Magic lantern - On the wild billows. part 3

part 3

On the wild billows.....
ships, boats, a raft..... everything that floats on the water
(but sometimes sinks).

A Sailors Tale.




Complete set of 12 magic lantern slides. Manufacturer unknown. 'Be British!': dedicated to the gallant ill-fated crew of the 'Titanic'. On April 10, 1912 the luxurious and supposedly unsinkable Royal Mail Ship Titanic began her maiden voyage steaming out of Southampton, England. It was the largest ship in the world at that time. In the early morning of 15 April it sank after colliding with an iceberg. Over 1,500 passengers and crew perished in the sinking. In the final moments before the Titanic sank, it was alleged that Captain Edward J. Smith had exhorted the passengers and crew who remained on board to 'Be British!'. This seems ludicrously chauvinistic and implausible today, but at the time it featured in almost every report of the disaster. Although there were also conflicting accounts of Smith's last words, the words 'Be British' are engraved on his memorial at the Museum Gardens in Beacon Park, Lichfield. Shortly after the disaster Paul Pelham and Lawrence Wright wrote the popular song 'Be British!' to raise money for the Titanic's widows and orphans.


1. Intro. with Title.	2. What a glorious thing it is to know that the breed is just the same.	3. What a glorious thing it is to know when danger's hour was nigh.

4. 'Be British' was the cry as the ship went down.	5. When they know the worst, saving the women and children first.	6. 'Be British' is the cry to everyone, and tho' fate has proved unkind.

7. Show that you are willing, with a penny or a shilling.	8. Thro' the years to come, inscribed in gold on history's page shall be.	9. First story of how they met their doom out on the icy sea.


10. Our children's children all will read throughout the Empire wide.	11. The grand old words in days to be will echo them with pride.	12. 'Be British' was their cry as the ship went down.

13. Captain and crew when they knew the worst.	14. 'Be British' is the cry, tho' fate has proved unkind.	15. Show that you are willing, with a penny or a shilling.
		The sheet music for 'Be British' came with this set of illustrative coloured lantern slides that could be bought or hired from the publisher. "Stand to your post" and "Be-British" were published within weeks of the sinking of the Titanic. Both songs feature rousing lyrics encouraging listeners to support the relief funds set up to help the victims' families.
16. Words of Chorus.
Note: Slides #3, #5 and #12 show different parts of the same image; in one of the slides the reverse.
Bamforth also produced another set of slides on the Titanic disaster: The Loss of the "Titanic". About half of the slides of this set of 12 slides show similar images from the set above, which are for the greater part actually illustrations from the British illustrated newspaper The Sphere. Texts are based on 'Eatons popular poems' nr 57 of the author W.A. Eaton.

1. Intro. with Title.	2. The largest liner ever built steamed onward in its pride.	4. Jack Phillips, in the wireless room, sat working undismayed.
		All slides: 1. Intro. with Title. 2. The largest liner ever built steamed onward in its pride. 3. A floating iceberg crossed the tide, too late to turn away. 4. Jack Phillips, in the wireless room, sat working undismayed. 5. 'Women and children first,' that is the rule at sea. 6. And there he stood upon the bridge, the water round his feet. 7. The women in the boats looked back. 8. 'Nearer, my God, to Thee'. 9. Brush back your tears, they died like men. 10. Two continents are plunged in grief. 11. The cruel iceberg, waiting there, mocks at your boasted skill. 12. Oft will our children's children tell that awful tale with pride.
5. 'Women and children first,' that is the rule at sea.	12. Oft will our children's children tell that awful tale with pride.
The loss of H.M.S. Victoria Another terrible disaster with a large ship. The set consists of 10 square black and white lantern slides, probably made after newspaper photos. The series was made by York & Son, around 1893. The titles of the slides are mentioned on the edge of the slide





	HMS Victoria was the lead ship in her class of two battleships of the Royal Navy. On 22 June 1893, she collided with HMS Camperdown near Tripoli, Lebanon, during manoeuvres. The collision caused significant damage to Victoria's bow, with a large hole produced causing the ship to rapidly capsize. Victoria took approximately fifteen minutes to sink, with 358 members of the crew, including Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon, lost in the disaster. Her name was originally to be Renown, but this was changed to Victoria while still under construction to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, which took place the year the ship was launched.
Cash Three. Actually this is a temperance story but finally the most dramatic part takes place aboard a ship. A set of twelve square magic lantern slides from J. Theobald & Co.

1. Title Cash Three, and draper's shop.	2. Father comes home drunk.	3. He reforms, but is tempted again.

4. 'Don't go in, father, please'	5. He struck the boy a sharp blow.	6. In the hospital. Cash dies.

7. On the Mississippi boat.	8. 'The ship's on fire'.	9. He rushed through the flames.


10. And stood bravely at the wheel.	11. The ship burnt, all saved.	12. He dies saying: 'Cash, I didn't mean to, God forgive'.
"This we have no hesitation in saying is one of the best temperance tales of the day, in which the boy, after his mother dies, which for the time sobers the father, who came home drunk the day before she passed away, tries to keep his father straight, but in a fury is one day struck with a blow, from which he never recovers; this eventually cured the father who bravely saves a ship's crew by sacrificing his own life in holding the helm of a ship on fire and taking her to land." J. Theobald and Company's extra special illustrated catalogue of magic lanterns, slides and apparatus (London: Theobald & Co., 1893), 28
The Heroes of the Lifeboat A set of twelve square magic lantern slides made by Theobald & Co. J. Theobald and Company's extra special illustrated catalogue of magic lanterns, slides and apparatus (London: Theobald & Co., c.1893), states: “Copied by special permission of the National Lifeboat Institution. This set shows the deeds of daring and bravery done by our Lifeboat crews. It is a stirring set which cannot fail to be popular everywhere; for the private circle, lectures, or those seeking to aid the Lifeboat cause and interest others in its work.”

1. The Launch of the Lifeboat	2. The Lifeboat amidst the foaming billows; Ship in distance	3. Lifeboat under sail, nearing the vessel

4. Lifeboat going off to the wreck	5. Lifeboat overturned	6. The sole survivor of the wreck

7. A ship on Fire; Lifeboat to the rescue	8. Firing Signal Rocket Life Saving Apparatus	9. A night on the Goodwin Sands


10. Lifeboat men boarding the vessel	11. Leaving the Goodwin Sands victorious	12. Return to Shore
		More ships.....