ltwilliammowett

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The whaler Hope amid the ice flows by Frank Henry Mason (1875-1965)

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Topsail schooner Pride of Baltimore II at the dock in Erie, Pennsylvania, July 1, 2025.

Video by @the-golden-vanity.

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Two versions of Naufrage du trois mats Emily en 1823(Wreck of the three master Emily) both by Eugène Louis Gabriel Isabey (1803-1886)

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'Louis af Diéppe' in distress, Georges Haquette (1854-1906) date unk.

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HMS Ganges drying her sails off Rio de Janeiro, Brazil by Emeric Essex Vidal (1791-1861)

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Drawing for Wagner’s “Le Vaisseau Fantôme,” Paris Opéra. 1842. Credit line: Gift of Mrs. Henry T. Curtis, 1953 https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/357445

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Jolly boat for oars or sail. Handsome launch; Tunny; River Thames fishing or Peter Boat; Ships Boat; Patent Boats; A ship's Long Boat, 25 July, 1808, by Robert Pollard

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Stone and Man, a permanent outdoor art installation launched in the 1990s, features the stone carvings of 40 different artists in Qaqortoq, Greenland. Conceived by Greenlandic artist Aka Høegh, the installation includes 40 works located around the city by creators representing all the Nordic countries.

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A Clean Sweep

An expression that describes the experience of carrying a large wave at sea that could cause the deck of a ship to be cleared of everything on it that was not moored.

A large wave swept the deck of the barque Europa clean, good for her that she didn’t have anything loose on deck, otherwise it would have been gone. (x)

A possible origin of that phrase can be traced to a naval engagement between English and Dutch fleets during the 17th century. The story goes that the Dutch Admiral Maarten Harpertzoon Tromp ordered a broom hoisted to his masthead following the Dutch victory at the Battle of Dungeness 1652, signifying he had swept the British from the sea.

The broom fastened to Admiral Van Tromp’s masthead to indicate that he had swept the English from the seas. Illustration for Everybody’s Enquire Within (Amalgamated Press, c 1937–38).(x)

The tides of war turned the following year, however, and the British commenced to open a can of Ye olde whoop- arse upon the Dutch fleet in a number of naval engagements. In a retort to Admiral Tromp’s broom British Admiral Robert Blake hoisted a horsewhip aloft, signifying it was the British who had whipped the Dutch off the sea. Incidentally, the submarines of America and England during the Second World War took up this tradition again and attached a broom to their turret with which they swept away any enemy that crossed their path. 

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A Pair of Victorian Reverse Painted Crystal Intaglio Earrings, 1870

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Hi There, was told you like tall ships.

Here's a night pic from Tall Ships Aberdeen 2025. ⚓

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A watercolor commission from a few years back featuring some requested Decemberists lyrics!

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Ancient roman merchant vessels on a mosaic, c. 234 AD

This mosaic was found in Bad Kreuznach (Germany) in 1966. It consists of a rectangular part (8.16 x 7.82 m) and an apsidal part. In the middle was a hexagonal basin (or rather a fountain) with sides 0.96 m long. It was decorated with marble. It probably covered the floor of a dining hall (a triclinium). In the apsidal part was a wooden resting couch. The room belonged to a very large villa, unfortunately the name of the owner is not known, but it must have been a leading figure who worked in the nearby provincial capital of Mogontiacum (Mainz).

All in all, however, we have here a trade depiction with a large merchant ship and a small one, originally there were four to be seen but there were damaged by water damage. The mosaic itself is dated around 234 AD.

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Bluenose, the pride of Canada

Bluenose was a deep- sea fishing schooner that won a special place in the heart of all Canadians during the depths of the Great Depression, an admiration that continues to this day. It all began with a small item in the sports page of New York paper in 1919 announcing that the America’s Cup race had been postponed because of a blow that would barley tickle the sails of a saltbank schooner. The men of the fishing fleets of Gloucester in Massachusetts and Lunenburg in Nova Scotia were outspoken in their scorn. Competition between the two communities had always been fierce and here was the perfect excuse to have a race between real working schooner. In 1920 the International Fishermen’s Race was organised, and that year the schooner Esperanto out of Gloucester defeated the Delewana of Lunenburg and took the trophy to New England.

The Bluenose schooner at the 1921 Nova Scotia Elimination Trials, held off Halifax in October (x)

No one in the north wanted to let that sit on their hands and hopes of a victory were raised in the following spring. Named after a legend that fishermen had blue noses because of the cold weather of the Grand Banks where they worked. The Bluenose entered the race under Captain and part owner Angus Walters. She was constructed by traditional methods using local timbers, and had, of course, the sturdy build of a working schooner. Her lines were sweet, however, and she was fast, with a 386 m² big main sail, achieving her best speed under a strong blow beating to windward. In 1921 she raced twice against Elsie in the waters off Halifax. Bluenose took both races with a good margin and even reduced sail to match the American vessel during one race when her opponent temporarily go into difficulty. Bluenose was a witch in the wind and nothing could catch her. Btw Walters had only master’s papers for home waters, Bluenose in some international races was sometimes under the command of the deepsea Lunenburg captain George Myra until the schooner reached the racing port.

Drawing of Bluenose by William James Roué 1920 (x)

Undefeated in all the International Fishermen’s trophy series held between 1921-1938, she became an enduring symbol of Canada’s maritime spirit. In 1929 the Canadian Postal Service issued a distinctive blue stamp to honour the vessel’s racing record, and in 1937 she appeared in full sail on the Canadian dime.

Canada postage stamp, “Bluenose” 1929 (x)

Bluenose’s fame was not confined to Nort America and Canada. She officially represented her country at hte World’s Fair in 1933 and the Silver Jubilee of King George in 1935. 1938 was a difficult year for her and even lost two out of five races against the Gertrude L. Thebuad. The last race, however, was finally won by Bluenose.  Unfortunately, Walters had to sell her in that year due to the emergence of motorised trawlers. She remained in Lunenburg until 1942, when she was bought by the West Indies Trading Company. Then her masts were cut and an engine installed. She was then used to transport goods between Canada and the Caribbean until she ran onto a reef off Haiti on 28 January 1946 and sank, some say due to voodoo.

1937 - 1952 George VI Ten Cent / Dime (x)

But her name still lives on. The reverse side of the Candian dime still proudly bears her image. In 1963, a replica of the Bluenose was built in Lunenburg from the original plans of the Bluenose and named Bluenose II.  Theese was sold to the Nova Scotia government in 1971 for the sum of $1.

Bluenose II sails off the Peggy’s Cove lighthouse (x)

The replica schooner was used as a sailing ambassador for tourism promotion. This vessel was decommissioned and broken up in 2010, and an entirely new Bluenose (also called Bluenose II, as she is classified as a “reconstruction” ) was built as close as possible to the original schooner and launched in Lunenburg in 2013. After attempts had been made since 2007 to build a new Bluenose IV (III was already occupied elsewhere), which was not successful.

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Small bowl with fishes and lotus leaves

Shallow footed bowl in light blue faience. The inner surface is decorated in black with three fish sharing a common head and lotus flowers between. Traces of lotus decoration are visible on the outer surface in black.

New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1550-1292 BC. From Thebes. Now in the Neues Museum, Berlin. ÄM4562 Photo: Sandra Steiß

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Rigging on a Ship

A sailing ship consists of much more than just a hull and sails.

The rigging on l’Hermione, a replica of a french frigate of 1780 (x)

At first glance, it all looks confusing, but a sailor knew exactly what he was looking at (and so do they today). Now there are two main differences in the functions of different types of rigging. On the one hand there is the standing rigging

The standing rigging (x)

Once the huge masts were inserted through the decks and base fixed ti the hull, fixed rigging was required both to the hold the masts in position, but laso to serve as the means for the crew to ascend the asts quickly and safely. Standing rigging denoted that it was fixed and remaind static and it could be tarred to help to preserve it, hence its usual black and oily appearance. Most warships and huge merchant vessels carried two or three tall masts to accommodate the huge area of canvas required to propel the ship at speed. These masts were held by the shrouds. They run to to top of each of these masts to hold them firmly in position with horizontal ropes, known as ratlines, used to form a ladder for the crew to ascend and descend easily. Other rigging running forward and backwards, know as forestays and backstays, stopped the mast movng forward or back. There were also lashings fixing the bowsprit securely to the main bow structure. All of this constituted the standing rigging.

The Running Rigging

The running rigging (x)

This rigging controlled the yarddarms and the direction of the sails. They comprised both the ropes attaching the yardarms to the mast and others which allowed the yardarm to be raised or lowered. Other lines held the yard in a horizontal position and others allowed it to swing horizontally to postion the sails so as to maximise the wind engery. Sails were tied on to the yardarms and rigging was attached to each corner of the sails to allow them to be hauled tighter or loosened. Other rigging provided footropes for the men whilst they worked the sails on the yardarms high above the deck and rope known as clewlines and buntlines allowed the area of canvas to be reduced by shortening the amount of sail out. Other ropework could be rigged for the use of booms when useing fore and aft sails, for putting up an extra sail as a screen in excessive sunshine, for antiboarding nets, to haul casks up the side and so on.

Every ship carried miles and miles of rope without which it would not work properly and it took years for an officer and Sailor to have the experience to see through and understand this complex system. A ship of the line, by the way, had about 43.5 km of rigging and about 800 pulley blocks.

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US postage stamp, 1988 “15¢ Tugboat” Scott #2260

Issued: July 12, 1988 - Long Beach, California Quantity: 275,751,000 Designer: Richard Schlecht Printed By: Bureau of Engraving and Printing (engraved)