R100
The airship R100
Entries by Jim Kalafus
Graf Zepellin
Gallery of images of the Graf Zepellin
Recalling the USS Indianapolis
I was in the water, I was swimming away from the ship in the dark… I heard the loudest, worst noise I’d ever heard
The Cap Arcona
Perhaps the loveliest of the “forgotten” liners is Hamburg-Sudamerikanische’s Cap Arcona. She was conceived and built in the mid-1920s for service between Northern Europe and Argentina, a route every bit as prestigious as the better remembered North Atlantic run. She was born into a world of afternoon teas and Jazz modified for the Palm Court, […]
The Public Be Damned: One Black Week in 1875 – The SS City of Waco
The Loss of the City of Waco, November, 1875.
The Public Be Damned: One Black Week in 1875 – The SS Pacific
The dual tragedies of the Pacific and the City of Waco
The General Slocum
The General Slocum has been part of my life for as far back as I can remember.
Across the Caribbean on the Nieuw Amsterdam
This short 16mm film, shot sometime before 1958 records a journey across the Caribbean, taking in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Jamaica and the Panama Canal. There are views of other liners including the Mauretania 2 and some somewhat smaller craft.
The Unlucky Statendam
If the Nieuw Amsterdam can be considered Holland-America Line’s most fortunate vessel, then her pre-war running mate, the Statendam of 1929, is in the running for the title of least.
The Loss of the Princess Sophia
The worst wreck, in terms of verifiable fatalities, on the North American west coast.
Cuba to America on the Orizaba
A cruise from Cuba and along the East Coast in the 1920s taking in an excursion to Kensico Dam. The SS Paris film is by the same group. For more about the Siboney and Orizaba see the article: The Morro Castle, the Mohawk and the End of the Ward Line.
A Voyage on the Paris
A cruise along the East Coast c.1932. This 16mm film is by the same photographer as the film of the Siboney or Orizaba.
Morro Castle : The Victims
What follows is the most complete listing of Morro Castle victims we have been able to assemble. Those who were never found are listed in Italic. There are more than the official 134 names on this list, because in many cases passengers and crew identified as survivors on the published lists were actually lost; people […]
Solid flame from bow to stern
AN EARLIER MOHAWK DISASTER
Morro Castle, Mohawk and the End of the Ward Line : Part 5
Jim Kalafus concludes his account of the Morro Castle disaster and how it led to the rapid demise of the Ward Line.
Morro Castle, Mohawk and the end of the Ward Line : Part 3
Jim Kalafus continues the tragic story of the Morro Castle.
Morro Castle, Mohawk and the end of the Ward Line : Part 2
Part two of Jim Kalafus’s epic history of the Morro Castle disaster.
Morro Castle, Mohawk and the End of the Ward Line : Part One
It has been almost 72 years since the Morro Castle, gutted, afire, and carrying the bodies of at least six luckless passengers and crew members was driven ashore, with visual impact worthy of a Hollywood production, just to the north of the new Convention Center at Asbury Park, New Jersey.
George Watremez : Morro Castle Survivor
“I did go back to boats, and I’m not scared of the water even though I still don’t know how to swim.” George Watremez, Morro Castle survivor, smiles slightly and continues; “To tell you the truth, I don’t think about it often….”
Lest We Forget : Henry Sonneborn
“…he never spoke of the relationship in a negative way or acted like some family secret needed to be protected. ” Schwabacher seems to have possessed considerable property. The substantial provision made by his will for his friend, Sonneborn, suggests a possible source of income to the latter, supplementing that from his own slender estate […]
Normandie: A Photographic Portrait
Normandie Galleries
Lest We Forget Part 2
The second part of Lest We Forget, the human side of the Lusitania disaster.
Lest We Forget : Part 1
This May marks the 90th anniversary of one of the 20th century’s most notorious events; the sinking, by torpedo, of Cunard Line’s Lusitania off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1198 lives. While she lived, Lusitania was known as one of a pair of outstandingly beautiful record breakers, and after her death she […]