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Revisit old Bermuda with 1981 footage

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Historic footage: Flatts Inlet in 1981 (Photograph supplied by Chris Lauterbach)

A journey into Bermuda’s past has been shared by a visitor who shot extensive footage during his island trip in 1981.

The two-hour video includes a trove of sights from 36 years ago.

Chris Lauterbach, of Long Island, said he had kept the video for years before he edited it and uploaded it to videosharing website YouTube.

Mr Lauterbach added: “There are scenes of the then SS Oceanic at anchor, the SS Doric docked in Hamilton and the MS Veendam hurrying into Hamilton.”

The trip was the second of Mr Lauterbach’s three visits, and the film includes vanished landmarks such as the Holiday Inn in St George’s, where work started recently on the St Regis resort, to the popular party boat Canima, which sank five years ago in New Brunswick.

The portable video equipment of the day was heavy and Mr Lauterbach said he was mistaken for an island TV cameraman as he filmed the sights on his bus trip to St George’s.

Mr Lauterbach said Bermuda was an “enchanting island”.

He added: “When most people were still running around with 8mm movie camera or 35mm SLRs, I was out there with some level of camcorder.

“Out of it, I have kept nearly 40 years of sight, sound and motion memories while others have canisters of old film or dusty photo albums. In the last couple of years I taught myself video editing and have uploaded many of my past and recent recordings to YouTube.”