Print collector's quarterly (12.1925)

NAVAL ICONOGRAPHY
THE SAILOR AS A SUBJECT FOR PRINT
COLLECTION
By COMMANDER CHARLES N. ROBINSON, R.N.

HN this island, a love of the sea and sailors is
a national instinct. From the earliest times,
maritime affairs have been closely interwoven
with our history, have influenced the char-
acter of our people, and have shaped the policy and
destiny of the Empire. Our seamen have made of the
oceans a pathway to the uttermost parts of the globe,
a means for the extension of our trade and territory,
and a scene of conflict on which they have won for us
security, welfare and honour. Moreover, the seaman
of the old sailing ship days, as Henry Fielding aptly
remarks, was made of a different kind of flesh from that
of landsmen, with manners, customs and a language
of his own. It would have been strange indeed if the
poetry and drama of sea life, its comedy and tragedy,
its realism and romance, had not found expression in
British art. I shall hope to show that the per-
sonality of the sailor, and the vicissitudes of his
calling, furnished inspiration and supplied an infinity
of subjects to the English handlers of brush and
graver. Indeed, pictorial art offers a fruitful field for
the collector of materials for an illustrated history of
the Sea Services.

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