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Other Stuff => Workbench => Topic started by: FifteensAway on April 13, 2023, 01:51:40 AM

Title: Seeking assistance: Central American 1930s port
Post by: FifteensAway on April 13, 2023, 01:51:40 AM

I am planning a game that will take place in a Central American port - on the eastern side. 

Can anyone post 1930s photos of seaports in that part of the world? 

I tried Google but didn't have a lot of luck. 

I can wing a lot of it but I'd like a bit more actual historical inspiration for the buildings in the form of photos.  Think in terms of a port loading bananas onto tramp steamers - or even dedicated steamers.  And I'm looking as much for the town behind the port as the port and its machinery - if not more so.  I was in the US Navy so I have a good sense of the industrial side of the project - but welcome photos for that, too.

Thanks to anyone who can help.

Title: Re: Seeking assistance: Central American 1930s port
Post by: Codsticker on April 13, 2023, 03:05:45 AM

I have something similar planned for an Asian port of the same era. I picked a city- in my case Macao- and looked at period photos of it for inspiration. I found a panoramic photo of the port of Belize City from Wikipedia (link (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belize_City#/media/File:British_Honduras_1914.jpg)):


It is also worth looking at photos from Cuba as a lot of architecture has not been changed since the revolution:
(https://c8.alamy.com/comp/H3W1RY/1930s-1940s-passenger-ferry-at-waterfront-dock-havana-cuba-H3W1RY.jpg)

Title: Re: Seeking assistance: Central American 1930s port
Post by: carlos marighela on April 13, 2023, 09:23:03 AM

Have a search for images of Bluefields in Nicaragua. It was the scene of several US interventions in he early 20thC.

I'll start you off.

Title: Re: Seeking assistance: Central American 1930s port
Post by: carlos marighela on April 13, 2023, 09:25:49 AM

http://montenegrobaena.blogspot.com/2017/02/navy-jazz-band-la-arqueologia-del-jazz.html

If you want something a bit grander try googling Ciudad de Panama decada de 1930. There are heaps of photos of Panama City from the period in question.

Title: Re: Seeking assistance: Central American 1930s port
Post by: FifteensAway on April 13, 2023, 03:26:37 PM

Thanks for the images and information.  I guess I should have mentioned I am looking to build a port that is something of a backwater sort of place, not a 'high octane' metropolis.  But definitely along the lines of US interventions - just with some added international players and local wannabes.  Definitely a highly fictional setting but not in the "wild blue yonder", well, not too far out there.  Might be a few 'oddities' tossed in the mix.

It will be the sort of place where, even if anachronistic, there will still be horse mounted cavalry and horse drawn wagons alongside any possible motor cars.  And the ship loading and unloading equipment won't, generally, be the most modern but certainly able to handle large and heavy loads.  That is key.

Title: Re: Seeking assistance: Central American 1930s port
Post by: Burgundavia on April 13, 2023, 04:32:30 PM

I found some interesting photos of Belize City from the early parts of the 20th century
https://www.sanignaciobelize.com/from-british-honduras-to-belize/
https://belize.com/a-brief-history-of-modern-day-belize/

Attached a picture of the foreshore. Looks like they just pulled up to the shore in the Belize River.

From what I've seen, I'd say the development scale seems to be pull up on river bank, then pull up next to hardened river bank and then wharves in ascending order of sophistication

Title: Re: Seeking assistance: Central American 1930s port
Post by: FifteensAway on April 14, 2023, 03:42:03 AM

Burgundavia,

Thanks for the photo and the links.  That first link includes another useful photo. 

And the upriver portion gives me food for thought.  Having my port upriver will work a treat and blend in well with what I have in mind.