The women of Spain have such captivating beauty that the great Joaquín Sorolla featured them in many of his paintings, including his 1889 Los Guitarristas, Costumbres Valencianas (pictured above). They also inspired Spanish Ladies, a traditional British naval song...
How many sailors and maritime professionals would spare some time to read poems? Not many, I suppose. Poetry won't fill anyone's pocket any more than viewing Ivan Aivazovsky's sublime 1874 painting, Brig Mercury in Moonlight (pictured above), would. But it can do...
Until recently, I was a total stranger to sea shanties. My taste in music has usually veered towards the classical, my favourites being Frédéric Chopin's nocturnes and Beethoven's piano concertos. But after listening to a few shanties, I have become a fan. These work...
Together with nautical art and literature, songs of the sea have been conspicuously neglected by the maritime press. But who would be surprised? The maritime establishment, to which journalists kowtow like worshippers in a temple, cares little for such things. It is a...
A French Sailor — oil on canvas, 1897, by Norwegian painter Christian Krohg (1852–1925)Photo courtesy of Nasjonalmuseet, NorwayThe maritime Establishment never runs out of tributes to mariners and clichéd words about how hard and dangerous their work is....