Sailor's Woolwork of Royal Navy Second Rate Battleship Coming Into Port

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A wonderfully dramatic British sailor’s woolwork, stitched around 1865, showing a great Royal Navy ship of the line sweeping into … Read more A wonderfully dramatic British sailor’s woolwork, stitched around 1865, showing a great Royal Navy ship of the line sweeping into port under full sail — the kind of picture a sailor made with his own hands and his own pride. The big two-decker comes at you on a bold diagonal, white water curling off her bow, gunports marching down her black-and-white hull above a flash of red waterline, the White Ensign flying at the mizzen.

To one side stands a charming white lighthouse on its little spit of land, complete with tiny windows and a flight of steps; look closely and there’s a harbor crane, a scatter of small boats, and a ship rounding the far headland. The whole sky is worked in long horizontal stitches of cream and palest rose — thousands of them — that make the ship absolutely glow.

Woolworks (collectors call them woolies) were made by seamen at sea, at home, and in retirement, as keepsakes of their service, and the best of them have become blue-chip maritime folk art. This one is in good condition with no repairs, newly glazed with museum UV conservation glass to keep the colors exactly as they are, and framed in bird’s-eye maple.
At 24 by 32 inches it’s a proper statement piece: hang it over a mantel, a sofa, or a bed and let it carry the room. It’s made for a coastal or lake house, a study with leather and brass, or a collected hallway among ship models and old charts — real nautical history, not reproduction decor.


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