Noronic

Hi all

I have an album dedicated just for the steamer "Noronic". I got this postcard off of ebay only last week and it arrived yesterday.

What I find quite interesting about it is the 'reverse' inscription on it. You have to hold it up to a mirror to read it correctly. I am not sure why the card was published this way but it is obvious that some publisher (unknown here) goofed up That's ok, I really like the card anyway.

The card shows the steamer Noronic while it was in Midland Harbour, Ontario in 1926.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Real-photo postcards (like yours) often have something backwards. In general, the early vintage RP's were made by bored drugstore clerks earning 10c per hour (but it beats sweeping the back room in the middle of July).

The photograph was developed from a back-to-front glass negative. You will probably find that the entire image is reversed.

Here's a bit of trivia about the ship's name:




I don't know where I've been, but I just read of the massive fire that destroyed the ship in 1949. To think that 545 passengers were on it but of the 171 crew members -- only 16 -- less than 10% of the crew -- were on board at the time of the fire and the bellboy who was originally alerted to fire didn't attempt to wake any passengers because "he didn't think of it" -- is unimaginable.

Thanks all for your postings.

Like plateflaw mentioned, I too believe that the whole image is in reverse.

Doug 2222 pointed out that this could be the norm with a lot of RP postcards and I think this could be correct as well. I have other postcards in my collection that have a single initial or number in reverse as compared to the whole design.

wt1 - I have a book on the Noronic and, depending on the source, the death toll was either 119 or 121? There is a plaque in Toronto dedicating the disaster and I believe it states 121 deaths.

Chimo

Bujutsu

I forgot to mention in my last posting, that, without giving my age away, I actually saw the vessel on fire when I was a child. I remember a huge white glow and my parents in shock because they had travelled a couple of times aboard this ship.

My album is, more or less, my way of paying tribute to this tragic event and to the ship itself.

Chimo

Bujutsu

I checked several (supposedly reliable and reputable) internet news sources and the count of the number of passengers ranges from 545 to 647 and the count of the dead ranges from 118 to 187. I can't understand why the widespread variance in the figures, but I suppose one has to realize that back in the day the count was not as exact as it might have been today. There's also some references that suggest there were dozens missing and "presumed dead", so maybe that figures into the variance in count. There's also several sources that suggest all of the dead were Americans, however, the plaque you refer to suggests all but one were. I don't recall ever reading about a 20th century disaster with such a large range of statistics like this.

Thanks again wt1

To be honest, I think that 187 is way too high. By the different references I have checked, the majority seem to be within the 119 to 121 range. Still a terrible tragedy even if one life is lost.

I couldn't remember which number the plaque stated - thanks for posting this.

Chimo

Bujutsu