Ocean travel

Frederick Courteny Selous apologizes to Theodore Roosevelt for not responding to his last letter, but Selous wanted to read Roosevelt’s pamphlet on coloration first, and has been very busy. He is taking the pamphlet with him to Africa to read on the ship. Selous will first stop in Paris, France to receive a medal from the French Academy of Sports in recognition of his big game hunting, and then travel with friends to Kenya. Selous would like to go back to Bahr el ghazal and study the Kob and the ways it changes color each year.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-12

Theodore Roosevelt writes to his sister Anna Roosevelt about his recent trip to Paris with his wife Alice on their honeymoon. The Roosevelts enjoyed the tomb of Napoleon, Cluny, and dress buying. Alice got sick crossing the Channel and they are buying presents for people back home.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1881-09-05

President Roosevelt hopes that Secretary of War Root will take the USS Dolphin.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-09-30

Isaac H. Cocks informs William Loeb that half of his mail comes through Westbury, New York, and that there are no problems as mail is received promptly. He also tells Loeb about his son William W. Cocks’s voyage to Hawaii and the Philippines.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-11

Admiral Brownson, chief of the Bureau of Navigation, sends President Roosevelt a letter from Admiral Robley D. Evans with information about the Great White Fleet. Brownson comments on Evans’s points about fleet movements, maneuvers, and supplies. He feels it best to have just one journalist accompany the fleet.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-19

Captain Mahan reports to Rear Admiral Davis about the condition of Kingston harbor, courtesy of John K. Robison, navigator of the USS Indiana.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-19

Nicholas Murray Butler is giving President Roosevelt the schedule of his upcoming trip along with the address where he can be reached. He wants Roosevelt to know that he will be meeting with the Emperor at Wilhelmshohe in August to discuss the interchange of professors and educational subjects. Butler is also congratulating Roosevelt on his role in the Japan-Russian matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-15

A passenger list for the ship Gelria, listing Frank Harper as Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary. 

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1914-02-06

Article discusses Theodore Roosevelt’s departure in New York on “Vandyck,” and his travels in the West Indies.

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1913-11-29

Diary entries discuss departure from his wife and daughter Dora, meeting with Theodore, Edith and Margaret Roosevelt on the S.S. Van Dyck. He describes the weather, islands passed, the purchasing of equipment in Barbados, and a sack race on the ship.

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1913-10-04

A bill of lading for Theodore Roosevelt’s luggage received from Captain McCoy while he was onboard the “Van Dyck”.

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1913-09-27

Pamphlet of ship line for passengers on the SS Vandyck sailing to Barbados, Bahia, Rio De Janiero, Santos, Montevideo, and Buenos Aires. Lists officers of ship, map of route, itinerary, distances, passengers, and other information for passengers. Theodore, Edith, and Margaret Roosevelt are listed as passengers.

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1913-10-04

Program lists various games and sports held on board the SS Vandyck. Also lists “officers”: Reverend J. A. Zahm as vice president and Theodore Roosevelt as chairman.

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1913-10-13

Postcard from the S.S. Van Dyke most likely obtained by Frank Harper while onboard the ship in October 1913.

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1913-10-14

Concert program of the entertainment provided aboard the S.S. Van Dyke on October 14, 1913. Lists music selections, burlesque, plays, and the lists of actors.

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1913-10-14

Dinner menu for the SS Vandyck dated October 20, 1913. It also includes a musical program list.

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1913-10-20

Black and white photograph of Frank Harper in a sack race while aboard the SS Vandyck on October 12, 1913.

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1913-10-12

Vignettes show the activities of stock exchanges and gambling on sporting events on ocean liners once they are equipped for wireless transmission.

comments and context

Comments and Context

“Coming events cast their shadows before…” or perhaps their sounds and static. There were many experiments with the electronic transmission of sound going back to Thomas Edison’s early inventions; and many versions of wireless telegraphy and communications by radio waves between hilltops and even over the Atlantic Ocean before Guglielmo Marconi perfected wireless communication. In between and subsequently there were many scientists and many experiments to perfect communication, and entertainment “over the air.”

The captain of an ocean liner offers a toast to his passengers sitting around a large dining table on a ship that is rocking a bit too much for most passengers. Caption: The Captain — Ladies and gentlemen, I drink to your very good health!

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Ehrhart here makes a humorous, not political, comment on a contemporary trend, the increasing popularity of ocean cruises. Rising prosperity in the United States enabled this trend that joined rail travel and resort vacations among the upper classes. Steamship lines hurried their production of luxury liners — in England by the White Star and Cunard lines; in Germany by the North German-Lloyd line. In the United States, J. P. Morgan devoted resources to enter, and, of course, dominate, the transatlantic passenger and shipping fleets. After purchasing shipbuilding companies in Cleveland and Philadelphia but failing to secure federal subsidies, he bought into Great Britain’s White Star line, even hiring its executive Bruce Ismay. (In 1912, it was the White Star’s The Titanic that famously sank, and its chief, Ismay, who shamefully climbed aboard a lifeboat as many perished.)

Quentin Roosevelt writes to his mother about the long wait to leave for Europe, his hopes to see London before moving onto France and to thank her for a package he received. A postscript notes a return for Christmas is looking impossible.

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1917-08-06