[Alexander Forbes—home movies] Reel 2, Accession 2533

Date1933

AbstractCan notes: "On Board Ramah 1933 Hyannis to Naples #1" Subjects: Yachts and yachting, Sailboats, Sailing, Ramah was a 97 ft. schooner owned by Alexander Forbes. He sailed it to Labrador in 1931, and took an all-male amateur crew, including his brother Edward and other relatives from Cape Cod to Naples, Italy, in the summer of 1933. He left the ship there for the winter, and returned in the summer of 1934 with a crew of seventeen, including his own family, Samuel Eliot Morison, and a group of college boys to make a six weeks' cruise of the Mediterranean. Shots on board the Ramah under sail. CUs of some crew members, and views of crew members doing various tasks on board. Several climb the rigging, one slides down a halyard. One wears an "M" sweater from Milton Academy. One uses a sextant. One jumps into the water for a swim. Shots of crew members in swim suits jumping onto rigging, on lookout duty, and spotting a large sea turtle. They launch one of the ship's dories, and views from the dory looking back at Ramah under sail. On a quiet day under sail, one crew member gives another a haircut. In a silly game, one crew member is put off in a dory (its bowline still attached to the Ramah) as a punishment. Finally, he reels himself in. Another crewman in pirate's garb poses as a lookout in the rigging, then we see several crew members relaxing in a dory on deck. One member tries swimming and hanging on to a line over the side of the ship while it is underway. Views of dolphins swimming and diving alongside the ship. Views of an (Italian?) official in uniform coming aboard ship, while two dories full of local men are in tow along the ship. Pan the coastline with very steep fields, and local fishermen rowing against the tide. Several local men on board with the official (to help navigate the ship into the harbor?). Views of very hilly fishing village, and people lined up to watch and pose for the camera. Young boys mug for the camera, smoking cigarettes, etc. Pans from water level of very treacherous rocky harbor, and views of dory full local men and crew members being carried along by the tide. panning views from the ship of mountainous and rocky shoreline, and a mountain with its top in the low clouds. Some film damage in this sequence.