a highly detailed ship in a bottle depicting a four masted sailing ship with a carved wooden handpainted hull, wooden masts and spars, cotton thread rigging and flying a black white and red paper tricolor known at the time as the flag of the German empire or the imperial flag, styled sailing on a blue-green clay sea with a 3 tiered harbourside townscape behind, with handpainted wooden buildings, lighthouse, church with steeple, terraces of cottages and a town hall with two towers flying paper british flags, the left hand flag is inscribed ... p.o.w. [ prisoner of war ] c.a.i.m. [ cunningham camp isle of man ] 1914-15. the diorama is housed in a splendid oval john lovibond & sons ltd bottle who were beer,wine,spirits and tablewater merrchants. the reverse of the bottle decorated with the company's trade mark wood bundle with the wording " this bottle is the property of " encircled with john lovibond & sons ltd. greenwich, fulham & salisbury.
The ship in bottle is presented on a wooden base.
length of bottle 290mm... width of bottle 114mm.
arts and crafts were a prominant part of camp life as an isle of man p.o.w., in particular Crafting highly detailed ships in bottles was an incredibly popular way for maritime internees to battle the extreme boredom of the camps and were exchanged with camp guards and local visitors for extra supplies comforts and tobacco rations.
based in douglas, isle of man, cunninghams camp was one of the earliest and most succesful holiday camps in the uk. founded by Joseph and Elizabeth Cunningham, it functioned as an affordable, tented "city" for men, offering extensive outdoor and leisure activities, but it was also famously requisitioned in september 1914 at the outbreak of world war one as the first isle of man internment camp to hold " enemy aliens, " not only german and austrian civilians living in the uk. but enemy merchant sailors too. the camp was split into 3 distinct sections, the general detainee section where the majority of Austrian and German prisoners initially lived in the camp's original bell tents [ and subsequently wooden huts ] in standard compounds. the privilege camp, a designated, less restricted area, in 1914, housing around 400 wealthy, naturalised, or high-ranking detainees. Conditions here were notably relaxed, with accounts stating photos of these internees were "indistinguishable from pre-war holidaymakers". finally a section of the camp created specifically to accommodate detainees with strict dietary requirements or cultural needs. the camp soon became overcrowded, in late 1914 the military opened camp knockaloe near peel isle of man, a much larger purpopse built camp. camp knockaloe housed the majority of detainees approximately 23300 of the total 26000 prisoners interned on the isle of man during ww1, cunninghams camp became known as just douglas camp and housed the rest, solely the privaleged detainees.
the ship in bottle as folkart is probably, unfairly the greatest cliche of maritime folkart and as such is often overlooked. the amount of skill , artistry and maritime knowledge can not be underestimated in each creation. sculpting ships in bottles became fashionable in the 19th century ,helped by the introduction of mass produced clear glass bottles, an explosion in maritime trade and the desire to bring home a token , souvenir of travel on the high seas. the genuine sailor art form continued into the early 20th century when finally it fell out of fashion with mariners. an original sailor made ship in bottle served as a poignant reminder of the magnificence of both – the vessels and the maritime domain. the ship in bottle was often given as a token of love or endearment. it would have held pride of place in a loved ones home. ships in bottles in their heyday were solely the creations of sailors. to own a ship in a bottle would portray to the onlooker that the custodian was associated with an adventurer, a world explorer who would ride the tempest and all that neptune and his sirens could conjure, to get safely back to his love. it would also serve as a message in a bottle to any of the artists maritime peers that when it came to the sea and who ever may sail , that he really knew what he was talking about.
