Sailors' Crafts
Index
Introduction
Sailors made a wide variety of crafts utilising the skills which they needed on board to maintain and repair the vessel. They usually used materials which were readily available such as canvas, rope and whalebone. The objects made were small or could be packed away easily, so as not to take up too much of the precious cramped living space. There were times aboard when there were periods of inactivity and the production of crafts helped to pass the time.
Woolwork pictures are an example of sailors crafts. A broadside view of a vessel with local features in the background was outlined in ink on sailcloth, and then embroidered with a limited palette of colours. Sailors were using needlework skills which were needed to repair sails and clothing. As sailors knew the sails, rigging and parts of a ship, the vessels were executed with accuracy. When the pcitures were not being worked on they could easily be rolled up and stowed away.
The embroidery skills were self-taught, and the pieces were created for the mariner's own satisfaction or as gifts for loved ones.
Other examples of sailors' crafts include dolls made by lightshipmen aboard lightvessels. The legs and arms were animated by means of a pull-cord and the dolls were sold to tourists in the summer months who were taken out to the lightships on excursions.
Sailors' Crafts
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Fishermen and their Ganseys
Tightly knitted, and snug fitting the fisherman’s gansey was virtually windproof and waterproof. The cuffs were very close fitting so as to keep out winter winds and ended short of the wrist to avoid being caught on any pieces of equipment or becoming soaked as the fisherman worked at sea. Cast off at the bottom end, any necessary repairs could be made by unravelling from the cuff and re-knitting. As these working garments were rarely washed, a layer of filth would have given extra protection against the elements.
Halfway up the gansey the densely knitted pattern provided extra warmth to the upper body and an opportunity for the knitter to show off their skills with extremely delicate and fine knitting. This is particularly true of ganseys knitted in Sheringham. They are extremely fine, knitted on size 16 or even 17 needles with three ply wool.
The variety of patterns created by Sheringham knitters over the years is enormous. Apart from plainer ‘working’ ganseys, nearly all had vertical columns of pattern. Everyday objects in the lives of fishing families, for example ropes and herringbone, inspired many of the stitch motifs. Other patterns were based on the weather, for instance one-inch columns of zigzags alternating with similar columns of fine moss stitch give ‘lightening and hailstones’. Being the same front and back, the gansey was reversible. This meant that areas that came in for heavier wear, such as elbows, could be alternated.
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Theme: Sailors' Crafts
Theme: Fishing
Exhibition: Ganseys
Henry Blogg
black and white photograph of Cromer coxswain Henry Blogg with the Prince of Wales at a presentation ceremony in the Central Hall, Westminster, London
Henry Blogg Hovellor
Have been sent small cut out from Eastern Daily Press re plans to raise money to restore Henry Bl…
colour slide
West Runton Elephant. A reconstruction drawing by Sam Brown of the likely appearance of the West Runton elephant.
Henry Blogg and the Prince of Wales
A black and white photograph of Cromer coxswain Henry Blogg with the Prince of Wales at a presentation ceremony in the Central Hall, Westminster, London
The Battle of the Dogger Bank
In March 1915 Rev Hamilton wrote in the Cromer Parish Magazine that he had been talking to Tom Ba…
West Runton Elephant
photograph, colour slide, photographer Dr A.J. Stuart, 1992. Artist Sam Brown worked with Tony Stuart to envisage what the West Runton elephant looked like - this is one of his sketches. 1992
West Runton elephant, pelvis1990
photograph, colour slide, photographer Dr A.J. Stuart, 1990. Recovery of the pelvis of the West Runton elephant, using polyurethane foam; West Runton, Norfolk December 1990.
Gansey Doube-pointed Steel Knitting Needles
Six steel double-pointed needles, of size 16 and 17 gauge, the type used for knitting ganseys.