English BLoG

The Schooner Virginia Races the Pride of Baltimore II past Thimble Shoals Lighthouse. Created by marine artist Heather Gabrielle Rogers. The first known ship inside a bottle was created during the early years of the 19th century. Like other sailor-made art forms, these were created aboard old sailing ships in an era when sea voyages lasted months and sometimes years. Whalemen, during their idle hours, produced scrimshaw for family members, sweethearts, and friends. Decorative and utilitarian objects were carved from bone, ivory teeth, and baleen, and designs were engraved on the same materials. But other materials such as wood, rope and yarn were also used, and many interesting and decorative objects were created from these. Two tall ships pass each other in this early 20th century ship in a bottle diorama. It is not surprising then that an empty spirit or a medicine bottle lying around aboard ship might have spurred the imagination of a 19th century seaman into devising a way to displ...

Kevin Collins holds one of his sea bowls. Inspired by marine life that survive in the brackish habitats that exist along our Virginia shore, kevin Collins brings to life a unique collection of ceramic (porcelain) creations for your coastal home. The forms take on shapes of modeled bowls with oyster shells and barnicles and shell colored inner surfaces in shades of pink, coral, blues, greens and purples. Kevin's earthenware creations also take on the form of shell lamps, some actually starting with a piece of driftwood with small sea creatures added to the natural surface. His collection also includes shell-designed necklaces and earrings and even individual oyster shell and clumps of barnacles as refrigerator magnets. His designs are endless and we never know what Kevin will come up with next. These porcelain art pieces are functional   art oieces and perfect decor item for your beach and coastal home. Sea-inspired coral colored ceramic bowl with barnacles. Kevin's first experi...

A matching pair of nautical anchor lanterns converted to table lamps. Selecting the right furnishings for your nautical room is certainly an important part of creating a successful interior. One product that tends to go unnoticed as a valuable and functioning part of creating the perfect nautical room is the appropriate selection of lamps and lighting. The majority of rooms that we have seen published in home decorating magazines like Coastal Living sometimes feature rooms with a nautical theme but these rooms tend to be lighted with plain, uninteresting lighting selections.  Others have settled for the cheap Chinese made knockoffs like those sold by stores like the Pottery Barn. Granted, the selection of quality nautical lighting is slim at best, but they are available if you know where to look. But before we get into the components of this blog, let's discuss exactly what the word nautical is, because there seems to be a big misunderstanding of what the word means. Nautical, is ...

Skipjack's handcrafted monkey's fist lamp finial is a wonderful choice to top off your lamp. Lamps, Lampshades & Lighting at Skipjack Nautical Wares Being in the nautical business, we spend a lot of time flipping through interior design magazines like Coastal Living, Architectural Digest, Better Homes & Gardens, etc. looking at rooms created by professional designers for inspiration and potentials for new products. I especially take notice of the chosen decor details. One thing that holds true for most successful interiors is a focus on scale and proportion, wall color and fabric selections, and overall floor arrangement. But so many of these designers have focused on primary design elements, but lack attention to decor details. Table lamps are a great example of this. Nautical lighting can add so much to the completion of a successful coastal home interior, and that goes for appropriate lampshades and lamp finials as well. Custom nautical lamp made using a vintage bras...

A surviving Lothrop's patent fog horn.  Every once in a while we are able to find an item at Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallery that we can offer some factual information about it's history. Here, our research has taken us to the great maritime seaport of Gloucester, Massachusetts where this item was manufactured. Here is a brief history of the product and the company. The fog horn was invented by Llewellyn Day Lothrop, born in Appleton, Maine in March of 1836. Mr. Lothrop opened a general ship chandler’s business in 1880 on Duncan Street in Gloucester, Massachusetts and soon became the leading chandlery for fishing gear. He invented different swivels & hooks for fishing, but was best known for the famous, Lothrop PATENT Fog Horn of which no Gloucesterman would sail without. This fog horn in this blog is an example of those manufactured by the L.D.Lothrop Co., Vintage picture of L. D. Lothrop's  horse-drawn wagon sandwich board advertisement. A REED FOG HORN ...

For sale in the showroom and online  starting Friday, May 10th, Skipjack is pleased to present the  Rebman Maritime Collection. Some of the many nautical items available for sale from the Rebman Maritime Collection. The Arthur A. Rebman Maritime Collection represents three decades of collecting authentic nautical related items during Mr. Rebman's years working in Hampton Roads shipyards. The collection comprises of a number of ship nameboards, a rare rope driven ship's wheel circa 1840, US Navy and US Coast Guard items, life rings and preservers, wood blocks of varying types and sizes, cleats and bollards, navigational ship lights, a group of Fresnel lantern lenses, wood and metal fids and marlinspikes, country flags, signal flags and pennants including a complete cased signal flag collection, oak lifeboat water keg, anchors, a WWII era boxed compass, Lionel taffrail log in original box, ship's bell, half hulls, vintage lobster trap and wood net floats, boxed fog horn (work...

Nautical themed dog collars at Skipjack Nautical Wares Dress up your salty dog with Skipjack's nautical pet products featuring a great selection of colorful nautical themed ribbon collars & leashes on durable nylon webbing for comfort and easy care. Collars feature Delrin Acetal side release buckles for ease of fastening and separating and solid nickel plated “D” rings for strength, are available in three widths and are all easily adjusted for length. Our matching leashes feature strong nickel-plated swivel snaps. Produced in Massachusetts, USA. Want one? Follow the link here to our NAUTICAL PET section on our web store. or stop by our Olde Towne Portsmouth, Virginia riverfront showroom. Our dog Chance models a nautical code flag ribbon collar. Select your favorite ribbon design and webbing color for the perfect nautical dog collar. Easy to clean, just soak in dish detergent and warm water, rinse clean and air dry for years of like-new look and to eliminate odor. Make it just ...