The Vanishing Age of Sail

The Illustrated Journals of Kelsick Wood, Shipbuilder

Publication Date15th July 2025

Book FormatPaperback

pages128

Illustrations40

Height234

Width165

Simon Francis Brown explores the uniquely illustrated journals of nineteenth-century shipbuilder Kelsick Wood from Maryport, Cumbria.
Regular Price £16.99 Online Price: £15.29
Availability: In stock
ISBN
9781398124912

Kelsick Wood was a nineteenth-century Georgian shipbuilder in Maryport, West Cumberland, with a private passion for painting. He combined his two loves in his journals, where shipyard contracts and inventories share their pages with beautiful and curious watercolour pictures. North Harbour revels in the rich, textured story behind these little books. It shows how each small shipyard on Britain’s coast played its part in Britain’s economic expansion in the nineteenth century. It is also a personal tale, and the faces which look out from Kelsick’s journals remind us that these little wooden ships carried the dreams and livelihoods of all those who owned, commanded and crewed them.


Simon Francis Brown’s highly visual title speaks immediately to lovers of maritime history, illustration and the Georgian era, drawing in daydreamers and doodlers alike.

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