Album Boats and Ships from Alan Mays

Steamboat on the Street, Cleveland, Ohio, 1913

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 03:57:46 +0000

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of curbside.

This is a real photo exaggeration postcard showing a steamboat with smoke billowing from its smokestack as it navigates through the surging floodwaters on a city street. The water has stranded some pedestrians at the curb, where they were evidently waiting to cross the street.

Although the location isn't identified, one clue is the business name stamped in the lower right-hand corner: "The Dodd Rogers Co., Kodaks and Cameras."

According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, the Dodd-Rogers Co. operated in Cleveland under that name between 1906 and 1914. Just before the business changed its name to Dodd Co. in 1914, the Great Flood of 1913 inundated Cleveland and affected the rest of Ohio as well as other states (see The 1913 Flood: "Ohio’s Greatest Weather Event", an article by Sarah White on the Cleveland Historical site).

Other exaggeration postcards appeared after the flood. One was captioned The Big Flood in Cleveland, and a second one also used the the same title.

Although I haven't matched this photo with a specific street and it doesn't bear a date, I believe that it was created in 1913 as a humorous reaction to the flood in Cleveland.

This is an divided-back real photo postcard with an Azo stamp box (four corner triangles pointing up) on the other side, which suggests a time frame—1907 to 1918—that covers the year of the flood. The card is unused with no message, address, or postmark on the other side.

Skiff Decorated for a Fourth of July Regatta, ca. 1914 (Full Photo)

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 15:56:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

For more information, see the cropped version of this photo.

Skiff Decorated for a Fourth of July Regatta, ca. 1914

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 15:56:04 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the topic of Fourth of July (flags, fireworks, patriotic, freedom, red-white-blue, barbeques, etc.).

"This is my skiff decorated for the regatta 4th July celebrations" is the description written on the other side of this photo.

This is divided-back real photo postcard with no address, date, stamp box, or postmark on the verso. The message written on the back of the card, however, includes some questions about events leading up to World War I, so it's likely that the photo dates to 1914, the year the war began (see Ultimatum of July 23, 1914, for background information).

See also the full version of this photo postcard.

This is the message written across the back of the card (I made it easier to read by creating paragraphs, but the text is the same):

This is my skiff decorated for the regatta 4th July celebrations.
L. Brown

Forgive me for not writing. It is just laziness on my part. My correspondence has got in an awful shape. I am sending this card to show I have not forgotten. I will get a letter written someday.

Here are some funny questions that sometimes enter my head. My socialist [Pro-Ger?].

--What was the Kaiser scared of even more than fighting all Europe?
--What big convention was to be held in Vienna one week after war started?
--Did not Servia [Serbia] accede to all points except one or two, and wished to arbitrate?
--Why was the war rushed?

Gently Down the Lake

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 04:56:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of rowboats.

A woman grips a pair of oars and merrily rows her boat as she poses for a picture. Other boats are visible in the far distance, and trees line the shore at the other end of the lake. There's no indication where or when the photo was taken.

Glass Bottom Boat Ride at Silver Springs, Florida (Red Border)

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 00:19:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of smiling faces of yesteryear - photos of smiling people.

A Silver Springs souvenir folder with a photo positioned so that it looks like we're peering into the front of the boat to see the smiling passengers inside.

Silver Springs is a Florida tourist attraction -- and now a state park -- known for its artesian springs and glass-bottom boat rides.

For an earlier example, see another Glass Bottom Boat Ride photo and folder.

Emily and George Sexsmith, Westlake Park, Los Angeles, California, ca. 1930s

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 04:59:04 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of hand colored.

Handwritten caption on the other side of this photo: "Emily and George Sexsmith, Echo Park (McArthur Park), Los Angeles (about 1930)."

This is a hand-colored photo of Emily (Dippel) Sexsmith (1911-2006) and George Sexsmith (1908-1991) in a canoe, circa 1930. The handwritten caption on the other side of the photo notes the setting as "Echo Park" with "McArthur Park" in parentheses, but it's likely that it's really Westlake Park, which in 1942 was renamed MacArthur Park (not "McArthur," as misspelled in the caption). The park was also the subject of Jimmy Webb's popular song, "MacArthur Park," recorded in 1968 by Richard Harris.

A Happy New Year in the Sky and on the Sea

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 31 Dec 2023 03:33:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A nineteenth-century New Year calling card with a fanciful illustration.

In the sky, a man is holding the reins connected to a pair of large birds who are pulling the airship that he and a female passenger are riding in. The initials "A.H.N.Y." on the airship's balloon stand for "A Happy New Year."

Down below, a sailor on a ship is waving his hat as he hangs on to a mast next to a large banner that also displays a greeting for "A Happy New Year."

Gently Down the Stream

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 03:58:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of at the amusement park.

A snapshot of a boat ride in an amusement park, date and location unknown.

Ruth and Sara on Board the L-21 Submarine, August 25, 1917

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 17:44:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of fancy studio backdrops.

A novelty photo with two young women in sailor costumes. The elaborate painted backdrop depicts an ocean of heavy waves with two ships billowing smoke on the horizon. A biplane is barely visible in the sky above them. The painted foreground features a submarine labeled "L 21 U.S." The submarine's hatch is open, its periscope is up, and it's flying an American flag.

Submarine hull: "L 21 U.S."

Handwritten caption: "R. Dodd. Sara Miller. 8-25-1917." Writing on the back also identifies the young women as "Ruth Dodd" on the left and "Sara Miller" on the right with the date given a second time as "8/25/1917."

For a similar real photo postcard, see Daddy on the Deck of the F-6 Submarine.

Sailfish Caught on Yacht Skip Jack, Floridian Hotel Dock, Miami Beach, Florida

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 02:24:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of tattered & torn (or otherwise damaged).

"For[idian] Ho[tel]. Floridian fishing dock, Miami Beach. Caught on yacht Skip Jack, Capt. E. P. Le May."

A tattered, torn, creased, and taped photo of two fishermen posing with a sailfish on the dock of the Floridian Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida.

Gondola Ride, Venice, Italy, 1952

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 04:58:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of ship out! (taking a trip by any conveyance but extra credit by ship or boat).

A souvenir real photo postcard of tourists riding in a gondola on the Venetian Lagoon in Venice, Italy. It's dated 1952 on the other side.

The dome of St Mark's Basilica and its tall campanile (bell tower) are visible in the background.

Off to Europe in 1911—Are You Coming with Us?

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 04:07:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

An advertising postcard addressed on the other side to Mr. Wm. P. Breen, Fort Wayne, Ind., and postmarked New Haven, Conn., June 8, 1911.

Off to Europe

Visiting Ireland, England, Scotland, Belgium, France, Germany Switzerland.

Are you coming with us? We must know soon.

Party sails from New York, July 8. 'Phone, wire, or write for reservations. A few choice berths left.

Columbus Travel Society, New York office, 2075 Metropolitan Building. Gramercy 3438.

Prof. J. C. Monaghan, pres. Mrs. B. Ellen Burke, sec'y. D. P. Toomey, treas.

Grand View Ship Hotel—A Steamer in the Allegheny Mountains

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 04:47:08 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A photo of hotels/motels for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.

Caption: "S. S. Grand View Point Hotel. A Steamer in the Allegheny Mountain[s]. 17 miles west of Bedford, Pa. U.S. 30. Elevation 2464 feet."

Signs: "Grand View Point Hotel. Post Cards. Souvenirs. See 3 States and 7 Counties. Visitors Welcome. Free Telescope." "Hotel. Restaurant."

This building started out as the Grand View Point Hotel in 1927 and then became the S. S. Grand View Point Hotel, or Ship Hotel, in 1932 after remodeling.

For more information about the hotel, see my description of the Grand View Ship Hotel: A Steamer in the Allegheny Mountains, 1932. See below for some other postcard views.

Submarine Chaser

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 21:30:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"U.S. of America Submarine Chaser."

A "submarine chaser" is "a small and fast naval vessel that is specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare," according to Wikipedia.

I'm not sure where this sub chaser was docked or when these two couples reported for duty aboard the ship, but perhaps they were chasing an F-6 submarine.

Lovey-Dovey Couple in Boat

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 03:55:58 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A photo of people exchanging "a look" that the photographer has captured perfectly for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.

Never mind that it's a fake look in a fake boat—the photographer who created this real photo postcard has captured a studio scene of a man and women looking into each other's eyes and pretending to be in love. I just hope that the swan got out of the way before it got caught in the wake of the speeding boat!

Steamboat Mary, Wrightsville and Columbia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1907

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sat, 11 Aug 2018 16:18:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Steamboat Mary, Wrightsville and Columbia, Pa. B. D. Beittel, Columbia, Pa."

An early postcard of Steamboat Mary, which evidently ran on the Susquehanna River between Wrightsville, York County, and Columbia, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The card dates to the first decade of the twentieth century (circa 1907, based on the postmark of another copy I spotted elsewhere on the web).

In the background is the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge, a steel truss bridge that was built in 1896. It carried railroad and automobile traffic over the river until it was dismantled in 1963.

The Way We Catch Them

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sat, 04 Aug 2018 04:19:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"The Way We Catch Them. Souvenir Post Card Co., N.Y." Postmarked Ocean City, N.J., Sept. 6, 1919.

Playing Indian and Fishing with a Dog in a Rowboat (Cropped)

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 20:29:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard.

Playing Indian and Fishing with a Dog in a Rowboat

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 20:29:04 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

An on the water photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.

A curious photo of a boy and a dog in a rowboat out on the water. Both of them are looking toward the photographer, who's on the shore or in another boat. The boy is holding a fish in one hand and a fishing rod in the other, and he's wearing a headdress and other clothing in imitation of Native American garb (for a closer view, see a cropped version).

Along the far shore in the background is what looks like the silhouette of a swan, though it seems much too big to be a real bird.

This is an unused real photo postcard with an AZO stamp box on the back that suggests that the photo may date to sometime between 1904 and 1918 (or perhaps later).

Paddling Their Own Canoe at Olcott Beach

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 16:47:08 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Printed on the other side of this real photo postcard: "Boeckmann, park photographer, Olcott Beach, N.Y." Handwritten on the other side: "Ornan Rebert."

Two fellows pretend to paddle their canoe in photographer John Boeckmann's studio in Luna Park at Olcott Beach, located along the shore of Lake Ontario in Olcott, New York.