Collection Guide:
The album begins with an image of what may be one of the Panama Canal locks (USS Comfort sailed from England to San Francisco in the summer of 1919 by way of the Panama Canal) as well as commercial images related to scenes in San Francisco. Also included in the first several pages are images of sailors in several boxing poses (not actual matches) as well as several views of general groups of sailors. Various unidentified ships are seen at sea as well as external views of USS Comfort. Various rooms and spaces onboard ship include the ward room, sick officer’s quarters, surgical ward, isolation ward, galley, dressing room, promenade deck (several views of soldiers on crutches can be seen on the deck), boat deck, and individuals in hospital beds. SC 408 can be seen amongst several other ships.
Several images of unidentified individuals in groups are likely to be friends and fellow sailors of Cummings can be seen on liberty in unknown locations. There is also an image of sailors dressed in “blackface” for what may have been a minstrel show aboard the ship. The donation includes an interesting handwritten letter and story from a stowaway aboard USS Comfort. The stowaway was named John James Hill and he was a stoker in the Royal Navy. Hill wrote to Cummings after he was discovered and shipped back to Deveonport on the Yankton. In the letter, Hill notes that he received 42 days of hard labor and is awaiting a trial. The album includes a photo of both Cummings and Hill together.
A June 28, 1919 issue of the “Scuttlebutt”, the newsletter of the USS Comfort, is also included in the collection. The main topic of the newsletter is USS Comfort’s orders to sail from Charleston to San Francisco via the Panama Canal.
