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Armed Forces / Re: Is c. 1870 a date for this photo, please - are these Sailors possibly French?
« on: Tuesday 25 March 14 11:54 GMT (UK) »
Interesting image. Although at first glance there is nothing to affirm the date period given the style of shoes that one can see does give a small clue that the image could have been taken in the period given. If you look at the sailor sitting on the left, front of the group, he has his feet resting on a two lined block pulley and shows off the soles of his footwear as being the same shape for both feet. At one point there was no left or right for footwear and the squareness of the toe on the shoes indicates this to me as being in the 1870's to 1880's period. All the sailors are wearing ducks so unfortuately there are no dating clues that jump out at me straight away. However as for their origin two of the sailors are wearing the long sleeved marinière (blue striped tops) which was first worn by Breton sailor's.
As for the image it self. I would suggest that this is a clearly staged image with each sailor angled and posed on purpose. Each figure is looking in different directions and there does not appear to be any rhyme nor reason to it until you think of the equipment used and the method used by the photographer. Wanting to get a setting that would resemble a loose natural pose would have been difficult if not impossible in the days of long exposure so to get each subject to look and concentrate on a point in the distance would probably be the answer. But what to get them to do? Setting the rigging would be out because of the blurring that it would cause and the possible sway that the ship would have. Have them below decks resting would also be limited due to the light and also their work. So what better way than to do the setting on shore with a few mats laid down on the pebbled shoreline and have a few of the items that one would use on a daily basis dotted around. The block pulley I have already mentioned but two of the sailors have their hands on belaying pins (also known as Jack Pins or Tack Pins) which would also have been used on a ship with sails. A pen knife lays between two sitting sailors and this again would have been used on a daily basis. And what of the game of cordonnier? No such game exists but what better way to get the sailors to pose but when they are waiting for their shoes to be repaired, as is happening by the sailor in the middle front. Cordonnier in French means shoe maker/maker or repairer.
Hope this take on what is happening within the image helps.
OR.
As for the image it self. I would suggest that this is a clearly staged image with each sailor angled and posed on purpose. Each figure is looking in different directions and there does not appear to be any rhyme nor reason to it until you think of the equipment used and the method used by the photographer. Wanting to get a setting that would resemble a loose natural pose would have been difficult if not impossible in the days of long exposure so to get each subject to look and concentrate on a point in the distance would probably be the answer. But what to get them to do? Setting the rigging would be out because of the blurring that it would cause and the possible sway that the ship would have. Have them below decks resting would also be limited due to the light and also their work. So what better way than to do the setting on shore with a few mats laid down on the pebbled shoreline and have a few of the items that one would use on a daily basis dotted around. The block pulley I have already mentioned but two of the sailors have their hands on belaying pins (also known as Jack Pins or Tack Pins) which would also have been used on a ship with sails. A pen knife lays between two sitting sailors and this again would have been used on a daily basis. And what of the game of cordonnier? No such game exists but what better way to get the sailors to pose but when they are waiting for their shoes to be repaired, as is happening by the sailor in the middle front. Cordonnier in French means shoe maker/maker or repairer.
Hope this take on what is happening within the image helps.
OR.
I have been searching on the 'net for an image from the period which would show Katharine75 the type of thing that I mean but the nearest that I can get to it is some images of Sir Thomas Lipton's crew aboard his vessel Shamrock IV & V.