{"id":2237,"date":"2021-12-14T00:20:48","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T00:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/?p=2237"},"modified":"2021-12-14T00:20:48","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T00:20:48","slug":"a-tale-of-adventure-from-the-archives-of-photographer-george-chance-1885-1963","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/a-tale-of-adventure-from-the-archives-of-photographer-george-chance-1885-1963\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tale of Adventure – from the archives of photographer George Chance (1885-1963)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Post researched and written by Anna Petersen, Curator Photographs<\/p>\n

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Figure 1 Barranquila, Colombia, South America, 1906. P1991-023\/01-2222<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Hocken holds the definitive archive of works by English-born photographer, George Chance (1885-1963).\u00a0 The collection encompasses all aspects of his output from original prints, negatives, and colour slides, to proofs, albums, correspondence, sound recordings, written notes and published reproductions in the form of newspaper and journal illustrations and calendars.<\/p>\n

Photograph historian, William Main, drew extensively on this resource when compiling a chronology of Chance\u2019s life and researching his catalogue essay for the Dunedin Public Art Gallery exhibition George Chance: Photographe<\/em>r in 1986. \u00a0That touring exhibition catalogue remains the main publication on Chance\u2019s work and his influence on New Zealand photography, though others have also contributed to the literature since then.[i]<\/a><\/p>\n

This blog serves to illustrate and probe a little deeper into one particular chapter of Chance\u2019s life that Main only mentions in passing.\u00a0 Pieced together primarily from Chance\u2019s own written and recorded accounts, spoken with his fruity London accent, the surprising tale reveals something of Chance\u2019s adventuresome spirit before he ever reached New Zealand and draws attention to images of more international interest that are housed in the Hocken Photographs Collection.[ii]<\/a><\/p>\n

The story began in December 1905.\u00a0 Young \u2018Chancey\u2019, as his friends called him, was working in Regent Street at the time, for the prominent London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company.\u00a0 He held the position of demonstrator\/instructor, showing how the latest cameras and photographic equipment operated to all manner of aristocrats, explorers and famous people.<\/p>\n

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Figure 2 Regent Street, 1907. Album 544, P2007-014\/1-040a<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One day a very tall man with a beard walked in and pledged to buy a complete set of movie and still cameras if the firm provided a man to accompany him on a trip and act as photographer and secretary.\u00a0 It promised to be a valuable commission so \u2018Marmalade\u2019 the salesman, offered \u2018Chancey\u2019 \u00a35 to apply for the job.\u00a0 Chance obviously felt up for the challenge because that Monday he went along for an interview with the mysterious customer, who turned out to be the eccentric English hunter and adventurer, John Talbot Clifton (1868-1928).\u00a0 Talbot Clifton reputably made a habit of sampling the wild animals he came across (including a mammoth found in the Arctic permafrost).[iii]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Figure 3 John Talbot Clifton, 1905. P1991-023\/01-0499<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Talbot Clifton thought George looked a bit young, but George (who was only 19 at the time), reassured him that he wasn\u2019t as young as he looked and he got the 15-month contract, on condition that he got himself a tropical kit and made the ship by Saturday.\u00a0 His father wasn\u2019t too thrilled, and nor were his employers, but George managed to wrangle it and soon found himself in charge of about 30 parcels of guns and supplies, boarding the SS Atrata at Southampton on Christmas Eve.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t until several days into the voyage that he learned that they were bound for Cocos Island, situated in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Costa Rica.\u00a0 They were on a quest in search of lost Spanish gold. As one of several newspaper articles on the subject pasted into the back of Chance\u2019s diary states, there were two alleged buried hoards on the island: \u2018one, a pirate treasure, is valued at between six and twelve millions sterling, and the other \u2013 known as \u201cKeatings treasure\u201d \u2013 is said to be worth three millions\u2019.[iv]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Figure 4 Map of the voyage, n.d. Lantern slide, P1991-023\/03-032<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a rough trip across the Atlantic, the party made a number of stops in quick succession along the upper coast of South America; the first at Barbados on 4 January, where Chance got a photograph of himself in Georgetown, apparently dressed for the part.<\/p>\n

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Figure 5 George Chance in Georgetown, Barbados, 1906. Photographer unknown, P1991-023\/01-0582<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moving on via Trinidad to Venuzuela, Chance was let off at the country\u2019s main port of La Guaira on 7 January for four hours and told to get some native studies.\u00a0 What his boss neglected to mention was just how politically unstable the region of Central America was during this period and as Chance recalled, he did not venture further than the pier.<\/p>\n

A third stop-off in Colombia proved more fruitful from a photographic point of view (figures 1 and 6).\u00a0 Chance recorded in his diary how he \u2018Wandered about the streets [of Barranquilla] + admired the peculiar thatched houses.\u00a0 Streets were very quiet + nearly all shops closed as folk we[re] having afternoon snooze.\u00a0 Got some interesting photos\u2026\u2019.[v]<\/a>\u00a0 There the danger seemed to lie in Savanilla Bay where they observed five wrecks.<\/p>\n

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Figure 6 Natives and home in Colombia, South America, 1906. P1991-023-2344<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next day at Colon, Chance took some rather boring snaps if those in the Hocken Collections are anything to go by.\u00a0 As he noted in his diary \u2018Colon looks an awfully desolate + dreary place, had a big fire there recently so that best part of town is in ruins\u2019.[vi]<\/a> \u00a0From Colon they took a train to Panama, where they found another large fire still raging and Chance almost got his camera saturated with water by a fireman\u2019s hose.\u00a0 The real danger, however, was of a different nature as deaths from Yellow Fever saw work on the canal come to a halt.\u00a0 Still, they had to wait around for the President of Ecuador, General Leonidas Plaza Guierres, to join them on the ship before sailing south to Quayaquil.<\/p>\n

Talbot Clifton and his advisors had chosen Quayaquil in Ecuador as the supply base for the expedition to Cocos Island because of the prevailing winds, but the city would prove another hot bed of political unrest.\u00a0 In an account later published in the Otago Daily Times<\/em> in 1932, Chance related all the details of his conversation with General Guierres on board ship, which indicated that the leader had no real idea of the gravity of the situation. \u00a0Far from saving the day and having his troops photographed by Chance as planned, he was welcomed at Quayaquil by a horde of revolutionaries led by Eloy Alfaro and the President narrowly escaped about a week later with his life.[vii]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Figure 7 Crowd of citizens from Guayaquil meeting the boat loads of revolutionists arriving to join in the revolution, January 1906. P1991-023\/01-2353<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Figure 8 Revolutionists arriving by boats at Guayaquil, Ecuador, January 1906. P1991-023\/01-2349<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Exactly how much at risk the expedition party ever was at during the revolution is a little hard to gauge.\u00a0 \u00a0Chance wrote in a letter to his parents on 19 January from the Gran Hotel Paris:<\/p>\n

Our ship arrived here yesterday morning.\u00a0 The town is not on the sea coast as I at first thought but some miles up a very wide river, it is one of the finest towns on the whole of the S. America coast + we have put up at the very best hotel.\u00a0 Mr C. has two rooms + I have a nice room to myself overlooking the river.\u00a0 This is the order of the day.\u00a0 Coffee is served from 7am to 9.\u00a0 Breakfast 10.30 to 12.30 Dinner 5.30 up to 8.0[.]\u00a0 Some of the dishes are rather curious + want getting used to but I make a point of eating plain food + plenty of fruit + this I find agrees with me very well.[viii]<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We know that Chance did not want his family worrying and tensions did escalate.\u00a0 The letter is unfinished and his diary entry for the same day reads \u2018For hours bullets were passing our windows + striking the tin roofs\u2026\u2019.[ix]<\/a><\/p>\n

There was definitely some fierce street fighting during the night when at least 150 people lost their lives and Chance undoubtedly had one or two nasty frights during his stay at Guayaquil.\u00a0 Inscribed photographs provide evidence of some of the worst scenes that Chance encountered when he eventually ventured out of his room with his new friend, Captain Voss. \u00a0He noted on the back of the photograph in figure 9:<\/p>\n

Bullet holes on plaster.\u00a0 Capt. Voss is the centre right figure[.] In this native square were many dead bodies mostly the result of hand to hand fighting with knives \u2013 I was violently sick at the sight + because of any native reaction when I might have been knifed on the spot I did not attempt further photographs \u2013 200 were killed that night.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Figure 9 After the revolution, 1906. P1991-023\/01-2354<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Captain John Voss was another colourful character who had already acquired fame by this time for a journey he made around the world in a dug-out canoe called the Tilikum and joined the party in Quayaquil with the job of leading the treasure hunt.[x]<\/a><\/p>\n

Sadly the treasure-hunting aspect of the adventure ended in disappointment. \u00a0Chance tells of how they purchased a 50 ton barque at Quayaquil and sailed to Cocos Island (also famous for its shark-infested waters).[xi]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0They stayed only a very short time and had to abandon any further plans because of the fighting and rampant fever.\u00a0 In other words, the Talbot Clifton expedition, became just another of the many failed attempts to locate gold on the island over the years, though the place continues to capture people\u2019s imaginations in fictional accounts, from Robert Louis Stevenson\u2019s Treasure Island<\/em> to Michael Crighton\u2019s Jurassic Park<\/em>.[xii]<\/a><\/p>\n

Back in Quayaquil, things literally began to fall apart.\u00a0 Chance was developing some photographs when an earthquake struck and the front of his room fell down into the street.\u00a0 According to Violet Talbot, who later wrote in an account of her husband\u2019s life after his death (en route to Timbuktu!), \u2018news came that the Chilean Government would not allow any more expeditions to Los Cocos.\u00a0 Talbot had to pay off his men who were glad to be freed, for they had had their fill of danger.\u00a0 The outbreak of yellow fever and the revolution were followed by more earthquakes\u2019.[xiii]<\/a><\/p>\n

Clifton Talbot decided to do a little exploring instead, hoping amongst other things, to find the source of the Amazon.\u00a0 According to Chance, he was not allowed to follow because he was under 21, so he decided to do a little exploring of his own. Chance did not leave precise details of this part of the journey but he suffered intermittent fevers from malaria that he had contracted in Barbados and ended up in the canal zone where he stayed for several months before returning to England.<\/p>\n

Chance was welcomed back into his old job in London, now the company\u2019s expert in the specialised field of tropical photography. (They had tried photographing wild animals at night in Central America with the aid of a primitive kind of flash powder, but Chance didn\u2019t like it much and it was more exciting than successful. Apart from anything else \u2018there were some nasty little snakes, which looked like branches of trees, which if they bit you, well, it was good night\u2019).[xiv]<\/a>\u00a0 Most notably, Winston Churchill would come for several afternoon lessons in preparation for his tour of East Africa in 1907.\u00a0 This contact caused Chance to fear for his position, as Winston forgot to roll on his films and when given the job of developing the precious negatives, Chance had to front up with 200 blanks.<\/p>\n

Chance was always ambitious and eighteen months later, he put aside photography for a while and trained to be an optician \u2013 a profession that would eventually lead to a job on the other side of the world in Dunedin in 1909.\u00a0 On leaving the British Stereoscopic Company, the General Manager commended Mr George Chance, Junior for being a \u2018good salesman attentive to his duties, punctual and excellent manners and address\u2019 and that he had \u2018assisted in various outdoor expeditions requiring smartness and ability\u2019.[xv]<\/a>\u00a0 I dare say, not all of the outdoor expeditions were quite as dangerous and exciting as the Cocos Island mission.<\/p>\n

Although the expedition to Central America failed to produce the great riches the Talbot Clifton party had dreamed about, Chance did manage to save \u00a3300 while he was away, which left him a young man of means, with a fine story to dine out on for the rest of his life.\u00a0 In a way, the surviving photographs are the real treasure, available now to everyone in the Hocken Collections, thanks to the generosity of the Chance family.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

References<\/p>\n

[i]<\/a> See Linda Tyler, George Chance: Improving on Nature<\/em>, exhibition catalogue, Gus Fisher Gallery, University of Auckland, 2006 and David Eggleton, Into the Light: A History of New Zealand Photography<\/em>, Nelson, 2006, pp. 49-50.<\/p>\n

[ii]<\/a> Thank you to David Murray for providing copies of the sound recordings in Hocken Archives, MS-5119 and to Sarah Fairhurst for her suggestions.\u00a0 All figures taken by George Chance, unless otherwise stated.<\/p>\n

[iii]<\/a> https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Talbot_Clifton<\/a> (accessed 29\/11\/2021).<\/p>\n

[iv]<\/a> \u2018Island\u2019s Vast Treasures. Admiral Palliser and New Cocos Expedition. Doomed to Failure\u2019, Daily Express<\/em>, 2 April 1906.<\/p>\n

[v]<\/a> George Chance, Diary, 9 January 1906, MS 3158\/142.<\/p>\n

[vi]<\/a> Ibid., 10 January 1906.<\/p>\n

[vii]<\/a> \u2018General Guierrez Ups and Downs of a President\u2019s Life: Dunedin man recalls revolution in Ecuador\u2019, Evening Star<\/em>, 21 September 1932.<\/p>\n

[viii]<\/a> George Chance, Letter to parents, 19 January 1905 [sic], MS-3176\/005.<\/p>\n

[ix]<\/a>Diary, 19 January 1906.<\/p>\n

[x]<\/a> See J.M. MacFarlane and L.J. Salmon, Around the World in a Dugout Canoe: The Untold Story of Captain John Voss<\/em>, Canada, 2020 for Voss\u2019s own account of the conflict at Guayaquil, as well as details of Voss\u2019s previous trip to Cocos Island and other photographs relating to the Talbot Clifton expedition – \u00a0which include George Chance (though wrongly identified).<\/p>\n

[xi]<\/a> See https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cocos_Island (accessed 29\/11\/2021).<\/p>\n

[xii]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[xiii]<\/a> V. Clifton, The Book of Talbot<\/em>, London, 1933, p.280.<\/p>\n

[xiv]<\/a> Chance reel 4, 26.49-55, MS-5119.\u00a0 No examples of these animal photographs are included in the Hocken Collections.<\/p>\n

[xv]<\/a> Letter of commendation, 23 October 1907, MS-3158\/142.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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