U.S.S. Vixen, Maxim machine gun and gunner Smith – Historic Print
![U.S.S. Vixen, Maxim machine gun and gunner Smith, [between 1898 and 1901] — historic photograph](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/d4/d4a42d8edc7d-L.webp)
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
A window into the past: U.S.S. Vixen, Maxim machine gun and gunner Smith, preserved in this historic photograph. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.
Framed, it is ready for the wall; unframed, it is ready for the frame you choose. A conversation-starting piece for home, office, or as a meaningful gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past, founded in 2001, has served tens of thousands of customers worldwide.
U.S.S. Vixen, Maxim machine gun and gunner Smith
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Sailor Smith, the gunner pictured beside the Maxim machine gun aboard the U.S.S. Vixen, is named in the title as the man who fired 400 consecutive shots at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba on July 3, 1898. That engagement ended the Spanish squadron's attempt to escape the American blockade off eastern Cuba, and sustained rapid fire from light weapons like the Maxim was part of the close-quarters fighting at sea. The Detroit Publishing Company, which made the photograph, later sold views of the ships and sites of the war, and the image shows how the new automatic weapons were handled on a small American gunboat.
| Created / published | [between 1898 and 1901] |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 negative : glass ; 8 x 10 in. |
| Genre | Dry plate negatives. |
| Notes | Date based on Detroit, Catalogue J (1901). Title on jacket continues: ... who fired 400consecutive shots at Battle of Santiago, July 3, 1898. Detroit Publishing Co. no. 021051. Gift; State Historical Society of Colorado; 1949. |
| Subjects | Vixen (Gunboat) United States.--Navy. Seamen--American. Machine guns. Gunboats--American. Santiago, Battle of, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, 1898. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection |
| Original scan | 973 × 784 px |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-DET-64233 |
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