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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

New Marine Art & Nautical Furnishing Arrivals This Week at Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallery

Liberty Ship Hatch Cover Table
Liberty Ship Hatch Cover Table
Authentic re-purposed nautical end table made from a half section of a WWII era Liberty Ship hatch cover. Made of thick pine boards with heavy metal band on one end and half cup cut-out with metal band (used to hook cable to lift cover from hatch). Custom pine pedestal base stained to match top. Table marked on bottom "Snyder of Carolina". Top measures 27 X 27 inches and stands 23 inches tall.

These make attractive nautical end tables for sofas and beds. We currently have two of these matching tables in stock. For more information, go to: Authentic Liberty Ship Hatch CoverTable

Stingray Point Lighthouse

"Stingray Point Lighthouse and Marina" by Virginia artist Bill Allen. Watercolor on paper measuring 20 1/2 X 26 1/2 inches (view) and 29 X 35 inches framed. Painting of the String Ray Point Lighthouse that was dismantled in 1965 (see history below) together with the sign of the famous Sting Ray Point Marina, Deltaville's premier sailboat marina located near the mouth of Broad Creek, providing access to both the Chesapeake Bay and Rappahannock River. Doubled matted and cherry wood frame.


"Stingray Point Lighthouse and Marina" by Virginia artist Bill Allen.
About Stingray Point Lighthouse

Stingray Point Lighthouse was built in 1858 at the entrance to the Rappahannock River near Deltaville, Virginia. It was a hexagonal screwpile lighthouse. The lighthouse was automated just prior to being dismantled in 1965. Sections of the lighthouse were sold to Gilbert Purcell, a boatyard owner who hoped to rebuild the lighthouse on land, but never did. It was replaced with a steel skeletal tower build on the original foundation.
Stingray Point Lighthouse
An excerpt from a report to the Light House Board in 1865 “The light has been restored at Stingray Point, after making certain needful repairs to the screw-pile structure, which though plundered of all movable articles, was but slightly injured.” The report does not say whether damage and plundering was due to Confederates.

Stingray Point received its name from Captain John Smith, founder of Jamestown, Virginia. It is said that a stingray stung him while fishing near the point.


Authentic Vintage Ships Masthead Light

Solid cast brass vintage 360 degree ships masthead light. The glass Fresnel clear glass globe survives in good original condition with only a few minor chip infractions on the lens. Measures 11 1/2 inches tall and 9 1/2 inches wide and weighs right at 20 pounds. The weather tight hatch top is secured with three bolts. The base has three bolt mounting holes measure about 4 3/4 inches on center from each other. Retains four interior porcelain sockets that are still functional or can be replaced with new sockets if desired. We've left this fixture with it's old mellowed brass patina, but could be polished for a bright finish.

Authentic Vintage Ships Masthead Light
 This masthead light fixture can be easily used today as a post light, deck or dock light and can also be turned upside down for ceiling light. A great multi-use authentic ship light re-purposed for todays coastal home. Inside or out, this solid brass light will last forever, and it is weather tight.


Three Sail Bateau Half Hull Model "Virgil G. Dean"

Three Sail Bateau Half Hull Model "Virgil G. Dean
Handcrafted and half hull model of the three sail Bateau "Virgil G. Dean" made by Virginia artist Doug Wehner. This highly detailed half hull is completely made of wood and features a realistic painted surface. The black-painted wooden back plaque measures 7 X 24 inches and is attached with a brass plate in the lower right corner stating THREE SAIL BATEAU "VIRGIL G. DEAN" BUILT 1897. LENGTH ON DECK: 40' 6".

Vintage Lovell Brass Passageway Lights
Vintage Lovell Brass Passageway Lights
Vintage brass passageway or engine room lights produced by F.H. Lovell & Co. Arlington, N.J. recently removed from the cargo ship SS EXPORT BAY (click on link for additional information and history). Each light is stamped F.H. Lovell & Co. Arlington N.J. on the brass cage ring. These authentic brass fixtures feature standard bezel type clear glass globes and bezel style heavy brass wire cages. Lights like these were used in common work areas of the ship as well as passageways. Their housing is made of heavy cast brass and weighs 6 pounds each. The height of each light is 9 1/4 inches to the top of the cage and 4 1/2 inches in diameter. Comes re-wired with new 110-120 UL Listed fixture and ready for installation! We have nine matching in stock from the SS Export Bay available and three other matching Lovell passageway lights that accompanied the collection.
cargo ship SS EXPORT BAY

These vintage lights are the perfect fixture for both indoor and outdoor use. Can be used outdoors for deck lights, post lights, dock lights and porch lights. They're also perfect for indoor use anywhere that you need a great nautical fixture. These are also a favorite for restaurant use as booth lights and bar lights! Truly the finest made light fixtures designed to withstand the harsh conditions of oceangoing and other maritime vessels.

Need more than a couple of lights? Call us at (757) 399-5012 to discuss current inventory and best match.

We can ship up to two of these fixtures by USPS Priority Mail- medium flat rate box anywhere in the USA for $10.95.


"The Nellie Byrd"

The Skipjack "Nellie Byrd" painted by Eastern Shore of Maryland marine artist Mary Ekroos. Oil on canvas measuring 20 X 24 inches. Gilt finished wood frame.


The Skipjack "Nellie Byrd" painted by Mary Ekroos.

ABOUT THE "NELLIE BYRD"

This vessel is a 53.6' long, two-sail bateau, or V-bottomed deadrise type of centerboard sloop, commonly referred to as a skipjack. Built in Oriole, Maryland, in 1911 for the oyster dredging fleet, she is Bay-built using cross-planked construction methods. She has a beam of 26.7', a depth of 4.8', and a net tonnage of 18 tons. She carries a typical skipjack rig with a jib-headed mainsail laced to the boom and carried on wood hoops at the mast, and a single large jib with a club on its foot. The hull is painted the traditional white. The vessel has a longhead bow with a slightly raking stem and a wide, square transom stern with considerable rake. The stern shows a long, shallow tuck where the chine meets the transom. The vessel is particularly wide amidships, giving her generous work space on deck. The rudder is carried outboard on pintles mounted on the transom and skeg; the jig for the pushboat is set on the starboard side of the transom. The hull has heavy ice sheathing carried well above the waterline. The boat is flush-decked. From the stern forward deck structures include: a box over the steering gear; a cabin with a slide offset to port; a small hatch; a box over the winders; a main hatch; and a medium-sized cuddy with a slide, located just aft of the mast. There is a low taffrail surrounding the deck, higher at the stern. The pipes of the rail and the davits for the pushboat are painted white. The single mast is well-raked aft, about 15 to 20 degrees, and is set up with double shrouds and turnbuckles. There are also a forestay, jibstay, topping lift, and lazyjacks. The boom is jawed to the mast; both mast and boom are natural oiled wood. The bowsprit is hexagonal, round at its end. It is set up with one chain and one cable bobstay, and two chain bowsprit shrouds. The boom is set high and is patched with metal strips. The pushboat is carried on pipe davits over the stern. Decorations include trailboards mounted on the longhead, with the name NELLIE L. BYRD in gold on a green field with a red surround, and eagle, flag, and arrow motifs on the nameboards at the bow, the name is painted red on a black ground. There is a painted eagle billet-head on the longhead.

The Skipjack "Nellie Byrd"
Significance: This vessel is significant as being one of the 35 surviving traditional Chesapeake Bay skipjacks and a member of the last commercial sailing fleet in the United States. Out of a fleet of hundreds of skipjacks that worked Bay waters in the early years of this century, today only this small number remain to carry on the tradition of working sail. NELLIE BYRD is of interest as being one of the older skipjacks still dredging in the Chesapeake fleet. She was built in 1911 in Oriole, Maryland, following traditional Bay-area design and construction methods. She has worked in the oyster-dredging fleet since her building. For many years NELLIE BYRD was owned by Capt. William Todd of Cambridge and, at 53 1/2' long, was the largest skipjack in Dorchester County. A trio of skipjacks, owned and skippered by the Todd family, was for many years based in Cambridge. Capt. William Todd's brother Wilson owned the SALLY BRAMBLE and his brother Emerson, the REBECCA T. RUARK.


2 comments:

  1. Jill Patterson O'Meara commented: "I have a table like that! I found it at a local salvage shop, liked it but know didn't exactly what it was, figured made by someone using found wood. Mine also has rope (line) inbedded and has USN spelled out it brass nailheads and the base is iron. My son told me it was just junk, HA!"

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  2. The first piece of furniture that I owned (actually made) when I was a teenage in college was a hatch cover coffee table. I had purchased the hatch cover from a small marine salvage business in Norfolk, Va that specialized in old shipboard items. They had a table already costructed in their shop, so I borrowed their design idea, picked out a the hatch cover from a pile that they had stacked outside for $45.00 and then went to a lumber yard to buy the pine boards that I needed to construct the coffee table base. I built the base and sanded the top that was heavily splintered, then put a dark pine finish on both the hatch cover and the base to match. I then covered the top with resin so it looked like a glass finish when complete. If I remember right the total cost of the table was around $75.00...this was in 1975.

    Here's an enteresting fact: The small salvage shop that I bought the hatch cover from was named White Star located in Norfolk, Virginia. The business moved to San Deigo, California and was renamed the West Sea Recovery Co., and a new permanent location in San Diego's Gaslamp District. After years of hard work and success, they quit carrying ship's salvage and focused on buying and selling only museum-quality nautical items. In recognition of the fact that they no longer dealt in ship's salvage, they dropped "Recovery" from their name. Today, many years later, they remain the famous WEST SEA COMPANY and specialize in exceptional nautical antiques and marine art and are relocated in San Diego's Historic Old Town district.

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