Shipwreck Salvage Operations of the Wrecked SS Quartette, Archive of 24 Photos with Captions and Identified Individuals, circa 1953

SS Quartette Wreck Salvage

Photograph

Postwar Pacific shipwreck salvage photo archive depicting named crewmen and firsthand recovery work aboard the wrecked steam-powered Liberty ship SS Quartette at Pearl and Hermes Atoll, 1952-1953. Photos record the salvage-crew point of view: men are identified by name, operations are captioned in plain working language, and the broken ship is recorded from alongside, above, and within the wreck itself. The wreck is described, "The deck torn like paper by the storm.” The archive preserves the world of postwar maritime recovery, where wartime-built cargo vessels still carried American trade across remote Pacific routes and salvage depended on small boats, improvised rigging, and dangerous work on unstable steel.

Photo archive of 24 silver gelatin photographs mounted to album leaves, each approximately 4 x 5 inches, Pearl and Hermes Atoll and open Pacific waters, circa 1952-1953. Captions identify the subject as “The wreck of the SS Quartette” and name specific operations, including “Running the gape in the mud between bow and center sections,” “Up goes the compressor,” “Returning one of the generators to the ship,” and “The work goes on all day, and at night they rig lights.” The ship appears split into bow, center, and fantail sections, with captions marking “No. 1 hole from sea ward,” “Looking down no. 2 hole,” “The fantail and center section,” “The bow from the boat,” and “The deck torn like paper by the storm.” Named men include Lt. Hill, Capt. Tiernan, Chappell, Amos, Burnett, DeArcy, Hughes, Kirby, Snow, Grassnickel, Gator, and Ashburn; several pose or work near life rings lettered “S.S. Quartette Wilmington Del.” Crews haul a compressor by boom, move generators, lower men into workboats, stand on torn deck plating, and work beside open holds, twisted railings, broken ladders, and hull sections still taking heavy surf.

Liberty ships were built quickly during World War II to keep Allied supply lines moving, and hundreds remained in postwar service carrying commercial cargo across routes that still depended on wartime hulls, crews, and equipment. The Quartette ran aground at Pearl and Hermes Atoll in December 1952 after navigational error placed her on the reef; salvage efforts recovered what could be removed before storms and surf destroyed the ship further and forced abandonment. Album leaves with edge chipping, cracking, and corner wear; photographs with light fading, surface wear, and minor creasing; overall in good condition. The archive offers close documentation of Pacific salvage work before the wreck became a submerged maritime site within what is now Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

Item #23493

Price: $580.00