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"Ship at Duke Street Dock, 1950s" This month's photo of the Alexandria waterfront dates to the 1950s. A young man and his dog are fishing near the Duke Street dock, in view of the docked cargo ship MV Finnpulp. For a charming reminiscence of growing up in Alexandria in the 50s, see Dr. Stephen Williams article "Nostalgic Account of Growing Up in Old Town in the 1950's" in the Fall 2002 Historic Alexandria Quarterly, reference copy available in Local History/Special Collections. -- Vertical File, #1442
The Alexandria Library's photograph collection primarily depicts life and architecture in Alexandria. An index of photographs is available for browsing at Special Collections at the Barrett Library, 717 Queen Street. For information on obtaining high quality copies of photographs, please see the photo duplication form on this site. |
No one looking at this peaceful scene in the early 1950s would foretell the Finnpulp's heroic future. Built in 1927, the Yarmouth Castle had been repurposed several times. In 1965 she was a cruise ship with a bi-weekly run from Miami to Nassau. Fresh from a drydock inspection and corrective maintenance to her fire safety system, she set out on 12 November 1965. Shortly after midnight a crew member reported smoke in the engine spaces. After a fruitless search for the source of the smoke, more smoke was reported in one of the men's washrooms. By 12:45 am, a chaotic blend of crew and passengers were on the hunt. The radio operator was off duty (there were supposed to be two); by the time he appeared the radio room was on fire and the emergency communication gear was also inaccessible. At 1:25 am the abandon ship command was given, but the ship's communication system was not working and many passengers did not hear it. The Captain, some of the crew, and four passengers lowered a lifeboat and made their way toward the MV Finnpulp. The rest of the crew and passengers awaited rescue on the burning ship. As the fire raged, many passengers found the only way to exit their staterooms was to break out the portholes and drop into the water. The Finnpulp had been nearly eight miles away when the fire was first spotted. Her Captain was notified of the fire at 1:30 am, by 1:32 she was headed for the Yarmouth Castle. Unable to raise Nassau, Captain Lehto reported a vessel on fire to the Coast Guard. By 2:15 am, the Finnpulp had reached the Yarmouth Castle. Initially drawing near enough to allow survivors to board directly from the Yarmouth Castle, the Finnpulp's paint began to blister and run from the heat. Her captain directed that she pull away but that the lifeboats be put in the water. By 4 am, all survivors had been pulled from the sea. Ninety-two people were saved by the Finnpulp and her crew. Another 373 people were saved by the SS Bahama Star, a passenger ship that had also noted the fire and changed course to assist. Around 6 am, the Yarmouth Castle sank. Eighty-five passengers and two crew were listed as missing and presumed dead. Of twelve badly burned people who were airlifted off the ships for medical assistance, three died bringing the total dead to ninety. In the dispassionate analysis of the timeline and causes of the fire that is the report titled Marine Board of Investigation, SS Yarmouth Castle, the Coast Guard panel included praise for the crew of the MV Finnpulp and the SS Bahama Star. "That the rescue effort of the SS Bahama Star and the MV Finnpulp was performed in an exemplary manner and in keeping with the highest traditions of the sea." The Coast Guard review of the Yarmouth Castle tragedy presented a series of recommendations that were eventually folded into the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (SOLAS 1974). The Finnpulp continued to carry cargo until she was decommissioned in 1968. (Maritime Museum of Finland) |
In honor of the Finnpulp, our recipe of the month is Marble Cake, the closest we could come in our Virginia cookbooks to Finland's Tiger Cake (Tiikerikakku). Finland's cake is irregular stripes of chocolate and vanilla batter, layered and baked in a bundt pan. Our marble cake is a dark spice cake layered with a lighter cake. Traditionally, marble cake is blobbed into the pan to form the marble, but just this once let's do tiger stripes. |
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| The dark: | The light: |
| Spice Cake: Cream a coffee cup(1) of well washed butter, with two cups yellow sugar(2) and one cup black molasses. Add to it one after the other, seven egg yolks, beating hard between. When all are in, add one tablespoon whiskey, or brandy, one teaspoonful grated chocolate, teaspoonful each of powdered cloves, allspice, ginger, mace, and cinnamon, a grated nutmeg, and half a saltspoonful(3) of powdered black pepper. Add also a pinch of salt, and the barest dusting of paprika. If whiskey is for any reason disapproved, use strong, clear coffee instead, putting in two spoonfuls, and leaving out the chocolate. Beat all together hard for ten minutes, then add four scant cups flour browned in the oven but not burned. Sift after browning, adding to it two teaspoonfuls baking powder. Beat hard five minutes after the flour is all in, then pour in a deep, well greased pan, lined with buttered paper, let rise ten minutes with the oven door open, then bake in quick heat until dark through. | Marble Cake: Make up egg-yolks into spice cake, beat the whites very light, and add to them three cups of sifted sugar, beaten smooth in a large cup of creamed butter. Put in a wineglass of whiskey(4) or brandy, then add three cups and a half flour sifted three times with a heaping teaspoonful baking powder. Put the light and dark batter by alternate spoonfuls in pans well buttered and papered, let rise and bake the same as spice cake. Else bake the light and dark batter in layers, put together with any good filling, and frost with caramel frosting. |
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4. What's with all the whiskey? Well you might ask. Mrs. McCulloch-Williams used whiskey to thin stiff batters: "Rose water or a liqueur have the same effect but give their own flavor -- which whiskey does not." (p. 138) She was also an unusual southern lady in that she wasn't averse to the occasional sampling of the whiskey. |
Recipe from Dishes and Beverages of the Old South by Martha McCulloch-Williams, a facsimile of the original published in 1813 with a new introduction by John Egerton. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1988. (VA REF 641.5973 McC) For an easier, modernized recipe try: Marble Molasses Pound Cake on bakingandbooks.com |
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