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Photo # KN 10857:  Great White Fleet battleships in the Straits of Magellan, 1 February 1908

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- EVENTS -- The 1900s

World Cruise of the "Great White Fleet", December 1907 - February 1909
-- From Atlantic to Pacific, January - February 1908

Upon leaving Rio de Janeiro on 22 January 1908, the Atlantic Fleet's battleships steamed southwards, generally maintaining the standard ten knot cruising speed. As was the case throughout their voyage, station keeping was constantly practiced, along with several different cruising formations. Drills were conducted daily on board each ship, enhancing the military proficiency that was one of the long cruise's main purposes. Special events occasionally broke the routine. USS Maine's Midshipman Bemis reported on a burial at sea on 23 January. On the 25th the battleships passed the auxiliaries Culgoa, Glacier and Panther, which were proceeding independently. Rough seas came up a day later, while on the 27th four Argentine warships paid a ceremonial visit some 400 miles at sea, exchanging greetings and gunfire salutes with the U.S. Navy battleships. The Americans fired 15 guns in honor of the Argentine squadron's commander, a Vice Admiral. They received 13 guns in return, a reminder (though contemporary U.S. Navy officers hardly needed one) that Robley D. Evans, in charge of the most powerful concentrated floating fighting force in the World, was technically but a Rear Admiral.

The fleet's six destroyers, having left Rio on 21 January, continued their separate route. Largely for diplomatic reasons, they visited Buenos Aires, Argentina on 26-30 January, then also headed south. On the last day of January, the battleships entered the Straits of Magellan, through which they were to enter the Pacific Ocean. They anchored in mid-afternoon to avoid night-time navigation in the Straits' fast currents and sometimes narrow channels. That evening the Culgoa, towing the dispatch vessel Yankton, arrived at the anchorage. Resuming the passage at daybreak on 1 February, the ships continued westward, arriving at the Chilean city of Punta Arenas (Sandy Point) in the early afternoon. The destroyers came in four days later.

Late at night on 7 February the sixteen big ships were again underway, followed by their auxiliaries and destroyers, to begin transiting the western part of the Magellan Straits. During this phase of the cruise, the Chilean cruiser Chacabuco provided an escort. Steaming in single column, each division's ships spaced 400 yards apart with 800 yards between divisions, the battleships maintained a formation more than three and a half nautical miles long. Midshipman Bemis described the Straits as "one of the grandest sights I ever saw. On each side of the ship towering over it were high steep rugged mountains their tops covered with snow. The fleet looked like pigmies ...".

Exiting the Straits early in the evening of 8 February, the battleships headed northwards up the Pacific side of South America. Four days later speed was reduced, markedly improving Maine's always heavy coal consumption. On the afternoon of the 14th, the fleet swept into Valparaiso harbor in a long graceful column. Dressed with flags, with officers in Special Full Dress uniforms, men manning the rails and bands playing, the battleships fired salutes as they passed near the city. A large sign, made up of men dressed in white, wished them "welcome" as they went by. As the city fell astern, ten knot speed was resumed and the northward passage continued.

This page features, and provides links to, views concerning the "Great White Fleet"'s voyage southward from Brazil, through the Straits of Magellan and northward along the Chilean coast.

For more images taken during this part of the cruise, see:

  • -- Visiting Punta Arenas,Chile, February 1908.

    For further pictorial coverage of the "Great White Fleet":

  • World Cruise of the "Great White Fleet", December 1907 - February 1909 -- Overview and Special Image Selection.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions.

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: KN-10857 (Color)

    "United States Fleet in the Straits of Magellan, the Morning of February 8, 1908"

    Oil on canvas, 40" by 67", by Henry Reuterdahl (1871-1925), signed and dated by the artist, 1910.

    Painting in the U.S. Naval Academy Museum Collection. Gift of Mrs. William S. Sims, 1950.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

    Online Image: 119KB; 900 x 655 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-KN-10857

     
    Photo #: NH 41657

    "Great White Fleet" World Cruise


    Halftone reproduction of a painting by Henry Reuterdahl, depicting the U.S. Atlantic Fleet steaming through the Straits of Magellan in February 1908.
    Copied during the 1930s from Theodore Roosevelt's autobiography.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 155KB; 900 x 625 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 101483

    Straits of Magellan, Chile


    U.S. Atlantic Fleet battleships entering the straits en route to the Pacific, circa 7-8 February 1908, during the World cruise of the "Great White Fleet".
    Photographed from the afterdeck of USS Georgia (Battleship # 15). Note her quarterdeck whaleboat, on davits in left center, and "dotter" gunnery practice aiming device at right.

    Collection of Chief Quartermaster John Harold.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 95KB; 740 x 450 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 41677

    "Great White Fleet" World Cruise
    ,
    December 1907 - February 1909

    Atlantic Fleet battleships passing through the Straits of Magellan, early in February 1908.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 75KB; 900 x 515 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 41646

    Straits of Magellan, Chile


    Glacier on the north side of the straits, photographed from USS Connecticut (Battleship # 18) during the cruise around the World, 1908.

    Collection of Lieutenant Commander Richard Wainwright, 1928.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 35KB; 740 x 400 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 41645

    Straits of Magellan, Chile


    Seen from USS Connecticut (Battleship # 18) during the cruise around the World, 1908.

    Collection of Lieutenant Commander Richard Wainwright, 1928.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 51KB; 740 x 415 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 41651

    Straits of Magellan, Chile


    Photographed from USS Connecticut (Battleship # 18) during the cruise around the World, 1908.

    Collection of Lieutenant Commander Richard Wainwright, 1928.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 112KB; 740 x 470 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 106087

    "Great White Fleet" World Cruise
    ,
    December 1907 - February 1909

    "Cloud effect and snow clad mountains" photographed from a battleship during the Atlantic Fleet's transit of the Straits of Magellan in early February 1908.

    Collection of Chief Quartermaster John Harold.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 45KB; 740 x 470 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 2179

    "Great White Fleet" World Cruise
    ,
    December 1907 -- February 1909

    Panoramic photograph of the Atlantic Fleet's battleships turning in column as they steam off Valparaiso, Chile, in mid-February 1908.

    Collection of Lieutenant Commander Richard Wainwright, Jr., 1928.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 117KB; 1200 x 440 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 101484

    General Baquedano
    (Chilean Training Ship, 1899)

    At Valparaiso, Chile, with Chilean President Pedro Montt on board, during the U.S. in mid-February 1908, when the U.S. "Great White Fleet" steamed past the city.
    General Baquedano is dressed with flags and her crew is manning her yards in honor of the occasion.

    Collection of Chief Quartermaster John Harold.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 71KB; 740 x 450 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 45327

    General Baquedano
    (Chilean Training Ship, 1899)

    Manning her yards while moored at Valparaiso, Chile, in mid-February 1908, when the U.S. "Great White Fleet" steamed past the city.
    General Baquedano is dressed with flags and has Chilean President Pedro Montt embarked. The Chilean destroyer Capitan Thompson is astern.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 86KB; 900 x 555 pixels

     


    For more images taken during this part of the cruise, see:

  • -- Visiting Punta Arenas,Chile, February 1908.

    For further pictorial coverage of the "Great White Fleet":

  • World Cruise of the "Great White Fleet", December 1907 - February 1909 -- Overview and Special Image Selection.


    NOTES:

  • To the best of our knowledge, the pictures referenced here are all in the Public Domain, and can therefore be freely downloaded and used for any purpose.

  • Some images linked from this page may bear obsolete credit lines citing the organization name: "Naval Historical Center". Effective 1 December 2008 the name should be cited as: "Naval History and Heritage Command".


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions.


    Return to Naval History and Heritage Command home page.

    Page made 21 October 2008
    Coding updated and minor text correction made 13 April 2009