LIFE

recorder GRAMCO (- ; a / b / c)

- Passport Application # 3814 (issued on 16 July 1898 and also signed by Joseph Sanders)
- Passport Application # 848 (issued on 21 Jan 1901 by US Embassy at London, UK)
- Passport Application # 78283 (issued on 18 Sep 1903 at Washington and also signed by Rudolph Forster)
- Passport Application # 951 (issued on 2 July 1909 by US Embassy at London, UK) NOT AVAILABLE
- Passport Application # 12530 (issued on 6 Aug 1909 by US Embassy at London, UK)
- Passport Application # 27634 (issued on 11 May 1910 by State Department) NOT AVAILABLE
- Passport Application # 65958 (issued on 15 Jan 1912 and 27 Jan 1912 by US Embassy at London)
- Passport Application # 22196 (issued on 7 Feb 1914 by American Embassy at London, UK)
- Passport Application # 18403 (issued on 21 Feb 1916 by Department of State)
- Passport Application # 64111 (issued on 31 Aug 1917 by American Consulate at Milan, ITALY)
- Passport Application # 22939 or 22937 (issued 19 June 1918 by American Consulate at Milan, ITALY)
- Passport Application # 138670 (issued on 18 Nov 1919)
- (emergency) Passport Application # 1126 (issued on 3 Aug 1920 by American Embassy at Rome, ITALY)
- Passport Application # 132610 (issued on 22 Jan 1921 by Department of State at Washington)
- Passport Application # 247257 (issued on 2 Feb 1923 by Department of State at Washington)



F. W. GAISBERG (25y) expert
+ Joseph SANDERS (20y) electrician
ethnicity: US Citizen
profession: ...........
date of departure: 23 July 1898
port of departure: New York, USA
ship's name: SS "UMBRIA" (Cunard Lines)
date of arrival: 31 July 1898
port of arrival: Liverpool, UK

At one time there existed uncertainty about the date Fred Gaisberg arrived in Britain.
According to Music on Record, p. 27 Gaisberg boarded the SS "UMBRIA" on 1 July 1898, and we read on page 242 of A Voice in Time that Brian Rust remarks: "I reminded him [= Fred Gaisberg] that ... he had arrived in London on July 9, 1898, and the date on the disc was only four weeks later."

But A Voice in Time, p. 28 describes 22 July 1898 as one of the last days Gaisberg was in the USA.
(on board he met Bert Shep(p)ard - A Voice in Time, p. 29)
Gaisberg's Passport Application # 3814 (issued on 16 July 1898 and co-signed by Joseph Sanders) points to a post-16 July 1898 departure date, which rules out both 1 July 1898 as the date of Gaisberg's departure and 9 July as the date of his arrival in Britain.
In my version of The Fred Gaisberg Diaries Part 1 - USA & Europe (1898 - 1902) (illustrated) I had already set the record straight and presented the true facts, which did away with any previous misconceptions.

In August 2017 I received the following comments from Peter Adamson, which amply confirm that the facts as later presented in my version of The Fred Gaisberg Diaries Part 1 - USA & Europe (1898 - 1902) (illustrated) were correct.
Mr Adamson rightly pointed out there was not any uncertainty, as I mentioned in an earlier version of Fred Gaisberg's personal file on my website. This is what Adamson remarked on the subject:

I would suggest that there is no 'uncertainty' about Gaisberg's arrival in Britain in 1898. Brian Rust, Jerrold Northrop Moore -- and Fred himself -- were simply wrong! (However, Fred did remember the ship's name correctly and Rust admitted that he'd extrapolated in order to invent a date that 'fitted'.) I proved that the date of '2 August 1898' on a disc owned by Rust was a mistake for (probably 2) September 1898, and that the first London discs are those dated '8-8-98' (which may be wrong by a day or so as Fred wasn't too accurate on dates, even at the time -- as you know from his diaries).

I found no other evidence that Fred met Burt Shepard on the ship in 1898. In fact he could not have done so, as Shepard was appearing on stage nightly at the Palace Theatre of Varieties in London at the time!

There's quite a number of different artists being tried out within the first three months of recording in 1898, but Burt Shepard is not one of them. I expect that Gaisberg discovered Shepard on stage (during his first month in London in August) and realised that he'd found the voice he needed. Perhaps he met someone else on the boat, and mis-remembered that person as Shepard? Reminiscence is notoriously unreliable, as I have found when scrutinising my own 'firm memories'!
(e-mail from Peter Adamson)



F. W. GAISBERG
ethnicity: US Citizen
profession: ...........
date of departure: 9 Dec 1899
port of departure: Liverpool, ENGLAND, UK
ship's name: SS "ETRURIA" (Cunard Lines)
date of arrival: 17 Dec 1899
age on arrival:
(source: The Fred Gaisberg Diaries - Part 3 (in The Talking Machine Review, p. 1404))

Then by train to Washington

By train .............



F. W. GAISBERG
ethnicity: US Citizen
profession: ...........
date of departure: 24 Jan 1900
port of departure: New York, USA
ship's name: SS "NEW YORK"
date of arrival: 1 Feb 1900
place of arrival: Southampton
(sources: The Fred Gaisberg Diaries - Part 3 (in The Talking Machine Review, p. 1448), but: Thursday = 2 Febr and 1 Febr = Wednesday and A Voice in Time, p. 43)


I set out on a visit home after an absence of two years. I sailed from Liverpool on the steamer Majestic, and arrived in New York Thursday the 26th [December 1901], after a rather rough and stormy passage

F. W. GAISBERG
SS "MAJESTIC"
dep. Liverpool: 18 Dec 1901
arr. New York: 26 Dec 1901


I sailed from N.Y. on the the S. Teutonic. After a monotonous voyage I arrived in London.

F. W. GAISBERG
SS "TEUTONIC"
dep. New York: 15 Jan 1902
arr. London: 23 Jan 1902
(source: The Fred Gaisberg Diaries - Part 6 (in: The Talking Machine Review No. 62, 1980, p. 1686))

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28 Sep 1902, LONDON
Left Liverpool Street Station



SS "COROMANDEL"
September 1902 to August 1903 to Far East (+ George Dillnutt + Tom Addis + Mrs. Addis)
Calcutta - Singapore - Hong Kong - Shanghai - Tokio - Bangkok - Rangoon
Returned to London via Singapore - Calcutta - Delhi - Bombay - Marseilles


GIBRALTAR


11 October 1902, PORT SAID
SUEZ

15 October 1902 (Wednesday): at 6 0o'c a.m. we arrived at ADEN, Arabia.


22 October 1902 (Wednesday) at 4 o'c we arrived at Colombo

24 October 1902 (Friday) Once again on my floating home


27 October 1902 (Monday night): arrival at CALCUTTA (river Hooghly)


29 October 1902 (Wednesday)


30 October 1902 (Thursday)


31 October 1902 (Friday)


16 ..... 1902 (Sunday)


27 ..... 1902 (Thursday)



Indian:
E 1000 - 1336 (7")
E 100 - 316 (10")

11 December
We embarked the SS "JAPAN"
In New Year's week of 1903 we arrived in Yokohama

21 December 1902 (Sunday)

22 December 1902 (Monday)
At 10 o'clock we got off


23 December 1902 (Tuesday)

24 December 1902 (Wedenesday) Christmas Eve

25 December 1902 (Thursday)

26 December 1902 (Friday)


27 December 1902 (Saturday) We passed through the Straits between Sumatra and Malay Peninsula.
Reached Singapore on:
28 Dec 1902


29 Dec 1902 (Monday): On our way to Hong Kong


SS "CHUSAN" (P. & O. Lines)

TOKIO
19 Jan 1903 (Monday)
21 Jan 1903 (Wednesday)

4 Feb 1903 (Wednesday)
We made some 54 records of the Imperial Household Band

12 Feb 1903: Tokio: As to-day we had the afternoon free ..........
13 Feb 1903: I am beginning to like .....

28 Feb 1903 (Saturday)
We made records


(In all I recorded some six hundred titles covering every variety of the national music - Music on Record, p. 59)
Japanese:
E 1337 - 1502 (7")
E 317 - 426 (10")


By train to KOBE, our port of departure


FORMOSA (TAIWAN)
2 March 1903



SHANGHAI
(Moutrie & Co.)
16 Mar 1903 (Monday)

17 March 1903 (Tuesday)

18 Mar 1903 (Wednesday): We made our first records

Up to the 27th March [1903] we made 325 records
Chinese-Mandarin:
E 1503 - 1702 (7")
E 429 - 557 (10")


SS "CHUSAN"
Days were lost waiting for the Chusan to take them back to Hong Kong. When finally it did sail, .....
By the time they had set up in Hong Kong, and brought in some performers, nearly a month had passed.
HONG KONG (Apr 1903)
23 Apr 1903 (Thursday) We made some 35 records
24 Apr 1903 (Friday) We made 45 records
25 Apr 1903 (Sat.) We made 45 records
26 Apr 1903 (Sunday) We made 20 records before 12 o'c and by 3 o'c had packed our boxes and soldered the tins and were ready to decamp.

Chinese-Cantonese:
E 1703 - 1788 (7")
E 558 - 618 (10")


CANTON


SINGAPORE (mid-May)
A week's work
George Dillnutt recalled back to London "there not being enough work to keep him".
Malay:
E 1789 - 1868 (7")
E 619 - 659 (10")

Javanese, Dutch, etc.:
E 1869 - 1932* (7")
E 660 - 688* (10")




SS "KORAT"
BANGKOK
arrived on 1 June 1903
4 day's work yielded a hundred records
Siamese:
E 2000 - 2065* (7")
E 750 - 780* (10")


back to SINGAPORE



18 June 1903: We sailed at daylight .....
20 June 1903: Last night
RANGOON (BIRMA/MYANMAR) (June 1903)
Final 4 days of recording
Burmese:
E 2100 - 2189* (7")
E 800 - 868* (10")

CALCUTTA - DELHI - BOMBAY


ADEN



MARSEILLES



Arrived at Victoria Station (LONDON) on 5 Aug 1903
(sources: Music on Record, pp. 52-65; A Voice in Time, pp. 77-85)

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F. W. GAISBERG
+ J. [John] Watson HAWD (38y)
ethnicity: US Citizen
profession: ...........
date of departure: 12 Aug 1903
port of departure: Liverpool, ENGLAND, UK
ship's name: SS "OCEANIC"
date of arrival: 20 Aug 1903
age on arrival: 31y
place of residence:
marital status:
no further data given



F. W. GAISBERG
+ Louise GAISBERG
SS "Minneapolis"
dep. New York: late Sep 1903
arr. ........: ..............
(source: A Voice in Time, pp. 86-87)



F. W. GAISBERG
+ Louise GAISBERG
SS "............."
dep. ......: ......., 1906
arr. New York: ......., 1906
(source: A Voice in Time, p. 102)



F. W. GAISBERG
+ Louise GAISBERG
SS "............."
dep. New York: ......., 1906
arr. UK: ......., 1906 (autumn)
(source: A Voice in Time, p. 102)



Frederick Wm GAISBERG
+ Mrs. Emma GAISBERG (54y)
+ Louisa (21y)
+ Warren Rud. FORSTER
+ Emma FORSTER
ethnicity: US Citizen
profession: engineer
date of departure: 22 June 1907
port of departure: Antwerp, BELGIUM
ship's name: SS "VADERLAND"
date of arrival: 3 July 1907
age on arrival: 34y
place of residence: ............
marital status: married



Fred'k. Wm. GAISBERG
ethnicity: US Citizen
profession: engineer
date of departure: 10 June 1916
port of departure: Liverpool, ENGLAND, UK
ship's name: SS "ST. LOUIS"
date of arrival: 18 June 1916
port of arrival: New York
age on arrival: 43y
place of residence: .............
marital status: married
final destination: Rudolph FORSTER [Emma Gaisberg's husband; A Voice in Time, p. 151], 3304 17th Street N.W., Washington DC
[born:] 1 Jan 1873, Washington DC



Left the United States on 12 July 1916 (PA # 22939)



Fred W. GAISBERG
ethnicity: US Citizen
profession: ..........
date of departure:
port of departure: Southampton
ship's name: SS "ADRIATIC"
date of arrival: 27 Oct 1921
age on arrival: 48y
place of residence: ..............
marital status: married
[born:] 1 Jan 1873, Washington DC


1928



1939



Early in April 1946 Fred sailed. Arriving in Canada, he took the opportunity for a day's visit with Emile Berliner's son Herbert, who owned a pressing factory in Montreal.
Washington
New York
mid-June 1946 Fred + sister Carrie sailed back to UK.
Lived at 42, Crediton Hill, West Hampstead (semi-detached house)

The Fred Gaisberg Diaries Part 1 - USA & Europe (1898 - 1902) (illustrated) by Fred Gaisberg The Fred Gaisberg Diaries Part 2 - Going East (1902 - 1903) (illustrated) by Fred Gaisberg