Photo by Jon Deutsch By Captain Bob Cerullo S


ailmakers have been catching the wind night and day since 3,500 B.C. Some of the first


sailmakers were in Egypt. The Chinese started making sails in 3,000 BC. Using sails instead of oars caught on and spread from Egypt to Crete, Phoenicia and to mainland Greece. Early sailmakers made their sails of cloth, papyrus and even animal hides. The Greeks were the first to recognize sail-making as a trade around 1,200 B.C. By the mid-1400s the Western Europeans used square and lateen (triangular) sails combined with a deep- hull and stern-hung rudder to produce the deep-hulled carrack, a type of ship which incorporates the castle structures into the hull along with the basic rigging elements. On the old wooden ships the sails


were the only motive force, without them the ship was nothing more than a barge. When a sail tore in a storm, it was the sailmaker who was summoned to quickly repair it. Ashore the sail loft, the place where sails are made, in any port was a busy place. Onboard a wooden ship the sailmaker was held in very high esteem


The House & Home Magazine


“ Overhead, the white sails stretched their arms to catch the night wind. They were my sails—my wings— and they had brought me to the sea of my boyhood dreams.”


— William Robinson


because it was his skill at making perfect stitches that could mean the difference between a blowing sail holding together or tearing apart at the worst possible time. But, being a good sailmaker involved more than just making good stitches. Most tall ship sailors believed certain types of stitching were lucky. Other types of stitching was considered unlucky and could bring disaster to a ship. The sailmaker had to be extremely careful that he always used the same kind of stitch.


The superstition held that different types of stitches would become jealous of each other and pull out. Even the place where the sailmaker worked had some rules based on old superstitions. He knew never to sew sails on the quarterdeck which was the domain of the officers. To have officers stumbling over sails was indeed bad luck. The importance of the sailmaker on a tall ship was recognized in that on many ships the sailmaker did not have to stand watch.


In the Middle Peninsula and the


Northern Neck 150 years ago sailmaking was an integral part of daily life. Sailmakers like James Croom made sails in the Remlik area of Middlesex County. Fisherman sailed out to fish, oysterman sailed out in all sorts of boats, as the saying went “to catch the bank.” Beautiful powered skip jacks could be seen all over the bay. Modern sailmaking is vastly different from those days when majestic clipper ships raced across the seas. Many of the old techniques are still used but they are augmented with state-of-the- art computerized pattern making, cloth


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