19th Century Sailor’s Woolie of the Four Masted Bark Loch Torridon, circa 1880

19th Century Sailor’s Woolie of the Four Masted Bark Loch Torridon, circa 1880, a sailor’s hand-crafted woolwork picture with a starboard side view of the Four Masted Bark Rigged Clipper Ship LOCH Torridon, with all sails (even stuns’ls) set, pennant flying astern, and a figurehead mounted under the extreme clipper bow, set against a wild variegated sea and sky. The image was worked in mostly long stitches, with silk or mercantile cotton line used along the gunnel and false gunports, and pink highlights on the hull, bowsprit and fourth mast and gaff.

The woolie remains in very good condition, with only the expected pulls and fading. Mounted in a later conservation mat and frame.

Sailor’s woolworks were a craft taught at British Naval Hospitals, and were in effect the world’s first occupational therapy. The majority were made between the 1830s and 1880s, and while sailors then turned to other crafts in vogue, some were occasionally made up to the World War I era. The sailors who took to the craft continued to make them in ever more elaborate and fanciful patterns after release, to sell to locals and tourists in order to support themselves.
Even those woolies depicting American or other nation’s flags were made by the British sailors (they knew their market well)! However, a very small percentage were also made by Trinity House lighthouse keepers, and a tiny amount by sailors from other nations (who most likely had served at one time on a British ship).

Measures: 14-1/4 in H x 20-1/8 in W
Framed: 20-1/2 in H x 27-3/8 in W