HMAS MELBOURNE's crew at Pompeii with Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks

Date1926

Object number00029053

NamePhotograph

MediumBlack and white photographic print on paper.

DimensionsOverall: 85 x 137 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Philip Stafford Jay

Terms

DescriptionCrew took the opportunity to visit Pompeii when the MELBOURNE berthed at Naples during its secondment to the British Mediterranean Fleet in 1926. There they had a photo opportunity with Mary Pickford, seated in the sedan chair, and her husband Douglas Fairbanks, on the left. Philip Jay, who was serving on the MELBOURNE at the time, writes on the back of the postcard they were "possibly the most famous film stars ever".HistoryHMAS MELBOURNE (I) was a Town class light cruiser built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead in England in 1911 and launched on 30 May 1912. MELBOURNE was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy on 18 January 1913. The cruiser was involved in the pursuit of the German raider SMS EMDEN in 1914, and served on the North America and West Indies Stations from 1914 to 1916 before joining the Grand Fleet in the North Sea, where it was stationed for the remainder of the war. MELBOURNE was paid off to reserve and laid up inactive at Sydney between 5 August 1919 and 14 April 1920 and again from 29 September 1924 to 8 October 1925. In 1926 MELBOURNE participiated in exchange duties with the British fleet in the Mediterranean. It sailed from Sydney for England on 9 February 1928, arriving at Portsmouth on 12 April 1928. MELBOURNE was finally paid off on 23 April 1928, sold to the Alloa Shipbuilding Company of Rosyth in Scotland in December 1928 and broken up in 1929.SignificanceTaken during the brief stint of HMAS MELBOURNE in the Mediterranean, this photograph illustrates the activities of sailors while at port, and the celebrity status of Hollywood film actors in the roaring 20s.