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| Captain Thomas T Lovelace |
- who was Captain T T Lovelace?
- what was his connection
with the earthquake?
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Were these the first aerial photographs
taken in Jamaica?
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Daily Gleaner 1907
February 20 p2
col 7
Current Items
An attempt was made yesterday
afternoon in the presence of a large number of persons to ascend in the balloon brought out here by Capt Lovelace, but on
account of the contrary wind, the effort failed.
Another trial will be made this morning at 8 o'clock.
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February 21 p2 col 6
Balloon's Ascent:
Captain Lovelace went up in his balloon
yesterday afternoon and, needless to say, the ascent attracted a large crowd. The balloon started from the Gas Works and came
over towards Orange and Port Royal Streets. Several pictures of
the city were taken, the balloon being guided by a rope
from the ground. It came in contact with a pole in Port Royal Street, however, and the descent was quicker than the ascent,
anyway.
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March 15 p2 col 7
Captain T T Lovelace, who recently arrived here with a balloon for the purpose of taking photographs, sailed in the
Siberia yesterday for New York.
The many friends of Captain Lovelace, late of the gunboat Orienta, will be sorry to hear
of his having been shot in the attempt at revolution in Venzuela says the Colon Telegraph for March 9th. Captain
Lovelace, as a matter of fact, sailed from Kingston last night for New York.
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New York Times 1907
April 9
Capt Lovelace Talks on
Balloons.
Capt. T. T. Lovelace, who did not sail as commander of Ralph Brandreth's yawl Taormina on its trip around the
world, gave an illustrated lecture last evening before the members of the Aero Club of America at 12 East Forty-second Street
on his balloon experiences in Jamaica last month. Capt. Lovelace visited Kingston shortly after the earthquake and took a
number of pictures from the balloon over the stricken city, and these he showed for the first time since returning to New
York.
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Daily Gleaner 1931
January 14 [p11 or p17]
On the receipt of the news of the earthquake
in Kingston, I was commissioned by the University of Chicago which co-operated with the University of Berlin to take my dirigible
airship and balloon to Jamaica to make scientific observations. The Hamburg-American Line steamer Prince Joachim was chartered
ostensibly for taking me to Jamaica as quick as possible to secure
FIRST-HAND INFORMATION
and the best possible pictures.
When I arrived in Kingston the gasometer at the gas station in Kingston had heeled over to a forty-five degree angle; but
it had in sufficient gas to inflate the balloon. Six hours after my arrival I was up in the air. I took aerial photographs
of the entire area, of the earthquake and made other scientific observations, as instructed, and forwarded the data and the
photographs to New York and Berlin where they were reproduced in scientific journals.
During my visit here in 1907 I wrote
a series of articles for a New York magazine on the fishing industry, because in the air I could see to the bottom of the
waters around Port Royal. For this thesis Admiral C. M. Chester of the Navy Department of the United States took the data,
wrote scientific articles, and gave me credit of being the man who discovered that sunken objects could be discovered by the
use of a balloon or a dirigible airship.
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| Lovelace and a colleague, 1908 |
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Click here to download whole article on Lovelace in 1931
TOP
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This photo of ruined buildings on Harbour Street appears to have been taken from a balloon, presumably
that of Capt. Lovelace. Unfortunately I have not, so far, been able to track down the location of the entire set of aerial
photos Lovelace took in Kingston in 1907. If they can be located they will form an interesting part of the history of photography
and aviation in Jamaica, as well as of the earthquake.
If you can help me find these aerial photos, please use the
form below:
. . . and after Jamaica?
| Daily Gleaner, August 24, 1908 |
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The last glimpse I have so far found of Lovelace,
before he re-emerged in the Gleaner item in 1931, is this short item in the Washington Post for January
5, 1911. Here he features as well-known aviator and respected aviation expert.
Gen. Frederick Dent Grant,
who spent two hours in going through the international automobile and aviation shows at the Grand Central Palace last night,
showed his undisguised interest and delight over the aeroplane exhibits, and commented on the tragic deaths of Moisant and Hoxsey. While looking at the Wright brothers' 40-foot "Model B" plane with Capt. T. T. Lovelace, the director of the aviation show,
he asked what the effect would be on the aviation, industry of the deaths of the two aviators. Capt. Lovelace, who has built
scores of aeroplanes in this country and in France and England, and who made eighteen flights on Long Island in the last year,
said that the certain result would be that greater care would he taken in the building of planes, and that the aviators themselves
would use greater caution and attempt fewer dare devil stunts.
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