Launch of H.M.S. Albion at Blackwall
Launch of H.M.S. Albion at Blackwall
Fine images of a mighty ship's launch - but missing a crucial bit of the story...
Shot by EP Prestwich, this is the better preserved of two surviving films shot at the launch of the battleship Albion at Thames Iron Works on the River Lea, 21 June 1898. From its high position, it takes in the whole of the vast vessel as it glides down the slipway, and gives a strong impression of the huge crowds that turned out to see the spectacle. What it misses, though, is the disaster that followed, as the Albion struck a gantry, causing a gangway to collapse and plunge spectators into the water - several of whom were killed.
RW Paul's film of the events, Launch of HMS Albion, was shot from a boat and does capture something of the rescue operation.
From the collection
Topicals
The distant ancestors of today's TV news, 'topical' films captured news of their day - though typically that meant public events like parades, royal occasions or sporting fixtures rather than, say, politics.
It was a lucky filmmaker who managed to be on hand to capture real 'hard news', as in the disastrous launch of HMS Albion. The second Boer War, the biggest international story of the late-Victorian era, lured several cameramen to South Africa. Others responded to audience demand for moving pictures of such events by dramatising them for the camera.
96 videos in this collection
2
The Launch of H.M.S. Albion
3
W.G. Grace Celebrates at Lord's on His 50th Birthday
5
Blackburn Rovers V. West Bromwich 1898
7
Bumping Race (Cambridge May Races)
8
Charity Costume Parade - Manchester or Salford, C.1900 -no.2
11
Savage South Africa - Savage Attack and Repulse
12
Dewsbury Fire Brigade C. 1900
13
Football Final - Entry of Teams
14
Football Final - Play in Progress
15
Launch of the Worthing Lifeboat Coming Ashore
16
Launch of the Worthing Lifeboat Emerging from the Boathouse
24
AAA Championships at Fartown, Huddersfield (1901)
26
Drill of the Kansas City Fire Department
28
Algie's Circus in Carlisle (1901)
31
Practising for the Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race
32
Royal Photographic Convention - Glasgow
33
Street Scenes and Salvation Army Meeting
34
Turn-out at Metropolitan Fire Brigade Headquarters
36
Bailey's Royal Buxton Punch and Judy Show (1901)
37
Birmingham University Procession on Degree Day (1901)
38
Bolton Football 1 (c.1900)
39
Bolton Football 2 (c.1900)
40
E. H. Williams's Merrie Men: Double Dance and 'The School' sketch
42
Fire Brigade turn-out in the Country
43
Fire Drill: Crystal Palace
45
Gosport: Camper and Nicholson Boatyard
46
Liverpool Church Parade and Inspection (1901)
47
Liverpool Street Scenes (1901)
48
Liverpool v Small Heath (1901)
49
Lord Durham at Sunderland (1901)
50
Loreburn School, Dumfries (c.1901)
51
Magnificent Reproductions of the Great Yorkshire Show in Bradford (1901)
52
Manchester and Salford's Harriers Procession (1901)
53
Manchester Catholic Orphanage Boys (1901)
54
Manchester Spiritualists Procession (1901)
55
Metropolitan Fire Brigade Turn Out
56
Morecambe Church Lads Parade at Drill (1901)
57
Newcastle United v Liverpool (1901)
58
Preston Egg Rolling (c.1901)
59
Oddfellows Procession in St Helens (c.1901)
60
Old Poulton Parish Church, Morecambe (c.1901)
62
Parade of Widnes Schoolchildren (1901)
63
Parade on West End Pier Morecambe (1901)
64
Park V. Fernie at Musselburgh, 1898
65
Police Annual Inspection at Birchfields Park (1901)
66
Procession in Accrington Park (1900)
67
North Sea Fisheries, North Shields (1901)
68
Public School in Annan (c.1901)
70
Race for the Muratti Cup at Manchester Wheelers' Annual Meet (1901)
71
Prince of Siam in Liverpool (1901)
72
Runcorn v St Helens (1901)
73
Scholars Leaving St Andrew's Roman Catholic School, Dumfries (c.1901)
74
Schoolchildren at Dalbeattie Public School (c.1901)
76
St George's Day Procession in Liverpool (1901)
77
St Helens v Swinton (1901)
78
Procession of Children at Tyldesley Church School (1901)
79
Turn Out of the Leeds Fire Brigade (1901)
80
Turn Out of the Newcastle Fire Brigade (1901)
81
Launch of H.M.S. Albion at Blackwall
82
Turn Out of the Rochdale Fire Brigade (1901)
83
Foundling Hospital Sports Day
84
Tynemouth Swimming Gala in the Haven, North Shields (1901)
86
Warrington v St.Helens (1901)
87
Water Polo Match (c.1901)
88
York Road Board School, Leeds (1901)
89
West End Pier, Morecambe (1901)
90
Peter Papworth Collection No. 6
91
Turn Out of the Winsford Fire Brigade (1901)
92
Football Match at Preston C.1900
93
Turn Out of the Preston Fire Brigade (c.1901)
95
Turn Out of the Dundee Fire Brigade (1901)
96
Parade of the Leeds Police
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