Great White Fleet Photo Album, 1907-1909

10.75" x 15.5" post-bound album with 122 original photographs and 5 lithographic prints from photographs affixed to both sides of 24 thick cardstock leaves (some additional blank leaves at the end).  Backstrip of album lacking, boards detached but present. Internals very good.  Contains a mix of professional and competent amateur photographs ranging in size from 9" x 11.5" down to 2" x 5.25".  Twenty-seven (27) images (including the five lithos) are ca. 6" x 8" or larger, and 93 are ca. 3.25 x 5.25". Eight (8) are hand-colored.  Many have brief handwritten captions identifying the location. The compiler of this interesting album is unknown, but was clearly someone stationed aboard one of the ships (possibly the U.S.S. Georgia) of President Theodore Roosevelt's Great White Fleet -- the group of 16 battleships that sailed around the world between December 16, 1907 and February 22, 1909 in a grand demonstration of American naval power. The journey covered some 43,000 miles and included courtesy visits to 20 ports on six continents. This album documents stops at many of locations visited by the Fleet, including the departure from Hampton Roads, Virginia and visits to (in the order the stops were made) Trinidad, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, Ceylon, Japan, and Gibraltar. Several images show the festivities that marked the arrival of the fleet in each port. There are also some shipboard photos and images of the ships in ports and on the open water.  The South American section of the album is particularly strong, including eight uncommon 6" x 9" photographs of scenes along the line of the Oroya Railway in Peru, credited "Garreaud" [possibly later prints of images by French photographer Emilio Garreaud (1834-1875)]; amateur shot of other rail lines in the Peruvian Andes and in Brazil; five large printed views of Rio from photos by Marc Ferrez; and wonderful street scenes and bird's eye views from Trinidad, Lima, Callao, Rio, and Punta Arenas. Another highlight is the New Zealand section, which includes three large views of an active hot springs area (including a geyser) and many images of Maori dance performances and other festivities for the visiting sailors. . (Inventory #: 23582)