The Bents embarked on a ‘fleet’ of ships during their twenty years of explorations to the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Africa, from 1880 to 1900 (see the interactive maps on this site for additional info!). They would have spent thousands of pounds on the fares, taking 1st class where they could (often sponsored by London institutions). One way to Cape Town in the late 1870s was the modern equivalent of about £2500, the Bents steamed there in 1891.
The following blog posts investigate just some of these vessels:
- A Mercedes, Bents, and St. Paul – with Theodore and Mabel on Crete, April 1885
- Syrna – a squall and its aftermath in the Dodecanese, April 1888
- The Kidnap and Travels of the Karpathos Lady
- The Bents and the Raj
- The Bents – Great Friends of Kastellorizo
- Mabel, Theodore, and Thomas Cook & Son
- Mabel tours the wards – The English Hospital, Jaffa, 1909
- The Bents and thoughts of and for Beira, March 2019
- Over the rainbow with the Bents
- The Bents’ Fleet: vessels travelled on in the Levant, Africa, and Arabia by Theodore and Mabel Bent, c. 1880-1900