SS ALASKA

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date17 May 1924

Object number00040999

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionSS ALASKA was photographed anchored in Snails Bay, Balmain on Saturday afternoon 17 May 1924. The ship is decorated with celebratory flags to mark the National Day of Norway. This image was captured from a vessel travelling to Long Nose Point.HistorySS ALASKA was a steel screw vessel of 5681 ton. It was built in 1916 by J Coughlan & Sons in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1924 it was owned by D S A S Alaska and registered at the Port of Haugesnd under a Norwegian flag.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.