British Sailor’s Woolwork Woolie of a Royal Navy Ship Flying the Red Ensign Circa 1860

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British Sailor’s Woolwork Woolie of a Royal Navy Ship Flying the Red Ensign
Circa 1860

This large British sailor’s woolwork … Read more British Sailor’s Woolwork Woolie of a Royal Navy Ship Flying the Red Ensign
Circa 1860

This large British sailor’s woolwork depicts a majestic three-masted, square-rigged ship of the Royal Navy under a full spread of sail, shown in starboard side view driving through a blue sea and leaving a frothy white wake worked along her red bottom. She flies the Red Ensign at the stern, and a long red pennant flutters from the mainmast head. Her hull is worked in olive-brown wool with a band of gunports in the checkered manner of the Georgian and early Victorian fleet, and the maker has picked out the anchors, deckhouses, and channels in careful detail.

Two details identify her as a man-of-war rather than a merchantman. The long, narrow pennant at the main masthead is the commissioning pennant, the mark of a ship of the Royal Navy in commission and not one worn by merchant vessels, and it is here the same red as the ensign. Until 1864 the Navy was divided into Red, White, and Blue Squadrons, each with an ensign and pennant of its own color, and ships sailing under independent command also wore the red. The Red Ensign and red pennant together therefore mark her as a Royal Navy ship of the years before 1864, when the squadron colors were abolished and the whole Navy went over to the White Ensign.

The stitching is of exceptional fineness: the sails are worked in long, closely laid strands of pale gray and cream that catch the light with an almost painterly sheen, the rigging is laid in taut dark lines across them, and the whole vessel stands in gentle relief against a sky of cream wool. The precision of the work, and the sheer scale of the piece, mark it as a labor of both patience and pride.

The scale of the picture suits it to hanging alone above a mantel, sideboard, or desk, and its restrained palette of gray, cream, olive, and blue sits easily in a library, study, or coastal interior.

Dimensions:
Width: 29¾ inches (75.6 cm)
Height: 22¼ inches (56.5 cm)

Provenance:
Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge

References:
Order in Council of July 9, 1864, discontinuing the Red, White, and Blue Squadrons of the Royal Navy, published in The London Gazette, October 18, 1864, issue 22903, p. 4903.

Historical Context
Sailors’ woolworks, affectionately known as woolies, belong to a unique genre of maritime folk art, created not by professional artists but by the seamen themselves, worked in wool yarns at sea, ashore, and in retirement. They served as personal expression, as a source of pride in the maker’s ship and skill, and often as gifts for family waiting at home.

Before 1864 the Red Ensign was the senior of the Royal Navy’s three ensigns as well as the flag of British merchant ships. In July of that year an Order in Council abolished the squadron colors, reserved the White Ensign and its pennants to the Royal Navy, and left the red to the merchant service, whose flag it remains. A sailor’s woolwork of a warship under the red therefore belongs to the earlier years of the craft, before the White Ensign became the universal naval flag seen on most later woolworks.

(Ref: NY9503-irim) See less