LB2007.1.70176

LB2007.1.70176

Eastern Steamship Wharf at Belfast The Day The Steamer Belfast made her inaugural visit to Belfast, June '09, 1909 Most Mainers don't need an excuse to get outside and enjoy a sunny June afternoon, but even the most reclusive of Waldo County residents couldn't resist the inaugural arrival of the steamship Belfast to her namesake port in 1909. More than two thousand people crowded onto the Eastern Steamship Company's wharf at the foot of Commercial Street to watch the enormous "Great White Flyer" come alongside. (The largest of the steamers plying the Bangor-to-Boston run, she was so huge that she had to back into deeper water before turning around and departing.) Flags and bunting hang from every eave and window in the turreted terminal building, and even the tops of the pilings have become seats for a handful of bold couples, at center. One chap, barely visible just right of center, even leans out a second-story window to welcome the ship. The unknown photographer of the Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company who captured this surprising image had the best seat in the house, of course. He must have finagled his way onto the maiden voyage of this 320-foot-long, steel-hulled ship in Bath, where she'd just been completed at the same shipyard that today produces the latest generation of destroyers. But the tremendous length of the Belfast meant that he was unable to capture both the ship and the crowd assembled to greet her. His vantage point on the upper deck near the ship's stern allowed him to capture a more candid scene, though, from the gents in their straw boater hats, at far right, to the bonneted women in their billowing blouses and skirts. One woman may even be Belfast's Carrie Greenlaw, chosen by popular vote to christen the ship. A telling detail is the young girl leaning on the rail at lower right; her fascination with the Belfast appears to have faded during the trip up Penobscot Bay, and she no doubt would prefer to be wandering the ship's mahogany-trimmed halls or playing in one of its 222 berths -- Josh Moore, Downeast Magazine 2007