Published in Living the Photo Artistic Life," Issue No. 93, Nov 2022, Featured Artist, Cover and Pgs. 31-35, issuu.com. Also published in Living the Photo Artistic Life," Issue No. 97, Mar 2023, p. 78. Image Sources: Library Background from izoca on Pixabay; Ruins: Unknown source; Overlays from Adobe Stock; Female figure from faestock on Deviant Art; Overlays from Shutterstock; Grunge overlay unknown free source; SS light beam brush; Sparkle brush from arock;

Motorbikers from @NightWolvesAustralia / NightWolve Clan Community

 

HEADPIECES: Marina Vexler at Cupids Millinery Melbourne

 

STAGING AND STYLING: crew's collective efforts

 

MUAH: Monika Hodkinson at Monika Hodkinson Makeup Artist

 

ORGANISING: Natasha Marchev at Bohemian Rhapsody Club and Magazine

 

LOCATION: Yarraville, Victoria, Australia

 

Motorbikes featured: Harley-Davidson / Harley-Davidson Australia

 

Dogs featured: Honey and Frank / o. Terry

 

Original Idea: Marina Vexler and addition of the wedding dresses Monika Hodkinson

 

PHOTOGRAPHER: Rouben Dickranian at www.sixstarphotography.com.au/

published via Free Download Minecraft ift.tt/1KcLWNG

You can also find me on Instagram: tekapa_pictures

...

 

#Frankfurt#Germany#City#urban#cityphotography#urbanphotography#cityexplorer#exploringthecity#urbanexplorer#street#streetphotography#streetshot#blackandwhitephotography#blackandwhite#bw#bnw#blacknwhite#blackandwhitephoto#bwlover#bwlovers#tekapapics

   

The Postcard

 

A postally unused postcard that was published prior to 1995 by City Merchandise of 68, 34th. Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. The card has a divided back.

 

The photography was by Alan Schein.

 

On the back of the card is printed:

 

'Manhattan and Brooklyn

Bridges. New York.'

 

NYC - The World Trade Center 1973 - 2001

 

The original World Trade Center was a large complex of seven buildings in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. It opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks.

 

At the time of their completion, the Twin Towers—the original 1 World Trade Center (the North Tower), at 1,368 feet (417 m); and 2 World Trade Center (the South Tower), at 1,362 feet (415.1 m)—were the tallest buildings in the world.

 

Other buildings in the complex included the Marriott World Trade Center (3 WTC), 4 WTC, 5 WTC, 6 WTC, and 7 WTC. The complex contained 13,400,000 square feet (1,240,000 m2) of office space. That's a lot of space - 308 acres.

 

The core complex was built between 1966 and 1975, at a cost of $400 million (equivalent to $2.27 billion in 2018).

 

During its existence, the World Trade Center experienced several major incidents, including a fire on the 13th. February 1975, a bombing on the 26th. February 1993, and a bank robbery on the 14th. January 1998.

 

In 1998, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey decided to privatize it by leasing the buildings to a private company to manage. It awarded the lease to Silverstein Properties in July 2001.

 

The 9/11 Attacks

 

On the morning of the 11th. September 2001, Al-Qaeda-affiliated hijackers flew two Boeing 767 jets into the Twin Towers within minutes of each other; two hours later, both towers collapsed. The attacks killed 2,606 people in the towers and their vicinity, as well as all 157 on board the two aircraft.

 

Falling debris from the towers, combined with fires that the debris initiated in several surrounding buildings, led to the partial or complete collapse of all the buildings in the complex, and caused catastrophic damage to ten other large structures in the surrounding area.

 

Subsequent Developments

 

The clean-up and recovery process at the World Trade Center site took eight months, during which the remains of the other buildings were demolished.

 

A new World Trade Center complex is being built (2020) with six new skyscrapers and several other buildings, many of which are complete. A memorial and museum to those killed in the attacks, a new rapid transit hub, and an elevated park have been opened.

 

One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere at 1,776 feet (541 m) and the lead building for the new complex, was completed in May 2013, and opened in November 2014.

 

During its existence prior to 2001, the World Trade Center was an icon of New York City. It had a major role in popular culture, and according to one estimate was depicted in 472 films. Following the World Trade Center's destruction, mentions of the complex were altered or deleted, and several dozen "memorial films" were created.

 

For details of the earlier 1993 bomb attack on the WTC, please search for the tag 79CMP42

 

Economic Effects of the September 11 Attacks

 

The September 11 attacks in 2001 were followed by initial shocks causing global stock markets to drop sharply. The attacks themselves resulted in approximately $40 billion in insurance losses, making it one of the largest insured events ever.

 

-- Financial markets

 

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the opening of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was delayed after the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower, and trading for the day was canceled after the second plane crashed into the South Tower.

 

The NASDAQ also canceled trading. The New York Stock Exchange Building was then evacuated as well as nearly all banks and financial institutions on Wall Street and in many cities across the country.

 

The London Stock Exchange and other stock exchanges around the world were also closed down and evacuated in fear of follow-up terrorist attacks.

 

The New York Stock Exchange remained closed until the following Monday. This was only the third time in history that the NYSE experienced prolonged closure, the first time being during the early months of the Great War, and the second in March 1933 during the Great Depression.

 

Trading on the United States bond market also ceased; the leading government bond trader, Cantor Fitzgerald, was based in the World Trade Center. The New York Mercantile Exchange was also closed for a week after the attacks.

 

The Federal Reserve issued a statement, saying:

 

"We are open and operating. The

discount window is available to

meet liquidity needs."

 

The Federal Reserve added $100 billion in liquidity per day during the three days following the attack in order to help avert a financial crisis.

 

Gold prices spiked upwards, from $215.50 to $287 an ounce in London trading. Oil prices also spiked upwards. Gas prices in the United States also briefly shot up, though the spike in prices lasted only about one week.

 

Currency trading continued, with the United States dollar falling sharply against the Euro, British pound, and Japanese yen.

 

The next day, European stock markets fell sharply, including declines of 4.6% in Spain, 8.5% in Germany, and 5.7% on the London Stock Exchange.

 

Stocks in the Latin American markets also plunged, with a 9.2% drop in Brazil, 5.2% drop in Argentina, and 5.6% decline in Mexico, before trading was halted.

 

-- Effect on Economic Sectors

 

In international and domestic markets, stocks of companies in some sectors were hit particularly hard. Travel and entertainment stocks fell, while communications, pharmaceutical and military/defense stocks rose. Online travel agencies particularly suffered, as they cater to leisure travel.

 

-- Insurance Consequences of the Attacks

 

Insurance losses due to 9/11 were more than one and a half times greater than what was previously the largest disaster (Hurricane Andrew) in terms of losses.

 

The losses included business interruption ($11.0 billion), property ($9.6 billion), liability ($7.5 billion), workers compensation ($1.8 billion), and others ($2.5 billion).

 

The firms with the largest losses included Berkshire Hathaway, Lloyd's, Swiss Re, and Munich Re, all of which are reinsurers, with more than $2 billion in losses for each.

 

Shares of major reinsurers, including Swiss Re and Baloise Insurance Group dropped by more than 10%, while shares of Swiss Life dropped 7.8%.

 

Although the insurance industry held reserves that covered the 9/11 attacks, insurance companies were reluctant to continue providing coverage for future terrorist attacks. Only a few insurers continue to offer such coverage.

 

-- Consequences for Airlines and Aviation

 

Flights were grounded in various places across the United States and Canada that did not necessarily have operational support in place, such as dedicated ground crews.

 

A large number of transatlantic flights landed in Gander, Newfoundland and in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with the logistics handled by Transport Canada in Operation Yellow Ribbon.

 

In order to help with the immediate needs of victims' families, United Airlines and American Airlines both provided initial payments of $25,000. The airlines were also required to refund ticket purchases for anyone unable to fly.

 

The 9/11 attacks compounded financial troubles that the airline industry was already experiencing before the attacks. Share prices of airlines and airplane manufacturers plummeted after the attacks.

 

Midway Airlines, already on the brink of bankruptcy, shut down operations almost immediately afterward. Swissair, unable to make payments to creditors on its large debt was grounded on the 2nd. October 2001 and later liquidated.

 

Other airlines were threatened with bankruptcy, and tens of thousands of layoffs were announced in the week following the attacks. To help the industry, the federal government provided an aid package, including $10 billion in loan guarantees, along with $5 billion for short-term assistance.

 

The reduction in air travel demand caused by the attack is also seen as a contributory reason for the retirement of the only supersonic aircraft in service at the time, Concorde.

 

-- Effects of the Attacks on Tourism

 

Tourism in New York City plummeted, causing massive losses in a sector that employed 280,000 people and generated $25 billion per year.

 

In the week following the attack, hotel occupancy fell below 40%, and 3,000 employees were laid off.

 

Tourism, hotel occupancy, and air travel also fell drastically across the nation. The reluctance to fly may have been due to increased fear of a repeat attack. Suzanne Thompson, Professor of Psychology at Pomona College, conducted interviews with 501 people who were not direct victims of 9/11.

 

From this, she concluded that:

 

"Most participants felt more distress

(65%) and a stronger fear of flying

(55%) immediately after the event

than they did before the attacks."

 

-- Effects on Security

 

Since the 9/11 attacks, substantial resources have been put in place in the US towards improving security, in the areas of homeland security, national defense, and in the private sector.

 

-- Effects on New York City

 

In New York City, approximately 430,000 jobs were lost, and there were $2.8 billion in lost wages over the three months following the 9/11 attacks. The economic effects were mainly focused on the city's export economy sectors.

 

The GDP for New York City was estimated to have declined by $30.3 billion over the final three months of 2001 and all of 2002.

 

The Federal government provided $11.2 billion in immediate assistance to the Government of New York City in September 2001, and $10.5 billion in early 2002 for economic development and infrastructure needs.

 

The 9/11 attacks also had great impact on small businesses in Lower Manhattan, located near the World Trade Center. Approximately 18,000 small businesses were destroyed or displaced after the attacks.

 

The Small Business Administration provided loans as assistance, while Community Development Block Grants and Economic Injury Disaster Loans were used by the Federal Government to provide assistance to small business affected by the 9/11 attacks.

 

-- Other Effects of the Attacks

 

The September 11 attacks also led directly to the U.S. war in Afghanistan, as well as additional homeland security spending.

 

The attacks were also cited as a rationale for the Iraq war.

 

The cost of the two wars so far has surpassed $6 trillion.

 

More on 9/11 below.

 

Brooklyn Bridge

 

The Brooklyn Bridge (behind Manhattan Bridge in the photograph) is a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge. Opened on the 24th. May 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River.

 

It was also the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its opening, with a main span of 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m).

 

The bridge was designed by John A. Roebling. The project's chief engineer, his son Washington Roebling, contributed further design work, assisted by the latter's wife, Emily Warren Roebling.

 

Construction started in 1870, with the Tammany Hall-controlled New York Bridge Company overseeing construction, although numerous controversies and the novelty of the design prolonged the project over thirteen years.

 

Since opening, the Brooklyn Bridge has undergone several reconfigurations, having carried horse-drawn vehicles and elevated railway lines until 1950.

 

To alleviate increasing traffic flows, additional bridges and tunnels were built across the East River.

 

The Brooklyn Bridge is the southernmost of the four toll-free vehicular bridges connecting Manhattan Island and Long Island, with the Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge, and the Queensboro Bridge to the north. Only passenger vehicles and pedestrian and bicycle traffic are permitted.

 

A major tourist attraction since its opening, the Brooklyn Bridge has become an icon of New York City. Over the years, the bridge has been used as the location for various stunts and performances, as well as several crimes and attacks.

 

Following gradual deterioration, the Brooklyn Bridge has been renovated several times, including in the 1950's, 1980's, and 2010's.

 

Description of Brooklyn Bridge

 

The Brooklyn Bridge, an early example of a steel-wire suspension bridge, uses a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge design, with both vertical and diagonal suspender cables.

 

Its stone towers are neo-Gothic, with characteristic pointed arches. The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), which maintains the bridge, says that its original paint scheme was "Brooklyn Bridge Tan" and "Silver", although a writer for The New York Post states that it was originally entirely "Rawlins Red".

 

The Deck of the Brooklyn Bridge

 

To provide sufficient clearance for shipping in the East River, the Brooklyn Bridge incorporates long approach viaducts on either end to raise it from low ground on both shores.

 

Including approaches, the Brooklyn Bridge is a total of 6,016 feet (1,834 m) long. The main span between the two suspension towers is 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m) long, and 85 feet (26 m) wide.

 

The bridge elongates and contracts between the extremes of temperature from 14 to 16 inches. Navigational clearance is 127 ft (38.7 m) above mean high water. A 1909 Engineering Magazine article said that, at the center of the span, the height could fluctuate by more than 9 feet (2.7 m) due to temperature and traffic loads.

 

At the time of construction, engineers had not yet discovered the aerodynamics of bridge construction, and bridge designs were not tested in wind tunnels.

 

It was coincidental that the open truss structure supporting the deck is, by its nature, subject to fewer aerodynamic problems. This is because John Roebling designed the Brooklyn Bridge's truss system to be six to eight times stronger than he thought it needed to be.

 

However, due to a supplier's fraudulent substitution of inferior-quality cable in the initial construction, the bridge was reappraised at the time as being only four times as strong as necessary.

 

The Brooklyn Bridge can hold a total load of 18,700 short tons, a design consideration from when it originally carried heavier elevated trains.

 

An elevated pedestrian-only promenade runs in between the two roadways and 18 feet (5.5 m) above them. The path is 10 to 17 feet (3.0 to 5.2 m) wide. The iron railings were produced by Janes & Kirtland, a Bronx iron foundry that also made the United States Capitol dome and the Bow Bridge in Central Park.

 

The Cables of Brooklyn Bridge

 

The Brooklyn Bridge contains four main cables, which descend from the tops of the suspension towers and support the deck. Each main cable measures 15.75 inches (40.0 cm) in diameter, and contains 5,282 parallel, galvanized steel wires wrapped closely together. These wires are bundled in 19 individual strands, with 278 wires to a strand.

 

This was the first use of bundling in a suspension bridge, and took several months for workers to tie together. Since the 2000's, the main cables have also supported a series of 24-watt LED lighting fixtures, referred to as "necklace lights" due to their shape.

 

1,520 galvanized steel wire suspender cables hang downward from the main cables.

 

Brooklyn Bridge Anchorages

 

Each side of the bridge contains an anchorage for the main cables. The anchorages are limestone structures located slightly inland, measuring 129 by 119 feet (39 by 36 m) at the base and 117 by 104 feet (36 by 32 m) at the top.

 

Each anchorage weighs 60,000 short tons. The Manhattan anchorage rests on a foundation of bedrock, while the Brooklyn anchorage rests on clay.

 

The anchorages contain numerous passageways and compartments. Starting in 1876, in order to fund the bridge's maintenance, the New York City government made the large vaults under the bridge's Manhattan anchorage available for rent, and they were in constant use during the early 20th. century.

 

The vaults were used to store wine, as they maintained a consistent 60 °F (16 °C) temperature due to a lack of air circulation. The Manhattan vault was called the "Blue Grotto" because of a shrine to the Virgin Mary next to an opening at the entrance.

 

The vaults were closed for public use in the late 1910's and 1920's during the Great War and Prohibition, but were reopened thereafter.

 

When New York magazine visited one of the cellars in 1978, it discovered a fading inscription on a wall reading:

 

"Who loveth not wine, women and song,

he remaineth a fool his whole life long."

 

Leaks found within the vault's spaces necessitated repairs during the late 1980's and early 1990's. By the late 1990's, the chambers were being used to store maintenance equipment.

 

The Towers of the Brooklyn Bridge

 

The bridge's two suspension towers are 278 feet (85 m) tall, with a footprint of 140 by 59 feet (43 by 18 m) at the high water line.

 

They are built of limestone, granite, and Rosendale cement. The limestone was quarried at the Clark Quarry in Essex County, New York. The granite blocks were quarried and shaped on Vinalhaven Island, Maine, under a contract with the Bodwell Granite Company, and delivered from Maine to New York by schooner.

 

The Manhattan tower contains 46,945 cubic yards (35,892 m3) of masonry, while the Brooklyn tower has 38,214 cubic yards (29,217 m3) of masonry.

 

Each tower contains a pair of Gothic Revival pointed arches, through which the roadways run. The arch openings are 117 feet (36 m) tall and 33.75 feet (10.29 m) wide.

 

The Brooklyn Bridge Caissons

 

The towers rest on underwater caissons made of southern yellow pine. Both caissons contain interior spaces that were used by construction workers. The Manhattan side's caisson is slightly larger, measuring 172 by 102 feet (52 by 31 m) and located 78.5 feet (23.9 m) below high water, while the Brooklyn side's caisson measures 168 by 102 feet (51 by 31 m) and is located 44.5 feet (13.6 m) below high water.

 

The caissons were designed to hold at least the weight of the towers which would exert a pressure of 5 short tons per square foot when fully built, but the caissons were over-engineered for safety.

 

During an accident on the Brooklyn side, when air pressure was lost and the partially-built towers dropped full-force down, the caisson sustained an estimated pressure of 23 short tons per square foot with only minor damage. Most of the timber used in the bridge's construction, including in the caissons, came from mills at Gascoigne Bluff on St. Simons Island, Georgia.

 

The Brooklyn side's caisson, which was built first, originally had a height of 9.5 feet (2.9 m) and a ceiling composed of five layers of timber, each layer 1 foot (0.30 m) tall. Ten more layers of timber were later added atop the ceiling, and the entire caisson was wrapped in tin and wood for further protection against flooding.

 

The thickness of the caisson's sides was 8 feet (2.4 m) at both the bottom and the top. The caisson had six chambers: two each for dredging, supply shafts, and airlocks.

 

The caisson on the Manhattan side was slightly different because it had to be installed at a greater depth. To protect against the increased air pressure at that depth, the Manhattan caisson had 22 layers of timber on its roof, seven more than its Brooklyn counterpart had. The Manhattan caisson also had fifty 4-inch (10 cm)-diameter pipes for sand removal, a fireproof iron-boilerplate interior, and different airlocks and communication systems.

 

History of the Brooklyn Bridge

 

Proposals for a bridge between the then-separate cities of Brooklyn and New York had been suggested as early as 1800. At the time, the only travel between the two cities was by a number of ferry lines.

 

Engineers presented various designs, such as chain or link bridges, though these were never built because of the difficulties of constructing a high enough fixed-span bridge across the extremely busy East River.

 

There were also proposals for tunnels under the East River, but these were considered prohibitively expensive. The current Brooklyn Bridge was conceived by German immigrant John Augustus Roebling in 1852.

 

He had previously designed and constructed shorter suspension bridges, such as Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania, and the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky.

 

In February 1867, the New York State Senate passed a bill that allowed the construction of a suspension bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan.

 

Two months later, the New York and Brooklyn Bridge Company was incorporated. There were twenty trustees in total: eight each appointed by the mayors of New York and Brooklyn, as well as the mayors of each city and the auditor and comptroller of Brooklyn.

 

The company was tasked with constructing what was then known as the New York and Brooklyn Bridge. Alternatively, the span was just referred to as the "Brooklyn Bridge", a name originating in a 25th. January 1867 letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

 

The act of incorporation, which became law on the 16th. April 1867, authorized the cities of New York (now Manhattan) and Brooklyn to subscribe to $5 million in capital stock, which would fund the bridge's construction.

 

Roebling was subsequently named as the main engineer of the work, and by September 1867, he had presented a master plan of a bridge that would be longer and taller than any suspension bridge previously built.

 

It would incorporate roadways and elevated rail tracks, whose tolls and fares would provide the means to pay for the bridge's construction. It would also include a raised promenade that served as a leisurely pathway.

 

The proposal received much acclaim in both cities, and residents predicted that the New York and Brooklyn Bridge's opening would have as much of an impact as the Suez Canal, the first transatlantic telegraph cable, or the first transcontinental railroad.

 

By early 1869, however, some individuals started to criticize the project, saying either that the bridge was too expensive, or that the construction process was too difficult.

 

To allay concerns about the design of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, Roebling set up a "Bridge Party" in March 1869, where he invited engineers and members of U.S. Congress to see his other spans. Following the bridge party in April, Roebling and several engineers conducted final surveys.

 

During these surveys, it was determined that the main span would have to be raised from 130 to 135 feet (40 to 41 m), requiring several changes to the overall design.

 

In June 1869, while conducting these surveys, Roebling sustained a crush injury to his foot when a ferry pinned it against a piling. After amputation of his crushed toes, he developed a tetanus infection that left him incapacitated and resulted in his death the following month.

 

Washington Roebling, John Roebling's 32-year-old son, was then hired to fill his father's role. When the younger Roebling was hired, Tammany Hall leader William M. Tweed also became involved in the bridge's construction because, as a major landowner in New York City, he had an interest in the project's completion.

 

The New York and Brooklyn Bridge Company - later known simply as the New York Bridge Company - was actually overseen by Tammany Hall, and it approved Roebling's plans and designated him as chief engineer of the project.

 

Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge

 

The Caissons

 

Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began on the 2nd. January 2, 1870. The first work entailed the construction of two caissons, upon which the suspension towers would be built.

 

A caisson is a large watertight chamber, open at the bottom, from which the water is kept out by air pressure and in which construction work may be carried out under water.

 

The Brooklyn side's caisson was built at the Webb & Bell shipyard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and was launched into the river on the 19th. March 1870. Compressed air was pumped into the caisson, and workers entered the space to dig the sediment until it sank to the bedrock. As one sixteen-year-old from Ireland, Frank Harris, described the fearful experience:

 

"The six of us were working naked to the waist

in the small iron chamber with the temperature

of about 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

In five minutes the sweat was pouring from us,

and all the while we were standing in icy water

that was only kept from rising by the terrific

pressure. No wonder the headaches were

blinding."

 

Once the caisson had reached the desired depth, it was to be filled in with vertical brick piers and concrete. However, due to the unexpectedly high concentration of large boulders on the riverbed, the Brooklyn caisson took several months to sink to the desired depth.

 

Furthermore, in December 1870, its timber roof caught fire, delaying construction further. The "Great Blowout", as the fire was called, delayed construction for several months, since the holes in the caisson had to be repaired.

 

On the 6th. March 1871, the repairs were finished, and the caisson had reached its final depth of 44.5 feet (13.6 m); it was filled with concrete five days later. Overall, about 264 individuals were estimated to have worked in the caisson every day, but because of high worker turnover, the final total was thought to be about 2,500 men.

 

In spite of this, only a few workers were paralyzed. At its final depth, the caisson's air pressure was 21 pounds per square inch. Normal air pressure is 14.7 psi.

 

The Manhattan side's caisson was the next structure to be built. To ensure that it would not catch fire like its counterpart had, the Manhattan caisson was lined with fireproof plate iron.

 

It was launched from Webb & Bell's shipyard on the 11th. May 1871, and maneuvered into place that September.

 

Due to the extreme underwater air pressure inside the much deeper Manhattan caisson, many workers became sick with "the bends" - decompression sickness - during this work, despite the incorporation of airlocks (which were believed to help with decompression sickness at the time).

 

This condition was unknown at the time, and was first called "caisson disease" by the project physician, Andrew Smith. Between the 25th. January and the 31st. May 1872, Smith treated 110 cases of decompression sickness, while three workers died from the condition.

 

When iron probes underneath the Manhattan caisson found the bedrock to be even deeper than expected, Washington Roebling halted construction due to the increased risk of decompression sickness.

 

After the Manhattan caisson reached a depth of 78.5 feet (23.9 m) with an air pressure of 35 pounds per square inch, Washington deemed the sandy subsoil overlying the bedrock 30 feet (9.1 m) beneath to be sufficiently firm, and subsequently infilled the caisson with concrete in July 1872.

 

Washington Roebling himself suffered a paralyzing injury as a result of caisson disease shortly after ground was broken for the Brooklyn tower foundation.

 

His debilitating condition left him unable to supervise the construction in person, so he designed the caissons and other equipment from his apartment, directing the completion of the bridge through a telescope in his bedroom.

 

His wife, Emily Warren Roebling, not only provided written communications between her husband and the engineers on site, but also understood mathematics, calculations of catenary curves, strengths of materials, bridge specifications, and the intricacies of cable construction.

 

She spent the next 11 years helping supervise the bridge's construction, taking over much of the chief engineer's duties, including day-to-day supervision and project management.

 

The Towers of the Brooklyn Bridge

 

After the caissons were completed, piers were constructed on top of each of them upon which masonry towers would be built. The towers' construction was a complex process that took four years.

 

Since the masonry blocks were heavy, the builders transported them to the base of the towers using a pulley system with a continuous 1.5-inch (3.8 cm)-diameter steel wire rope, operated by steam engines at ground level.

 

The blocks were then carried up on a timber track alongside each tower and maneuvered into the proper position using a derrick atop the towers. The blocks sometimes vibrated the ropes because of their weight, but only once did a block fall.

 

Construction of the suspension towers started in mid-1872, and by the time work was halted for the winter in late 1872, parts of each tower had already been built. By mid-1873, there was substantial progress on the towers' construction.

 

The arches of the Brooklyn tower were completed by August 1874. The tower was substantially finished by December 1874, with the erection of saddle plates for the main cables at the top of the tower.

 

The last stone on the Brooklyn tower was raised in June 1875, and the Manhattan tower was completed in July 1876.

 

The work was dangerous: by 1876, three workers had died having fallen from the towers, while nine other workers were killed in other accidents.

 

By 1875, while the towers were being constructed, the project had depleted its original $5 million budget. Two bridge commissioners, one each from Brooklyn and Manhattan, petitioned New York state lawmakers to allot another $8 million for construction. Legislators authorized the money on condition that the cities would buy the stock of Brooklyn Bridge's private stockholders.

 

Work proceeded concurrently on the anchorages on each side. The Brooklyn anchorage broke ground in January 1873 and was substantially completed by August 1875.

 

The Manhattan anchorage was built in less time. Having started in May 1875, it was mostly completed by July 1876. The anchorages could not be fully completed until the main cables were spun, at which point another 6 feet (1.8 m) would be added to the height of each 80-foot (24 m) anchorage.

 

The Brooklyn Bridge Cables

 

The first temporary wire was stretched between the towers on the 15th. August 1876, using chrome steel provided by the Chrome Steel Company of Brooklyn. The wire was then stretched back across the river, and the two ends were spliced to form a traveler, a lengthy loop of wire connecting the towers, which was driven by a 30 horsepower (22 kW) steam hoisting engine at ground level.

 

The wire was one of two that were used to create a temporary footbridge for workers while cable spinning was ongoing. The next step was to send an engineer across the completed traveler wire in a boatswain's chair slung from the wire, to ensure it was safe enough.

 

The bridge's master mechanic, E. F. Farrington, was volunteered for this task, and an estimated crowd of 10,000 people on both shores watched him cross.

 

A second traveler wire was then stretched across the span. The temporary footbridge, located some 60 feet (18 m) above the elevation of the future deck, was completed in February 1877.

 

By December 1876, a steel contract for the permanent cables still had not been awarded. There was disagreement over whether the bridge's cables should use the as-yet-untested Bessemer steel, or the well-proven crucible steel.

 

Until a permanent contract was awarded, the builders ordered 30 short tons of wire in the interim, 10 tons each from three companies, including Washington Roebling's own steel mill in Brooklyn.

 

In the end, it was decided to use number 8 Birmingham gauge (approximately 4 mm or 0.165 inches in diameter) crucible steel, and a request for bids was distributed, to which eight companies responded.

 

In January 1877, a contract for crucible steel was awarded to J. Lloyd Haigh, who was associated with bridge trustee Abram Hewitt, whom Roebling distrusted.

 

The spinning of the wires required the manufacture of large coils of it which were galvanized but not oiled when they left the factory. The coils were delivered to a yard near the Brooklyn anchorage. There they were dipped in linseed oil, hoisted to the top of the anchorage, dried out and spliced into a single wire, and finally coated with red zinc for further galvanizing.

 

There were thirty-two drums at the anchorage yard, eight for each of the four main cables. Each drum had a capacity of 60,000 feet (18,000 m) of wire. The first experimental wire for the main cables was stretched between the towers on the 29th. May 29 1877, and spinning began two weeks later.

 

All four main cables had been strung by that July. During that time, the temporary footbridge was unofficially opened to members of the public, who could receive a visitor's pass; by August 1877 several thousand visitors from around the world had used the footbridge. The visitor passes ceased that September after a visitor had an epileptic seizure and nearly fell off.

 

As the wires were being spun, work also commenced on the demolition of buildings on either side of the river for the Brooklyn Bridge's approaches; this work was mostly complete by September 1877. The following month, initial contracts were awarded for the suspender wires, which would hang down from the main cables and support the deck. By May 1878, the main cables were more than two-thirds complete.

 

However, the following month, one of the wires slipped, killing two people and injuring three others. In 1877, Hewitt wrote a letter urging against the use of Bessemer steel in the bridge's construction. Bids had been submitted for both crucible steel and Bessemer steel; John A. Roebling's Sons submitted the lowest bid for Bessemer steel, but at Hewitt's direction, the contract was awarded to Haigh.

 

A subsequent investigation discovered that Haigh had substituted inferior quality wire in the cables. Of eighty rings of wire that were tested, only five met standards, and it was estimated that Haigh had earned $300,000 from the deception.

 

At this point, it was too late to replace the cables that had already been constructed. Roebling determined that the poorer wire would leave the bridge only four times as strong as necessary, rather than six to eight times as strong. The inferior-quality wire was allowed to remain, and 150 extra wires were added to each cable.

 

To avoid public controversy, Haigh was not fired, but instead was required to personally pay for higher-quality wire. The contract for the remaining wire was awarded to the John A. Roebling's Sons, and by the 5th. October 1878, the last of the main cables' wires went over the river.

 

After the suspender wires had been placed, workers began erecting steel crossbeams to support the roadway as part of the bridge's overall superstructure. Construction on the bridge's superstructure started in March 1879, but, as with the cables, the trustees initially disagreed on whether the steel superstructure should be made of Bessemer or crucible steel.

 

That July, the trustees decided to award a contract for 500 short tons of Bessemer steel to the Edgemoor Iron Works, based in Philadelphia. The trustees later ordered another 500 short tons of Bessemer steel. However, by February 1880 the steel deliveries had not started.

 

That October, the bridge trustees questioned Edgemoor's president about the delay in steel deliveries. Despite Edgemoor's assurances that the contract would be fulfilled, the deliveries still had not been completed by November 1881.

 

Brooklyn mayor Seth Low, who became part of the board of trustees in 1882, became the chairman of a committee tasked to investigate Edgemoor's failure to fulfill the contract. When questioned, Edgemoor's president stated that the delays were the fault of another contractor, the Cambria Iron Company, who were manufacturing the eyebars for the bridge trusses.

 

Further complicating the situation, Washington Roebling had failed to appear at the trustees' meeting in June 1882, since he had gone to Newport, Rhode Island. After the news media discovered this, most of the newspapers called for Roebling to be fired as chief engineer, except for the Daily State Gazette of Trenton, New Jersey, and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

 

Some of the longstanding trustees were willing to vouch for Roebling, since construction progress on the Brooklyn Bridge was still ongoing. However, Roebling's behavior was considered suspect among the younger trustees who had joined the board more recently.

 

Construction progress on the bridge itself was submitted in formal monthly reports to the mayors of New York and Brooklyn. For example, the August 1882 report noted that the month's progress included 114 intermediate cords erected within a week, as well as 72 diagonal stays, 60 posts, and numerous floor beams, bridging trusses, and stay bars.

 

By early 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was considered mostly completed and was projected to open that June. Contracts for bridge lighting were awarded by February 1883, and a toll scheme was approved that March.

 

Opposition to the Bridge

 

There was substantial opposition to the bridge's construction from shipbuilders and merchants located to the north, who argued that the bridge would not provide sufficient clearance underneath for ships.

 

In May 1876, these groups, led by Abraham Miller, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court against the cities of New York and Brooklyn.

 

In 1879, an Assembly Sub-Committee on Commerce and Navigation began an investigation into the Brooklyn Bridge. A seaman who had been hired to determine the height of the span, testified to the committee about the difficulties that ship masters would experience in bringing their ships under the bridge when it was completed.

 

Another witness, Edward Wellman Serrell, a civil engineer, said that the calculations of the bridge's assumed strength were incorrect.

 

However the Supreme Court decided in 1883 that the Brooklyn Bridge was a lawful structure.

 

The Opening of the Brooklyn Bridge

 

The Brooklyn Bridge was opened for use on the 24th. May 1883. Thousands of people attended the opening ceremony, and many ships were present in the East River for the occasion. Officially, Emily Warren Roebling was the first to cross the bridge.

 

The bridge opening was also attended by U.S. president Chester A. Arthur and New York mayor Franklin Edson, who crossed the bridge and shook hands with Brooklyn mayor Seth Low at the Brooklyn end. Abram Hewitt gave the principal address:

 

"It is not the work of any one man or of any one

age. It is the result of the study, of the experience,

and of the knowledge of many men in many ages.

It is not merely a creation; it is a growth. It stands

before us today as the sum and epitome of human

knowledge; as the very heir of the ages; as the

latest glory of centuries of patient observation,

profound study and accumulated skill, gained,

step by step, in the never-ending struggle of man

to subdue the forces of nature to his control and use."

 

Although Washington Roebling was unable to attend the ceremony (and rarely visited the site again), he held a celebratory banquet at his house on the day of the bridge opening.

 

Further festivity included a performance by a band, gunfire from ships, and a fireworks display. On that first day, a total of 1,800 vehicles and 150,300 people crossed the span.

 

Less than a week after the Brooklyn Bridge opened, ferry crews reported a sharp drop in patronage, while the bridge's toll operators were processing over a hundred people a minute. However, cross-river ferries continued to operate until 1942.

 

The bridge had cost US$15.5 million in 1883 dollars (about US$436,232,000 in 2021) to build, of which Brooklyn paid two-thirds. The bonds to fund the construction were not paid off until 1956.

 

An estimated 27 men died during the bridge's construction. Until the construction of the nearby Williamsburg Bridge in 1903, the Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world, 20% longer than any built previously.

 

At the time of opening, the Brooklyn Bridge was not complete; the proposed public transit across the bridge was still being tested, while the Brooklyn approach was being completed.

 

On the 30th. May 1883, six days after the opening, a woman falling down a stairway at the Brooklyn approach caused a stampede which resulted in at least twelve people being crushed and killed.

 

In subsequent lawsuits, the Brooklyn Bridge Company was acquitted of negligence. However, the company did install emergency phone boxes and additional railings, and the trustees approved a fireproofing plan for the bridge.

 

Public transit service began with the opening of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge Railway, a cable car service, on the 25th. September 1883.

 

On the 17th. May 1884, one of P. T. Barnum's most famous attractions, Jumbo the elephant, led a parade of 21 elephants over the Brooklyn Bridge. This helped to lessen doubts about the bridge's stability while also promoting Barnum's circus.

 

Brooklyn Bridge in the Late 19th. & Early 20th. Centuries

 

Movement across the Brooklyn Bridge increased in the years after it opened; a million people paid to cross in the first six months. The bridge carried 8.5 million people in 1884, its first full year of operation; this number doubled to 17 million in 1885, and again to 34 million in 1889.

 

Many of these people were cable car passengers. Additionally, about 4.5 million pedestrians a year were crossing the bridge for free by 1892.

 

The first proposal to make changes to the bridge was sent in only two and a half years after it opened; Linda Gilbert suggested glass steam-powered elevators and an observatory be added to the bridge and a fee charged for use, which would in part fund the bridge's upkeep and in part fund her prison reform charity.

 

This proposal was considered, but not acted upon. Numerous other proposals were made during the first fifty years of the bridge's life.

 

Trolley tracks were added in the center lanes of both roadways in 1898, allowing trolleys to use the bridge as well.

 

Concerns about the Brooklyn Bridge's safety were raised during the turn of the century. In 1898, traffic backups due to a dead horse caused one of the truss cords to buckle.

 

There were more significant worries after twelve suspender cables snapped in 1901, although a thorough investigation found no other defects.

 

After the 1901 incident, five inspectors were hired to examine the bridge each day, a service that cost $250,000 a year.

 

The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, which operated routes across the Brooklyn Bridge, issued a notice in 1905 saying that the bridge had reached its transit capacity.

 

Although a second deck for the Brooklyn Bridge was proposed, it was thought to be infeasible because doing so would overload the bridge's structural capacity.

 

Though tolls had been instituted for carriages and cable-car customers since the bridge's opening, pedestrians were spared from the tolls originally. However, by the first decade of the 20th. century, pedestrians were also paying tolls.

 

However tolls on all four bridges across the East River - the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as the Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Queensboro bridges to the north - were abolished in July 1911 as part of a populist policy initiative headed by New York City mayor William Jay Gaynor.

 

Ostensibly in an attempt to reduce traffic on nearby city streets, Grover Whalen, the commissioner of Plant and Structures, banned motor vehicles from the Brooklyn Bridge in 1922. The real reason for the ban was an incident the same year where two cables slipped due to high traffic loads.

 

Both Whalen and Roebling called for the renovation of the Brooklyn Bridge and the construction of a parallel bridge, although the parallel bridge was never built.

 

Brooklyn Bridge in Mid- to late 20th. Century

 

Upgrades to the Bridge

 

The first major upgrade to the Brooklyn Bridge commenced in 1948, when a contract for redesigning the roadways was awarded to David B. Steinman. The renovation was expected to double the capacity of the bridge's roadways to nearly 6,000 cars per hour, at a projected cost of $7 million.

 

The renovation included the demolition of both the elevated and the trolley tracks on the roadways and the widening of each roadway from two to three lanes, as well as the construction of a new steel-and-concrete floor.

 

In addition, new ramps were added to Adams Street, Cadman Plaza, and the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) on the Brooklyn side, and to Park Row on the Manhattan side. The trolley tracks closed in March 1950 to allow for the widening work to occur.

 

During the construction project, one roadway at a time was closed, allowing reduced traffic flows to cross the bridge in one direction only. The widened south roadway was completed in May 1951, followed by the north roadway in October 1953. In addition, defensive barriers were added to the bridge as a safeguard against sabotage.

 

The restoration was finished in May 1954 with the completion of the reconstructed elevated promenade.

 

While the rebuilding of the span was ongoing, a fallout shelter was constructed beneath the Manhattan approach in anticipation of the Cold War. The abandoned space in one of the masonry arches was stocked with emergency survival supplies for a potential nuclear attack by the Soviet Union; these supplies were still in place half a century later.

 

A repainting of the bridge was announced in advance of its 90th. anniversary.

 

Deterioration and Late-20th. Century Repair

 

The Brooklyn Bridge gradually deteriorated due to age and neglect. While it had 200 full-time dedicated maintenance workers before World War II, that number had dropped to five by the late 20th. century, and the city as a whole only had 160 bridge maintenance workers.

 

In 1974, heavy vehicles such as vans and buses were banned from the bridge to prevent further erosion of the concrete roadway. A report in The New York Times four years later noted that the cables were visibly fraying, and that the pedestrian promenade had holes in it.

 

The city began planning to replace all the Brooklyn Bridge's cables at a cost of $115 million, as part of a larger project to renovate all four toll-free East River spans.

 

By 1980, the Brooklyn Bridge was in such dire condition that it faced imminent closure. In some places, half of the strands in the cables were broken.

 

In June 1981, two of the diagonal stay cables snapped, seriously injuring a pedestrian who later died. Subsequently, the anchorages were found to have developed rust, and an emergency cable repair was necessitated less than a month later after another cable developed slack.

 

Following the incident, the city accelerated the timetable of its proposed cable replacement, and it commenced a $153 million rehabilitation of the Brooklyn Bridge in advance of the 100th anniversary.

 

As part of the project, the bridge's original suspender cables installed by J. Lloyd Haigh were replaced by Bethlehem Steel in 1986, marking the cables' first replacement since construction. In a smaller project, the bridge was floodlit at night, starting in 1982 to highlight its architectural features.

 

Additional problems persisted, and in 1993, high levels of lead were discovered near the bridge's towers. Further emergency repairs were undertaken in mid-1999 after small concrete shards began falling from the bridge into the East River. The concrete deck had been installed during the 1950's renovations, and had a lifespan of about 60 years.

 

Brooklyn Bridge in the 21st. Century

 

The Park Row exit from the bridge's westbound lanes was closed as a safety measure after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the nearby World Trade Center. That section of Park Row was closed since it ran right underneath 1 Police Plaza, the headquarters of the New York City Police Department.

 

In early 2003, to save money on electricity, the bridge's "necklace lights" were turned off at night. They were turned back on later that year after several private entities made donations to fund the lights.

 

After the 2007 collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, public attention focused on the condition of bridges across the U.S. The New York Times reported that the Brooklyn Bridge approach ramps had received a "poor" rating during an inspection in 2007.

 

However, a NYCDOT spokesman said that the poor rating did not indicate a dangerous state but rather implied it required renovation. In 2010, the NYCDOT began renovating the approaches and deck, as well as repainting the suspension span.

 

Work included widening two approach ramps from one to two lanes by re-striping a new prefabricated ramp; seismic retrofitting; replacement of rusted railings and safety barriers; and road deck resurfacing. The work necessitated detours for four years.

 

At the time, the project was scheduled to be completed in 2014, but completion was later delayed to 2015, then again to 2017. The project's cost also increased from $508 million in 2010 to $811 million in 2016.

 

In August 2016, after the renovation had been completed, the NYCDOT announced that it would conduct a seven-month, $370,000 study to verify if the bridge could support a heavier upper deck that consisted of an expanded bicycle and pedestrian path.

 

As of 2016, about 10,000 pedestrians and 3,500 cyclists used the pathway on an average weekday. Work on the pedestrian entrance on the Brooklyn side was underway by 2017.

 

The NYCDOT also indicated in 2016 that it planned to reinforce the Brooklyn Bridge's foundations to prevent it from sinking, as well as repair the masonry arches on the approach ramps, which had been damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

 

In July 2018, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a further renovation of the Brooklyn Bridge's suspension towers and approach ramps. That December, the federal government gave the city $25 million in funding, which would contribute to a $337 million rehabilitation of the bridge approaches and the suspension towers. Work started in late 2019 and was scheduled to be completed in 2023.

 

Usage of the Brooklyn Bridge

 

Horse-drawn carriages have been allowed to use the Brooklyn Bridge's roadways since its opening. Originally, each of the two roadways carried two lanes of a different direction of traffic. The lanes were relatively narrow at only 8 feet (2.4 m) wide. In 1922, motor vehicles were banned from the bridge, while horse-drawn carriages were restricted from the Manhattan Bridge. Thereafter, the only vehicles allowed on the Brooklyn Bridge were horse-drawn.

 

By 1950, the main roadway carried six lanes of automobile traffic, three in each direction. It was then reduced to five lanes with the addition of a two-way bike lane on the Manhattan-bound side in 2021.

 

Because of the roadway's height (11 ft (3.4 m)) and weight (6,000 lb (2,700 kg)) restrictions, commercial vehicles and buses are prohibited from using the Brooklyn Bridge.

 

The weight restrictions prohibit heavy passenger vehicles such as pickup trucks and SUVs from using the bridge, though this is not often enforced in practice.

 

Formerly, rail traffic operated on the Brooklyn Bridge as well. Cable cars and elevated railroads used the bridge until 1944, while trolleys ran until 1950.

 

A cable car service began operating on the 25th. September 1883; it ran on the inner lanes of the bridge, between terminals at the Manhattan and Brooklyn ends.

 

Since Washington Roebling believed that steam locomotives would put excessive loads upon the structure of the Brooklyn Bridge, the cable car line was designed as a steam/cable-hauled hybrid.

 

They were powered from a generating station under the Brooklyn approach. The cable cars could not only regulate their speed on the 3.75% upward and downward approaches, but also maintain a constant interval between each other. There were 24 cable cars in total.

 

Initially, the service ran with single-car trains, but patronage soon grew so much that by October 1883, two-car trains were in use. The line carried three million people in the first six months, nine million in 1884, and nearly 20 million in 1885.

 

Patronage continued to increase, and in 1888, the tracks were lengthened and even more cars were constructed to allow for four-car cable car trains. Electric wires for the trolleys were added by 1895, allowing for the potential future decommissioning of the steam/cable system.

 

The terminals were rebuilt once more in July 1895, and, following the implementation of new electric cars in late 1896, the steam engines were dismantled and sold.

 

The Brooklyn Bridge Walkway

 

The Brooklyn Bridge has an elevated promenade open to pedestrians in the center of the bridge, located 18 feet (5.5 m) above the automobile lanes.

 

The path is generally 10 to 17 feet (3.0 to 5.2 m) wide, though this is constrained by obstacles such as protruding cables, benches, and stairways, which create "pinch points" at certain locations. The path narrows to 10 feet (3.0 m) at the locations where the main cables descend to the level of the promenade.

 

Further exacerbating the situation, these "pinch points" are some of the most popular places to take pictures. As a result, in 2016, the NYCDOT announced that it planned to double the promenade's width.

 

On the 14th. September 2021, the DOT closed off the inner-most car lane on the Manhattan-bound side with protective barriers and fencing to create a new bike path. Cyclists are now prohibited from the upper pedestrian lane.

 

Emergency Use of Brooklyn Bridge

 

While the bridge has always permitted the passage of pedestrians, the promenade facilitates movement when other means of crossing the East River have become unavailable.

 

During transit strikes by the Transport Workers Union in 1980 and 2005, people commuting to work used the bridge; they were joined by Mayors Ed Koch and Michael Bloomberg, who crossed as a gesture to the affected public.

 

Pedestrians also walked across the bridge as an alternative to suspended subway services following the 1965, 1977, and 2003 blackouts, and after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

 

During the 2003 blackouts, many crossing the bridge reported a swaying motion. The higher-than-usual pedestrian load caused this swaying, which was amplified by the tendency of pedestrians to synchronize their footfalls with a sway.

 

Several engineers expressed concern about how this would affect the bridge, although others noted that the bridge did withstand the event and that the redundancies in its design - the inclusion of the three support systems (suspension system, diagonal stay system, and stiffening truss) - make it probably the best secured bridge against such movements going out of control.

 

In designing the bridge, John Roebling had stated that the bridge would sag but not fall, even if one of these structural systems were to fail altogether.

 

Stunts Associated With Brooklyn Bridge

 

There have been several notable jumpers from the Brooklyn Bridge:

 

-- The first person was Robert Emmet Odlum, brother of women's rights activist Charlotte Odlum Smith, on the 19th. May 1885. He struck the water at an angle, and died shortly afterwards from internal injuries.

 

-- Steve Brodie supposedly dropped from underneath the bridge in July 1886 and was briefly arrested for it, although there is some doubt about whether he actually jumped.

 

-- Larry Donovan made a slightly higher jump from the railing a month afterward.

 

Other notable events have taken place on or near the bridge:

 

-- In 1919, Giorgio Pessi piloted what was then one of the world's largest airplanes, the Caproni Ca.5, under the bridge.

 

-- At 9:00 a.m. on the 19th. May 1977, artist Jack Bashkow climbed one of the towers for 'Bridging', which was termed a "media sculpture" by the performance group Art Corporation of America Inc.

 

Seven artists climbed the largest bridges connected to Manhattan in order to:

 

"Replace violence and fear

in mass media for one day".

 

When each of the artists had reached the tops of the bridges, they ignited bright-yellow flares at the same moment, resulting in rush hour traffic disruption, media attention, and the arrest of the climbers, though the charges were later dropped.

 

Called "The first social-sculpture to use mass-media as art” by conceptual artist Joseph Beuys, the event was on the cover of the New York Post, it received international attention, and received ABC Eyewitness News' 1977 Best News of the Year award.

 

John Halpern documented the incident in the film 'Bridging' (1977)

 

-- Halpern attempted another "Bridging" "social sculpture" in 1979, when he planted a radio receiver, gunpowder and fireworks in a bucket atop one of the Brooklyn Bridge towers.

 

The piece was later discovered by police, leading to his arrest for possessing a bomb.

 

-- In 1993, bridge jumper Thierry Devaux illegally performed eight acrobatic bungee jumps above the East River close to the Brooklyn tower.

 

-- On the 1st. October 2011, more than 700 protesters with the Occupy Wall Street movement were arrested while attempting to march across the bridge on the roadway.

 

Protesters disputed the police account of the event, and claimed that the arrests were the result of being trapped on the bridge by the NYPD. The majority of the arrests were subsequently dismissed.

 

-- On the 22nd. July 2014, the two American flags on the flagpoles atop each tower were found to have been replaced by bleached-white American flags.

 

Initially, cannabis activism was suspected as a motive, but on the 12th. August 2014, two Berlin artists claimed responsibility for hoisting the two white flags, having switched the original flags with their replicas.

 

The artists said that the flags were meant to celebrate the beauty of public space and the anniversary of the death of German-born John Roebling, and they denied that it was an anti-American statement.

 

Brooklyn Bridge as a Suicide Spot

 

The first person to jump from the bridge with the intention of suicide was Francis McCarey in 1892.

 

A lesser-known early jumper was James Duffy of County Cavan, Ireland, who on the 15th. April 1895 asked several men to watch him jump from the bridge. Duffy jumped and was not seen again.

 

Additionally, the cartoonist Otto Eppers jumped and survived in 1910, and was then tried and acquitted for attempted suicide.

 

The Brooklyn Bridge has since developed a reputation as a suicide bridge due to the number of jumpers who do so intending to kill themselves, though exact statistics are difficult to find.

 

Crimes and Terrorism Associated With Brooklyn Bridge

 

-- In 1979, police disarmed a stick of dynamite placed under the Brooklyn approach, and an artist in Manhattan was later arrested for the act.

 

-- On the 1st. March 1994, Lebanese-born Rashid Baz opened fire on a van carrying members of the Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish Movement, striking 16-year-old student Ari Halberstam and three others traveling on the bridge.

 

Halberstam died five days later from his wounds, and Baz was later convicted of murder. He was apparently acting out of revenge for the Hebron massacre of Palestinian Muslims a few days prior to the incident.

 

After initially classifying the killing as one committed out of road rage, the Justice Department reclassified the case in 2000 as a terrorist attack.

 

The entrance ramp to the bridge on the Manhattan side was subsequently dedicated as the Ari Halberstam Memorial Ramp.

 

-- In 2003, truck driver Lyman Faris was sentenced to 20 years in prison for providing material support to Al-Qaeda, after an earlier plot to destroy the bridge by cutting through its support wires with blowtorches was thwarted.

 

Brooklyn Bridge Anniversary Celebrations

 

-- The 50th.-anniversary celebrations on the 24th. May 1933 included a ceremony featuring an airplane show, ships, and fireworks, as well as a banquet.

 

-- During the centennial celebrations on the 24th. May 1983, President Ronald Reagan led a cavalcade of cars across the bridge.

 

A flotilla of ships visited the harbor, officials held parades, and Grucci Fireworks held a fireworks display that evening.

 

For the centennial, the Brooklyn Museum exhibited a selection of the original drawings made for the bridge.

 

Culture

 

The Brooklyn Bridge has had an impact on idiomatic American English. For example, references to "Selling the Brooklyn Bridge" abound in American culture, sometimes as examples of rural gullibility, but more often in connection with an idea that strains credulity.

 

George C. Parker and William McCloundy were two early 20th.-century con men who may have perpetrated this scam successfully on unwitting tourists, although the author of 'The Brooklyn Bridge: A Cultural History' wrote:

 

"No evidence exists that the bridge

has ever been sold to a 'gullible

outlander'".

 

However, anyone taken in by fraudsters is hardly likely to publicize the fact.

 

A popular tradition on Brooklyn Bridge is for couples to inscribe a date and their initials onto a padlock, attach it to the bridge, and throw the key into the water as a sign of their love.

 

The practice of attaching 'love locks' to the bridge is officially illegal in New York City, and in theory the NYPD can give violators a $100 fine.

 

NYCDOT workers periodically remove the love locks from the bridge at a cost of $100,000 per year.

 

Brooklyn Bridge in the Media

 

The bridge is often featured in wide shots of the New York City skyline in television and film, and has been depicted in numerous works of art.

 

Fictional works have used the Brooklyn Bridge as a setting; for instance, the dedication of a portion of the bridge, and the bridge itself, were key components in the 2001 film Kate & Leopold.

 

Furthermore, the Brooklyn Bridge has also served as an icon of America, with mentions in numerous songs, books, and poems.

 

Among the most notable of these works is that of American Modernist poet Hart Crane, who used the Brooklyn Bridge as a central metaphor and organizing structure for his second book of poetry, 'The Bridge' (1930).

 

The Brooklyn Bridge has also been lauded for its architecture. One of the first positive reviews was "The Bridge as a Monument", a Harper's Weekly piece written by architecture critic Montgomery Schuyler and published a week after the bridge's opening.

 

In the piece, Schuyler wrote:

 

"It so happens that the work which is likely to be

our most durable monument, and to convey some

knowledge of us to the most remote posterity, is a

work of bare utility; not a shrine, not a fortress, not

a palace, but a bridge."

 

Architecture critic Lewis Mumford cited the piece as the impetus for serious architectural criticism in the U.S. He wrote that in the 1920's the bridge was a source of joy and inspiration in his childhood, and that it was a profound influence in his adolescence.

 

Later critics regarded the Brooklyn Bridge as a work of art, as opposed to an engineering feat or a means of transport.

 

Not all critics appreciated the bridge, however. Henry James, writing in the early 20th. century, cited the bridge as an ominous symbol of the city's transformation into a "steel-souled machine room".

 

The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge is detailed in numerous media sources, including David McCullough's 1972 book 'The Great Bridge', and Ken Burns's 1981 documentary 'Brooklyn Bridge'.

 

It is also described in 'Seven Wonders of the Industrial World', a BBC docudrama series with an accompanying book, as well as in 'Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge', a biography published in 2017.

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Published in September's issue of the RPS Northern News.

Transport for Wales Class 197 No. 197042 crosses the A470 between Betws-y-Coed and Pont-y-Pant with 2D16, the 13:19 Llandudno – Blaenau Ffestiniog service on 22nd September 2022.

 

The summer edition of the Phoenix Railway Photographic Journal has just been published and you can read for free by clicking this link:

 

online.fliphtml5.com/lnylv/nqzm/

The Postcard

 

A postally unused postcard that was published by the Photochrom Co. Ltd. The card, which has a divided back, was printed in Great Britain.

 

The aircraft in the photograph was a British four-engined 39-seat biplane airliner designed and built by Short Brothers at the request of Imperial Airways. Two of them were ordered in 1933, 'Scylla' (G-ACJJ) and 'Syrinx' (G-ACJK).

 

Scylla, which is in the photograph, first flew for Imperial Airways on the 26th. March 1934.

 

Imperial Airways used the Scylla for scheduled flights from London to Paris and other European cities. Both aircraft served with Imperial Airways until its merger into BOAC in 1939, when both were taken out of service the following year, Scylla after being wrecked and Syrinx being scrapped.

 

The Photochrom Co. Ltd.

 

The Photochrom Co. Ltd. of London and Royal Tunbridge Wells originally produced Christmas cards before becoming a major publisher and printer of tourist albums, guide books, and postcards.

 

These mainly captured worldwide views as real photos, or were printed in black & white, monochrome, and color.

 

They also published many advertising, comic, silhouette, novelty, panoramic, and notable artist-signed cards in named series as well. The huge number of titles that Photochrom produced may well exceed 40,000.

 

In 1896 they took over Fussli’s London office established three years earlier, and began publishing similar photo-chromolithographic postcards after securing the exclusive English licence for the Swiss photochrom process.

 

This technique was used to produce a great number of view-cards of both England and Europe. While they captured the same fine details as the Swiss prints, their colours were much softer and reduced.

 

Apart from their better known photochroms, they produced their Celesque series of view-cards printed in tricolor.

 

One of the largest unnamed series that Photochrom produced was of view-cards printed in brown rotogravure. Many of these cards were simply hand coloured with a dominant red and blue, which gives these cards a distinct appearance. They are similar to cards produced in their Photogravure and Velvet Finish Series.

 

Photochrom postcard series include:

 

-- Night Series - Line block halftone over a blue tint depicting London.

-- Carbofoto Series - Black & white real photo cards.

-- Sepiatone Series - Sepia real photo cards.

-- Grano Series - View-cards printed in black & white.

-- Exclusive Photo-Color Series - View-cards printed in colour.

-- Duotype Process Series - View-cards printed in two tones.

 

Croydon Airport

 

Croydon Airport was the UK's major and only international airport during the interwar period. Located in Croydon, South London, it opened in 1920, built in a Neoclassical style.

 

It was developed as Britain's main airport, handling more cargo, mail, and passengers than any other UK airport at the time. Innovations at the site included the world's first air traffic control and the first airport terminal.

 

During World War II the airport was named RAF Croydon as its role changed to that of a fighter airfield during the Battle of Britain; and in 1943 RAF Transport Command was founded at the site, which used the airport to transport thousands of troops into and out of Europe.

 

After the Second World War, its role returned to civil aviation, but the role of London's primary international airport passed to London Heathrow Airport. Croydon Airport closed in 1959. It had been known under eight different names while it was active.

 

In 1978, the terminal building and Gate Lodge were granted protection as Grade II listed buildings. In May 2017, Historic England raised the status of the terminal building to Grade II*. Owing to disrepair, the Gate Lodge is now classified as Heritage at Risk by Historic England.

 

The Origins of Croydon Airport

 

In December 1915, Beddington Aerodrome was established - one of a number of small airfields around London that were created for protection against Zeppelin airship raids during the Great War. In January 1916, the first two aircraft, B.E 2C's, arrived at the aerodrome as part of Home Defence.

 

Waddon Aerodrome opened in 1918 as part of the adjoining National Aircraft Factory No. 1, to serve aircraft test flights. The two airfields were on each side of Plough Lane.

 

Beddington Aerodrome became a large Reserve Aircraft and Training aerodrome for the Royal Flying Corps. At the end of the Great War the aerodrome was retained, becoming an important training airfield for the newly formed Royal Air Force.

 

During 1919, Prince Albert (later George VI) gained his 'wings' here with No. 29 Training Squadron, the first member of the Royal Family to learn to fly. His elder brother, the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII), also received flying training with No. 29 Training Squadron at Beddington during 1919.

 

The two aerodromes were combined following the end of the Great War to become Croydon Aerodrome, the gateway for all international flights to and from London. The new aerodrome opened on the 29th. March 1920, replacing the temporary civil aerodrome at a Cavalry ground on Hounslow Heath.

 

Plough Lane remained a public road crossing the site, and road traffic was halted when necessary, first by a man with a red flag and later by a gate. The aerodrome stimulated a growth in regular scheduled flights carrying passengers, mail and freight, the first destinations being Paris, Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Two flights daily from Paris were scheduled for ease of communication with London during the Paris Peace Conference. In 1923, flights to Berlin Tempelhof Airport began.

 

Penshurst Airfield was an alternative destination for airliners when Croydon was closed on account of fog. One such diversion was on the 24th. September 1921, when a de Havilland DH.18 aircraft was diverted to Penshurst. This situation lasted until Penshurst closed on the 28th. July 1936.

 

Innovation

 

Croydon was the first airport in the world to introduce air traffic control, a control tower, and radio position-fixing procedures.

 

The aerodrome control tower (visible in the photograph) was designed with windows on all four sides. It provided basic traffic, weather and location information to pilots.

 

The 'Mayday' distress call was also first established at Croydon.

 

Croydon Airport also had the world's first airport hotel.

 

Imperial Airways

 

On the formation of Britain's first national airline, Imperial Airways, on the 31st. March 1924, Croydon became the new airline's operating base. Imperial Airways was the British Government's chosen instrument to develop connections with the U.K.'s extensive overseas interests.

 

It was therefore from Croydon that Great Britain first developed its European and long-haul routes to India, Africa, the Middle and Far East, Asia, Africa and Australia (in conjunction with Qantas).

 

The Crash of the Imperial Airways de Havilland

 

Following the Imperial Airways de Havilland DH.34 crash, Great Britain's first major civil aviation accident, conditions at Croydon came under criticism from the public inquiry that investigated the causes.

 

The crash occurred on the 24th. December 1924. The aircraft took off from Croydon Airport on a scheduled international passenger flight to Le Bourget Airport, Paris. Witnesses described the aircraft as flying low over Purley before nosediving to the ground and overturning. The crash was followed by an explosion and fire.

 

The crash site was 1 1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) from Croydon Airport, at Castle Hill, Purley, where the Kingsdown housing estate was then under construction. Attempts to rescue the pilot and the seven passengers were made, but the intensity of the fire made this task impossible. A witness stated that he thought the accident was unsurvivable.

 

It was only after the local fire brigade had extinguished the fire that the bodies of the victims could be extricated from the wreckage. The accident was the first fatal accident suffered by Imperial Airways.

 

A memorial plaque and cross were placed at Kingsdown Avenue. They are still there to this day.

 

The inquiry was Great Britain's first into an aviation accident. It led to an Act of Parliament, the Croydon Aerodrome Extension Act 1925.

 

The Expansion of Croydon Airport

 

The 1925 Act led to large-scale expansion, redevelopment and construction of an improved new airport between 1926 and 1928, with a new complex of buildings being constructed alongside Purley Way, including the first purpose-designed airport terminal and air traffic control tower, the world's first airport hotel, and extensive hangars.

 

The development cost £267,000 (£16.2 million in today's prices). Plough Lane was closed permanently to let heavier airliners land and depart safely. The airport's terminal building and control tower were completed in 1928, and the old wooden air traffic control and customs building demolished. The new buildings and layout began operations on the 20th. January 1928, and were officially opened on the 2nd. May 1928 by Lady Maud Hoare.

 

Notable Flights

 

Croydon was where regular international passenger services began, initially using converted wartime bombers, and the Croydon - Le Bourget route soon became the busiest in the world.

 

Amy Johnson took off from Croydon on the 5th. May 1930 for her record-breaking flight to Australia.

 

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh arrived in the Spirit of St. Louis, to be greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of over 100,000 people.

 

Winston Churchill also took flying lessons at the airport.

 

On the morning of the 11th. July 1936, Major Hugh Pollard and Cecil Bebb left Croydon Airport for the Canary Islands in a de Havilland Dragon Rapide aircraft, where they picked up General Francisco Franco, taking him to Spanish Morocco and thereby helping to trigger the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

 

The airport also hosted a much-publicised visit by Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, leader of the National Socialist Women's League (NS-Frauenschaft) and rumoured to be a spy; historians have speculated that she landed in Britain to cultivate German spies living here, in the run-up to WWII.

 

BOAC

 

In March 1937 British Airways Ltd. operated from Croydon, moving to Heston Aerodrome in May 1938. Imperial Airways, serving routes in the British Empire, and British Airways Ltd, serving European routes, were merged in 1939 to become the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC).

 

Croydon Airport in WWII

 

When the Second World War started in September 1939, Croydon Airport was closed to civil aviation, but played a vital role as a fighter station during the Battle of Britain. No. 92 Squadron flew Supermarine Spitfires from RAF Croydon during the early part of the Second World War and the Battle of Britain.

 

On the 15th. August 1940, Croydon Airport was attacked during the first major air raid on the London area. At around 6.20 pm, 22 fighter-bombers mounted a final raid of the day, intended for RAF Kenley nearby, but attacked Croydon (four miles further north) in error.

 

The armoury was destroyed, the civilian airport terminal building was badly damaged, and a hangar was damaged by cannon fire and blast. Another hangar and about forty training aircraft in it went up in flames.

 

Six airfield personnel died (four airmen from No. 111 Squadron, an officer of No. 1 Squadron RCAF, and a female telephonist from Station HQ). Factories next to Croydon Airport took the worst of the bombing. The British NSF factory (making electrical components) was almost entirely destroyed, and the Bourjois perfume factory was gutted.

 

The Rollason Aircraft factory also received bomb hits and accounted for many of the 62 civilians (including five women) killed and 192 injured. Eight of the attacking aircraft were shot down by the Hurricanes of 32 and 111 Squadrons.

 

Croydon became the base of RAF Transport Command in 1944.

 

Post-War Developments and Final Closure

 

Following the end of the war, it was realised that post-war airliners and cargo aircraft would be larger, and that air traffic would intensify. The urban spread of south London and the growth of surrounding villages had enclosed Croydon Airport and left it little room for expansion. Heathrow was therefore designated as London's airport.

 

Croydon returned to civil control in February 1946. Northolt opened to airlines soon after that, cutting Croydon's traffic, but the September 1946 ABC Guide shows 218 departures a week to Belfast, Dublin, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Jersey, Guernsey, and several continental airports. A year later there were only 56 departures a week, mostly BEA de Havilland Dragon Rapides that weeks later left Croydon for good.

 

It was decided in 1952 that the airport would eventually be closed, as Blackbushe Airport in Hampshire and Northolt Aerodrome in Middlesex could accommodate European flights during the 1950's.

 

The last scheduled flight from Croydon departed at 6:15pm on the 30th. September 1959. The airfield officially closed at 10:20pm.

 

On the 27th. September 2009, to mark the 50th. anniversary of the closing of the airport, eleven light aircraft, including eight biplanes, staged a flypast. A gold laurel leaf tribute was laid in the control tower to mark the anniversary.

 

Croydon Airport Today

 

Much of the site has been built over, but some of the airport buildings near Purley Way are still visible, clearly identifiable as to their former purpose. The former terminal building is called Airport House, and the former control tower houses a visitors' centre.

 

A de Havilland Heron (a small propeller-driven British airliner of the 1950's) is displayed on the forecourt outside Airport House, mounted on struts. The Heron is painted to represent an aircraft of Morton Air Services which flew the last passenger flight from Croydon on the 30th. September 1959. A memorial to those lost in the Battle of Britain stands slightly to the south.

 

Although Croydon Airport has long ceased operation, the two cut ends of Plough Lane have never been reunited, but the area between has been developed instead into parkland, playing fields, and the Roundshaw residential estate with its roads aptly named after aviators and aircraft.

 

All that remains of the runways is a small area of tarmac about 400 feet (120 m) long in Roundshaw Park just west of Purley Way, which is a remnant of the WNW-ESE runway due south of the control buildings. The area is used primarily by walkers, model aircraft enthusiasts, locals playing football and the Croydon Pirates baseball team.

 

The church on the Roundshaw estate has a cross on its outside wall that was made from the cut down propeller of a Spitfire based at Croydon during the Second World War.

 

In recognition of the historical significance of the aerodrome, two local schools (Waddon Infants School and Duppas Junior School) merged in September 2010 and became The Aerodrome School.

 

The Airport Buildings

 

The Aerodrome Hotel and the terminal building including its grand booking hall were built in the neo-classical geometrical design typical of the early 20th. Century. A further item that would have caught the eye of visitor and traveller alike was the time zone tower (now lost) in the booking hall with its dials depicting the times in different parts of the world.

 

The Airport Hotel survives (2020) as the independent Hallmark Hotel.

 

Events and Celebrities Associated With the Airport

 

- 1919 - Winston Churchill took extensive flying lessons at Croydon, and was nearly killed during a crash at take-off in 1919.

 

- 1925 - Alan Cobham flew from Croydon to Cape Town and back in 1925-6.

 

- 1927 - Charles Lindbergh flew into Croydon in 1927 shortly after completing the first solo trans-Atlantic flight.

 

- 1928 - Mary Bailey flew solo from Croydon to Cape Town.

 

- 1928 - Mary, Lady Heath was the first pilot to fly a small open-cockpit aircraft from Cape Town to Croydon Aerodrome on the 18th. May.

 

- 1928 - Bert Hinkler made the first flight from Croydon to Darwin, Australia.

 

- 1928 - Charles Kingsford Smith beat Hinkler's record.

 

- 1929 - Armstrong Whitworth flew an Argosy from Croydon to Paris, and Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford met Countess Mountbatten of Burma.

 

- 1930 - Aspy Engineer and R. N. Chawla were the first Indians to fly from Karachi to Croydon and shortly after, Engineer flew from Croydon to Karachi solo and within the specified one month time frame to win the Aga Khan competition.

 

- 1930 - Amy Johnson was the first woman to fly from Croydon to Australia, later to return to Croydon to a jubilant welcome. Amy left Croydon on the 5th. May with a few people to see her off. She returned from Australia to be greeted by crowds of thousands.

 

- 1934 - Tom Campbell Black and C. W. A. Scott won the MacRobertson London to Melbourne Air Race.

 

Literary References to Croydon Airport

 

Croydon Airport features heavily in two detective novels, Freeman Wills Crofts' 'The 12.30 from Croydon' (1934) and Agatha Christie's 'Death in the Clouds' (1935).

 

It is also mentioned in Evelyn Waugh's 'Labels: A Mediterranean Journey' (1930), Elizabeth Bowen's 'To the North' (1932) and Winston Churchill's 'Thoughts and Adventures' (1932).

 

W. H. Auden, in his Letter to Lord Byron (1937), lists 'Croydon Aerodrome' as one of the locations visited by a modern-day Don Juan.

 

Accidents and Incidents Associated With Croydon Airport

 

- On the 15th. March 1923, a Farman F.60 Goliath F-AEIE of Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes overran the runway on landing and collided with a building. The aircraft was later repaired and returned to service.

 

- On the 22nd. January 1924, a Goliath F-GEAO of Air Union was destroyed by fire following an accident when landing.

 

- On the 24th. December 1924, an Imperial Airways de Havilland DH.34 G-EBBX crashed and caught fire shortly after take-off from Croydon, killing the pilot and all seven passengers.

 

-- On the 24th. July 1928, Alfred Loewenstein, a Belgian financier and one of the wealthiest people in the world at the time, was killed when he fell out of his privately owned Fokker airliner at an altitude of 4,000 feet (1,200 m). Flying from Croydon Airport to Brussels, he is believed to have opened the wrong cabin door before plunging out into space over the English Channel. Suicide was suspected, although it was probably just an unfortunate error - he was last seen by the six other passengers walking to the rear of the aircraft to use the bathroom. However he stepped through the door opposite the bathroom. His body was found on a beach in France eight days later.

 

More on Loewenstein and his disappearance below.

 

- On the 6th. November 1929, the Deutsche Lufthansa Junkers G 24bi Oberschlesien (registration D-903) crashed after striking trees on a hill in Morden Park, Surrey, while attempting to return to Croydon in thick fog after taking off for a flight to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Three of the four crew members and four of the five passengers died.

 

- On the 19th. May 1934, a Wibault 280 of Air France crash-landed on a cricket pitch adjacent to Croydon Airport as a result of running out of fuel. Only one of the ten people on board was injured.

 

- On the 31st. May 1934 an Air France aircraft carrying newspapers to Paris crashed after hitting the mast of an aircraft radio navigation beacon that had been erected off the end of the white-line take-off path, killing the two crew. (...On the face of it, a pretty silly place to erect a navigation beacon.)

 

- On the 6th. March 1935, in the Croydon Airport robbery, £21,000 worth of gold bullion was stolen. Three men were charged, although only one was sentenced. The gold was never found.

 

- On the 9th. December 1936, a KLM Douglas DC-2 crashed on take-off at Croydon Airport on a flight to Amsterdam. The accident killed 15 out of the 17 on the DC-2, including Juan de la Cierva and Arvid Lindman. Juan de la Cierva was the Spanish inventor of the autogyro.

 

- On the 25th. January 1947, a Spencer Airways Douglas Dakota failed to get airborne on a flight to Rhodesia. The aircraft struck another parked and empty aircraft, killing 11 passengers and the pilot.

 

Further Accidents and Incidents of Imperial Airways

 

(a) Fatal Accidents

 

- On the 13th. July 1928, a Vickers Vulcan G-EBLB crashed at Purley during a test flight, killing four of the six people on board. As a result of the crash, Imperial Airways stopped the flying of staff (so called joy rides) during test flights.

 

- On the 17th. June 1929, a Handley Page W.10 G-EBMT ditched in the English Channel following engine failure whilst on a flight from Croydon to Paris with the loss of seven lives.

 

- On the 6th. September 1929, a de Havilland Hercules G-EBMZ crashed and burned on landing at Jask, Iran in the dark due to the pilot misjudging the altitude and stalling the aircraft, killing three of the five individuals on board.

 

- On the 26th. October 1929, a Short G-AADN force-landed off La Spezia, Italy in poor weather; the flying boat sank in the night during attempts to tow it to shore, killing all seven on board.

 

- On the 30th. October 1930, a Handley Page W.8g G-EBIX struck high ground in fog at Boulogne, France, killing three of the six individuals on board.

 

- On the 28th. March 1933, an Armstrong Whitworth Argosy G-AACI crashed at Diksmuide, Belgium following an in-flight fire. This is suspected to be the first-ever case of sabotage in the air. All fifteen people on board were killed.

 

- On the 30th. December 1933, an Avro Ten G-ABLU collided with a radio mast at Ruysselede, Belgium and crashed. All ten people on board were killed.

 

- On the 31st. December 1935, a Short G-AASJ crashed off Alexandria, Egypt when all four engines failed on approach, possibly due to fuel starvation; twelve of the 13 on board drowned when the flying boat sank.

 

- On the 22nd. August 1936, a Short G-ABFA sank at Mirabello Bay, Crete after a heavy landing, killing two of the 11 on board.

 

- On the 24th. March 1937, a Short G-ADVA crashed in the Beaujolois Mountains near Ouroux, France following a navigation error, killing five.

 

- On the 1st. October 1937, a Short G-ADVC crashed on landing in Phaleron Bay, Greece due to poor visibility, killing two of 15 on board.

 

- On the 5th. December 1937, a Short G-ADUZ crashed on take-off from Brindisi, Italy due to incorrect flap settings, killing two.

 

- On the 27th. July 1938, an Armstrong Whitworth G-ABTG flew into a hillside near Kisumu, Kenya shortly after take-off, killing all four on board.

 

- On the 27th. November 1938, a Short G-AETW crashed in Lake Habbaniyah, Iraq in bad weather after the pilot descended to maintain visual contact with the ground following spatial disorientation, killing all four crew.

 

- On the 21st. January 1939, a Short G-ADUU ditched in the Atlantic 285 mi off New York due to carburettor icing and loss of engine power; three drowned while ten survivors were picked up by the tanker Esso Baytown. Thereafter Imperial Airways and Pan-American trans-oceanic flying boats had the upper surfaces of the wings painted with orange high visibility markings.

 

- On the 1st. May 1939, a Short G-ADVD crashed in the Lumbo lagoon while attempting to land at Lumbo Airport, killing two of the six individuals on board.

 

- On the 1st. March 1940, a Handley Page H.P.42 G-AAGX disappeared over the Gulf of Oman with eight on board; no wreckage, cargo or occupants were ever found. The cause of the crash remains unknown, but fuel starvation, a bird strike damaging a propeller and causing an engine or wing to separate, an in-flight breakup or multiple engine failure were theorised. Two months after the crash, the H.P.42 was withdrawn from passenger operations. It was also recommended that all commercial aircraft used in long flights over water be equipped with personal and group life saving gear; this would later become standard throughout the airline industry.

 

The 18 fatal Imperial Airways accidents listed above (including the 1924 Purley crash) produce a death toll of 101 fatalities, which is relatively modest by today's standards - the years between 1924 and 1940 produced an average of only 6.3 deaths per year.

 

This is due at least in part to the fact that modern aircraft have a much larger capacity and transport vastly more passengers, resulting in many more fatalities per crash; the Imperial Airlines fatal crashes recorded above produced an average of only 5.6 deaths per flight.

 

(b) Non-Fatal Accidents of Imperial Airways

 

- On the 21st. October 1926, a Handley Page W.10 G-EBMS ditched in the English Channel 18 nautical miles (33 km) off the English coast after an engine failed. All 12 people on board were rescued by FV Invicta.

 

- On the 19th. April 1931, a de Havilland DH.66 with registration G-EBMW was damaged beyond repair in a forced landing following fuel starvation at Surabaya.

 

- On the 8th. August 1931, a Handley Page H.P.42 G-AAGX was operating a scheduled passenger flight from Croydon to Paris when an engine failed and debris forced a second engine to be shut down. A forced landing at Five Oak Green, Kent resulted in extensive damage, although no injuries occurred. The aircraft was dismantled and trucked to Croydon to be rebuilt.

 

- On the 9th. November 1935, a Short G-ABFB caught fire and burned out during refuelling in Brindisi Harbor; the refuelling crew were able to jump clear of the burning aircraft and survived.

 

- On the 29th. September 1936, an Armstrong Whitworth G-ABTK burned out in a hangar fire at Delhi, India.

 

- On the 31st. May 1937, a Handley Page H.P.45 G-AAXE was destroyed in a hangar fire at Karachi, India.

 

- On the 3rd. December 1938, a de Havilland G-ADCN burned out at Bangkok.

 

- On the 12th. March 1939, a Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat G-ADUY was damaged beyond repair at Tandjong, Batavia, Netherlands East Indies. It struck a submerged object while taxiing. The aircraft beached, but proved to be damaged beyond repair by immersion and mishandling during salvage. The aircraft was dismantled and shipped to England, but not returned to service.

 

- On the 7th. November 1939, a Handley Page H.P.42 G-AXXD was written off following a forced landing at a golf course at Tiverton, Devon.

 

- On the 19th. March 1940, a Handley Page H.P.45 G-AAXC and H.P.42 G-AAUD were both written off after being blown over in high winds while parked at Whitchurch Airport.

My letter to the editor ("Cleverland Rocks, right side of the image) was published by the Globe and Mail today! :D

 

It's become a national sport (or complaint) in recent months to talk about the crazily exuberant housing market in Canada (and many countries around the world). To give you an example, the very home that I'm writing this from now, the price in 2021 is six to seven times that of 1999. Yep, in just 22 years. A 20% downpayment in 2021 is more money than the entire house back in 1999. Despite that, I, for one, is no fan of this real estate craze. But I digress. The other day, a business news columnist has suggested that Canadians look to the U.S. for affordable homes.

 

I've been saying that many American cities not far from Toronto are actually quite attractive places to live. Of course, for Canadians moving to the U.S. isn't anything like a Frenchman moving to Italy or a Spaniard moving to Denmark. The Canada-USA-Mexico free trade agreement doesn't allow free movement of people and there is no open border. A formal immigration application and approval is required; finding a job in the USA as a Canadian is not easy; and the lack of state-funded healthcare in the U.S. is a major deterrent to any Canadian not used to having to "pay" for a visit to the doctor.

published on Photo Vogue Italia: www.vogue.it/en/photovogue/Portfolio/142d1b25-83a5-4f38-8...

Published by Taika, Brazil 1967

Night life in a big city

Published by O Globo, Brazil 1945

***I've published the close-up because I like this photo and doubt there will ever be one like this again. My mum gratefully gave me the okay to publish this***

 

I was all ready to go out today when I got a phone call from my mum. She hadn't been very well the last few days, and wanted me to visit her. I do visit her as much as I can, but I don't on Saturdays as a rule because that's the day I am most likely to do any filming.

 

I explained to her I was all dolled up, but she asked me over all the same. I have to say it wasn't always like this.

 

In the late 1980's I had some photos of myself hidden from view, until one sibling found them, gave them to my mom, who was less than pleased to put it mildly. Many of the photos over the years were hidden, then found, then burnt in front of me.

 

As the years have passed, of all the siblings, I remain the closest to my mum, but the relationship is volatile and I really do hate it when we fight...happily it is very occasional.

 

I have to say that the project I had planned to film today will take another outing! My mom remains unwell and I don't wish to put her through the pressure of filming with me - I do that enough to myself! She doesn't have the stamina to film for maybe up to two hours....and so I abandoned the project, at least for today.

 

A really nice gent asked if he could take a photo of us, he was already taking photos of the location anyway, and as I was taking photos of my mum, I asked her if it was okay and so...this is the result.

 

She remains worried about me when I film outdoors, but I tell her that I am fine, for the most part.

She did actually come along to a video shoot some time ago, so she knows what is involved, and how hard it is to come up with decent enough footage to compile into a video.

 

She is worried about me in terms of would anyone (especially men) approach me...either to attack me or 'ask me out' (something which I lol'led about!)....I always say anything I do has a risk to it, but it's always a calculated risk....at least I hope it to be so. We just hope to get home safe, don't we?

 

So, no filming today. Sometimes you have to put others first, even if we want to do our 'thing' instead. I will have to resume at this location next week. Let's hope my mum's health, along with the weather, keeps good!

  

Winter walk

Published in American Home as an ad for Crane plumbing fixtures. The kitchen ads are published about 20% as often as the bathroom ads, so finding them ... especially the good ones ... is a little more challenging.

I was lucky to have another of my images published in the Spring 2014 Digital Photo Magazine.

Note: this photo was published in a Jul 24, 2009 blog titled "Full moon." It was also published in a Dec 6, 2009 blog titled "The business world is full of two kinds of people—builders and traders." And it was published in a Dec 31, 2009 blog titled "Once in a Blue Moon: Be Sure to Look Up This New Year’s Eve."

 

Moving into 2010, the photo was published in a Jan 29, 2010 blog titled "Friday Recap: Wolf Moon Edition," which discussed the "wolf moon" phenomenon that occurred on Jan 29th. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with this photo -- which was taken roughly six months earlier. Indeed, I had considered photographing the "real" wolf moon, but by the time I became aware of it, it was already high in the sky and no longer interesting from a photographic perspective. Interestingly, it was also situated quite a lot further north than this particular photo -- in which the moon had risen right above 96th Street, and illuminated part of the entrance into Central Park...

 

Anyway, it was also published in a Jul 4, 2010 blog titled "Events for or Less Sunday." It was also published in an Oct 6, 2010 blog titled "Folklore Confirmed: The Moon's Phase Affects Rainfall (via @sciencenow)," and an Oct 29, 2010 blog titled "The Secret Behind Day Trading Software And a Reason to Use It." It was also published in a Nov 6, 2010 blog titled "Day Trading Software Along With the Perks of Technology," and a Nov 8, 2010 blog titled "How to Select the Best Day Trading Software." It was also published in a Dec 8, 2010 blog titled "E mini S&P Index Trading Perfect Tool for Full-TIme Day-traders."

 

Moving into 2011, the photo was published in an Apr 24, 2011 blog titled "Will you see a fuller moon tonight … or tomorrow?" And it was published in a Jul 14, 2011 blog titled "Understanding full moon," which was republished in a Jan 8, 2012 blog with the same title . It was also published in an Aug 29, 2011 blog titled "Day Software Stock Trading – Is Trading Software Right Choice For You?

 

Moving into 2012, the photo was published in a Jan 11, 2012 Slate France blog titled "La Lune est-elle à la portée des entrepreneurs?" It was also published in a Sep 7, 2012 blog titled "Has the Moon created the world’s most enduring optical illusion?"

 

Moving into 2013, the photo was published in a Feb 25, 2013 blog titled "Understanding Full Moon."

 

Moving into 2014, the photo was published in a Mar 7, 2014 blog titled "Nightshift."

 

Note: A large percentage of my "landscape" photos (including the ones in this set) are now copyright-protected, and are not available for downloads and free use. You can view them here in Flickr, but if you would like prints, enlargements, framed copies, and other variations, please visit my SmugMug "NYC HDR" gallery by clicking here.

 

***************************

  

These photos were taken a couple days after my first HDR efforts on the 4th of July weekend, in an attempt to get a decent image of the full moon rising over the east side of Manhattan, from the terrace of my apartment over on the Upper West SIde. Not particularly memorable or spectacular results, but it gave me a chance to experiment with some of the parameters and settings in the Photomatix program I'm using to merge/combine the HDR shots.

 

Full disclosure: in addition to the HDR shots, I also took some "traditional" shots of the full moon a little later, after it had risen higher in the sky; these were taken with a manual setting of f/11 and 1/250th second (as recommended by Scott Kelby, in his Digital Photography books). I then used Adobe Photoshop Elements to extract just the moon out of that photo, and pasted it into this HDR composition in a separate "layer", which I was then able to enlarge to a ridiculous extent.

 

The original HDR image had a much more interesting orange-colored moon ... but when I tried to blow it up to a larger size, using Photoshop, the edges were so rough and grainy that it was embarrassing. So I think I'll stick with this composite, for better or worse...

 

********************

 

I tried an HDR (high dynamic range) photo once a year ago, but for some reason never pursued it. But it seems that more of and more of the "interesting" photos that I see on Flickr are HDR shots, so I decided to give it another try. The initial set of photos were taken from the rooftop of my apartment building at sunset, on the Sunday evening of 4th of July weekend.

 

I still have a *lot* to learn about this stuff, but even as a first attempt I'm staggered by what the tonal-mapping software programs (Photomatix, in my case) are capable of doing...

Published by Harvey in 1950. Cover art by Ham Fisher (enlarged from interior panel).

The Postcard

 

A postally unused C.T. Art-Colortone postcard that was published on behalf of The Union News Co. In the space for the stamp it states:

 

'Place One Cent

Stamp Here.'

 

The following is printed on the divided back of the card:

 

"The historic village centers

in the 'Green' as did early

American communities.

About this spot stand the

public buildings - the Inn,

the Chapel, the School,

the Court House, the Town

Hall and the General Store."

 

The Henry Ford

 

The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Greenfield Village, and the Edison Institute) is a history museum complex in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan.

 

The museum collection contains the presidential limousine of John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln's chair from Ford's Theatre, Thomas Edison's laboratory, the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop, the Rosa Parks bus, and many other historical exhibits.

 

It is the largest indoor–outdoor museum complex in the United States, and is visited by over 1.7 million people each year. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 as Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum, and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1981 as "Edison Institute".

 

Background to the Museum

 

Named for its founder, the automobile industrialist Henry Ford, and based on his efforts to preserve items of historical interest and portray the Industrial Revolution, the property houses homes, machinery, exhibits, and Americana of historically significant items as well as common memorabilia, both of which help to capture the history of life in early America. It is one of the largest such collections in the nation.

 

Henry Ford said of his museum:

 

"I am collecting the history of our people as written

into things their hands made and used .... When we

are through, we shall have reproduced American life

as lived, and that, I think, is the best way of preserving

at least a part of our history and tradition."

 

History of the Museum

 

Architect Robert O. Derrick designed the museum with a 523,000 square feet (48,600 m2) exhibit hall that extends 400 feet (120 m) behind the main façade. The façade spans 800 feet (240 m) and incorporates facsimiles of three structures from Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia – Old City Hall, Independence Hall and Congress Hall.

 

The Edison Institute was dedicated by President Herbert Hoover to Ford's longtime friend Thomas Edison on the 21st. October 1929 – the 50th. anniversary of the first successful incandescent light bulb.

 

The attendees included Marie Curie, George Eastman, John D. Rockefeller, Will Rogers, Orville Wright, and about 250 others. The dedication was broadcast on radio, with listeners encouraged to turn off their electric lights until the switch was flipped at the Museum.

 

The Edison Institute was, at first, a private site for educational purposes only, but after numerous inquiries about the complex, it was opened as a museum to the general public on the 22nd. June 1933. It was originally composed of the Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village, and the Greenfield Village Schools (an experimental learning facility).

 

Initially, Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum were owned by the Ford Motor Company, which is currently a sponsor of the school, and cooperates with the Henry Ford to provide the Ford Rouge Factory Tour. The Henry Ford is sited between the Ford Dearborn Development Center and several Ford engineering buildings with which it shares the same style gates and brick fences.

 

In 1970, the museum purchased what it believed to be a 17th. century Brewster Chair, created for one of the Pilgrim settlers in the Plymouth Colony, for $9,000.

 

In September 1977, the chair was determined to be a modern forgery created in 1969 by Rhode Island sculptor Armand LaMontagne. The museum retains the piece as an educational tool on forgeries.

 

In the early 2000's, the museum added an auditorium to the building's south corner. This housed an IMAX theater until January 2016, when museum management decided to change formats for the facility to better fit with its mission. The renovated theater reopened in April of that year.

 

The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation

 

The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation began as Henry Ford's personal collection of historic objects, which he began collecting as far back as 1906. The museum features a 4K digital projection theater, which shows scientific, natural, or historical documentaries, as well as major feature films.

 

Today, the 12 acre (49,000 m²) site is primarily a collection of antique machinery, pop culture items, automobiles, locomotives, aircraft, and other items:

 

-- An Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

-- The 1961 Lincoln Continental in which President John F. Kennedy was riding when he was assassinated.

-- The rocking chair from Ford's Theatre in which President Abraham Lincoln was sitting when he was shot by John Wilkes Booth.

-- George Washington's camp bed.

-- A collection of several fine 17th. and 18th. century violins, including a Stradivarius.

-- Thomas Edison's alleged last breath in a sealed tube.

-- Buckminster Fuller's prototype Dymaxion house (see below).

-- The bus on which Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat, leading to the Montgomery bus boycott.

-- Igor Sikorsky's prototype helicopter.

-- The Fokker Trimotor airplane that flew the first flight over the North Pole.

-- Bill Elliott's record-breaking race car clocking in at over 212 MPH at Talladega in 1987.

-- Fairbottom Bobs, the Newcomen engine.

-- A steam engine from Cobb's Engine House in England.

-- A working fragment of the original Holiday Inn "Great Sign."

-- Chesapeake & Ohio Railway "Allegheny"-class steam locomotive #1601, built by Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio. The Allegheny was the third most-powerful steam locomotive ever built, after the Union Pacific Railroad "Big Boy" locomotive and the Pennsylvania Railroad Q2-class locomotive.

-- Toyota Prius sedan, the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle.

 

Behind the scenes, the Benson Ford Research Center uses the resources of The Henry Ford, especially the photographic, manuscript and archival material which is rarely displayed, to allow visitors to gain a deeper understanding of American people, places, events, and things. The Research Center also contains the Ford Motor Archives.

 

To commemorate the 100th. anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the Henry Ford Museum exhibited a vast array of artifacts and media documenting the Titanic's voyage and demise. The exhibit was hosted from the 31st. March to the 30th. September 2012.

 

Greenfield Village

 

Greenfield Village, the outdoor living history museum section of the Henry Ford complex, was (along with the adjacent Henry Ford Museum) dedicated in 1929 and opened to the public in June 1933.

 

It was the first outdoor museum of its type in the nation, and served as a model for subsequent outdoor museums. Patrons enter at the gate, passing by the Josephine Ford Memorial Fountain and Benson Ford Research Center. Nearly one hundred historical buildings were moved to the property from their original locations and arranged in a "village" setting.

 

The museum's intent is to show how Americans have lived and worked since the founding of the country. The Village includes buildings from the 17th. century to the present, many of which are staffed by costumed interpreters who conduct period tasks like farming, sewing and cooking.

 

A collection of craft buildings such as pottery, glass-blowing, and tin shops provide demonstrations while producing materials used in the Village and for sale. The Village features costumed and plain-clothed presenters to tell stories and convey information about the attractions. Some of these presenters are seasonal, such as the "games on the green" presenters who only operate in the summer.

 

Greenfield Village has 240 acres (970,000 m²) of land of which only 90 acres (360,000 m²) are used for the attraction, the rest being forest, river and extra pasture for sheep and horses.

 

Village homes, buildings, and attractions include:

 

-- Noah Webster's Connecticut home, which served as a dormitory for Yale students from 1918 to 1936, when it was obtained by Henry Ford and moved to Greenfield Village where it was restored.

-- The Wright brothers' bicycle shop and home, which were bought and moved by Henry Ford in 1937 from Dayton, Ohio.

-- A replica of Thomas Edison's Menlo Park laboratory complex from New Jersey. Its reconstruction started in 1928. The buildings were laid out according to exact foundation measurements from the original site. It was furnished with original or faithful duplicates, all placed as they were originally sited.

-- The Edison Homestead, birthplace of Thomas Edison's father. It was built in 1816 in Vienna, Ontario, and moved to Greenfield Village in the 1930's.

-- Henry Ford's birthplace, which was moved from Greenfield and Ford roads in 1944. Henry Ford had it furnished exactly as it was during his mother's time.

-- Henry Ford's prototype garage where he built the Ford Quadricycle.

-- Harvey Firestone the tire magnate's family farm from Columbiana, Ohio, which was given to the Village by Harvey's two remaining sons in 1983 to perpetuate their father's memory. It took over two years for the disassembling and rebuilding process, and has been operated as a working sheep farm since 1985.

-- The Logan County, Illinois courthouse where Abraham Lincoln practiced law.

-- William Holmes McGuffey's birthplace.

-- Luther Burbank's office.

-- J. R. Jones General Store was built circa 1857 in Waterford Village, Michigan. It was moved to Greenfield Village in 1927 after being purchased by Henry Ford from its then-owner August V. Jacober for $700 and the agreement to rebuild a new store on its Waterford site. It was the first structure to arrive at the Greenfield Village site. The general store was placed in its permanent location facing the village green in the spring of 1929.

-- Ackley Covered Bridge, a 75' wooden covered bridge, built in 1832 over Enlow Fork along the Greene - Washington County line in Southwestern Pennsylvania and moved to the village in 1937.

-- Cape Cod Windmill, also known as the Farris mill, is considered one of the oldest in America. It was originally built in 1633 on the north side of Cape Cod. It was moved several times around Cape Cod until it was gifted to Henry Ford from the Ford Dealers Association, and installed in Greenfield Village in 1936.

-- In 1935, a structure was added to the park and was identified as the home of Stephen Foster. The structure was identified by historians at the time as being authentic, and was deconstructed and moved piece by piece from the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Greenfield Village. However Foster's niece insisted that it was not his birthplace, and in 1953 the claim was withdrawn.

-- A 1913 Herschell Spillman carousel with an Artizan 'C' band organ with a replica Wurlitzer façade converted to play Wurlitzer rolls.

-- There are various modes of historic transportation in the Village providing rides for visitors which utilize authentic Ford Model Ts, a 1931 Ford Model AA bus (one of about 15 known to exist), horse-drawn omnibuses, and trains pulled by steam locomotives.

 

The Weiser Railroad

 

The rail line on which the steam locomotives in Greenfield Village presently run originally consisted of a simple straight stretch of track along the northern edge of the museum property, and has been present ever since Greenfield Village was dedicated in 1929.

 

The rail line, now named the Weiser Railroad, was later expanded into a continuous loop around the perimeter of the museum property, which was completed in stages between 1971 and 1972. This 4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge passenger line is 2 miles (3.2 km) long, and has four stations.

 

All of the railroad's stations consist solely of single side platforms except for the station in the Railroad Junction section, which also includes the relocated Smiths Creek Depot building originally built for the Grand Trunk Railway in 1858.

 

The line utilizes a modern replica of a Detroit, Toledo & Milwaukee Railroad roundhouse built in 1884. At the time it opened in 2000, the new DT&M Roundhouse replica was one of only seven working roundhouses open to the public in the United States.

 

The railroad, unusual for a heritage railroad built purposely for tourism, has a direct connection to the United States National Railroad Network. The line to which it connects is a section of the Michigan Line owned by MDOT.

 

The Weiser Railroad's Torch Lake steam locomotive, built in 1873, is the oldest operational locomotive in the U.S. as of 2021.

 

Signature Events

 

(a) Civil War Remembrance

 

Each year the Village honors the sacrifices and achievements of those who fought in the American Civil War. The Civil War Remembrance event takes place on Memorial Day weekend every year.

 

An estimated 750,000 people died during the Civil War. The Civil War Remembrance includes hundreds of Union and Confederate re-enactors, musicians and historic presenters. Greenfield Village provides many opportunities to learn about the Civil War: exhibits, presentations, battle re-enactments, concerts, short plays, hands-on activities and Q&A with historians.

 

(b) Motor Muster

 

Motor Muster is one of two car shows that take place annually in Greenfield Village. Motor Muster is traditionally held on Father's Day weekend. This event currently features cars built from 1932–1976, and features between 600–800 cars. Special attractions include car judging, and Pass in Review in which experts discuss highlights of the passing cars.

 

(c) Summer Camp

 

Every summer the Henry Ford has a Summer Camp. It takes place inside Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum between June and August. It is for children in grades 2-9. Each grade level has a different theme, and children who participate in the Summer Camp have the opportunity to look at both the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village from different perspectives.

 

Children participate in activities such as apprenticeships, canoeing, glass blowing and other age-dependent activities.

 

(d) World Tournament of Historic Base Ball

 

The World Tournament of Historical Base Ball takes place every year in August. Guests get to take a step back in time to 1867 as vintage base ball clubs from around the country compete using the game's early rules in a two-day exposition of historic base ball.

 

The clubs engage in two days of throwing, batting and competition.

 

(e) Salute to America

 

For four nights around Independence Day, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra performs a patriotic concert on Walnut Grove in the Village. Attendance ranges from 5,000 to 9,500 per evening.

 

(f) Ragtime Street Fair

 

This weekend event in July was first presented in 2007, and ran annually through 2015. Ragtime Street Fair featured dozens of live performers, including the River Raisin Ragtime Revue, "Perfessor" Bill Edwards, Mike Montgomery, Nan Bostick, Taslimah Bey, John Remmers, and Tartarsauce Traditional Jazz Band, who celebrated the Ragtime era (ca. 1900–1917).

 

The event also featured silent movies, phonograph demonstrations, a cake walk, a cutting contest, and a musical revue in the Town Hall as well as the 1912 presidential campaign of Theodore Roosevelt.

 

Instruction in the ragtime one-step was provided free of charge at this event.

 

(g) Old Car Festival

 

The Old Car Festival takes place every year in September. The festival has been held on the first weekend after Labor Day since 1955. The festival takes over the streets and grounds of Greenfield Village with the sights, sounds, and smells of hundreds of authentic vehicles from the 1890's through 1932.

 

This event features 500–700 cars. Special events include car judging, Pass in Review, the gaslight tour, and car races on the Walnut Grove field. Guests can take a self-guided tour of the exposition and talk to the owners of the treasured vehicles.

 

Visitors can watch a Model T be assembled in just minutes, attend presentations, and hear experts share information about the vintage vehicles.

 

(h) Hallowe'en in Greenfield Village

 

The Village's Halloween celebration features decorations, a headless horseman, witches, as well as other costumed characters, treats and activities for visitors. It is held Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings in October.

 

(i) Holiday Nights

 

The Christmas season has traditionally been popular in Greenfield Village. Many buildings feature period decorations, and the Village is open for self-guided strolls. An ice skating rink is available.

 

Visitors can view live entertainment and costumed presenters, or ride in a horse-drawn carriage or a Model T.

 

(j) Rouge Tour

 

The Ford Rouge Factory Tour is a first-hand journey behind the scenes of a modern, working automobile factory. Boarding buses at the Henry Ford Museum, visitors are taken to the River Rouge Plant and Dearborn Truck Plant, an industrial complex where Ford has built cars since the Model A that once employed 100,000 people.

 

In 2003, the Ford Rouge Factory, the manufacturing facility for the Ford F-Series truck, re-opened following extensive renovations. When it reopened as sustainable architecture led by noted 'green' architect William McDonough, it also opened a new state-of-the-art visitor center highlighting the factory's sustainable aspects and educating visitors on the legacy of the historic manufacturing facility as well as the vehicle manufacturing process that takes place within the manufacturing plant.

 

The visitor experiences offer two multi-screen theaters, numerous touchscreen interpretive displays, and overlook the world's largest "Green" roof, atop the factory. Visitors then walk through the working assembly plant.

 

Admission Fees

 

Admission fees for buy-at-the-door tickets for adults are currently (2022) $30 for the Village, $27 for the Museum, and $22 for the Ford Rouge factory tour.

 

There's also a $9 parking fee. However on-line discounts and combination tickets are available at a reduced price.

 

The Dymaxion House

 

The Dymaxion House on display in the Museum was developed by inventor and architect Buckminster Fuller to address several perceived shortcomings with existing homebuilding techniques.

 

Fuller designed several versions of the house at different times — all of them factory manufactured kits, assembled on site, intended to be suitable for any site or environment, and to use resources efficiently. A key design consideration was ease of shipment and assembly.

 

As he did when naming many of his inventions, Fuller combined the words dynamic, maximum, and tension to arrive at the term Dymaxion.

 

History of the Dymaxion House

 

The Dymaxion House was completed in 1930 after two years of development, and redesigned in 1945. Buckminster Fuller wanted to mass-produce a bathroom and a house.

 

His first Dymaxion design was based on the design of a grain bin. During World War II, the U.S. Army commissioned Fuller to send these housing units to the Persian Gulf. In 1945, science-fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein placed an order for one to be delivered to Los Angeles, but the order was never filled.

 

The Siberian grain-silo house was the first system in which Fuller noted the "urban dust dome" effect: many installations have reported that a dome induces a local vertical heat-driven vortex that sucks cooler air downward into a dome, if the dome is vented properly - a single overhead vent, and peripheral vents. Fuller adapted the later units of the grain-silo house to use this effect.

 

The final design of the Dymaxion house used a central vertical stainless-steel strut on a single foundation. The strut carried utilities and plumbing. Structures similar to the spokes of a bicycle-wheel hung down from the strut to support the roof, while beams radiating out supported the floor. Wedge-shaped fans of sheet metal aluminum formed the roof, ceiling and floor.

 

Each structure was assembled at ground level and then winched up the strut. The Dymaxion house represented the first conscious effort to build an autonomous building in the 20th century.

 

It was a prototype with water storage and a convection-driven ventilator built into the roof. The Dymaxion was designed for the stormy areas of the world: temperate oceanic islands, and the Great Plains of North America, South America and Eurasia.

 

In most modern houses, laundry, showers and commodes are the major water uses, with drinking, cooking and dish-washing consuming less than 20 liters per day. The Dymaxion house was intended to reduce water use by a greywater system, a packaging commode, and a "fogger" to replace showers. The fogger was based on compressed-air and water degreasers, but with much smaller water particles to make it comfortable.

 

Two Dymaxion houses were prototyped – one indoor (the "Barwise" house) and one outdoor (the "Danbury" house). However no Dymaxion house built according to Fuller's intentions was ever constructed and lived in.

 

Fuller also designed a 10-story variant which was to have been dropped in place by the Graf Zeppelin.

 

The only two prototypes of the round, aluminum house were bought by investor William Graham, together with assorted unused prototyping elements as salvage after the venture failed. In 1948, Graham constructed a hybridized version of the Dymaxion House as his family's home; the Grahams lived there into the 1970's.

 

Graham built the round house on his lake front property, disabling the ventilator and other interior features. It was inhabited for about 30 years, although as an extension to an existing ranch house, rather than a standalone structure as intended by Fuller.

 

The large wrap-around windows and lightweight structures were popular with the children, who crawled on the windowsill, and twanged the bicycle-wheel-style main struts.

 

In 1990, the Graham family donated this house, and all the component prototyping parts, to The Henry Ford Museum. A painstaking process was used to conserve as many original component parts and systems as possible and to restore the rest using original documentation from the Fuller prototyping process. It was installed indoors in the Henry Ford Museum in 2001 as a full exhibit.

 

Since there was no evidence of the crucial internal rain-gutter system, some elements of the rain collecting system were omitted from the restored exhibit. The roof was designed to wick water inside and drip into the rain-gutter and then to the cistern, rather than have a difficult-to-fit, perfectly waterproof roof.

 

There was to be a waterless packaging toilet that deftly shrink-wrapped the waste for pickup for later composting. However during the prototyping process, the idea for the packaging toilet was quickly replaced by a conventional septic system, because the packaging plastic was not available. Other features worked as advertised, notably the heating, and the passive air conditioning system, based on the "dome effect."

 

The Dymaxion Bathroom

 

The inhabitants of the much-modified version of the house said that the bathroom was a particular delight. The bathroom consisted of two connected stamped copper bubbles, built as four nesting pieces. The bottom piece is fully plated in tin/antimony alloy, and the top half is painted. Each bubble had a drain.

 

No area had a radius of less than four inches (10 cm), to aid cleaning. The commode, shower, bathtub and sink were molded into the structural shell in one piece. One bubble contained a step-up ergonomic bathtub and shower, high enough to wash children without stooping, but just two steps (16 inches / 40 cm) up. The oval tub had the controls mounted on the inside left of the entrance to the tub.

 

The other bubble was the bathroom proper with commode and sink. The ventilation for the bathroom was a large silent fan under the main sink, which kept odors away from people's noses. All lighting was totally enclosed. To prevent fogging, the mirror faced into the medicine chest, which was ventilated by the fan. A plastic version of the bathroom was available intermittently until the 1980's.

 

Criticism of the Dymaxion

 

Criticism of the Dymaxion House included its supposed inflexible design, which completely disregarded local site and architectural styles, and its use of energy-intensive materials such as aluminum, rather than low-energy materials, such as adobe or tile.

 

Fuller chose aluminium for its light weight, great strength, and long-term durability, arguably factors that compensate for the initial production cost. Aluminum was also a logical choice if the homes were to be built in aircraft factories, which, since World War II had ended, had substantial excess capacity.

 

The Wichita House

 

The Wichita House was a project Fuller accepted during World War II as an attempt to produce cost-effective dwellings for everyone. The project continued to develop the technological concept of the Dymaxion House, now incorporating a round floor plan instead of a hexagonal one.

 

The reactions to the prototype were extraordinarily positive; nevertheless it was not produced industrially because of high re-tooling costs.

 

Fuller, a consummate perfectionist, felt that he could improve the design, and was dissatisfied with the prototype. He refused to begin production rather than allowing the "unfinished" design to be used.

Found "in the wild" in the www ...

 

The original photo.

*published LivingEtc 10/2005

 

What I really like about this photo is the desk. Gorgeous.

Published by Algemeen Handelsblad. Cover illustration by Eppo Doeve

This photo has just been published in the 3rd Edition of a book called “Trail Guide Cuyahoga Valley National Park”. My very first published photo! :-) The original color version can be seen at this link:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/95994086@N00/191610207/

 

The buildings at Hale Farm and Village in Bath, Ohio replicate what the fictional “living history” town of Wheatfield would have looked like in 1848.

 

(please no award group invites)

 

The Porchester, published in the third issue of Solstice Magazine! You can purchase a physical and digital copy over at www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/993220 See our images on pages 66-73!

 

See more on my website at: www.tomsimmonds.com | www.tomsimmonds.com/analoguebox

 

And in my blog: clickedbytom.tumblr.com/post/131689519169/the-porchester | thomascolesimmondsphotography.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/the-...

 

Model: Anastazja Rendak @ PRM Model Agency

Make-up: Silvia Tonelli

Hair: Johan John

Styling: Shirly Piperno

Designers: Chloé Marlow, Sebastian Aquiles Albornoz

Photography: Thomas Cole Simmonds

 

-----

© Thomas Cole Simmonds. All rights reserved. My images may not be used without my permission.

 

My Website: www.tomsimmonds.com/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/ThomasColeSimmonds

Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/tomsimmonds/

Twitter: twitter.com/tom_simmonds

Tumblr: tomsimmonds.tumblr.com/ | clickedbytom.tumblr.com/

Blogger: thomascolesimmondsphotography.blogspot.com/

 

This is a Motion Photo — watch the video

Published today at the Philippine Daily Inquirer Lifestyle page is the launching of ManilaArt2011.

 

My friend/contact Mr. Elmer Borlongan's Batang Edsa is the official artwork to this event.

 

Best known as emong in the Flickr World.

 

Congratulations po!

Website | Tumblr | Vimeo

Mansion House, Dublin, Friday 18 November 2016.

Found another one from me "in the wild" today ...

 

The original photo.

Published by La Selva, Brazil

 

Artist Jayme Cortez

 

Published by Thorpe & Porter, United Kingdom 1952

Published in deFUZE Magazine - www.defuzemag.co.uk/into-the-rough-defuze-magazine/

 

See behind the scenes over on my blog here: clickedbytom.tumblr.com/post/116580929519/in-the-rough | thomascolesimmondsphotography.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/in-r...

 

See more on my website at: www.tomsimmonds.com/intherough | www.tomsimmonds.com/portfolio | www.tomsimmonds.com/book2

 

Model: Keziah LK Zeisser at Oxygen Model Management

Make-up/Hair: Izzy Cammareri

Styling: Shirly Piperno

Designers: Nitsan Alter, Mary Eleini, Felipe Hiroshi Goto, Sabina Söderberg

Photography/Post Processing: Thomas Cole Simmonds Photography

 

-----

© Thomas Cole Simmonds. All rights reserved. My images may not be used without my permission.

 

My Website: www.tomsimmonds.com/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/ThomasColeSimmonds

Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/tomsimmonds/

Twitter: twitter.com/tom_simmonds

Tumblr: tomsimmonds.tumblr.com/ | clickedbytom.tumblr.com/

Blogger: thomascolesimmondsphotography.blogspot.com/

*Published in Canadian Geographic Magazine "Best Wildlife Photography 2015 Special Edition"

 

*Published - World of Animals magazine Issue #8

 

*Published - PhotoPlus magazine April 2017

 

Driving through parc Omega, a wildlife preserve, I spotted these 2 elk fighting so I got out and walked up as close as I dared.

To purchase prints, cards, mugs, photos, shirts and more you can visit my Redbubble site

 

published by Nieves

FEB2015

nieves.ch/catalogue/jeffrey.html

 

Published in Fashion Bite

 

model: maha

hair & makeup: sabs

photography: fayyaz ahmed

  

Published on ArlNow www.arlnow.com/2018/10/12/arlnow-weekend-discussion-158/

David Hockney (1938 –)

2021

iPad painting printed on paper,

ed. 14/25

 

Published by David Hockney, Inc.,

Los Angeles

 

Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer

 

Portland Art Museum

 

In spring and summer 2026, the Portland Art Museum presents David Hockney: Works from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, celebrating one of the most influential artists of our time. The vibrant exhibition, on view February 14 – July 26, 2026, is the largest North American survey exhibition of Hockney’s work, with more than 200 colorful prints, collages, video, and photographic and iPad drawings spanning six decades of the artist’s career.

 

Best known for vivid scenes that highlight his passion for both the natural world and human connection, visitors will experience a stunning array of dimensions and media that underscore Hockney’s innovative experiments. Included are his iconic subjects and series—California swimming pools, the monumental Yosemite, and British landscapes in full bloom, as well as intimate portrayals of friends, family, and queer desire.

 

“Hockney’s colorful, fresh perspectives encourage us to reconsider everyday objects, faces, and places of our rapidly changing contemporary world in whimsical new ways,” said Catherine Whitney, Honolulu Museum of Art Director of Curatorial Affairs and exhibition consulting curator.

 

Highlighting some of Hockney’s most celebrated pieces, David Hockney: Works from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation sheds light on the artist’s process, driven by his fascination with technology as a channel for both artistic creation and human connection. In a pursuit to better understand how artists translate visual perception, Hockney has explored historical modes of representation, including the expansive spaces of traditional Chinese scrolls, the condensed dimensionality of Cubism, and the linear perspective of the Italian Renaissance, as well as optical devices like mirrors and the camera obscura. He also takes inspiration from the continual advancement of modern technology to evolve his approach and visual vocabulary, utilizing tools such as copy machines, photo editing software, iPhones, and iPads.

 

“To many, David Hockney is the most important artist working today. His images take us on a journey through country roads and gardens and let us view his exploration of perspective. More than any other artist, he has used technology to create art,” said ARTnews Top 200 Collector Jordan Schnitzer. “Whether it was Xerox prints, Polaroid photographs, or on the iPad, Hockney’s eye and hand create some of the most intriguing and beautiful art ever made!”

 

Hockney’s ability to engage deeply with an ever-changing world invites viewers to reconsider ideas of relationships versus solitude, spectacle versus reality, and tradition versus technology. A highlight of the exhibition is a 2014 photographic series that demonstrates an innovative approach involving “reversed perspective,” in which the spectator’s view is tightly focused on the foreground of an image, rather than upon a far-off vanishing point. Multiple angles and equally sharp viewpoints converge simultaneously to visually simulate the experience of moving through space and time.

 

“We are pleased to be partnering with Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation on this impressive exhibition of David Hockney’s work,” said Portland Art Museum Director Brian Ferriso. “We are excited for visitors to experience the artist’s vibrant style, subject matter, and perspective shifts in the newly renovated and expanded museum.”

 

Organized by Catherine Whitney, Honolulu Museum of Art Director of Curatorial Affairs.

 

Published by DC in 1966. Cover art by Jack Sparling (Eclipso) and Bernard Bailey (Prince Ra-Man).

Published

"Book of the Secret of Creation and the Art of Nature"), dated between 650 and 830 AD.

Arabic translation A new translation bypassing the Latin has just been published by Nineveh Shadrach from the original Arabic of Book of Causes attributed to Apollonius of Tyana.[1. It contains an accurate commentary that can't be doubted. 2. It states: What is the above is from the below and the below is from the above. The work of wonders is from one. 3. And all things sprang from this essence through a single projection. How marvelous is its work! It is the principle [sic] part of the world and its custodian. 4. Its father is the sun and its mother is the moon. Thus the wind bore it within it and the earth nourished it. 5. Father of talismans and keeper of wonders. 6. Perfect in power that reveals the lights.

7. It is a fire that became our earth. Separate the earth from the fire and you shall adhere more to that which is subtle than that which is coarse, through care and wisdom.

8. It ascends from the earth to the heaven. It extracts the lights from the heights and descends to the earth containing the power of the above and the below for it is with the light of the lights. Therefore the darkness flees from it. 9. The greatest power overcomes everything that is subtle and it penetrates all that is coarse. 10. The formation of the microcosm is in accordance with the formation of the macrocosm. 11. The scholars made this their path. 12. This is why Thrice Hermes was exalted with wisdom. 13. This is his last book that he hid in the catacomb. Newton's translation A 17th century depiction of the Tablet by Heinrich Khunrath, 1606One translation, by Isaac Newton, found among his alchemical papers as reported by B. J. Dobbs[2] in modern spelling:1. Tis true without lying, certain most true. 2. That which is below is like that which is above that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing. 3. And as all things have been arose from one by the meditation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation. 4. The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, 5. the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth its nurse. 6. The father of all perfection in the whole world is here. 7. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth. 7a. Separate thou the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross sweetly with great industry. 8. It ascends from the earth to the heaven again it descends to the earth and receives the force of things superior and inferior. 9. By this means ye shall have the glory of the whole world thereby all obscurity shall fly from you. 10. Its force is above all force. for it vanquishes every subtle thing and penetrates every solid thing. 11a. So was the world created. 12. From this are and do come admirable adaptations whereof the means (Or process) is here in this.

13. Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. 14. That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished and endedBeato translation Another translation from Aurelium Occultae Philosophorum by Georgio Beato:1) This is true and remote from all cover of falsehood.2) Whatever is below is similar to that which is above. Through this the marvels of the work of one thing are procured and perfected. 3) Also, as all things are made from one, by the consideration of one, so all things were made from this one, by conjunction. 4) The father of it is the sun, the mother the moon. 5) The wind bore it in the womb. Its nurse is the earth, the mother of all perfection. 6) Its power is perfected. 7) If it is turned into earth, 7) Separate the earth from the fire, the subtle and thin from the crude and coarse, prudently, with modesty and wisdom. 8) This ascends from the earth into the sky and again descends from the sky to the earth, and receives the power and efficacy of things above and of things below.

9) By this means you will acquire the glory of the whole world, and so you will drive away all shadows and blindness. 10) For this by its fortitude snatches the palm from all other fortitude and power. For it is able to penetrate and subdue everything subtle and everything crude and hard. 11) By this means the world was founded 12) And hence the marvelous cojunctions of it and admirable effects, since this is the way by which these marvels may be brought about. 13) And because of this they have called me Hermes Tristmegistus sinceI have the three parts of the wisdom and Philosophy of the whole universe. 14) My speech is finished which I have spoken concerning the solar work.

Latin textOriginal edition of the Latin text. (Chrysogonus Polydorus, Nuremberg 1541): Verum, sine mendacio, certum et verissimum: Quod est inferius est sicut quod est superius, et quod est superius est sicut quod est inferius, ad perpetranda miracula rei unius. Et sicut res omnes fuerunt ab uno, meditatione unius, sic omnes res natae ab hac una re, adaptatione. Pater eius est Sol. Mater eius est Luna. Portavit illud Ventus in ventre suo. Nutrix eius terra est. Pater omnis telesmi[3] totius mundi est hic. Virtus eius integra est si versa fuerit in terram. Separabis terram ab igne, subtile ab spisso, suaviter, magno cum ingenio. Ascendit a terra in coelum, iterumque descendit in terram, et recipit vim superiorum et inferiorum. Sic habebis Gloriam totius mundi. Ideo fugiet a te omnis obscuritas. Haec est totius fortitudinis fortitudo fortis, quia vincet omnem rem subtilem, omnemque solidam penetrabit. Sic mundus creatus est. Hinc erunt adaptationes mirabiles, quarum modus est hic. Itaque vocatus sum Hermes Trismegistus, habens tres partes philosophiae totius mundi. Completum est quod dixi de operatione Solis.Contemporary rendering of Latin text1. True, without error, certain and most true 2. That which is below is as that which is above, and that which is above is as that which is below, to perform the miracles of the one thing. 3. And as all things were from [the] one, by [means of] the meditation of [the] one, thus all things of the daughter from [the] one, by [means of] adaptation. 4. Its father is the sun, its mother[,]the moon, the wind carried it in its belly, its nurse is the earth. 5. The father of all the initiates of the whole world is here. 6. Its power is integrating if it be turned into earth. 7. Separate the earth from the fire, the fine from the dense, delicately, by [means of/to] the great [together] with capacity. 8. It ascends by [means of] earth into heaven and again it descends into the earth, and retakes the power of the superior[s] and of the inferior[s]. 9. Thus[,] you have the glory of the whole world.

10. Therefore[,] may it drive-out by [means of] you of all the obscurity. 11. This is the whole of the strength of the strong force, because it overcomes all fine things, and penetrates all the complete.12. Thus[,] the world has been created. 13. Hence they were wonderful adaptations, of which this is the manner. 14. Therefore[,] I am Hermes the Thrice Great, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. 15. What I have said concerning the operation of the Sun has been completed. Textual history

The oldest documentable source for the text is the Kitab Sirr al-Asrar, a compendium of advice for rulers in Arabic which purports to be a letter from Aristotle to Alexander the Great. This work was translated into Latin as Secretum Secretorum (The Secret of Secrets) by Johannes "Hispalensis" or Hispaniensis (John of Seville) ca. 1140 and by Philip of Tripoli c. 1243.

In the 14th century, the alchemist Ortolanus wrote a substantial exegesis on "The Secret of Hermes," which was influential on the subsequent development of alchemy. Many manuscripts of this copy of the Emerald Tablet and the commentary of Ortolanus survive, dating at least as far back as the 15th century.

The Tablet has also been found appended to manuscripts of the Kitab Ustuqus al-Uss al-Thani (Second Book of the Elements of Foundation) attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan, and the Kitab Sirr al-Khaliqa wa San`at al-Tabi`a ("Book of the Secret of Creation and the Art of Nature"), dated between 650 and 830 AD.

Influence: In its several Western recensions, the Tablet became a mainstay of medieval and Renaissance alchemy. Commentaries and/or translations were published by, among others, Trithemius, Roger Bacon, Michael Maier, Aleister Crowley, Albertus Magnus, and Isaac Newton.

C.G. Jung identified "The Emerald Tablet" with a table made of green stone which he encountered in the first of a set of his dreams and visions beginning at the end of 1912, and climaxing in his writing The Seven Sermons to the Dead in 1916.

Because of its longstanding popularity, the Emerald Tablet is the only piece of non-Greek Hermetica to attract widespread attention in the West. The reason that the Emerald Tablet was so valuable is because it contained the instructions for the goals of alchemists. It hinted at the recipe for alchemical gold, as well as how to set one's level of consciousness to a new degree.

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Secretum Secretorum - or Kitab Sirr al-Asrar is a medieval treatise also known as Secret of Secrets, or The Book of the Secret of Secrets, or in Arabic Kitab sirr al-asrar, or the Book of the science of government: on the good ordering of statecraft. It is a mid-12th century Latin translation of a 10th century Arabic encyclopedic treatise on a wide range of topics including statecraft, ethics, physiognomy, astrology, alchemy, magic, and medicine. It was influential in Europe during the High Middle Ages.

Arabic of Book of Causes attributed to Apollonius of Tyana

Aurelium Occultae Philosophorum by Georgio Beato

Kitab Ustuqus al-Uss al-Thani (Second Book of the Elements of Foundation) attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan

Kitab Sirr al-Khaliqa wa San`at al-Tabi`a ("Book of the Secret of Creation and the Art of Nature"), dated between 650 and 830 AD.Bernard Trevisan

The Seven Sermons to the Dead - C.G. Jung identified "The Emerald Tablet" with a table made of green stone which he encountered in the first of a set of his dreams and visions beginning at the end of 1912, and climaxing in his writing The Seven Sermons to the Dead in 1916.

Translation from the original Arabic of Book of Causes attributed to Apollonius of Tyana

Key Names: Albertus Magnus Aleister Crowley Alexander the Great Apollonius of Tyana

Aristotle ChrysogonusPolydorus - Nuremberg 1541 C.G. Jung Georgio Beato Hermes Trismegistus - "Hermes the Thrice-Great" Isaac Newton Jabir ibn Hayyan John of Seville - Johannes "Hispalensis" or Hispaniensis ca. 1140 Michael Maier Ortolanus - alchemist, wrote a substantial exegesis on "The Secret of Hermes Philip of Tripoli - c. 1243 Roger Bacon. Trithemius References: Translation from the original Arabic of Book of Causes attributed to Apollonius of Tyana "Newton's Commentary on the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus" in Merkel, I. and Debus, A. G., Hermeticism and the Renaissance. Folger, Washington 1988. Sometimes written Thelesmi. This indicates a Greek origin. The Latin word "Tela" (ae,fem.) roughly means "loom" or "incomplete cloth". The true meaning of the word is somewhat obscure.Holmyard, E.J. "The Emerald Table" Nature, No. 2814, Vol. 112, October 6 1923, pp 525–6.Holmyard, E.J. Alchemy, Pelican, Harmondsworth, 1957. pp95–8.Needham, J. Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 5, part 4: Spagyrical discovery and invention: Apparatus, Theories and gifts. CUP, 1980. Ruska, Julius. Die Alchimie ar-Razi's. n.p., 1935.Ruska, Julius. Quelques problemes de literature alchimiste. n.p., 1931.Stapleton, H.E., Lewis, G.L, Sherwood Taylor, F. "The sayings of Hermes quoted in the Ma Al-Waraqi of Ibn Umail. " Ambix, vol. 3, 1949, pp 69–90. M.Robinson. "The History and Myths surrounding Johannes Hispalensis," in Bulletin of Hispanic Studies vol. 80, no. 4, October 2003, pp. 443–470, abstract.An Interpretation of The Emerald Tablet by William Hoper drawing on Jung's Synchronicity and Plato's Theory of FormsSir Isaac Newton's translation of The Emerald Tablet with analysis and contemporary commentaryLetterpress edition of the Emerald Tablet offered by a US publisherThe Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus Ed. Vladimir Antonov.Comments on the 13 sentences of Tabula Smaragdina and Introductions to Alchemy (hermetic thinking) by Béla Hamvas.Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Tablet"

The Emerald Tablet, also known as the Smaragdine Table, or Tabula Smaragdina, is a compact and cryptic piece of Hermetica reputed to contain the secret of the prima materia and its transmutation. It was highly regarded by European alchemists as the foundation of their art and its Hermetic tradition. The original source of the Emerald Tablet is unknown. Although Hermes Trismegistus is the author named in the text, its first known appearance is in a book written in Arabic between the sixth and eighth centuries. The text was first translated into Latin in the twelfth century. Numerous translations, interpretations and commentaries followed. The layers of meaning in the Emerald Tablet have been associated with the creation of the philosopher's stone, laboratory experimentation, phase transition, the alchemical magnum opus, the ancient, classical, element system, and the correspondence between macrocosm and microcosm.In its several Western recensions, the Tablet became a mainstay of medieval and Renaissance alchemy. Commentaries and/or translations were published by, among others, Trithemius, Roger Bacon, Michael Maier, Aleister Crowley, Albertus Magnus, and Isaac Newton. The concise text was a popular summary of alchemical principles, wherein the secrets of the philosopher's stone were thought to have been described.The fourteenth century alchemist Ortolanus (or Hortulanus) wrote a substantial exegesis on "The Secret of Hermes," which was influential on the subsequent development of alchemy. Many manuscripts of this copy of the Emerald Tablet and the commentary of Ortolanus survive, dating at least as far back as the fifteenth century. Ortolanus, like Albertus Magnus before him saw the tablet as a cryptic recipe that described laboratory processes using decknamen (or code words). This was the dominant view held by Europeans until the fifteenth century.By the early sixteenth century, the writings of Johannes Trithemius (1462–1516) marked a shift away from a laboratory interpretation of the Emerald tablet, to a literal approach. Trithemius equated Hermes' one thing with the monad of pythagorean philosophy and the anima mundi. This interpretation of the Hermetic text was adopted by alchemists such as John Dee, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Gerhard Dorn.C.G. Jung identified "The Emerald Tablet" with a table made of green stone which he encountered in the first of a set of his dreams and visions beginning at the end of 1912, and climaxing in his writing Seven Sermons to the Dead in 1916.[citation needed] Historians of science, Eric John Holmyard (1891-1959) and Julius Ruska (1867-1949) also studied the tablet in the twentieth century. Because of its longstanding popularity, the Emerald Tablet is the only piece of non-Greek Hermetica to attract widespread attention in the West.Heinrich Khunrath The Emerald Tablet .http://www.thelivingmoon.com/44cosmic_wisdom/02files/Heinrich_Khunrath_Emerald_Tablet.html

 

The figure from the fifteenth century is described as living from 1406-1490. He was born into a noble family in Padua and spent his entire life spending his family fortune in search of the Philosopher's stone.He began his career as an alchemist at the age of fourteen. He had his family's permission, as they also desired to increase their wealth. He first worked with a monk of Cîteaux named Gotfridus Leurier. They attempted for eight years to fashion the Philosopher's stone out of hen eggshells and egg yolk purified in horse manure.He is believed to have been influential on the work of Gilles de Rais in the 1430s.He then worked with minerals and natural salts using distillation and crystallization methods borrowed from Jābir ibn Hayyān and Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi. When these failed he turned to vegetable and animal material, finally using human blood and urine. He gradually sold his wealth to buy secrets and hints towards the stone, most often from swindlers. He traveled all over the known world, including the Baltics, Germany, Spain, France, Vienna, Egypt, Palestine, Persia, Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus, to find hints left by past alchemists. His health had been deteriorating, most likely from the fumes he had created with his alchemy. He retired to the Island of Rhodes, still working on the Philosopher's stone until his death in 1490.Bernard Trevisan AlchemistC.G. Jung identified "The Emerald Tablet" with a table made of green stone which he encountered in the first of a set of his dreams and visions beginning at the end of 1912, and climaxing in his writing The Seven Sermons to the Dead in 1916.

This image shows the Forster - Tuncurry ferry approaching the ramp in Tuncurry, NSW - mid 1950s. The launch guiding the punt is the Monterey built by Alf Jahnsen.

 

A recent publication written by Chris Borough covering the Forster Ferry Service has been published by the Great Lakes Historical Society, Tuncurry

www.flickr.com/photos/glmrsnsw/27134338901/in/album-72157...

 

Prior to the construction of a bridge in July 1959, crossing Cape Hawke Harbour at the mouth of Wallis Lake required vehicles to use the punt service that operated between Tuncurry and Forster. Most vehicular punts in NSW operated independently using cables. The Forster-Tuncurry punts, however, were close-coupled to a motor launch as shifting sandbanks had to be negotiated to make the crossing between the two towns.

 

The first of three punts that were used to provide the service commenced operation in late 1924 and remained in continuous service for nine years. This small punt was replaced in 1933 with a larger punt that was widened by two feet in 1935. The original was retained as a backup until a third and still larger punt was introduced in late 1938. That third punt began operation on Christmas Eve 1938 with the punt that was widened in 1935 kept in reserve. Both remained in service until the opening of the Forster – Tuncurry bridge.

 

Prior to 1924, regular ferry services operated, but only for passengers. The first commenced operation by July 1890 with an open rowing boat conveying passengers (and a sulky if needed). The demand for a proper ferry service was strong. In 1905 a petition from Forster residents asked the Government to establish an oil-launch ferry service between Tuncurry and Forster, instead of the boat ferry, which was totally inadequate…(SMH Friday 10 November 1905).

 

By 1907, travellers from Bungwahl could pick up the ferry service provided by an oil launch at the southern edge of Wallis Lake (Charlotte Bay), that would drop them either at Forster or Tuncurry (SMH 26th October 1907). A regular passenger ferry service was also being operated that year by an oil launch running between Forster and Tuncurry, conveying passengers for a 1d return fare (SMH 26th Oct 1907).

 

Horses, however, still had to be swum across (Maitland Daily Mercury 4th May 1909) . We left our horses and vehicles at Tuncurry and crossed over to Forster in the ferry. During the day the rest of the party employed themselves in swimming the horses across the river and floating the buggies over in boats, and had quite an exciting and arduous time. One of Mr. Bramble's horses was too scared to swim, and was nearly drowned. One of the boats, with a sulky on board, got aground, and took some time to get off.

 

It was not until February 1924 that Manning Shire Council granted permission for Charlie Blows to provide and operate a combined private passenger and car punt service between Tuncurry and Forster (SMH 22nd Feb 1924). Blows undertook to build and maintain the approaches, as well as provide a vehicular ferry, capable of carrying three and a half to four tons (SMH 22 Feb 1924). Blows’ punt service began operations in November 1924 - Mr. Chas. Blows has installed a new vehicular ferry between Tuncurry and Forster. As a consequence, motor cars are now a common sight at Forster (Dungog Chronicle 18 November 1924.)

 

Howard (1995) records that Blows had Tuncurry boat-builder, Dave Williams build both a small punt and a launch (commonly, but somewhat misleadingly, termed a “tow” launch) to propel same. No details of the punt and its construction have been located but a newspaper report appears to confirm that it was constructed specifically for the operation. This is a direct road to Newcastle by car, and is considerably shorter than any other road from Forster to Sydney. It will be largely used for through traffic when the vehicle ferry, which has been sanctioned and is now being constructed, is running between Tuncurry and Forster across Wallamba River (SMH 15th April 1924).

 

With a load capacity of around 4 tons, it is estimated that Blows’ punt was 22 feet in length. It was able to transport one large car or two very small cars, end to end. The launch, originally named the Glen, was fitted with a 7 h.p. Kelvin engine; she was quickly re-named the Kelvin Glen by locals and this became her registered name.

 

Although the passenger service was subsidised by the Local Government Department, it was an expensive exercise to have a vehicle conveyed on the privately owned punt. Foot passengers were able to travel for free, however, for a one-way trip cars were charged 2/6, lorries 4/-, and horse-drawn vehicles 1/6. To put these fares in context, the average weekly wage in 1930 was £7 per week making a return journey by car of 5/- one fifth of a day’s wages. Any additional trips incurred fares for foot passengers, with one visitor complaining that he was forced to pay 1/- to get the “free” ferry from Tuncurry to take him the extra 150 yards from the terminus at Forster to the local hotel.

 

Prior to 1930, shipping was generally able to navigate key areas within Cape Hawke Harbour and the punt was usually able to cross readily between the two towns. In 1930, however, the NSW Government decided to remove the sand-pumping dredge “Forster” from the district after some thirty years of continuous service. Despite numerous representations, there was no sand-pumping between 1930 and 1938.

 

By 1930 there had already been general recognition that the private vehicular ferry service was unduly limited in terms of capacity and cost. In 1931 The Maitland Daily Mercury (23 February) reported: One of the biggest demonstrations of public protest in the history of Cape Hawke was witnessed last Saturday night at the Forster Hall when a most representative gathering assembled to express its disapproval of the manner in which the Stroud and Manning Shire Councils are dilly dallying with the question of the Forster Tuncurry Ferry Service. The meeting had been convened by the Progress Associations of Forster and Tuncurry to voice their dissatisfaction of both Councils, in not carrying into vogue the dictum put forth by the Minister for Local Government in July last, that the vehicular ferry that serves the two towns should be absolutely free and that the existing charges be abolished.

 

A visitor to Tuncurry recalled his experience (Dungog Chronicle: 9 February 1932) “In the morning we crossed the quarter mile or so of water round the sandbanks to Forster. The punt is a two-car one, and is towed over by C. Blows, who runs the free ferry for foot passengers. It cost 2/6 each way for the car, and thereby hangs a confession. I forgot to pay when going back, and Charlie Blows did not remind me.”

 

After years of wrangling between the Stroud and Manning Shire Councils and the Transport Commission (formerly the Main Roads Board and by the end of 1932 the Main Roads Department), it was decided to terminate the private ferry service and have a replacement punt provided by Manning Shire Council. A suggestion in 1932 to lengthen Blows’ punt was not followed up and before the year was out it was found that a thirty to forty year old punt that had been operating on the Manning River was available to be relocated. The cost of having the punt transported to Forster and its operation were to be shared by the three statutory bodies. Tenders to provide a launch and operate the new punt service were called and on June 30th 1933 the successful tenderer, Frederick Parsons was announced. Fred’s bid of £375/annum was the lowest. Because the new punt was some ten feet longer than the Blows’ punt (32 ft vs approx. 22 ft), and it could carry three small cars or two large cars and had a load capacity of 6 tons, a more powerful launch was required.

 

Blows’ contract with the original punt was extended until 17th October 1933 when Parsons finally began operations with his new launch and the council supplied punt (Howard 2009). The modern and powerful launch - the Pacific was built by Frank Avery. As reported (Dungog Chronicle 7 November 1933). The new ferry service which is now in the control of Mr. Fred Parsons has had its baptism; and the little difficulties that might be expected at the outset with the most experienced have been surmounted. Mr. Parsons' new launch has a length of 28 feet, a beam of 8 feet and a depth of 3 feet moulded. All timbers and stringers are of spotted gum, with beech planking. The launch is copper fastened and is fitted with water tight bulk heads according to the regulations of the Navigation Department. It is fitted with an 18h.p. Lister-Diesel engine and is a great credit to the builder, Mr Frank Avery, of Tuncurry. The most pleasing aspect of the new service, of course, is the substantial reduction in the charges for cars and other vehicles, as compared with the former contract. Previously, to convey a car across from Forster to Tuncurry cost 2/6; the new charge is 1/-. The new rate has already been responsible for increased traffic, as many people hesitated to come across and back when it involved a toll of 5/-.

 

In 1935 the Department of Main Roads and the two Councils involved in providing the service agreed to have the punt widened by 2ft to enable cars to be parked side by side and thus allow four vehicles to be carried at one time. Well respected boat-builder, Henry Miles, was contracted to do the job. As reported in the Dungog Chronicle Tuesday 26 November 1935; There will be general jubilation at the news that the ferry which plies, between Forster and Tuncurry is to be enlarged, says the Taree Times. Under a triple authority (Main Roads Board, Manning and Stroud Shires) it takes time to finalise things like this, but it has been done. The ferry is to be widened to take four cars, two abreast. The work has been entrusted to that well-known and expert shipbuilder, Mr. Harry [Henry] Miles, of Forster, and when he finishes with it there will be no complaints, for Mr. Miles does his work one way — thoroughly. It is intended to split the ferry from end to end and put in another 2ft., which will ensure that the ferry will then accommodate two of the biggest cars abreast, which was not possible in the past. It is expected that the ferry will go on the slip on Thursday next, and be off in two or three weeks. In the meantime traffic will be maintained as usual, Mr. Charlie Blows' punt having been engaged for the purpose.

 

A year later and a minor crisis: Blow’s old punt that was put into service as a temporary measure while the new punt was being overhauled, sank. The Dungog Chronicle (Tuesday 17 November 1936) reported: - Vehicular traffic between Tuncurry and Forster was held up from about 1 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon until 4 on Thursday afternoon. The new contract for this service is to commence at the beginning of December, and the ferry in general use was put on Mr. Henry Miles' slip on Tuesday to undergo the usual overhaul before commencing on the new contract. The old punt with which Mr. Charlie Blows inaugurated the service [in 1924] was requisitioned and started in the service about 2 on Tuesday afternoon. All went well until about 1 p.m. on Wednesday, while the ferry was tied up on the Tuncurry side, a Chev. lorry, loaded with skimmed milk from the Tuncurry butter factory, boarded the ferry. At the same time the driver of a car wanted to cross and the ferry man asked the man in charge of the lorry to move it over to the side a little more than it was. When this was done one corner of the punt developed a list, which in turn gave the lorry, and its contents, a list, with the result that the corner of the punt went under water and quickly submerged. The lorry was also under water. The services of another lorry were engaged to pull it out. Later in the day the ferry was raised and removed to Mr. Miles' slip, for examination and repairs if necessary . A grainy photograph of the accident scene that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald (4 November 1936) suggests that the small punt may have needed more than just minor repairs.

 

By early 1937, Manning Shire Council was well aware of public concerns with the safety of the service (Dungog Chronicle Friday 21 May 1937). Council was advised that in October 1936 the punt had grounded on a sand bank and been carried quite some distance after it was re-floated; the anchor being unable to hold. At the time, the Press had reported that the method of transport was entirely out of date and that it had caused a wave of fear amongst the public.

 

The Council was well aware that it’s widened 32ft long punt simply couldn't cope with the sheer volume of traffic that was presenting during the annual holiday season and had thus reached its use-by date. As a result, a formal proposal was made to the Department of Main Roads for the purchase of an additional 4-car punt to facilitate the provision of a permanent two punt service; the Department formally declined the proposal on 2 September 1937. (SMH 14 January 1938). Council subsequently decided to try and rent or buy a replacement punt and in October 1937 an advertisement that sought the lease of a punt for three months over the summer season appeared in the press (Newcastle Morning Herald Saturday 23 October 1937). Unable to rent or buy a replacement punt, however, the decision was made to have a replacement built. Initial plans for a new punt were submitted to the DMR on 23rd November 1937 (SMH 14 January 1938).

 

With the wheels of the bureaucracy slowly turning, matters regarding the punt service went from bad to worse. The punt that had commenced operation in 1933 and was widened by Henry Miles in 1935, sunk spectacularly on 5th January 1938. The report from the Dungog Chronicle of Tuesday 11 January 1938 described the fact that a drowning fatality was avoided, as a miracle! On the punt was Joe Fazio’s bus with twelve passengers aboard, a sedan car with five passengers and a truck. As soon as the punt took off from the wharf at around 8 am the nose of the punt dipped and it seemed likely that the punt would capsize. The passengers in the car climbed onto the roof of the bus and finally all passengers escaped via the ferry to shore. This event created an outcry for the replacement of the existing ferry with a larger and more dependable ferry service.

 

The public relations debacle appears to have jolted the bureaucrats into action and tenders for the construction of a 40 foot punt were called in 1938 (SMH Friday 4 March 1938). It took, however, until September that year for the Councils to secure the services of Frank Avery to supervise the construction of a new punt using day labour (Dungog Chronicle: Friday 16 September 1938). The new service was launched on 24th December 1938, just in time for the holiday season (Dungog Chronicle Tuesday 24 January 1939).

 

Although the load limit for the new punt was raised to ten tons in 1939, officially it was still only able to handle four cars – a point made clearly by the NRMA (The Maitland Daily Mercury Friday 10 February 1939): “An N.R.M.A. country inspector who recently travelled over the coastal route from Bulahdelah to Taree by way of Forster and Tuncurry. Commenting on the new punt between Forster and Tuncurry, the Association says that there is little improvement on the old vehicle. The new vessel accommodates four cars and is towed by a motor launch. Thus the journey from one side of the lake to the other takes just as long now as when the old punt was operating.”.

 

The four car service was propelled by the Pacific until 1st July 1940 when Wylie Gregory won the tender to provide the service. He arranged for Forster boatbuilder, Dave Williams to build a heavy-duty low-line boat - the Britannia - or alternatively spelled Brittania (Howard 1995). The war years, however, soon started to impact on Wylie’s operations. In August 1941 he advised Manning Shire Council that he would terminate his contract in view of decreased traffic owing to petrol rationing. Negotiations followed that resulted in Wylie continuing the operation under changed conditions.

 

On 1st June 1947 the tender for the vehicle ferry service was won by H.M. Cooke of Forster and it appears that he purchased the Brittania from Gregory, On 15th June 1949 the contract was won by C.A. Blows and Sons. The Brittania was purchased from Cooke, but almost immediately the firm contracted Alf Jahnsen and Leo Royan to build a new launch, the Monterey - named after the local cafe ran by Charlie Blows. In the 1950s the availability of two launches and two punts allowed considerable flexibility for the management of the service. Although the punt that was widened in 1935 was initially only retained as a back-up, with the availability of a second launch, sanity eventually prevailed and the old punt was brought out of mothballs each summer so that a two punt service could be provided during the peak holiday season.

 

Despite the last punt (built in 1938) being described as only having a capacity to carry four cars, it is commonly believed to have had a capacity to convey six cars. Indeed there are photos in Philip Howard's book showing six cars squeezed onto the punt with vehicles partly standing on the rear ramp with the rear gates open. Graham Nicholson (personal communication) recalls many occasions when six vehicles were squeezed onto the ferry and the front and rear gates "closed" accordingly – possibly not by the book, but effective!

 

Punt operations ceased with the opening of the Forster-Tuncurry bridge on July 18th 1959. So ended the service once memorably described: "It must be the most antedated, most unreliable and unsafe method of crossing a river anywhere in Australia." (SMH Friday 5 November 1954)

 

Image Source - Image Source - Steve Bolin Collection

 

References - Howard, P. (1995). The ferrymen: the history of the Forster-Tuncurry passenger and vehicular ferry service from 1890 to 1959 - by Philip Howard.

 

More Forster Ferry images are contained in the ALBUM Forster - Tuncurry Ferry

 

Acknowledgements. Chris Borough and Ron Madden undertook the detailed research that was the basis for this contribution.

 

All Images in this photostream are Copyright - Great Lakes Manning River Shipping and/or their individual owners as may be stated above and may not be downloaded, reproduced, or used in any way without prior written approval.

 

GREAT LAKES MANNING RIVER SHIPPING, NSW - Flickr Group --> Alphabetical Boat Index --> Boat builders Index --> Tags List

One of my photos was published in a Maine Magazine.

 

(Right hand corner - Machias Me.)

 

(My 2nd time being published and still such a thrill!)

 

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The Globe and Mail published my photo today!

Published in garuda in-flight magazine in february’10 issue

 

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