A follow up postcard to our recent post about the American Great White Fleet that included 16 battleships and support vessels,sent by president Theodore Roosevelt on a world peace mission early in the 20th century,which included New Zealand and Australia . It shows sailors landing in Auckland from Honolulu in 1908. A special heart shaped bronze medallion was struck to mark the Auckland visit.
More than half a million people are said to have turned out in Sydney to see the fleet ; it sailed on to Melbourne, Albany,Manila,Yokohama,Colombo,Egypt, Italy, some ships going to the relief of the Messina earthquake,recovering the bodies of the US consul and his wife.
