The Snapshots in Time Collection

Album Page: Town and Harbor of St. Thomas, Danish West Indies, with Related Shipboard Snapshots

Album Page: Town and Harbor of St. Thomas, Danish West Indies, with Related Shipboard Snapshots

This album page from a U.S. Navy sailor's personal cruise scrapbook documents a port call at St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies (present-day U.S. Virgin Islands, then still under Danish sovereignty). The main photograph shows the town of Charlotte Amalie rising above its harbor, with sailing vessels at anchor. Three smaller snapshots capture shipboard life and encounters typical of the 'Old Navy' era: a passing four-funnel warship wryly nicknamed 'A Bad Egg,' fellow young sailors dubbed 'Little Danes,' and crewmen airing hammocks and bedding on deck - an ordinary but essential shipboard chore. Project: 218602