Objects of Rutherford's Life
Boats
Ernest Rutherford traveled the world, due to his job changes, then to participate in various scientific conferences. Obviously, in his time, the preferred means of locomotion for long distances was the boat.
Here is a little glimpse of those journeys, long pauses of inactivity in his always hectic researcher's life.
Image: NZS Co.'s "Aorangi" - in dock at Lyttleton [sic], New Zealand, by Burton Brothers studio. Te Papa (C.010547). Source: Museum of New-Zealand / Te Papa Tongarewa
Map: Edward Stanford, 1900. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
1895 : Ernest travels between New Zealand and England to go to Cambridge , with JJ Thomson .
He made a stopover in Adelaide, Australia, and visited his colleague William Henry Bragg .
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Journey aboard the SS Wakatipu, between Wellington and Sydney
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Then junction by train between Sydney and Melbourne.
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Then travel aboard the SS Himalaya, which stops in Adelaide before heading for Europe.
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There are stopovers in Colombo (Ceylon), Aden (southern Arabia, also called "protectorate of Aden"), Brindisi (Italy), Plymouth and finally Gravesend (east of London).
Ernest left Wellington on August 1, 1895 and arrived in Plymouth on September 20, 1895.
His journey lasted 60 days, he celebrated his 24th birthday in Ceylon and travelled in the opposite direction to the journey his four-year-old father and grandparents had made 53 years earlier.
It is possible to zoom in and move around the following world map.
1897 : May Newton's voyage from New Zealand to England: liner Aorangi (Mount Cook)
1898 : Ernest's journey between Liverpool and Quebec aboard the SS Yorkshire.
Duration: two weeks (from September 8 to 20).
Ernest shares the cabin on this occasion with Ernest McBride, professor of zoology, also newly appointed to McGill University in Montreal. They will become roommates in housing on McGill College Street.
1900 : Ernest's journey between San-Francisco and Auckland (via Apia, in German Samoa) aboard the RMS Moana.
(RMS = Royal Mail Ship).
Duration: from April 17 to May 8.
This trip is for the wedding of May and Ernest, after five years of engagement (and estrangement).
1900: continuation of the journey, between Auckland and New-Plymouth, which allowed Ernest to join his parents in Pungarehu. Journey aboard the SS Takapuna
Pictures:
Auckland Port Arrivals List for 8 May 1900, excerpt from the Auckland Star, 8 May 1900, Page 4. Source: Papers Past
RMS Moana. Source: Transpress NZ
1900 : Return of Ernest and May to Montreal.
Departure from Auckland aboard the SS Mariposa on August 6, arrival in San-Francisco on August 27.
The North American continent is crossed by train and the arrival in Montreal takes place on September 2 or 3.
1903 : trip between Quebec and Liverpool aboard the SS Lake Simcoe.
Ernest traveled with May and Eileen.
He crossed the Atlantic to present his theory on the decay of radioactive material, notably at the annual meeting of the British Association which was held in Southport that year.
The crossing lasts a little less than a week.
Pictures:
List of passengers on the SS Lake Simcoe published in the Quebec Chronicle of April 25, 1903, page 3. Source: BAnQ
SS Lake Simcoe - Source: Norway Heritage
1907 : same journey between Quebec and Liverpool.
Ernest May and Eileen definitely cross the Atlantic: Ernest is appointed to Manchester ; the Montreal period of the Rutherford family is over.
1909 : Ernest traverse une fois de plus l'Atlantique : il fait partie de la délégation britannique qui part assister au colloque annuelle de la British Association qui, cette année-là, se tient dans la ville canadienne de Winnipeg. À cette occasion, Rutherford préside la section A de l'association, c'est-à-dire, la section des physiciens et des mathématiciens.
1914 : That year, the British Association decided to hold its annual conference in Australasia, i.e. in Australia and New Zealand. 5000 people were expected to attend, including 300 foreign visitors: Americans, English, Canadians and Germans....
On 1 July, Ernest embarked with his wife and daughter, May and Eileen, on a modern ocean liner (launched in January of the same year): the Euripides.
They disembarked in Adelaide in the early hours of 7 August 1914, three days after Great Britain declared war on Germany.
Logically enough, the first meeting of the association's officers and local representatives was to decide whether or not to hold the BAAS symposium. It was decided not to change the programme planned for Australia.
On the other hand, the meetings scheduled in New Zealand were cancelled and the return of the delegates was significantly modified: the Euripides, like many other ships, was requisitioned to transport contingents from the Antipodes to Europe.
Images :
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S.S. Euripides- Source : British Armed Forces
1917 :
Following the United States' entry into the war, a delegation of Franco-British scientists travelled to Washington. The Americans wanted to avoid wasting energy, time and resources exploring the avenues their allies had already explored for developing new means of defence.
Ernest Rutherford led the British delegation, which had only one other member, Admiral Cyprian Bridge, while five Frenchmen represented their country: Charles Fabry and Henri Abraham, as well as the Duke Armand de Gramont de Guiche, Captain Robert Dupouey and lieutenant Maurice Paternot.
Rutherford and Bridge arrived in Le Havre on 17 May, attended meetings in Paris and left on 19 May by train for Bordeaux. There boarded the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique liner Espagne.
They arrived in New York on 29 May and left the next day by train for Washington.
Images :
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Paquebot Espagne- Source : Navires-14-18.com
To be continued....
Image Jean-Paul Jandrain /Pixabay