A GROUP OF VOLTURNO PASSENGERS, RESCUED & ABOARD THE GROSSER KURFÜRST

In Mar. 2008, a collection of press images were offered for sale on e-Bay. From the files of the 'San Francisco Examiner". Were they published by that newspaper in 1913? I do not know the answer to that question. It is not impossible, however, that they were published in 1913 & could well have had some accompanying words that today might be of great interest. Anyway, included in the sale offerings was the following fine 1913 image of a group of Volturno passengers on the deck of the Grosser Kurfürst - which vessel had rescued them.

I should advise that I have not sought the approval of the e-Bay vendor, 'sfxarchive', for the use of the following image. I do hope that its use on this non-profit & informational site will be considered to be in order. It is only fair to note, however, that the vendor's e-Bay store is available here, & I invite you to drop by!

Let me also tell you that the press image had the following words, (the italics are mine) recorded on its rear.

Safe at last. Survivors of the Volturno horror on the deck of the rescuing steamer Grosser Kurfuerst.

So here is the image. Adjusted in size to permit viewing without scrolling, cleaned up & sharpened a little. Now it would be wonderful to be able to identify even a single one of the persons in the image. But that is impossible today, for the webmaster at least. There were, of course, 105 Volturno survivors rescued by Grosser Kurfürst & of that number 85 (all men) were passengers (the rest were Volturno crew). This image is then, with almost 30 people, about a third of the passengers that the ship rescued. That fact will not likely make identification a particularly easy task for anyone. But a family descendent might just be able to recognise & identify a face. Let us hope that proves to be so.

It has proved to be so, at least for one 'face' so far. Eric Czerwonka, in Apl. 2012, advised that his grandfather, Jan Surga, is shown in the photograph below. He is in the third row of the men standing. He is not wearing a hat and has a thick handlebar moustache. Jan Surga died June 25, 1953 and was buried on Jun. 29, 1953 at Holy Sepulchre cemetery, Burlington, Ontario, Canada. He is buried in section 2 west, row 11, lot 12. If I understand Eric's words correctly, Jan is the person immediately below this red arrow.           

THE FIRST PACIFIC COAST 'SHIP TO SHORE' AIR MAIL TRANSFER

I really can tell you nothing about the next item - a letter dated Jun. 12, 1931 & the best image of a number of similar items that have sold on e-Bay in 2004 (the right part of the image is a portion of the envelope rear). However it would seem that the envelope, & particularly the orange stamped image at left, is self explanatory to a degree i.e. that the S.S. City of Los Angeles (the name of the Grosser Kurfürst in the 1922/1932 period) has a claim to fame indeed!

I am puzzled as to how there can be so many similar items coming up for sale on e-Bay. Were you to check at this moment there probably are two or three such items for sale. The ship-to-shore transfer must, at the time, have either been a most significant event or else the marketing types of 1931 had a field day. Maybe both! Can anybody tell us more?

Since that was written, an e-Bay item has provided a little more detail. It would seem that on Jun. 12, 1931, the 'First Ship to Shore Service by Dirigible' took place. Goodyear airship 'Volunteer' carried a considerable amount of mail on the first Pacific coast ship to shore air mail transfer - from the City of Los Angeles, located 50 miles out at sea, to the roof of the U.S. Post Office in San Pedro, California. The wording is, however, a bit confusing. Was it the first ship to shore transfer in history, or perhaps & instead, the first Pacific coast ship to shore transfer in history? From the image on the envelope, one would have thought that the City of Los Angeles would have been located in the Hawaiian Islands, rather than just 50 miles off the California coast! Just maybe I have misunderstood what I have read? I still need your help!

The above item is very pretty, don't you think. But here is what to me is an even better looking cover of the same event, also ex e-Bay. It also had a similar stamp on the rear as above, as all of such items seem to bear.

The rear of both of the above envelopes was, I believe, blank except for the green stamp - maybe 'cachet' is the correct word? But in Jun. 2006, a wonderful envelope was sold (for U.S. $24.99) via e-Bay and it had lots of signatures & facsimile signatures on its rear. I trust it is in order to use the listing image on this non-profit & informational site. You will find it to be most interesting. The vendor, whom I sincerely thank, was 'cobbiestamps' whose e-Bay store is here. Do drop by!

Now who are all the envelope signatories, both facsimile & real in the image below? The facsimile signatories seem to be two in number: F. I. Hamma, whom I believe was Fred I. (Irvin) Hamma, the Captain of the City of Los Angeles (data now confirmed by Brian Schupp, Fred's grandson. Thank you Brian!) and Richard H. Robinson, the ship's purser. The signature vertically at left seems to me to be a real signature, that of C. P. Wright, apparently the Postmaster at San Pedro, California. The others, all perhaps real signatures, seem to be 'Bert? D. Chilson, Capt. J. F. Nicholson and David Heenan Jr. Help me with those names if I have recorded them incorrectly. A document included with the listing referred to a 'captain of the flight'. Maybe Capt. Nicholson? But would the 'captain of the flight' have been aboard the ship? But who are the others? If you can help with data, do please be in contact.

Dianne McQuaid has been in touch (thanks so much Dianne!) to advise that the name Bert D. Chilson is indeed correct. She advises that he is listed in  'Men of Hawaii : being a biographical reference library, complete and authentic, of the men of note and substantial achievement in the Hawaiian Islands : volume 1 (Volume 2) page 8' by John William Siddall. Published in 1921 & earlier too, in 1901 perhaps. Wherein Chilson is described essentially as 'Born San Francisco, Jan. 20, 1874; son of William D. and Lydia L. (Plaisted) Chilson; married Mabel Putnam, at San Francisco, Dec. 30, 1899; one child. Genevieve Plaisted, died Aug. 15, 1904. Grammar school and correspondence course education. With Vickery's Art Store, San Francisco, 1887-97; followed by conducting art store of his own for several years, and later went into architecture and building. Arrived Hawaii, November, 1912, and was connected with photographic supply trade, with headquarters in Honolulu. Went to Hilo in 1918, having acquired cane land property there. Advertising mgr. Hilo Tribune, Hawaii. As a vocation has specialized in photography and natural sciences. Member Lodge le Progres de 1'Oceanie, F. & A. M., Honolulu. Republican'. No indication there of any association with a 'Ship to Shore' flight in 1931 involving City of Los Angeles. But then there couldn't be if the volume was indeed published in 1921. Dianne further advises that Bert had no children - he was one of 10, all listed in the 'Descendants of Walsingham Chilson' by Sue Roe 2011. Dianne also advises that a 1918 'Draft Registration Card' signed by Bert. D. Chilson, is available via familysearch.org - type in 'Bert D' and 'Chilson' into the search facility and you will find the card bearing Bert's signature. Access to that site may prove to be difficult so the document in question can be seen directly here.

THE FIRST PACIFIC COAST 'SHORE TO SHIP' AIR MAIL TRANSFER

And, while it is on my mind, two more and quite separate Jan. 2005 e-Bay items may help a little - re events dated 4 1/2 months prior to the above.

It would seem that on Jan. 24, 1931, a Curtiss Wright Flying Service aircraft left the California coast with mail aboard to meet the City of Los Angeles at sea - a shore to ship experimental air drop - i.e. the reverse direction from that of the previous section. The aircraft dropped a sack of mail to the deck of the ship with a life preserver attached. To be strictly accurate about it the aircraft did not do that! It tried to do it & it missed! How do I know that? An Apr. 2005 e-Bay item, now long gone, included two 1931 newspaper clippings part of which was an image of the ship with the aircraft above it & a caption which included these words: 'The mail bag missed the ship by twenty feet, but was quickly retrieved.' But the sack was waterproof! The postal cover, 'First Pacific coast experimental flight of air mail shore to ship', was signed by Hal Sweet, said to be a famous air ace & air show pilot, & by E. Cunningham who signed as the 'Dropper of the Sack'. (The initial E. looked liked Eaw but I probably could not read it any better than could the e-Bay vendor). Somehow, though the true meaning escapes me, the item was referred to as a 'Roessler' cover. AAMS Trans-Oceanic section #1131. Rubber stamped #648 on reverse. And facsimile signed on the reverse by F. I. Hamma, Captain of the City of Los Angeles. The rear of the envelope indicated 'Copyrighted by A. C. Roessler, of East Orange, New Jersey'. I presume they were the manufacturer of the envelope?

And another e-Bay item also with that very same date i.e. Jan. 24, 1931, offered a postal cover of the 'First Pacific coast experimental flight of air mail shore to ship'. Also involving the City of Los Angeles. Signed (or surely, in fact facsimile signed) by Earle Ovington, pioneer air mail pilot & also, on the rear, by F. I. Hamma the co-pilot.

It seems to me that they cannot both be first, can they? And F. I. Hamma could not have been aboard aircraft piloted by two different persons at the very same time, could he? Just possibly he was not the co-pilot & maybe was a postal official. But I learned, from an e-Bay item in March 2006, that F. (Fred) I. Hamma was, in fact, the Captain of the City of Los Angeles. And Ovington, Lieut-Commander U.S.N.R., acted as a co-pilot & flight commander.

I learn that Earle Lewis Ovington (died 1936) was the very first U.S. air mail pilot. He took off on Sep. 23, 1911 in his 70 horsepower Bleriot Queen monoplane named the Dragonfly, from an air show at Garden City, Long Island, New York 'with a load of 640 letters and 1,280 postcards in a mail bag tucked between his legs - the first airplane carry of United States mail authorized by postal authorities.' He flew to Mineola, just three or so miles away, where, 'as agreed, he dropped the bag in a prearranged spot to waiting postal officials. The drop landed on time and on target, but unfortunately the bag broke on impact with the ground, scattering the mail hither and yon. After a scramble, all the letters and cards were retrieved and sent on their way via regular postal channels, all of them bearing the cancellation 'AEROPLANE STATION No.1 - GARDEN CITY ESTATES, N.Y.' For this feat Ovington was awarded the title 'AIR MAIL PILOT No.1.' But another site says it was 6 miles to Mineola & that during the course of the week-long air show he carried a total of 32,415 postcards, 3,993 letters, & 1,062 circulars. A 1911 photo of him is here. I did hope to find a reference to the Pacific Coast flights in Time-Life Books 'Flying the Mail' in the 'Epics of Flight' series. No references however. But there is a most interesting image of Ovington accepting the first sack of mail in Garden City & one also of Dragonfly airborne there, which image can be seen on this page, along with another of him aboard Dragonfly. 'Flying the Mail' states that there were 43,427 pieces of mail rather than 37,470 as above. All of this was 20 years before the Pacific Coast experimentation.

Now I am puzzled by the reference to Earle Ovington re any Jan. 24, 1931 flight. I have read in an e-Bay item that Ovington retired to Santa Barbara, California. And flew the mail only once again after 1911, before his death in 1936. 'He and Frank Hitchcock joined in a 20th anniversary round-trip flight between Los Angeles & Tucson, Arizona with the letters they carried bearing the signatures of both men.' Did Ovington later live in Santa Barbara? It would seem so. Since I have seen on the screen via e-Bay an envelope with Earle Ovington, Consulting Engineer of Santa Barbara printed upon it & mailed Feb. 11, 1930. What was his involvement with the above Jan. 24, 1931 'shore to ship' flight? Probably nothing at all. A famous name, who provided his facsimile signature for a fee is my guess. Am I wrong? If so, please give me the facts & I will record them here.

That quote in the previous paragraph is from an e-Bay item in Sep. 2006. Most interesting. It quotes from an article in the Mar. 29, 1912 'Town Crier' of Newton, Massachusetts, Ovington's birthplace it would seem, in which Ovington spoke at a local church of his 'thrilling experiences'. It also provided some background about the Garden City flight of 1911. Frank Hitchcock was the Postmaster General at the time of that 1911 flight, & was most unhappy that the Bleriot Queen monoplane, being a single seater, could not accommodate him & he was not therefore aboard that very first airmail flight. But was it the aircraft made by Bleriot, a most famous French company. I think not. It was, it would seem, an American aircraft & a copy of a Bleriot. No problem with that however! As I said above, am I wrong in that? Do tell me if I am. All the above is most interesting, however. But the subject of these pages is really Volturno & I have digressed! There was more data in that listing which I have accordingly not recorded here. It does continue to amaze me what data emerges in e-Bay listings! Information on just about anything at all is 'out there' somewhere! And very often e-Bay vendors do seem to have background data available & often share it via their item descriptions. 

OTHER RELATED IMAGES

And, until I find a better place to put it, a 1st Class Grosser Kurfürst luggage label, 4" x 6" in size, & dating from the early 20th century. This was an e-Bay item of long ago, so I cannot tell you today what it sold for. But a similar item sold in early Sep. 2005, for U.S. $19.20.