Places

Bristol

Bolton SS headquarters were clearly in the City of London but the booklet states that traditionally the superintendents were based in the Bristol Channel and some of the early pictures are indeed set at varying locations on the Avon.

A few of the pictures include some interesting settings when taken in enclosed waters.

One such picture is of Rubens manoeuvring with tugs clearly in the River Avon, Bristol. The area is called Hotwells and is right at the entrance to Bristol Floating Dock i.e. Cumberland Basin.

The Rownham Hotel can be seen in the background and according to the sign the landlord is a WJ 'someone' (possibly Baker?)

Searching for that hotel threw this up

http://bristolslostpubs.eu/page89.html

where we can see that from 1904 to 1921 a William Baker was indeed the landlord.

This dates the picture of Rubens to between 1904 to 1909 when she was sold to Chile. So she was pushing 20 years old when it was taken and I must say I've seen much younger modern ships in no where near the good condition in which she appears.

This is the view now, all gone in the name of progress. Compare the vibrant image above with this desolation