I've been collecting and reading the series of books/novels by Patrick OBrian (21 in total) about the British Navy during the Napoleonic wars in the early 1800's.
Each book has cover artwork by Geoff Hunt, a marine artist who usually paints in oils. His work is absolutely amazing and really brings to life the incredible beauty of the old man of war tall ships.


The photo above is a copy of his artwork and is obviously HMS Victory, probably the most famous ship in history.
For me, she and many others of her era are the most beautiful ships ever to take to water. I could look at her all day.
And they can keep all of the multi million dollar sail or power boats of today, they don't even come close...

the craftwork is wonderful but to me the end result it is a terrible kind of beauty.

in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam there are models of similar ships, but what struck me most powerfully when i was there was the hall of weapons. similarly to these terribly beautiful warships you see the incredible coalescing of power, wealth, with a stunning level of reverence for objects of murder and destruction.

but yes, the craftwork is incredible...

Wonderful painting Cocky. I've actually been aboard Victory and stood at the spot where Nelson fell.
The shipbuilders art back in the day was second to none. How they worked those massive timbers is
amazing. I was not allowed to take photo's on board however, so no selfies.

Your print reminded me of back in the seventies/eighties I used to collect scrimshaw around the Pacific. I came across the bracelet in Hawaii with authenticated cert. It was done by an Aust. Solo Yachtswomen 'Ghislaine' who had sourced the whalebone from an old whale factory in WA and sold her product to resorts and stores around the Pacific as she sailed. I gave most of it away to family. Always meant to research story.

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fishmonkey said..
the craftwork is wonderful but to me the end result it is a terrible kind of beauty.

in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam there are models of similar ships, but what struck me most powerfully when i was there was the hall of weapons. similarly to these terribly beautiful warships you see the incredible coalescing of power, wealth, with a stunning level of reverence for objects of murder and destruction.

but yes, the craftwork is incredible...

Yes I agree, well over a ton of metal from a single broadside doesn't bear thinking about...
So I will just stay and think about their beauty.




The sight of a line of these ships under full sail in real life must have taken the breath away and would stay with you for ever.

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samsturdy said..
Wonderful painting Cocky. I've actually been aboard Victory and stood at the spot where Nelson fell.
The shipbuilders art back in the day was second to none. How they worked those massive timbers is
amazing. I was not allowed to take photo's on board however, so no selfies.

I've seen videos on YouTube but hope to go myself one day also.

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All@Sea said..

This viking ship also strikes me as quite beautiful in it's relative simplicity - less ornamentation and complexity.

Though you have to wonder - if the bow and the stern were raised on wave crests with a trough in the middle, you'd think the vikings would have needed a massive structural beam to keep the hull from snapping admidships.

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samsturdy said..
Wonderful painting Cocky. I've actually been aboard Victory and stood at the spot where Nelson fell.
The shipbuilders art back in the day was second to none. How they worked those massive timbers is
amazing. I was not allowed to take photo's on board however, so no selfies.

I took plenty about 3 years ago. This is how real hammocks look rigged correctly.

Looks like Horatio from the Indy is in the stern there..

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Karsten said..

All@Sea said..

This viking ship also strikes me as quite beautiful in it's relative simplicity - less ornamentation and complexity.

Though you have to wonder - if the bow and the stern were raised on wave crests with a trough in the middle, you'd think the vikings would have needed a massive structural beam to keep the hull from snapping admidships.

I watched a doco on the Viking Longships, they were really flexible and could sail at 15 knots!

They were also light enough to be carried over land if need be, amazing.

yachthub.com/list/yachts-for-sale/used/sail-monohulls/farr-50-pilot-house/230393

or this what a beast !

yachthub.com/list/yachts-for-sale/used/sail-monohulls/salthouse-58-offshore-blue-water-sloop-1-3m-refit/226944

Wow! Both brilliant boats! For VFM you'd have to go the Salthouse, but that Farr is just beautiful, and I bet she's fast too!

As they say, Beauty is in the eye of the beholder