SS CERAMIC departing the White Star Line wharf at Millers Point
Photographer
Samuel J Hood Studio
(Australian, 1899 - 1953)
Date1920-1939
Object number00035751
NameGlass plate negative
MediumEmulsion on glass
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionSS CERAMIC was built in 1912 and operated for the White Star Line on the Australian trade run. It only operated on this route for one year before becoming a troopship during World War I. After the war it once more traded on the passenger route between Liverpool and Australia. It was requisitioned once more during World War II for war services. In 1942, the ship was en route to Australia when it was torpedoed in the Atlantic Ocean by a German U-boat. Of the 657 people on board, only one survived.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.
