The Waterline Collection
The Waterline Collection consists of 16,500 photographs purchased from the Marine Photo Service (MPS). The images tell the story of the cruising industry, celebrating the heyday of sea travel, the war years when many of the ships were commandeered by the Navy, and the resurgence of cruising in the 1950s with the introduction of faster, more sophisticated ships.
The MPS was founded by photographer Gilbert Morgan Morris in around 1920. It was the first company in the world to offer a photographic service at sea. The photographers captured shipboard life, exotic destinations, local communities, flora and fauna, famous landmarks and the ships themselves. These images were printed and sold to passengers as souvenirs of their travels. They proved very popular at a time when few passengers had their own camera. This insight in to a bygone era remains popular today.
The MPS ceased trading in 1991 and the Museum purchased the archive in 1996. For many years the all-important negatives had been kept in a shed at the bottom of the garden behind the company's studio in Colchester. It is a minor miracle that the earliest have survived to this day and are now giving pleasure to a new generation.
'Leaving Miami' captures the essence of the times. There is a real sense of occasion and drama with the crowds on the quayside, passengers waving from the decks and streamers floating in the wind.
'The harbour side in Jamaica, circa 1930' is typical of the collection. The women in the picture are both stylish and sensibly dressed as they examine the goods for sale on the quayside.
'The finish of the ten o'clock horse race' is a record of one of the amusing entertainments that could be found on board. The photo shows some of the women on board the Orcades, an Orient Line ship, taking part in one of the more popular evening games. Competitors would sit at the end of a track and wind a handle as fast as they could to get their 'horse' past the winning post first. Small bets were often taken and there would be prizes for the winners.
The photograph of 'Tobago with the Orontes at anchor in the background', taken in the 1930s, captures the idyll of the island as a tourist destination. The island turned to tourism as an alternative source of income to its agriculture. The scene is an artful composition and the calm belies a long period of upheaval as the Depression of the 1930s led to a series of strikes and riots and the subsequent rise of a labour movement.
Prints from this collection are available from the NMM Picture Library.