City of Ships

by James Williamson

Original - Sold

Price

$800

Dimensions

15.000 x 11.000 inches

Title

City of Ships

Artist

James Williamson

Medium

Painting - Watercolor

Description

City of Ships watercolor painting by James Williamson. Sail on, sail on, thou fearless barques, where'er blows the welcome winds. Sailing vessels with the wheel's kick and the wind's song. Life on the ocean waves and home on the rolling deep.

Artist James Williamson ASMA,
Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists

Tall Ships anchored by the light of the moon in a fog shrouded bay. Argh! Lads these are fine looking vessels.
The Age of Tall Ships
The story of the sailing ship not only documents man's quest for greater speed at sea. It has also been closely linked with the course of world history and maritime power, of trade and exploration. And yet the mighty sailing ship has always remained an object of grace and beauty in twenty first-century eyes, perhaps a reminder of the days when life at sea seemed more romantic and adventurous.

A barque is illustrated in the foreground in this recreation of an original watercolor by Pacific Northwest artist James Williamson. One of the classic sailing types, the barque, first developed in the eighteenth century. These were three, four or sometimes five masted ships. The staple three masted types were square-rigged on fore and mainmast, while the mizzen carried a gaff and boom sail; its function was that of the medium sized trader and it was found on both sides of the Atlantic.

The need for at least one more mast came about as the demands made on transport ships increased. Trade was booming and ship owners looked about for ways of stepping up capacity. At the same time, in the 1870s, the narrow clippers were no longer such a good cargo-carrying proposition, for all their speed. One answer was to scale up the barque by giving her three square-rigged masts and a fourth that was a fore-and-aft jigger. After the 1880s barques were also equipped with steel hulls that could embrace larger cargoes and were better able to withstand the stresses of a transatlantic buffeting. Their only drawback was that the iron wire rigging, and steel masts and spars were prone to snap; and when they did, they needed specialized equipment to repair them that an ordinary crew could not provide in the course of a voyage.

Uploaded

January 13th, 2014

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