Fog

This week's feature print (considering the weather recently, seems somehow appropriate) is a reproduction of my painting which is simply titled "Fog".



The painting depicts a sailing ship of over a hundred years ago, creeping along through the fog.  Several men stand on the bow peering into the fog, straining to see any hazards that might be hidden in the fog ahead; perhaps a schooner fishing, perhaps a reef silently lurking in the calm water ahead

Captains of sailing ships navigated in fog by "dead reckoning", computing their estimated location by speed through the water (measured by a "taffrail log") and time elapsed as noted on the chronometer in the captain's cabin.  They made allowances for drift in tidal current, but all of this was quite imprecise, and many sailing ships found themselves stranded on reefs in the fog, off in the dead reckoning.