My favorite photo ever

[rbgarr]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid110/pcf59d5e77899028dc5d601c0eba648eb/f917be62.jpg

I took this photo when I was twenty years old. It shows a sailing cargo boat under tow toward the Tagus River in Lisbon, Portugal. The cargo boat, known as a frigata, is about 60' long and the guy rowing the 'towboat' was a friend I made in the town.

This particular foggy dawn he was rowing by the boat I was aboard and called out to me to take his picture. The current carried him some distance down river before I could dress and come on deck but the 'blue fog' effect was striking. It looks like a peaceful scene, but he and the men aboard the frigata were a bit panicked that they were going to run afoul of the anchored power vessel on the left. They are in the midst of hauling up the jib to catch a non-existent breath of air. They squeeked by after a lot of yelling, sculling and tugging on the oars by my friend.

The frigatas were used for lightering all kinds of cargoes whether to and from ships anchored in the roadstead off the city or bringing fruits, vegetables and flowers to the quayside markets. I don't know whether they are still used.

Each one was highly decorated above the waterline, which you can't see here, and the thick planking was tarred for an antifouling treatment underwater. I took a picture of one of them being prepped for 'retarring' at a working boatyard, but have since lost the best picture of that. The prep method was to start a fire underneath the keel after the boat had dried out after a while on the ways, then burn off the old tar and accumulated growth! Quite a stink. The first time I saw it there were no workmen around and I thought the boat had caught fire and was going to be a total loss.
(Here's what I saw from a distance. You might be able to make out the yellow flames licking up around the hull on the ways):

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid111/p73e6659ac7280836412a3477a46bc09f/f910bb43.jpg

Then a few men ambled out to keep an eye, scraping off the tar/growth mix with long pike spades (?) when it was softened or charred. The planking was probably 4-5 inches thick so there was plenty to work with.

[ 04-10-2004, 05:43 PM: Message edited by: rbgarr ]

[Alan D. Hyde]

Stunning.

Thanks for posting it.

I would have called it "the sunset of working sail."

But I would have been wrong.

Perhaps some day there WILL be a new dawn for working sail... It's a pleasant thought, at any rate...

Alan

[rbgarr]

Here you go, Alan- 'The Last Days of Working Sail'... (maybe, as you say) ;)

Notice the Plimsoll mark and the heavy framing in the cargo hold. Massive forebitts/chocks/knightheads(?) at the bow. Heavy mast partners and knees. Deadeyes and brails. The mainsail was often brailed up and the gaff on the raked mast used as a crane for cargo handling. I counted forty of these frigatas undersail one day making their way up the river. Quite a sight, and many were manned by one man and a boy only.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid110/p918229636677ce773ce703fcbb7813b6/f916192d.jpg

[ 05-05-2004, 12:18 PM: Message edited by: rbgarr ]

[brian.cunningham]

Unique looking bow.
Any story as to how the design came about?

[ion barnes]

Thats just real pretty! I like that alot, but was it really that colour? I dont mean to offend, but I have had some colour slide film not take the exact colour tones because they were under-exposed, but because they are unusual, they are more appealing. Greys became shades of purple or blue, yellow became more orange. I was always taking pixs at the time and it was always Christmas when the film was returned in the mail, as there was always a surprise waiting for me. I think yours has a wonderful moody quality, thanks for sharing it with us.

[rbgarr]

I wasn't very fluent in Portuguese so most of my communications with my friend Mario, (the guy rowing the 'towboat') were inexact and rudimentary. I looked around the boatyards and it seemed that the stems curved back like that to line the stem up with the mastheads to provide a direct pull, because the masts were used as cranes as much as spars. I recall seeing 'running forestays' rigged as supporting tackles from masthead to stemhead (as well as the jibstay shown) when they were unloading. Just a guess though.

The smaller shore launched fishing boats had similar shapes, so it may have been related to those designs. I just don't know.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid110/p2d33342602a1107abb9bef612849fc55/f917bdde.jpg

I was taking care of a 50' Hood ketch that was midway through a European racing circuit. The owners had suffered a death in the family and hired me to care for the boat for a month while they flew back for the services and take care of other business. I was going to Lisbon later in the month anyway to join the crew of a schooner sailing down the coast of Africa and across to the Caribbean, so it just extended my trip.

I met Mario the first day I was there when he rowed up alongside the ketch and offered to sell me some fruit. I invited him aboard to see if I could get a feel for the local area, and he became my 'Man Friday' for rest of the month. He'd shop, cook, show me around, make sure I stayed safe, didn't get ripped off, etc. He even found an excellent varnisher who redid all the on-deck woodwork.

I was working on the schooner in drydock one day and he and some friends came by after work. They took me to a local bar and were trying very hard procure a prostitute for me, which I did not want. It was a funny scene, especially with the language barrier, until someone pulled a knife. A possessive patron was upset that I was getting solicited by one of the women, a wall-eyed bottle blonde. I made it quite clear then that I had no interest in her services, and things calmed down.

Several times I took Mario and his friends sailing, which was pretty exciting for them. We sailed up the coast to Estoril, a casino resort for the wealthy. They strutted around there for a while and then tried to pick up women who were sunning on the beach. Very humorous. The guys were all about my age and were soon to go into the Army and possibly off to Angola. Mario helped support his family with odd jobs, since his father had lost both his legs in a train accident. His father got around the village on a wheeled pallet and was as pleasant and straightforward as his son. His mother and uncle ran a cafe where everyone drank very strong coffee and played dominoes until all hours. Even the babies and children were up until one in the morning. I remember watching the 1972 US-Russia Olympic basketball final debacle on the cafe television and trying vainly to describe what all the confusion and disagreement was about. I'm not a basketball fanatic, but it was touching to see everyone in the bar taking 'our side' over the outcome of the game. They were rabid about soccer though, and arguments would go on for hours. Here's a picture of me, my man Mario and his cousin 'Mule'. Shortly after this picture was taken 'Mule' asked me to teach him to swim. He and Mario had never learned. Mario wouldn't learn, though.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid111/pf6f74127541d54e1a7a0056fb9465a8d/f9109532.jpg

As far as the color of the 'foggy dawn' picture goes, I remember thinking at the time that it was a particularly blue fog, perhaps not as purple as it looks in the photo now. All those pictures have changed color a bit over the years, but they aren't slides so it may be a different thing going on than others have experienced.

[ 05-05-2004, 11:30 AM: Message edited by: rbgarr ]

[Bruce Hooke]

Wow! That's a great photograph...

[ion barnes]

I was describing the photo to a friend today, and what strikes me is its similarity to the old masters style of marine scenes. I know the colour tones are not, but the silhouette! and thanks for the story to go with the picture.

[imported_Daniel]

Very nice, thanks for the sharing the photo and the stories.

[rbgarr]

Ion,

I've had the same thought about the composition of the photo.

(You've got a great name, by the way. Is it your given name?)

[rbgarr]

More photos and another story about Portugal... when it was close to the time for me to ship out of Lisbon I took a train about a hundred miles north to a seaside town called Nazare which someone said was not to be missed.

It was a great spot. There was a broad strand of waterfront mosaic where the town population and fishermen mingled.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid111/p15a111da2e160c26143929a43498057e/f9109628.jpg

Roasted sardines were sold from braziers along the street and vacationers played in the water. I was wondering why no one was actually swimming and asked if there was some danger to it, but it just was the case that few knew how. There was a tram that ascended to the plateau of the headland at the end of the strand. I took my sleeping bag and backpack up and walked out to the end where there was a ferocious surf surging around a red and white striped lighthouse. On the other side of the headland I was amazed to see a completely deserted beach hundreds of yards wide extending for as far as the eye could see. This attempt at a panorama doesn't do the scene justice. The surf pounding ashore was close to fifteen feet high, too dangerous to swim in alone.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid111/pfee41a84c308b76b87383c39597642c2/f91095df.jpg

I slept on the beach that night and woke up early to see how far north the beach extended. I walked all day, perhaps ten miles up and back, stopping to examine shore wrack and rinsing off in the heat, yet never saw another soul. Growing up on the New England coast I'd look offshore and think that "If I sailed directly east from here I'd hit Portugal someday." All day on the deserted beach I was struck by the fact that home was directly west, with nothing but Atlantic waves between me and there, and that I'd fulfilled a dream of sorts.

It was an experience I'll never forget and was a great way to end my month in Portugal.

[ 05-05-2004, 12:14 PM: Message edited by: rbgarr ]

[ion barnes]

Ion is it. aka iain, ian, yon, eoin, ivan; all refer to John. Personally, I lean towards the chemistry theme and anything I do has been ionized. The spelling I believe, is the Irish version, Ian is Scotish.

[Alan D. Hyde]

More good photos.

A great thread, rbgarr.

Thanks again.

Alan

[martin schulz]

..the real "Last Days of Sail"
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid52/p3a3ef200e2f1a8a28d40d842484c9882/fc9c84bf.jpg

[brian.cunningham]

Given you gift for words, photography and your life experience, you should write a book to preserve all those memories.

[rbgarr]

Brian-

I've made a list of about thirty vignettes to write about someday, though I anticipate submitting them to magazines (if at all) rather than putting them in a book.

I'm looking forward to it.

The vignettes include my earliest memories of summers aboard my godfather's Alden schooners sailing the coast of Maine and living next door to and exploring the Crosby boatyards. As a teenager I spent weeks sailing Nantucket Sound and exploring Penobscot Bay each summer. I enjoyed months as a young adult sailing and racing the Atlantic, before turning to learning and teaching wood boatbuilding as a first career.

I only wish I had pictures for each set of memories, but I've only begun really photographing things since I've been married.

[ 05-05-2004, 11:35 AM: Message edited by: rbgarr ]

[Wild Wassa]

rbgarr, ... Turner and Corot would be proud. Stunning.

Warren.

[rbgarr]

You're too kind, and though I'm not too familiar with Corot, I'll take it as a compliment about the beach scene fishing boats.

There are other more prosaic pictures here if you haven't seen them, and you belong to Imagestation:

http://www.imagestation.com/mypictures/albums/index.html

[rbgarr]

To continue the 'story', more pictures about my transatlantic voyage in 1972 aboard the schooner WESTWARD can be found here:

http://www.sea.edu/sea2000/alumni2000/W_6PhotoEssay.htm

[seayou77]

Bump! I miss-directed newcomer; this thread was what caught my attention oops ;)

[yorgie]

Great thread and incredible pictures.The photo of you circa 1972 looks like me circa 1992.People don't change much but I'm sure that the boats have.Maybe an oil crisis will make sail more economical again.

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

:cool:

[JimD]

Originally posted by rbgarr:


http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid110/p2d33342602a1107abb9bef612849fc55/f917bdde.jpg

This is a lovely composition. It would be hard for a painter to invent anything nicer. :cool: