Surprising finds on Alamy?

[John Mitchell]

During the 1950's, when I was a kid, my family sailed from the UK to Halifax, Nova Scotia, on an ageing (launched in 1904), coal-burning passenger freighter called the Manchester Port (Manchester Liners). We crossed in late November, probably the roughest time of year to traverse the North Atlantic, so it was a memorable journey. As I recall, the ship took only 14 passengers. Here she is bound for South Africa. The images are in the public domain, but I was still surprised to find them on Alamy.

 

Has anyone else come across any surprising "personal history" images on Alamy?

Edited January 16, 2021 by John Mitchell

[Bionic]

I found a picture from the 1920s taken of the road through our small village that was clearly taken from pretty much bang on the end of our driveway. Not that much seems to have changed either apart from there being no pavements and the road verges look better maintained

[gvallee]

It's a wonderful story John.

My own is not that exciting. I once travelled to Guyana (1990's) where we camped on a tiny island in the rainforest. I recall one photographer being with us. Years later when I checked on Alamy what was there for Guyana, here was a picture of my boyfriend at the camp.

[John Mitchell]

19 minutes ago, gvallee said:

It's a wonderful story John.

My own is not that exciting. I once travelled to Guyana (1990's) where we camped on a tiny island in the rainforest. I recall one photographer being with us. Years later when I checked on Alamy what was there for Guyana, here was a picture of my boyfriend at the camp.

 

It's a small world after all. The high-point of my sailing -- especially for a kid -- was encountering a pod of Blue Whales. The captain stopped engines right in the middle of them so that we could watch the magnificent creatures. We must have hit a calm spot because most of the time no one was allowed on deck because of the huge waves.

Edited January 16, 2021 by John Mitchell

[gvallee]

3 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

It's a small world after all. The high-point of my sailing -- especially for a kid -- was encountering a pod of Blue Whales. The captain stopped engines right in the middle of them so that we could watch the magnificent creatures. We must have hit a calm spot because most of the time no one was allowed on deck because of the huge waves.

 

It must have been a very uncomfortable journey dogged by seasickness. I imagine that for a kid, it must have been a mixture of excitement and fright?

[Thyrsis]

I hadn’t looked for this on Alamy before so thank you John! This image shows the Reina Del Mar before her maiden voyage from Liverpool  in 1956. My other half, Ian came back from Peru on the Reina Del Mar  with his parents and sister on a voyage back to Liverpool in 1959.  His father was an engineer working for Wimpey on building a harbour and they lived in Peru for 3 years before coming back to the UK.

[John Mitchell]

26 minutes ago, gvallee said:

 

It must have been a very uncomfortable journey dogged by seasickness. I imagine that for a kid, it must have been a mixture of excitement and fright?

 

I remember being excited more than anything else. For some reason, I seemed to be the only one who didn't get seasick. All the adults turned various shades of green. I do recall the captain saying over sliding dinner plates that the ship was taking on water, which was a bit scary. I think the old girl was scrapped not long after the voyage.

Edited January 16, 2021 by John Mitchell

[Vincent Lowe]

8 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

I remember being excited more than anything else. For some reason, I seemed to be the only one who didn't get seasick. All the adults turned various shades of green. I do recall the captain saying over sliding dinner plates that the ship was taking on water, which was a bit scary. I think the old girl was scrapped not long after the voyage.

 

There's a photo of it on the Manchester Liners' Wikipedia page. It was scrapped in 1964 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Liners

[gvallee]

12 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

I remember being excited more than anything else. For some reason, I seemed to be the only one who didn't get seasick. All the adults turned various shades of green. I do recall the captain saying over sliding dinner plates that the ship was taking on water, which was a bit scary. I think the old girl was scrapped not long after the voyage.

 

I remember our boat breaking down in the demented seas of Golfo de Penas in Chile. Quite an experience. Everything was flying, a door crashed to the ground, 2 cows died. The night before, we were all dancing on La Macarena. Then everyone turned green and disappeared in the bowel of the ship, including a macho latino who had to almost be carried away. I am soooo glad I travelled when it was possible and I was fit and healthy.

Edited January 16, 2021 by gvallee

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, Vincent Lowe said:

 

There's a photo of it on the Manchester Liners' Wikipedia page. It was scrapped in 1964 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Liners

 

Thanks for the link. I'm amazed the ship lasted that long. It must have been well built. She apparently had quite a history. I found this tidbit about WWI interesting (from the Wikipedia article):

 

"All vessels were fitted with defensive guns at the bow and stern. In June 1917 Manchester Port (1904) beat off a submarine attack with gunfire..."

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, Thyrsis said:

I hadn’t looked for this on Alamy before so thank you John! This image shows the Reina Del Mar before her maiden voyage from Liverpool  in 1956. My other half, Ian came back from Peru on the Reina Del Mar  with his parents and sister on a voyage back to Liverpool in 1959.  His father was an engineer working for Wimpey on building a harbour and they lived in Peru for 3 years before coming back to the UK.

 

Cool. That's a sleek looking vessel. Perhaps the COVID-19 pandemic will bring a return of ocean liners. International air travel may never return to what it was.

[Michael Ventura]

Very nice story John!  loved the tie to Alamy too.  Wonderful!!

[John Mitchell]

2 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

Very nice story John!  loved the tie to Alamy too.  Wonderful!!

 

Thanks. Hopefully, HMS Alamy will do as well as the Manchester Port - weathering sixty years on the high seas and two world wars is impressive.

[geogphotos]

I was surprised to find that there isn't another like this on Alamy:

 

 

That's a bull terrier on the right isn't it?

[AlbertSnapper]

6 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

 

 

That's a bull terrier on the right isn't it?

 

I think so.

I don't know what the one on the left is though.

[geogphotos]

11 minutes ago, AlbertSnapper said:

 

I think so.

I don't know what the one on the left is though.

 

 

I'll have to take care captioning that one 😆

Edited January 17, 2021 by geogphotos

[Gorilla Dave]

The dog is saying...

“I don’t care WHAT the deal is… I’m sleeping on my own tonight.”

[geogphotos]

I stared searching 'woman, bone, mouth......' then thought better of it😇

Edited January 17, 2021 by geogphotos

[Tony ALS]

 

 

 

 

Can't get much more personal than this as I am the boy with the foot extended getting nowhere near to the ball!

I have a copy of this and other original printed photos given to my parents after the photo shoot by UK Sunday paper photojournalists.

The footballer was Ian "Chico" Hamilton who made the headlines after being the youngest player to score a goal on his debut for Chelsea FC.

He happened to live a few doors away at the time and the press knocked on a few doors looking for children to photograph with him on the green at the end of the street which had a large sign, "No ball games allowed":).

I found this photo via a Google search uploaded by an American contributor (Chico went on to play in America late in his career). This was before I had even heard of Alamy or started contributing to any agencies.

Thinking about uploading the others that aren't on here now.

[Allan Bell]

5 hours ago, geogphotos said:

I was surprised to find that there isn't another like this on Alamy:

 

 

That's a bull terrier on the right isn't it?

 

Yep Bull Terrier. The parents of a school friend of mine had one.

[wiskerke]

5 hours ago, geogphotos said:

I was surprised to find that there isn't another like this on Alamy:

 

 

That's a bull terrier on the right isn't it?

 

You mean of elderly people stealing food from their dogs?

😂

 

wim

[aphperspective]

Amazing what 1 glass of sherry can do to Gran when she visits.🙄

[geogphotos]

9 minutes ago, aphperspective said:

Amazing what 1 glass of sherry can do to Gran when she visits.🙄

 

 

It might have been the cannabis that somebody put in the stuffing! 

 

I like the Ercol chairs though. 

Edited January 17, 2021 by geogphotos

[TABan]

On 16/01/2021 at 14:56, John Mitchell said:

During the 1950's, when I was a kid, my family sailed from the UK to Halifax, Nova Scotia, on an ageing (launched in 1904), coal-burning passenger freighter called the Manchester Port (Manchester Liners). We crossed in late November, probably the roughest time of year to traverse the North Atlantic, so it was a memorable journey. As I recall, the ship took only 14 passengers. Here she is bound for South Africa. The images are in the public domain, but I was still surprised to find them on Alamy.

 

Has anyone else come across any surprising "personal history" images on Alamy?

Wow. I wouldn’t even cross Lake Michigan in November on that ship.

[Bryan]

I've just come across this thread, and the three photos from the past all tell interesting stories. John's ship must have been incredibly lucky to have survived the two world wars and must have had many tales to tell.

 

I don't have any comparable history, but thought that I'd look up some of the factories in which I worked, one of which, the Vulcan works, was originally established to build steam locomotives for the pioneering Liverpool Manchester railway. No such luck, the only relevant Alamy photo I found was a grotty monochrome image of  the Hawthorn Leslie factory on Tyneside dating back to the 1970s - but that was taken by me. 

Edited January 30, 2021 by Bryan