Art of Sailing

Maritime Heritage Art Contemporary art with a traditional theme.

The age of sail was already in steep decline 100 years ago with the advent of the internal combustion engine, and as engines went in, the skills of handling a boat under sail were lost. The boats and the rigging on these pages all belong to the era when everything was done the hard way.

The work was dangerous, hard, smelly and dirty - so it’s easy to be nostalgic about it from the comfort of an armchair.  But once you have felt a boat quietly get underway from a harbour; felt her heel to the wind and begin to surge toward the harbour entrance; heard a little shake from the sails as they wake up to their days work; and heard the tinkling of the water as the stem pushes on her way - you wonder if the crew were not compensated for their work in more ways than simply earning their pay.

You will still find reminders of those days in the headwaters of the rivers around harbours. Of course, many boats were lost by shipwreck but most were not, at the end of their life they were taken up to the navigable limit of rivers and creeks on high spring tides, and left there. The remains of many are still there today.

The rope and later the steel rigging wire smelt of Stockholm Tar - a heady preparation made from pine resin - and the wood smelt of Linseed Oil.

Cotton or more usually Canvas sail cloth was dyed by the tanning which prevented it from rotting when it was rolled away wet. And the natural fibre rope was full of character. The best was Manila rope which was so good that it has only recently been superseded, others included Sisal, Hemp, Coir and Cotton. You will remember if you’ve ever handled a coir (coconut fibre) rope - because it is hard and scratchy - like a doormat..