Takara-Bune

According to the Encyclopedia Mythica, on New Years' eve, the treasure ship, the Takara-Bune, will sail into port with the Shichi Fukujin on board. Objects associated with the voyage of these deities occur in many types of collections, and the above image is one of many available at the Wikimedia Commons.

The Hull Museums also have a very informative article, Takarabune and Seven Lucky Gods of Japan, accompanying beautiful, detailed images of their carved group.

Another beautiful image available online is the Bolton Museums and Archive Service's netsuke boat.

Happy New Year!

Christmas on an American warship

(It's the lower image on this reproduction of the New York Tribune--do follow the link to see a larger version.)



From the Library of Congress' photostream on Flickr.

More dazzle

My thanks to Theo Van Doren for bringing Bobolink Book's Dazzle Camouflage site to my attention. The site is by Roy R. Behrens and promotes his new Camoupedia : a compendium of research on art, architecture and camouflage. The site links to many resources (including those previously mentioned on MaritimeCompass), having to do with dazzle camouflage as well as camouflage in general, in the cultural and natural world. If you're interested in exploring the topic, don't miss the link in one of the the little green boxes--it's to a bibliography compiled by Behrens.

And be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page, where you will find little gray numbers--the site continues for four pages. The second page is especially interesting, outlining the steps in designing ship camouflage, and linking to a list of people involved in camouflage. The next pages are of further maritime interest--even the last page, with its discussion of nature, ends up returning to the topic of dazzle.

Thanks again, Theo!

Larry T. Nix on books for sailors

I read about Larry T. Nix's wonderful post, Books for Sailors, in the Nov. 18, 2009 issue of American Libraries Direct. This post appeared on his Library History Bluff blog, and is a wonderful overview of great sources on navy ship's libraries--following the links will take you to thorough resources, rich with footnotes, as well as images from Nix's own postcard collection, and makes for an excellent starting point for investigating libraries for U.S. sailors.

A. Hyatt Verrill

My thanks to Doug Frizzle for writing in about his blog Stillwater Woods, which contains some of A. Hyatt Verrill's works. Verrill wrote on many topics, including those of maritime interest, such as Knots, Splices and Rope Work (available from Project Gutenberg). Further resources on Verrill are listed in the Wikipedia article, including a long list of his works and a link to biographical information.