mauretania (about 130 feet (40 m) longer). With four large funnels the ship would resemble the famous speed duo, but Peskett also designed the superstructure with "glassed in" touches from the smaller Carmania, a ship he also designed. Another design feature from Carmania was the addition of two tall forward deck ventilator cowlings. Although the ship's outward dimensions were greater than that of Olympic, her displacement and tonnage were lower.[10] With Aquitania's keel being laid at the end of 1910, the experienced Peskett took a voyage on Olympic in 1911 so as to experience the feel of a ship reaching nearly 50,000 tonnes as well as to copy pointers for his company's new vessel.[10] Though Aquitania was built solely with Cunard funds, Peskett designed her according to strict British Admiralty specifications.[citation needed] Aquitania was built in the John Brown and Company yards in Clydebank, Scotland, where the majority of the Cunard ships were built.[5] The keel was laid in the same plot where Lusitania had been built, and would later be used to construct Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, and Queen Elizabeth 2.[11] Just like with Mauretania, for the launch the hull was painted in a light grey colour for photographic purposes; a common practice of the day for the first ship in a new class, as it made the lines of the ship clearer in the black-and-white photographs. Her hull was repainted to black in dry dock.[12]
In the wake of the Titanic sinking, Aquitania was one of the first new ships to carry enough lifeboats for all passengers and crew.[4] Eighty lifeboats, including two motorised launches with Marconi wireless equipment, were carried in both swan-neck and newer Welin type davits.[13] There was also a double hull and watertight compartments that were designed to allow the ship to float with five compartments flooded.[14] As required by the British Admiralty, she was designed to be converted into an armed merchant cruiser, and was reinforced to mount guns for service in that role. The ship displaced approximately 49,430 tons, of which the hull accounted for 29,150 tons, machinery 9,000 and bunkers 6,000 tons.[15]
Aquitania was launched on 21 April 1913 after being christened by Alice Stanley, the Countess of Derby, and fitted out over the next thirteen months. Notable installations were electrical wiring and decorations. The fitting out was led by Arthur Joseph Davis and his associate Charles Mewès.[10] On 10 May 1914, she was tested in her sea trials and steamed at one full knot over the expected speed. On 14 May, she reached Mersey and stayed at a port there for fifteen days, during which she underwent a final major cleaning and finishing in preparation for her maiden voyage.[16]
Technical aspects
Aquitania was the first Cunard liner to have a length in excess of 900 feet.[10] Unlike some four-funneled ships, such as White Star Line's Olympic-class ocean liners, Aquitania did not have a dummy funnel; each funnel was utilised in venting smoke from the ship's boilers.[17][18]
Steam was provided by twenty-one forced-draft, double-ended Scotch boilers, having eight furnaces each, that were 22 feet (6.7 m) long with diameter of 17 feet 8 inches (5.4 m) arranged in four boiler rooms.[19] Each boiler room had seven ash expellers with pump capacity of approximately 4,500 tons per hour that could also be used as emergency bilge pumps.[19]
Steam drove Parsons turbines in three separate engine rooms in a triple expansion system for four shafts.[19] The port engine room contained the high pressure ahead (240 tons, 40 feet 2 inches (12.2 m) long with four stage expansion) and astern turbine (120 tons, 22 feet 11 inches (7.0 m) long) for the port shaft, the centre room contained two low pressure turbines with ahead and astern capability within single casings (54 feet 3 inches (16.5 m) long, nine expansion stages in ahead turbine, four in astern turbine) for the two centre shafts and the starboard room contained the intermediate pressure ahead turbine (41 feet 6.5 inches (12.7 m) long) and a high pressure astern turbine (twin of the port high pressure turbine) for the starboard shaft.[19][20]
The electrical plant, located on G deck below the waterline, consisted of four 400 kW British Westinghouse generator sets generating 225 volt direct current, with emergency power provided by a diesel driven 30 kW generator up on the promenade deck.[21] Power was provided for about 10,000 lamps and about 180 electric motors.[21] She also had brass triple chambered 3 chime steam whistles on the 1st funnel and 2nd funnel.
In 1914, Aquitania had the capacity to carry 3,220 passengers (618 First Class, 614 Second Class, 2,004 Third Class). After a refit in 1926, the figure was reduced to 610 in first class, 950 in second class, and 640 in tourist class. Although the original specification mentioned a capacity of 972 crew members, the ship sometimes carried around 1,100.[9]
Although Aquitania lacked the lean, yacht-like appearance of running mates Mauretania and Lusitania, the greater length and wider beam allowed for grander and more spacious public rooms. Her public spaces were designed by the British architect Arthur Joseph Davis of the interior decorating firm Mewès and Davis. This firm had overseen the construction and decoration of the Ritz Hotel in London and Davis himself had designed several banks in that city. His partner in the firm, Charles Mewès, had designed the interiors of the Paris Ritz, and had been commissioned by Albert Ballin, head of Germany's Hamburg America Line (HAPAG), to decorate the interiors of the company's new liner Amerika in 1905.[10]
In the years prior to the First World War, Mewès was charged with the decoration of HAPAG's trio of giant new ships, Imperator, Vaterland, and Bismarck, while Davis was awarded the contract for Aquitania.[10] In a curious arrangement between the rival Cunard and Hamburg-Amerika Lines, Mewès and Davis worked apart—in Germany and England respectively and exclusively—with neither partner being able to disclose details of his work to the other. Although this arrangement was almost certainly violated, Aquitania's first-class interiors were largely the work of Davis. The Louis XVI dining saloon owed much to Mewès' work on the HAPAG liners, but it is likely that having worked so closely together for many years the two designers' work had become almost interchangeable. Indeed, Davis must be given credit for the Carolean smoking room and the Palladian lounge; a faithful interpretation of the style of architect John Webb.[22]
The second class had a dining room, several lounges, a smoking room, a veranda café, and a gymnasium; many being unique facilities for this class on British liners. The third class had several common areas, a promenade, and three shared bathrooms.[22] The cabins offered great comfort. The first class included eight luxury suites, named after famous painters. A large number of first-class cabins had bathrooms, although not all did. The second-class cabins were larger than average, most being capable of accommodating three people as opposed to the standard four. Her Third Class accommodations were a great expansion in facilities compared to her running mates. While most Cunard liners had their Third Class areas confined forward, aboard Aquitania such spaces spanned the full length of the ship, and included several large open areas, three large dining rooms and both open and enclosed promenades.[23]
Over her thirty-five years career, her facilities changed. Examples of this were the addition of a cinema during her refit from 1932 to 1933[24] and the reorganisation of the tourist class during the 1920s for giving greater comfort to poor passengers.[25]
Early career and World War I
Aquitania's maiden voyage was under the command of Captain William Turner on 30 May 1914 with arrival in New York on 5 June.[1][15] The voyage and arrival in New York received great attention.[26] Fifteen days later, the German liner SS Vaterland, being the largest ship in the world at the time, was put into service. In the eye of the press, this maiden voyage was a matter of national prestige.[27] However, this event was overshadowed by the sinking of RMS Empress of Ireland in Quebec the previous day with over a thousand drowned.[28] However, no passenger cancelled their voyage aboard the Aquitania, despite the strong emotion aroused by this sinking.[16] During her maiden voyage, the ship carried around 1,055 passengers, which was about a third of her total capacity. This was because a superstition pushed some people away from travelling on a ship's maiden voyage.[citation needed] The crossing fully satisfied the crew and the company. Average speed for the voyage, a distance of 3,181 nautical miles (5,891 km; 3,661 mi) measured from Liverpool to the Ambrose Channel lightship, was 23.1 knots (42.8 km/h; 26.6 mph),[15] taking into account a five-hour stop due to fog and the proximity of icebergs. The ship briefly managed to exceed 25 knots. Also, her coal consumption was significantly lower than that of Lusitania and Mauretania. Many passengers enjoyed the voyage. On the return trip, the success was renewed; she carried a total of 2,649 passengers, which was a record for a British liner leaving New York.[29]
Upon arrival at her home port, she underwent minor modifications, which took into account observations made during the two first crossings (this was typical for a liner after its first round trip).[29] Two more round trips took place in the second half of June and the whole of July of that year. Her architect Leonard Peskett was on board during those trips to note any defect and room for improvement. In total, 11,208 passengers travelled on the ship during her first six crossings. Her career was abruptly interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, which removed her from passenger service for six years.[30]
The following month Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, and the world was plunged into World War I. Aquitania was converted into an armed merchant cruiser on 5 August 1914, for which provision had been made in her design. On 8 August, having been rid of decorative elements and armed with guns, she was sent on patrol. On 22 August, she collided with a liner named Canadian. Shortly after, the Admiralty found that large liners were too expensive to operate as cruisers. On 30 September, she was repaired, disarmed, and returned to Cunard Line.[31][4]
After being idle for a time, in the spring of 1915 she was recalled by the Admiralty and converted into a troopship, and made voyages to the Dardanelles, sometimes running alongside Britannic or Mauretania. Around 30,000 men were transported on the ship to the battlefield between May and August of that year.[31] Aquitania then was converted into a hospital ship, and acted in that role during the Dardanelles campaign.[1][32] In 1916, the year that White Star's flagship, and one of Aquitania's main rivals, Britannic, was sunk, Aquitania was returned to the trooping front, and then in 1917 was laid up in the Solent.[1][33] In 1918, now under the command of James Charles, the ship was back on the high seas in troopship service, conveying North American troops to Britain. Many of these departures were from the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia where the ship's dazzle paint scheme was captured by artists and photographers, including Antonio Jacobsen. On one occasion Aquitania transported over 8,000 men. During her nine voyages, she transported approximately a total of 60,000 men. During this period, she collided with USS Shaw and tore apart its bow. The accident killed a dozen members of the American ship's crew.[34]
After the end of the war, in December 1918, Aquitania was dismissed from military service. She collided with the British cargo ship Lord Dufferin at New York in the United States on 28 February 1919. Lord Dufferin sank and Aquitania rescued her crew.[35] Lord Dufferin was later refloated and beached.[36]
Interwar career
In June 1919, Aquitania ran a Cunard "austerity service" between Southampton and New York. In December of that year Aquitania was docked at the Armstrong Whitworth yards in Newcastle to be refitted for post-war service. The ship was converted from coal burner to oil-fired, which greatly reduced the number of engine room crew required.[1][37] The original fittings and art pieces, removed when refitted for military use, were brought out of storage and re-installed. At some point during this time, a new wheelhouse was constructed above the original one as the officers had complained about the visibility over the ship's bow. The second wheelhouse can be seen in later pictures of the era and the original wheelhouse area below had the windows plated in.[38]
1920s
Aquitania resumed her commercial service on 17 July 1920, leaving from Liverpool with 2,433 passengers on board. The crossing was a success; the ship maintained good speed while showing that now being oil-fuelled was much cheaper than coal-fuelled propulsion.[39] The ship's arrival in New York Harbor was filmed as part of the pioneering 1921 documentary Manhatta, in which she is seen being pushed to her destination by tugboats. The months that followed were just as promising, despite a stewards' strike in May 1921.[40] At the beginning of the decade, Aquitania was the only large liner in the service of Cunard Line as the Mauretania was undergoing repair after a fire. The year 1921 was thus an exceptional year for her; she broke a record by transporting around 60,000 passengers that year.[41] In the following year, the Mauretania rejoined her in Cunard service. Aquitania operated in service with the Mauretania and Berengaria (formerly the German liner Imperator) in a trio known as "The Big Three."[4][42]
In 1924, a new restriction on immigration was passed in the United States, causing the number of third-class passengers to decline significantly. From about 26,000 third-class passengers transported by Aquitania in 1921, the figure fell to about 8,200 third-class passengers in 1925. The number of crew was thus reduced to around 850 people from the original 1,200.[42] The third class was no longer the key to the profitability of the liner, and so the company had to adapt. The third-class gradually became a tourist class, which offered decent service at a low price. In 1926, the ship underwent a major overhaul, which reduced the passenger capacity from around 3,300 to around 2,200.[43]
Still, the Cunard Line benefited from prohibition in the United States, which started in 1919. American liners were legally part of the territory of the United States, and thus alcoholic beverages could not be served on them. Passengers who wanted to drink therefore travelled on British liners in order to do so.[44] Aquitania enjoyed great success, making much profit for her company. In 1929, she underwent a major refit. A bathroom was added to many first-class cabins, and the tourist class was renovated. While new competitors, such as the German liner SS Bremen, entered service, Aquitania remained particularly popular after fifteen years of service.[45]
Crisis of 1929 and its consequences
Following the stock market crash of 1929, many ships were affected by the economic downturn and reduced traffic. Aquitania found herself in a tough position. Only a few could afford expensive passage on her now, so Cunard sent Aquitania on cheap cruises to the Mediterranean. These were successful, especially for Americans who went on "booze cruises," tired of their country's prohibition.[46] Another problem also arose: the two liners of the Norddeutscher Lloyd, SS Bremen and SS Europa, successfully captured the Blue Riband and many customers.[47] In 1934, the number of passengers Aquitania carried declined to around 13,000 from 30,000 in 1929.[48] The ship, however, remained popular and she was the third busiest in the early 1930s behind those two German liners.[46]
To keep the ship up to date, she underwent a refit, which added a cinema, between 1932 and 1933. At the same time, in order to modernise its fleet, the company ordered the Queen Mary. The Great Depression, however, prevented the company from being able to fully finance the construction, and the company merged with its rival, the White Star Line, in 1934 in order to do so. The Queen Mary entered service in 1936.[49] Author C. R. Bonsor writing in 1963 states, from 1936 on it became necessary to squeeze the maximum speed out of Aquitania in order to make her a suitable running mate for Queen Mary thus 24 knot passages became regular.[50] Aquitania ran aground in the Solent on 24 January 1934 but was refloated later the same day.[51] The merger of the two companies into Cunard-White Star Line resulted in a large surplus of liners being owned by a single company. Thus, very old ships, such as the Mauretania and the Olympic, were removed from service immediately and sent to the scrapyard. However, the Aquitania was not, despite her age.[52] On 10 April 1935, Aquitania went hard aground on Thorne Knoll in the Solent near Southampton, England, but with the aid of ten tugboats, on the next high tide the ship was freed.[1] When the new liner RMS Queen Elizabeth was due to enter service in 1940, newspapers speculated that Aquitania would be scrapped that year. However, during that period, her performance continued to satisfy her company. The year 1939 saw an increase in the number of wealthy passengers on board. The ship was then already 26 years old.[53]
World War II service
Aquitania, with a normal troop capacity of 7,400, was among the select group of large, fast former passenger ships capable of sailing independently without escort transporting large numbers of troops that were assigned worldwide as needed.[54] These ships, often termed "Monsters" until London requested the term be dropped, were Aquitania, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, Mauretania (II), Île de France and Nieuw Amsterdam with "lesser monsters" being other large ex-liners capable of independent sailing with large troop capacity that accounted for much of the troop capacity and deployment, particularly in the early days of the war.[55][56]
Plans to replace Aquitania with the newer Queen Elizabeth in 1940 had been forestalled by outbreak of World War II in 1939.[4] On 16 September 1939 Aquitania, awaiting initial refit as a troop ship, was at pier 90 in New York along with Queen Mary while nearby, at pier 88, were the French ships Île de France and Normandie.[1][4] She returned to Southampton and was requisitioned on 18 November.[57]
Aquitania's initial troop transport operation was taking Canadian troops to Scotland, Convoy TC1 in company with Empress of Britain, Empress of Australia, Duchess of Bedford, Monarch of Bermuda, HMS Hood, HMS Warspite, HMS Barham, HMS Resolution, HMS Repulse, HMS Furious, December 1939.[1] Meanwhile, a massive transport of Australian and New Zealand troops to Suez and North Africa, with possible diversion to the United Kingdom if events required, was in planning with the numbered convoys to be designated as "US" with the large Atlantic liners assigned a role.[58] The fast convoy designated as US.3 was composed of Aquitania and the liners Queen Mary, Mauretania, Empress of Britain, Empress of Canada, Empress of Japan and Andes.[59] Aquitania, Empress of Britain and Empress of Japan, after embarking New Zealand troops at Wellington in May, sailed escorted by HMAS Canberra, HMAS Australia, and HMNZS Leander to join the Australian component off Sydney on 5 May 1940.[60] Joined off Sydney by Queen Mary and Mauretania the convoy sailed the same day to be joined the next by Empress of Canada from Melbourne for a stop at Fremantle 10–12 May before the voyage intended to be for Colombo.[60] About midway to Colombo, on 15 May, the convoy was rerouted due to the rapid German penetrations into France with the ultimate destination of Gourock, Scotland via Cape Town, South Africa and Freetown, Sierra Leone where the escort strengthened by various ships including the aircraft carriers HMS Hermes and HMS Argus and the battlecruiser HMS Hood.[61] The convoy arrived in the Clyde and anchored off Gourock on 16 June 1940.[62]
Now repainted battleship grey, in November 1941 Aquitania was in the British colony of Singapore, from which she sailed to take part indirectly in the loss of the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney. Sydney had engaged in battle with the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran. There has been much unsubstantiated speculation that Kormoran was expecting Aquitania, after spies in Singapore had notified Kormoran's crew of the liner's sailing, and planned to ambush her in the Indian Ocean west of Perth but instead encountered Sydney on 19 November. Both ships were lost after a fierce battle. On the morning of 24 November Aquitania en route to Sydney from Singapore spotted and picked up twenty-six survivors of the German ship but maintained radio silence and did not pass word until in visual range of Wilson's Promontory on 27 November.[63] The captain had gone against orders not to stop for survivors of sinkings.[1] There were no survivors from Sydney.
December saw the outbreak of war in the Pacific, then Japanese advances throughout Southeast Asia and toward Australia, necessitating the redeployment of defensive forces.[64] On 28 December Aquitania and two smaller transports departed Sydney with 4,150 Australian troops and 10,000 tons of equipment for Port Moresby, New Guinea. (On the same date, USS Houston and other U.S. ships evacuating from the north reached Darwin, with USS Pensacola, and elements of her diverted Philippine convoy some 300 miles (480 km) ahead.) Aquitania was back in Sydney on 8 January 1942.[65] The next effort was reinforcement of Singapore and the Netherlands East Indies with Aquitania transporting Australian troops (whose equipment was in Convoy MS.1) as the single ship MS.2 convoy, under escort of HMAS Canberra.[66] The ship had been the only suitable transport for such a large movement. Originally, transport directly to Singapore was considered, but the danger from aircraft to such a valuable asset and so many troops caused a change of plans. Instead, Aquitania departed Sydney on 10 January, reaching Ratai Bay at the Sunda Strait on 20 January, where 3,456 personnel (including some Navy, Air Force and civilians) were transhipped[66] under a covering naval force to seven smaller vessels (six of them Dutch KPM ships) that would continue to Singapore as convoy MS.2A.[66] Aquitania was returned to Sydney on 31 January.[66]
With the United States in the war, Aquitania (then with a troop capacity of 4,500) had been scheduled for transport duties from the United States to Australia in February, but necessary repairs delayed that. Because her deep draft was hazardous in Australian and intermediate ports in the Pacific Islands,[67] she spent March and April 1942 transporting troops from the west coast of the U.S. to Hawaii.[55][68] Then Aquitania was temporarily transferred from Pacific duties to support the movement of troops from the United States to Britain, sailing 30 April from New York in a large convoy that transported some 19,000 troops.[69] On 12 May 1942 Aquitania loaded troops at Gourock destined for the war in the Middle East, departing in convoy WS19P on 1 June with destroyers and heavy weather, she broke off independently on 7 June due to her greater speed with designation WS19Q.[70] The first port of call was 48 hours at Freetown (West Africa) on 11 June, then 3 days at Simonstown, South Africa 20 June 48 hours at Diego Suarez, Madagascar from 30 June 24 hours at Steamer Point, Aden on 3 July, and then disembarkation at Port Tewfik, Egypt from 8 July 1942.[71] The return journey was via Diego Suarez, Capetown, Freetown and then to Boston. By September Aquitania was engaged in a triangular troop deployment of United States-United Kingdom-Indian Ocean voyages.[72]
Pamphlet
As part of the major redeployment of Australian troops from North Africa to the defence of Australia and start of offensive operations in the Southwest Pacific Aquitania, Queen Mary, Île de France, Nieuw Amsterdam, and the armed merchant cruiser HMS Queen of Bermuda transported the Australian 9th Division to Sydney in Operation Pamphlet during January and February 1943.[73]
By the buildup for the invasion of Europe in 1944 troop deployments to Britain depended heavily on Aquitania and the other "Monsters" and no allowance could be made for interruption of their service for other transport requirements.[74]
Wartime embarkation at New York is described in some detail in the description of the departure of the Special Navy Advance Group 56 (SNAG 56) that was to become Navy Base Hospital Number 12 at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley, England, to receive casualties from Normandy. The unit was sent by "devious routes" by train to Jersey City where under cover of darkness they boarded a ferry crossing to the covered pier 86 in New York where a band played and the Red Cross served their last coffee and doughnuts as they boarded "N.Y. 40", the New York Port of Embarkation code designation for Aquitania, which got underway the morning of 29 January 1944 with some 1,000 Navy and 7,000 Army personnel for arrival at Gourock, Scotland 5 February.[75]
In eight years of military work, Aquitania sailed more than 500,000 miles, and carried nearly 400,000 soldiers,[1][76] to and from places as far afield as New Zealand, Australia, the South Pacific, Greece and the Indian Ocean.[77]
Postwar service and retirement
After completing troopship service, the vessel was handed back to Cunard-White Star in 1948. She underwent a refit for passenger service. She was then used to transport war brides and their children to Canada under charter from the Canadian government. This final service created a special fondness for Aquitania in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the port of disembarkation for these immigration voyages.[78][4]
On completion of that task in December 1949, Aquitania was taken out of service when the ship's Board of Trade certificate was not renewed as the condition of the ship had deteriorated, and it would have been cost-prohibitive to be brought up to new safety standards, namely fire code regulations. The decks leaked in foul weather, the bulkheads and funnels were corroded to a point that one could stick their finger through them. A piano had fallen through the roof of one of the dining rooms from the deck above during a corporate luncheon held on the ship. This signalled the end of Aquitania's operational life.[4][79]
The vessel was retired and sold to British Iron and Steel Corporation for scrap for £125,000 in 1950 at Faslane in Scotland.[1] Dismantling took almost a year to complete.[79] This ended a career which included steaming 3 million miles over 450 round voyages. Aquitania carried 1.2 million passengers through an active sea career that spanned nearly 36 years, making her the longest-serving Express Liner of the 20th century. Aquitania was the only major liner, and the largest commercial vessel, to serve in both World Wars. She was also the last four-funnelled passenger ship to be scrapped.[76] The ship's wheel and a detailed scale model of Aquitania may be seen in the Cunard exhibit at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax.
Maritime author N. R. P. Bonsor wrote of Aquitania in 1963: "Cunard had recovered possession of their veteran in 1948 but she was not worth reconditioning. In 35 years of service Aquitania had sailed more than 3 million miles and apart from one or two early Allan Line steamers no other ship served for as long in a single ownership."[80][81][82]
Another new landmark near completion in the southern coast of Singapore.
Reflections at Keppel Bay" rel="nofollow">Reflections at Keppel Bay and the exquisite Marina within.
Shot from the Keppel Bridge.
©williamcho 2011 Image Theft is a CRIME. Please report it.
pp: Digital blending from a single shot and processed with Topazlab and High Pass sharpening just to give a slight lift on dark areas and some details to the clouds.
Celebrating the Transcontinental Railroad in the Wrong...but truly Right Place!
This truly was one of the most epic days of railfanning in a long time...if ever really. I just posted a few other photos in the Utah desert, but here is another from that day, but first a bit of history.
On the 150th anniversary of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad Frank Keller, John Tarble, and I spent it along the rails of the UP's upstart little narrow gauge competitor that finished its own "transcontinental" 3 ft line from Denver to Salt Lake City less than 14 years after the UP and CP met at Promontory. On March 30, 1883 the last spike was driven at a lonely place east of Green River, Utah aptly named Desert, and General Palmer's "baby road" from Denver to Salt Lake via Pueblo, the Royal Gorge, Salida, Gunnison, the Black Canyon and Montrose was complete. It would soon prove more successful than expected but also unable to truly compete against the standard gauge lines because any hope of acquiring substantial amounts of the much needed connecting traffic would require a change in gauge.
That finally was completed in 1890 and as excerpted from Robert G. Athearn's fine history "Rebel of the Rockies:
"The line from Salt Lake City to Ogden of the Rio Grande Western Railway, as the July 1889 successor to the D&RGW, was changed to standard gauge on March 6, 1890. On June 10, 1890, RGW completed conversion of tracks between Ogden and Grand Junction from narrow gauge to standard gauge. D&RG did not complete its standard gauge connection, via Tennessee Pass and Glenwood Springs, until mid November 1890, by-passing the original narrow gauge route to the south over Marshall Pass. On November 17, 1890 the first standard gauge through train from Denver entered Salt Lake City."
The D&RGW would weather many ups and downs and emerge as a prosperous, progressive and formidable competitor in the second half of the 20th century and ultimately end up buying the far larger Southern Pacific...successor to UP's original transcontinental partner the Central Pacific. For 8 years the primary outlet for all traffic moving over the one time CP would be vie the old Grande east from Ogden. But this would not last and the SP/D&RGW sold itself to the mighty UP in 1996 and the importance of this route quickly waned in favor of the Overland and the original UP.
But it isn't dead just yet....far from it in fact. While intermodal trains, auto racks, and even thru manifests are a thing of the past coal trains, oil trains, miscellaneous unit trains, manifests of tenant BNSF, and the daily California Zephyr still pass this way.
We were truly amazed to catch so many trains on this glorious Friday that began with our epic chase of the Potash turn and ended with us following this loaded train of export coal from the West Elk Mine on Colorado's North Fork branch west until the light was gone. You've seen some shots of this train and others on my feed before, but if you missed them just sort by date to May 10, 2020.
Anyway, this may not be the most inspiring location we shot this train on this day, but I share it because of where it is on UP's Green River Sub. We are at a lonely spot east of Green River called Desert Siding. Yes...if you've read all this...it is THAT desert siding. Where else to celebrate indeed! While most folks were up at Promontory where the Golden Spike was driven, Frank and I were here where the Denver and Rio Grande Western claimed its glory!
Emery County, Utah
Friday May 10, 2019