Photography: One photographer from one rescue boat took his box camera onto the shore of Cape Sabine to document the rescue. To give you an idea about conditions on the island, the large and heavy camera on a sturdy tripod kept getting blown over by the gale-like wind. He ended up only taking 2 pictures, 2 of the collapsed tent and two of the burial ridge, before giving up.

“Of course photography was available at this time”. Laura you seem to be implying that ‘at this time’ was somewhere in the middle to late 1800’s by the statements that follow about the rescue. The photography that was available at the time of the rescue was most probably one of a handful of wet plate processes that followed the daguerreotype; flexible film was invented by Eastman Kodak around 1885 but then took years to be produced and available. Wet plates were metal or glass plates that were treated, or had treated paper, that would react to light to capture the images. These plates were also large, compared to the film that followed, and do not appear to be compatible with the ‘mystery object’.

Trivia – the first photo of space taken with a telescope was in 1880; the birth of astrophotography.

Oh and for the record (if there is a record) I was not correct with my guess on the last ‘mystery object’; I learned from my neighbors. Thank you all.