At my mid term review I was advised to look deeper into my subject matter and to the cultural significance of ships and boats as well as the metaphorical meaning behind them. I also looked at how other artists have portrayed the subject matter and how it has informed their work. Here are my findings.
Religion:
The boat was a very early Christian symbol which has been used to represent the Church itself reaching a safe haven with its Christian souls onboard, thus a symbol of safety. Examples include Noah’s ark and also the story of Jesus protecting Peter and his apostles on the stormy sea. (Mark 4:35-41). The central seating area of the church is called the Nave which derives from the Latin for Ship. The mast of the boat itself often formed a cross and thus represented the cross especially in times of persecution when the cross needed to be disguised. In many early medieval pictures and sculptures we see Christ as the pilot of a ship, but that ship is always threatened by the countless worldly temptations, sins, and heresies. By contrast, in the late Middle Ages we often observe the well-equipped ship representing the Ecclesia triumphans.
Spiritual Journey:
The boat immediately evokes a passage, carrying you over the watery depths. The boat can symbolise a spiritual journey on the sea of life; one cannot get anywhere by remaining on an island. The boat is also an important symbol in Greek Mythology, for example, Homer’s Odyssey is a spiritual journey by boat. Worldwide, boats are often used symbolically to carry the souls of the dead to heaven, for example its found in Egyptian mythology, Greek and Roman myths, in Hindu stories, Buddhism and all over Melanesia. King Arthur was symbolically transported on death by boat. Boats were also used by Norse races as the means of transport of the souls on death, symbolically mimicking the souls journey to ‘heaven’, the final resting place of the soul – the journey across the water. Boats represent the idea of a soul ‘moving’ – progressing along a path and as death is a form of progress, it is used for both birth and death and is as a consequence a symbol of reincarnation – the death of the body, the movement of the soul to another place by boat and then the rebirth in a new place – a new body again - by boat.
Security & Refuge:
If you imagine life as an often-perilous journey, then the boat can represent a symbol of security. The boat carries us through life’s shifting currents. We are moored, and we lose our moorings. We sail with and against the tides. The boat holds us secure above the chaos of life.
Human Endeavour:
Just as the image of billowing sails against a backdrop of clear sky can evoke ideals of liberty and human ingenuity, the life at sea, at the mercy of nature, is one very much grounded in age-old tradition and deep-seated superstition. As in both Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and Byron’s “Darkness”, the austere images of stranded and wrecked ships serve as grim reminders of the essential frailty of the human endeavour.
The Human Body:
In the most general sense, a "vehicle". Perhaps more than any other kind of vehicle, we like to think of boats as individuals within a family. This might come from the concept of a tug boat perhaps. The small boat has might and pulls the larger boat, which seems like a reversal of the typical parent/child dependency. The correspondence between the two girls and the boats is clear in Anders Zorn’s painting "Carrera en barco", 1886. There are a great many references in literature testifying that the boat is the cradle rediscovered (and the mother’s womb). Related to this was the idea that ships are feats of human workmanship, proof of our superiority and conquering the world.
Symbol Of Riches:
The boat can represent those things that appear on our horizons, representing the fruits of our labour "my ship has come in". In feng shui, placing a sailing boat in your house brings a message that everything will go smoothly. Many Chinese traders selected the image of a sailing boat for their trading logo since it stands for the wind helping to bring in more trade and earn good profits. It is said to be the most preferable symbol after the dragon.
UK Economy:
As Britain is an island nation, shipping and the maritime sectors are among the most important industries to the UK economy, ie 95% of all imports and exports are moved by sea. At the start of the century 25% of the worlds trade was through British ports. Manufacturers rely on shipping to import their raw materials, and to export their finished goods. Energy companies rely on shipping for their oil and gas. Supermarkets rely on it to stock their shelves. Hospitals rely on it to ensure they have the medicine and equipment they need. And 65 million passengers rely on shipping for access to public services, employment, business and holiday travel every year. Shipping is an overwhelming success story for the UK and is renowned for its leadership across the world. The country relies on the £10bn the shipping industry contributes in GDP. It supports 240,000 jobs, and everyone relies on it for the £2.5bn it pays in tax to the UK Exchequer. The UK Ports industry is the second largest in Europe, handling more than 500 million tonnes of freight each year, as well as over 60 million international and domestic passenger journeys.
English Terms:
Many expressions derived from sailing remain embedded in the English language. When we talk about being ‘all at sea’, we do not literally mean that we are out in the ocean, but rather that we are unsure about what to do, as though we were drifting on the water without the reassurance of firm ground beneath our feet. A flagship, for example, was the most important ship in a fleet, which carried the fleet’s admiral and flew his flag. In modern English, however, the word is more likely to be used as a metaphor, so a company’s flagship store is the one that has the most importance and prestige. A mainstay was originally a rope that supported the main mast of a ship, but now is a metaphor referring to any person or thing that provides crucial support, as in tourism is a mainstay of the economy. The influence of sailing can also be seen in some idiomatic phrases. To sail close to the wind refers to the risky practice of attempting to fill a ship’s sails with wind without losing control of it. This phrase is now used as an idiom: if you tell someone that they are sailing close to the wind you are warning them that they are doing something that is dangerous or possibly illegal. To batten down the hatches literally refers to closing the entrances to the lower part of a ship when a storm is expected, but metaphorically refers to any preparation to withstand a period of difficulty. If a ship has run aground and is unable to return to the water, it is said to be high and dry, an expression we also use to refer to a person who is left in a difficult situation without any assistance. Some similar phrases have now lost all their original associations with sailing. It may come as a surprise to learn that under way, meaning ‘in progress’, was originally a nautical phrase meaning ‘in motion’. Another example is by and large: to the old sailors, this meant ‘in all conditions’, whether sailing into the wind (sailing by) or with the wind (sailing large), but it is doubtful whether many current English speakers are aware of this when they use the phrase to mean ‘in general’. Three sheets to the wind = drunk, a sheet is not a sail but a rope attached to the lower ends of a sail, so having three sheets to the wind meant the sail was not capturing any wind and thus not making any headway. To the bitter end = a bitts were large oak posts to which the anchor cable was fastened. When the cable was paid out the bitter end was reached. Let the cat out of the bag = refers to the cat-of-nine-tails that nasty instrument of punishment used to flog seamen and when the cat was out of the bag something bad was about to happen. The devil to pay: to pay meant to tar the seams between deck planks. The devil was the hardest bit to pay because it is the part between the straight planks and the curved parts at the sides. The devil and the deep blue sea: the side of the ship and the water. Anybody falling over would find himself between the devil and the sea.
The British Empire:
At its height the British Empire was the largest in history, by the early 1900's it encapsulated 23% of the worlds population and 24% of the Earth's total land area. Its strength was underpinned by the steamship and the telegraph, technologies that allowed it to control and defend the empire from the mid19th century. Until the advent of air travel, maritime transport was the only way of leaving and entering the British Isles and therefore was of great importance in the creation of the empire. The Empire was responsible for large migrations of people from the UK to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and United States. Since World War II the British Nationality Act 1948 allowed British Empire subjects to live and work in the UK without needing a visa. This migration was initially encouraged to help fill gaps in the labour market, particularly the NHS and London Transport, with many people specifically brought to the UK on ships eg Empire Windrush. Today, Britain no longer has the same global dominance, however it is seen as an attractive option for refugees, asylum seekers and illegal immigrants risking their lives crossing the channel in small boats to start a new life in the UK.
Sense Of Place:
My home town of Barrow-in-Furness was grown from the exploitation of its raw materials and geographical location. Its biggest employer since the 1900's has been in ship building. Three generations of my immediate family have worked in the industry for over100 years in total. If it wasn't for shipbuilding I would not be living in this beautiful part of the UK, when in 1897 my great grandad with his wife and 13 children moved from Manchester to find work further up north. My own experience of ships and boats is far less positive and usually involves holidays as a child. Visits to the Isle of Man meant a rough crossing of the Irish Sea resulting in me being sea sick or injuring my lower back after falling from a canal boat in the Norfolk Broads as a teenager. For me its where ships and boats are that interests me, not visually but my other senses. If I need to clear my head and rebalance I usually take a walk along the coast, smelling the fresh sea air and listening to the lapping waves rhythmically hitting the shore. Today, ships and boats take on a different meaning. The rotten skeleton of the boat in the picture below represents the decline of a once thriving working class town, which sadly the young generation are now leaving to seek better lives in other parts of the UK.
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