7773. On Board S.S. Andania, en route Canada. 9.7.14.

This is a great image. It was addressed to Mr. T. Hay--- [Hayden??], c/o Mr. A. Durie, Clarkson, Ontario. The woman's face in the porthole at lower left adds an excellent touch.

Okay ... so we have a ship, and a date, and a (sort of) destination, so maybe the ships' passenger lists on Ancestry.com will tell us something. Sure enough, they do. The Andania set sail from Southampton on July 9, 1914 and arrived at Quebec on July 18, 1914. Now if only we knew who the people were!

Hmm ... who would have bought this postcard? Not the people on the ship, most likely. Someone on shore. What might that person then have done with it? Well, one thing he or she might have done would be to post it to the person in the photo once he'd reached his destination. So maybe Mr. T. Hay--- is in the photo (the fact that his address is "care of" someone else suggests someone who isn't yet settled in Canada). So, look through the passenger list and we're in luck! Thomas Hayden, age 18, a draughtsman, born England, final destination Toronto (Clarkson is just outside Toronto). The fellow in centre of the photo fits the bill perfectly -- he's looking at his family and/or friends, no doubt, posing for one last photo prior to leaving for Canada.

The thing is, that he might have had to come right back, as war was about to break out. Ancestry is of further help here ... he actually avoided that fate by emigrating to the U.S. on February 1, 1916. His full name -- Thomas Alfred Page Hayden -- is revealed on his U.S. naturalization form, filled out in 1938. By that time, he was living in Alhambra, Los Angeles, California with his wife and son (who died in 2010). I've uploaded a copy of the form.

Seller's description:

This evocative view of passengers aboard the Cunard liner Andania in July 1914 recalls the golden age of the transatlantic liners. The Andania was allowed only a brief lifespan. She was launched in March 1913, made her maiden voyage that July, and in August 1914 was requisitioned as a troop ship. She carried Canadian troops to England, served briefly as a POW ship in the Thames and carried troops during the Gallipoli campaign, and then returned to carrying Canadian troops. She was returned to passenger service on the Liverpool-New York run in 1917, but in January 1918 was torpedoed and sunk off Ireland by U-46.