19.00 USD
Three young sailors of the U.S. Navy, stationed aboard the receiving ship U.S.S. Franklin in 1913. These three boys were still receiving early naval training aboard the Franklin in Portsmouth Va. when this photo was taken.
Apparently they'd spent their day "coaling," a task, wrote the sender Ed Fitting, that was their hardest job, and one they had to do every six months or so. This implies that the job of coaling was not the shoveling of coal into a burner in the engine room, which in that age of steam-powered ships was an everyday, if not hourly, task, but probably the taking on of a huge shipment of coal from a supply vessel or barge, and shifting it into a storage compartment aboard the ship.
The U.S.S. Franklin had actually been retired from the sea in 1876 and used as a vessel for housing new sailors since then. This means it was anchored in port permanently.
Originally, it was a three masted screw frigate launched in 1864, that was built at least in part, out of pieces of the previous U.S.S. Franklin (launched in 1815 and broken up in 1852). It served as flagship for no less a personage than "Damn the torpedoes" Admiral David Glasgow Farragut himself, who assumed command of the European Squadron in the 1860s.
In our listing images, we have, though not for sale, photographs of the screw frigate Franklin shortly after her retirement, and the "remodeled for housing" version where these young men were stationed during their early naval training days.
A great slice of life card from 1913, just a few years before America joined the bloody fray of WWI, so having what feels at this moment like the "dubious" benefit of hindsight, we look on their smiling faces today and wish them the very best of luck.
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
The item you are considering for purchase is, unless otherwise noted, a vintage postcard of approximately 5 and 1/2, by 3 and 1/2 inches. Postage is for fully-insured, first class shipping in a secure photo mailer (to avoid any damage to your purchase in the mails), and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will not charge for postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more. We do not charge for insurance or shipping materials, and as of the date of this listing are still charging below our overall cost on shipping.
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redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!