CITY OF BAGDAD
Photographer
Frederick Garner Wilkinson
(1901-1975)
Date18 February 1933
Object number00041599
NameGlass plate negative
MediumEmulsion on glass
Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection
DescriptionThe cargo ship CITY OF BAGDAD anchored at No 2 Athol Bight on Saturday afternoon 18 February 1933. This image was captured from the 3.46pm ferry travelling between Circular Quay and Mosman, Sydney.HistoryCITY OF BAGDAD was a 7,490 ton cargo ship built in 1920 and originally launched as GEIERFELS in Germany for the Hansa Line. It was built by Tecklenberg at Geestemld. Following World War I GEIERFELS was renamed CITY OF BAGDAD in 1921 after it was commandeered by the British. In 1927 it began operating for George Smith & Sons and in 1933 transferred to W S Workman. In 1936 it came under the management of the Ellerman Line. The ship came under attack from the German cruiser ATLANTIS in 1940 and was later destroyed after being captured.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.
