In case of Favus, Dropsy, or Excessive Drunkeness...Read this

I promised a 2nd post on the books I found recently at a Florida Estate sale. My favorite of the 3 is this 1906 edition of The Ship Captain's Medical Guide.

It has been through quite a bit these past 106 years, but considering where it has been I am surprized it didn't disappear to dust sooner.

From a website dedicated to listing the undersea location of ship wrecks (called Wrecksite) is the breif history of the ship whose name was stamped in this book:

"Completed in July 1907 as British Abonema for Elder Dempster Lines Ltd, Liverpool. 1920 renamed Sapele for the same owner. 1929 sold to Argentina and renamed San Jorge for Weigel Bohnen & Cia SA Ltda, Buenos Aires. 1934 renamed Santa Catharina for Cia Argentina de Navegación Mihanovich Ltda, Buenos Aires. 1940 sold to Italy and renamed Sirio for La Estrella SA, Panama. 1941 taken over by Canada and renamed Kitty´s Brook.
The Canadian steamship Kitty´s Brook SS was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine on May 9th, 1942, about 450 miles out from New York on a voyage to Argentia, N.F.L. Nine of her crew were killed."

It Seems this poor ship made it to 38 before being felled by a German (presumably) U-boat. Sad for the 9 men lost on her, when she was only carrying wood pulp or paper products, hardly a good "kill" during wartime.

Getting back to the book, by the date this book was probably part of the captains new effects that he took on board shortly after launch. Looking at some of the pages, I hope they had at least a part-time ships doctor for a crew of 33.(Click on one for a readable image)

That makes sense, placing the cure for excessive drunkenness under the cure for food poisoning, whose cure is to make the patient...excessively drunk.

 Click on each for some dated tid-bits on how to care for someone when care is 500 miles away.

Nose Bleeds: Nature's Cure for Headaches!

I had a wonderful time on vacation, though my blog ranking may have suffered due to my absence. While in Florida I was able to find a true tropical dig. I have already written a Patch article about one of the finds, but these other discoveries were equally interesting. Here is the First of three books on Seamanship.

  From 1930, this was an essential piece of reference for members of the crew to know by heart.  The name "La Paz" was stamped inside along with a scribble that it belonged to the 2nd officer. The "La Paz" was one of many ships belonging to the Pacific Steam Navigation Company and was launched in 1920. The only other record was that it was Torpedoed in 1942 off the coast of Florida scrapped and sold to US agents. Interestingly, this may explain how this book ended up in Florida.

The pages of Regulations were fun to flip through.

You may need to click on each to read the rules, but if you want to keep the ship upright, you'd better do it. Check back again for Part 2: The Ship Captain's Medical guide. To make sure you don't miss it click the "Follow me" button or "View My Complete Profile" and send me an email. Here's part of what you could be missing...

Ewww! What's next?  Leeches!?

All your 1922 Shopping needs...right here

Sear & Roebuck? Bah!  Monkey Ward? Ha!  In 1922, there was no more comprehensive compendium of wholesale and retail items than the Butler Brothers catalog. Here is a taste:

 I found this a month ago in a local antique store,very disorganized ( my kind of place) and stacked to the rafters with stuff. This catalog caught my eye and I couldn't leave without it.

I have left these fairly large, but you can click on each for even larger to appreciate the detail in seeing the variety and selection of items. I will provide more pages from this catalog soon.

Innocence Lost...Suspicion...found

Once upon a time you could look at this cover and immediately see the gag. Billy is ready for football with baseball season still in full swing (though this is an October issue).  But with the haze of suspicion now cast over any adult within 10 feet of a half-naked boy (even a coach in a locker room) I can't look at this without snickering at the possibly inappropriate glance from the coach. I can't help feeling guilty for my first impression, or pity for anyone who was thinking about coaching a sport with the additional scrutiny that is sure to exist these days.

So, on the subject of inappropriateness I offer this light look at an ad for the Athletic supporter and ask this question: How is an athlete without support like a tennis racquet without strings? Hey don't blame me! Read the ad. They made the inference - I just don't have the (cat) guts to say it.

    It's a classic mystery of advertising: Did they mean to imply the double entendre? Or was that the best analogy they could come up with?

Connecticut Post Cards as Historical Records

I don't collect post cards but I sure do like to look at them. The ones I find the most interesting are the images of scenic vistas and buildings in and around the town where I live. Although these are sometimes depictions of these locations and structures, and not the "real" thing they are still the only image I have ever seen of that structure or place. So, though distorted sometimes I still think they are very important and worth collecting (by someone else). Here are some examples:

I know very little about Bridgeport, but does this geographic location even exist anymore? The card was mailed in 1911, so the beach may be there but those cabins must have been cleared a couple of times by the major hurricanes that have visited the CT coast.

 I had no idea this existed, and I am sure it was torn down long ago and replaced the modern medical facilities there today. 

 I question the motives of anyone who sends stops in a drug store wheels through the rack of cards and stops on this lovely image of the Litchfield County Jail. No mention in the note like "Hah Ha Wish you were here!" Nope.

The housatonic is an underrated river, though I don't know if there is a river rating system, but old or new I have never seen a bad picture of it. I don't know when in Kent this was taken.

This old High School building still exists as a permanent part of Western Ct State University's mid town campus. A sturdy structure with a very nice restored auditorium in the center of it. 

A special shout out to my friend Justin Krul and his family for loaning this collection to me. If you are interested in any of these cards drop me a line and I will share your information with him.

Happy 85th Birthday Grauman's Chinese Theatre

This is another of the random coincidences that occurs and must be recorded. I was visiting some of my Picker pals today to borrow their "picked" collection of post cards (to be featured in an upcoming Patch article). There are many early Connecticut cards that my readers/visitors enjoy and while sorting through them I found this one:

Typical over-saturated color card of the 30's, but it had a cute note on the back about the writer's real and not-so-real brush with greatness:

The Selznick line is a joke but I was curious about the Marsha Hunt reference. A search brought me to this site : 

HOLLYWOODLAND

A site about Hollywood and its history

Author/biographer Allan R. Ellenberger  has a large compendium of Hollywood history and I managed to find some interesting bits of information about the Marsha Hunt referred to in the card.  When I hit the "home" button and scrolled down I saw an announcement of the celebration of the 85th anniversary of Grauman's Theatre Today! (Well Almost today) Great coincidence!