CITY OF BEDFORD

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date16 June 1934

Object number00041629

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionThe British cargo ship CITY OF BEDFORD is shown anchored off Cremorne Point on Saturday 16 June 1934. This image was captured from the 1.30pm ferry travelling between Circular Quay and Mosman, Sydney. At the time CITY OF BEDFORD was operating for the Hall LineHistoryCITY OF BEDFORD was a 6,407 ton British cargo ship built in 1924 by Gray at Sunderland and owned by the Hall Line. In 1940 it collided with SS BODNANT near Iceland and sunk whilst carrying ammunition for the allied war effort. 7.5 million rifle cartridges were lost and the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill demanded to know why all this ammunition was being carried in one ship. In future all similar British loads were spread across different vessels.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.