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HMAS SWORDSMAN on the western side of Garden Island, Sydney
HMAS SWORDSMAN on the western side of Garden Island, Sydney

HMAS SWORDSMAN on the western side of Garden Island, Sydney

Photographer (Australian, 1899 - 1953)
Date1920-1929
Object number00020296
NameNitrate negative
MediumEmulsion on nitrate film.
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionHMAS SWORDSMAN, pendant number H11, was an Admiralty S class destroyer built initially for the Royal Navy (RN) but transferred to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) at the beginning of 1920 as part of a gift of post-war destoyers. It had a short service in the RAN and was decommissioned in 1929 having spent most of the time moored in Sydney Harbour.HistoryHMAS SWORDSMAN was sent from Sydney in September 1920 to join in the search off north-east Tasmania for the overdue schooner AMELIA J, the crew of the wrecked barquentine SOUTHERN CROSS and also the missing airmen Captain W J Stutt and his mechanic Sergeant A G Dalziel. The latter two were lost when their plane crashed as they searched for the AMELIA J.SignificanceThe Samuel J Hood photographic collection records an extensive range of maritime activity on Sydney Harbour, including sail and steam ships, warships, 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.