Portrait of Captain W M Jermyn on board SS LARGS BAY

Photographer Samuel J Hood Studio (Australian, 1899 - 1953)

Date1929-1936

Object number00035718

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionThis photograph depicts Captain W M Jermyn on board the Aberdeen and Commonwealth Line's SS LARGS BAY. Jermyn was in command of the vessel from 1929 to his retirement in 1936. By the time he became captain of LARGS BAY, he had served over 40 years with the Aberdeen Line and under his command had carried over 38,000 troops over a distance of 320,000 miles during World War II.HistorySS LARGS BAY was built by Wm Beardmore and Company Dalmuir and launched on 20 June 1921. It was built to service the London-Australia passenger route and its maiden voyage commenced on 4 January 1922. It was sold to the White Star Line in 1928 and then to the Aberdeen and Commonwealth Line in 1933. A 1930s Aberdeen Line promotional brochure detailed how the vessel had caught up with the 'modern' age: 'The passenger to England of yesteryear who could not afford to pay for a saloon passage had to be prepared to undergo the trial of indifferent food, poor and draughty accommodation and a tedious voyage. What a change has been wrought by the modern "Bay" Liners! ... At a coast that is within the reach of all, a passage to England or Italy may be booked in an Aberdeen & Commonwealth Liner ... A cabin which is spacious, nicely furnished and well ventilated makes sleeping a pleasure. Spacious and airy public rooms are for the use of one and all.' [Source: http://www.timetableimages.com/maritime/images/acl30si.htm, accessed 24 July 2013] During World War II the vessel was requisitioned as a troopship and then returned to the Aberdeen Line to be refitted between 1948 and 1949. The LARGS BAY was scrapped at Barrow-in-Furness, England in 1957, one of the last Aberdeen Line vessels in service before the company was dissolved.SignificanceThe Samuel J Hood photographic collection records an extensive range of maritime activity on Sydney Harbour, including sail and steam ships, crew portraits, crews at work, ship interiors, stevedores loading and unloading cargo, port scenes, pleasure boats and harbourside social activities from the 1890s through to the 1950s. They are also highly competent artistic studies and views - Hood was regarded as an important figure in early Australian photojournalism. Hood’s maritime photographs are one of the most significant collections of such work in Australia.