SS BAHIA CASTILLO

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date1919-1936

Object number00040965

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionSS BAHIA CASTILLO an ex-German Steamer is shown at the Aberdeen Wharf. After World War I the vessel was used to bring ammunitions workers and war personel back to Sydney, Australia from Britain.HistorySS BAHIA CASTILLO was a German steel screw steamer of 9959 tons built in 1913 by Reihert'g Schiffsw at Hamburg and owned by Hamburg- Sud Amerik Dampf Schiffahuts Ges. It had passenger accomodation and was used to transport ammunition workers back to Australia following World War I. It made three trips to Sydney arriving on 20 October 1919, 22 June 1920 and 15 February 1921. It was surrendered to the British in 1922 following World War I and then sold to Hugo Stines in Hamburg and renamed GENERAL BELGRANO.SignificanceThis photograph is part of the F G Wilkinson Photograph Collection, comprising more than 700 glass plate negatives of ships in Sydney Harbour between 1919 and 1936. The collection provides an extensive and well-documented coverage of the changing styles of shipping in the port of Sydney before the gradual decline of the coastal trade, and in a period which was probably the peak reached by commercial shipping in Australia. The backgrounds also reveal the changing face of the city and harbour foreshores.