AT THE MUSEUM
ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE SAILORS COULD HAVE SURPRISINGLY DELICATE HOBBIES, AS THIS EMBROIDERY SHOWS.
LIFE AT SEA HAS ALWAYS BEEN TOUGH and sometimes boring. In the 18th and 19th centuries, sailors and whalers often spent months or even years out on the ocean. There were long periods of inactivity; becalmed, plain sailing; and waiting to find whales to hunt. During that time many practised a variety of crafts, creating items for daily use in sail-making, and objects both practical and decorative, made as gifts for loved ones or for sale when in port to supplement a meagre income.
Scrimshaw (carved and decorated items made from whale and walrus ivory and bone) is the best known of these crafts. Many collections of decorative and maritime arts include examples such as sewing boxes, busks to stiffen women’s bodices, and walking sticks.
A less well-known craft is the production of embroidered pictures, known as ‘woollies’. Sailors had their sewing skills employed to make sails, but they also often saved money by making their own clothes from fabric they purchased rather than buying ‘slops’, as their loose-fitting clothes were called, from the ship’s store.
This rare ‘woollie’ depicts an unidentified threemasted frigate flying the British blue ensign. The sailor used coloured wool thread and with a simple long-stitch created a picture of the ship he sailed on. Perhaps given to a loved one or sold when in port, the embroidery is framed using Huon pine – a timber endemic to Tasmania – which suggests its origin. Maritime Museum of Tasmania, 16 Argyle St, Hobart, Tas, (03) 6234 1427; maritimetas.org