Unloading LE PHOQUE from the deck of SS STASSFURT using the floating crane Titan

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

Date1937-1940

Object number00021052

NameNitrate negative

MediumEmulsion on nitrate film.

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionSS STASSFURT was a cargo ship built for Hamburg Amerikanische Packetfahrt in 1930 by Bremer Vulkan in Bremen, Germany. In 1940, it was sold to Nederlandsch-Indische Tankstoomboot Maatschappij and renamed SS LANGKOEAS. In 1942, it was torpedoed by I-58 of the Imperial Japanese Navy with 91 casualties and only three survivors.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.