Ships Boudoirs

Ships

SHBD2. No ID. Beautiful extra large boudoir card image measuring 6" x 8 1/2" mounted on a 6 3/4" x 9 3/4" board. The sidewheel steamer "Island Home" is arriving at a fully loaded pier. This is northeast US, Massachusetts, RI or Maine. VG. $200

SHBD3. No ID. Manuscript on verso: "Hotchkiss Rifle (Six pounder) U.S. Revenue Cutter 'Morrill.' Charleston, S.C." Here is the story of the Morrill:
Morrill, a second‑class patrol vessel, was built in 1889 by Pusey and Jones Corp. for the Revenue Cutter Service.
During the period 1895‑98 Morrill, in company with cutters Boutwell, Colfax, Forward, McLane, and Winona, maintained a neutrality patrol off the Straits of Florida and adjacent waters. “The enforcement of neutrality laws,” said Revenue Cutter Service Commandant Capt. Charles F. Shoemaker, “made necessary by many attempts to send illegal expeditions from our coast to Cuba in the interests of the insurgents, has compelled vigilant cruising by the Cutter Service.” The cutters seized seven ships for violating neutrality regulations, detained a dozen suspected violators in port, and broke up two organized filibustering expeditions before the destruction of Maine 15 February 1898.
Morrill was transferred to the Navy Department by Executive Order dated 9 April 1898. Armed for service with the “Mosquito Fleet,” she passed through Hampton Roads 24 April in company with cutters Hudson and Hamilton en route to Key West. She worked effectively with naval units during this duty with the fleet blockading Cuba. At the end of hostilities she returned to the Treasury Department and resumed patrol duty an the Great Lakes. Based at Detroit, she patrolled the waters of Lakes Huron, St. Clair, Erie, and Ontario, aiding vessels in distress and enforcing navigation laws.
One again made part of the naval forces, Morrill patrolled the Atlantic coast from 6 April 1917 until 28 August 1917. Several times she assisted merchant vessels that had grounded in her patrol area.
In early November Morrill was ordered to duty in Philadelphia with the 4th Naval District. She departed Detroit 10 November, Lt. George E. Wilcox in command. After a call at Quebec, she arrived Halifax the afternoon of 5 December. Dockside berthing was not available, and Morrill was directed to anchor near Dartmouth Cove to take on fuel and water.
Just after 0800, 6 December, the old French Line freighter Mont Blanc, carrying a full cargo of bulk explosives, was involved in a collision with the Norwegian steamship Iona in the Narrows of Halifax Harbor. A fire broke out on Mont Blanc, and at 0905 ship and cargo exploded in a tremendous blast that shook all of Halifax.
The most reliable casualty figures list 1,635 persons killed and 9,000 injured in the tragedy. Sixteen hundred buildings were totally destroyed, and nearly 12,000 more within an area of 16 miles severely damaged. Property damage was estimated at $35 million.
Morrill, not seriously damaged, turned her attention to the needs ashore. A rescue and assistance party under 2d Lt. H. G. Hemingway rendered valuable aid while the cutter stood by to tow other craft from the danger zone.
Morrill departed Halifax 18 December. Her services had come to the attention of Sir Cecil Spring Rice, the British Ambassador to the United States, in a letter dated 9 January 1918, Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, noted that Morrill, “though considerably damaged by the violent explosion of munitions on another ship, was the first to render assistance to the distressed inhabitants of the stricken city.”
Upon arrival for duty in the 4th Naval District, Morrill operated as a coastal patrol craft for the duration of the war. She was reassigned to the Lakes Division 28 August 1919 and was most active in regatta patrols for the remainder of her commissioned service. After 9 years of service out of Detroit she steamed to Boston, where she decommissioned 19 October 1928.
5" x 7 3/4" Boudoir Card. This card was part of a group of identified Mobile Alabama Boudoir Cards. VG. $100

SHBD4. No ID. Manuscript on verso: "Str. Juniata." Cabinet Card measures 4 1/8" x 6 1/2." This card was part of a group of identified Mobile Alabama Boudoir Cards. Here is some information on this vessel:
The third South Carolina, a screw steamer built at Boston in 1860, was purchased by the Navy at Boston on 3 May 1861 and commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 22 May 1861, Capt. James Alden in command. The steamer departed Boston on 24 May 1861 and carried ordnance and ammunition to Pensacola, Fla. She joined the Gulf Blockading Squadron at Berwick Bay, La., on 24 June 1861 and then took station off Galveston, Tex. On 4 July, she celebrated Independence Day there by capturing six small schooners. She took two more the next day and one each on the 6th and 7th. South Carolina engaged confederate batteries at Galveston on 3 August. On 11 September, she made a prize of Galveston steamer Anna Taylor, laden with coffee and masquerading as the Tampico ship, Solodad Cos. She captured schooners Ezilda and Joseph H. Toone off Southwest Pass on 4 October; and, on the 16th, took Edward Barnard, after that British schooner had run the blockade out of Mobile with 600 barrels of turpentine. Sloop Florida fell prey to the vigilant blockader on 11 December. On 19 February 1862, South Carolina and Brooklyn chased steamer Magnolia in the gulf after the steamer had slipped away from the Confederate coast carrying a large cargo of cotton. Magnolia's crew exploded one of her boilers, set her afire, and attempted to escape; but South Carolina captured the Southerner's boats, boarded the flaming steamer, and put out the fire. In March, South Carolina received orders to return to Boston where she was decommissioned on 8 April for badly needed repairs. Recommissioned on 16 June, the steamer was reassigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron; departed Boston four days later; and joined the blockade off Charleston, on the 16th. She served in that squadron until the closing weeks of the Civil War. South Carolina destroyed abandoned schooner Patriot aground near Mosquito Inlet, Fla., on 27 August; and captured schooner Nellie off Port Royal, S.C., on 27 March 1863. Departing Charleston on 9 March 1865, South Carolina entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard on the 15th and was decommissioned there on the 25th to be fitted out as a store ship. Recommissioned on 17 June, the ship sailed on 4 July to carry stores to ships at Port Royal, Key West, and Pensacola. She returned to Philadelphia on the last day of July and, during the next year, made four more similar logistic cruises. After returning to New York from her last voyage on 20 July 1866, South Carolina was decommissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 17 August 1866 and was sold at public auction at New York on 5 October 1866. Redocumented Juniata on 24 December 1866, the former blockader remained long in merchant service. She was reduced to a schooner barge on 8 April 1893 and soon after vanished from maritime records. VG. $65

SHBD6. No ID. While there is nothing written on this Boudoir Card (5 1/4" x 8 1/2") it is the U.S.S. Seward as identified from another image (sold). This card was part of a group of identified Mobile Alabama Boudoir Cards. VG. $100

SHBD7. No ID. Again, Boudoir Card (5 1/8" x 8 3/8") of the USS Seward, identified from previous identified image (since sold). This card was part of a group of identified Mobile Alabama Boudoir Cards. G. $75

SHBD9. No ID. Unidentified image of 2 ships. This card was part of a group of identified Mobile Alabama Boudoir Cards. Boudoir Card, 5 1/8" x 8 3/8." G. $65

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This page was last revised on 05/08/10.