Then there's the shellback's perspective of what "art" is, how a sailing ship should really be painted, from a poem by Cicely Fox Smith that Bob Zentz has adapted for singing:

PICTURES

"Some likes pictures o' women," said Bill,
"An' some like 'orses best,"
As he fitted a pair of fancy shackles
On to his old sea chest,
"But I like pictures o' ships," said he,
"An' you can keep the rest.
An' if I was a ruddy millionaire
With dollars to burn that way,
Instead of a dead-broke sailorman
As never saves his pay,
I'd go to some big paintin' guy
An' this is what I'd say:

'Paint me the Cutty Sark,' I'd say,
'Or the old Thermopylae,
Or the Star o' Peace as I sailed in once
In my young days at sea,
Shipshape and Blackwall fashion, too,
As a clipper ought to be . . .
An' you might do 'er outward bound,
With a sky full o' clouds,
An' the tug just dropping astern,
An' gulls flyin' in crowds,
An' the decks shiny-wet with rain,
An' the wind shakin' the shrouds . . .
Or else racin' up Channel
With a sou'wester blowin',
Stuns'ls set aloft and alow,
An' a hoist o' flags showin',
An' a white bone between her teeth
So's you can see she's goin' . . .
Or you might do 'er off Cape Stiff,
In the high latitudes yonder,
With 'er main deck a smother of white,
An' her lee-rail dippin' under,
An' the big greybeards racin' by
An' breakin' aboard like thunder . . .
Or I'd like old Tuskar somewheres abound . . .
Or Sydney 'Eads maybe . . .
Or a couple o' junks, if she's tradin' East,
To show it's the China Sea. . .
Or Bar Light . . . or the Tail o' the Bank . . .
Or a glimp o' Circular Quay.
An' I don't want no dabs o' paint
As you can't tell what they are,
Whether they're shadders, or fellers' faces,
Or blocks, or blobs o' tar,
But I want gear as looks like gear,
An' a spar that's like a spar.
An' I don't care if it's North or South,
The Trades or the China Sea,
Shortened down or everything set —
Close-hauled or runnin' free —
You paint me a ship as is like a ship . . .
An' that'll do for me!'"

Notes:

From Ships and Folks, edited by Cicely Fox Smith, published by Elkin Mathews, London, © 1920, p. 36-37. Later published in Sea Songs and Ballads 1917-22, © 1924, pp. 82-84. First published in Punch Magazine, Volume 158, February 11, 1920, p. 110.

"Bill" is the poet's sailor-philosopher, a nice feller to crew with, and he knows what he likes in nautical art.

First adapted for singing by Bob Zentz (US), as recorded on Closehauled on the Wind of a Dream,, © 2007.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble