It was probably by coincidence but the progression of photography after the 1840s coincided with the slow defeat of sail in ships, brought about by the new steam propulsion. Up to the Napoleonic era, cargo and warships relied exclusively on brawn and wind power to move across waters – oars and sails. Until steam engines changed all that.
Slowly but inexorably, the Victorian age witnessed the triumph of steam power and sailing survived mostly as a leisure and sporting pastime rather than as essential to commerce and war, as it had for centuries. Sailing vessels in Grand Harbour in the 1890s A leisure sailing boat Malta, late 19th century Bird’s-eye view of a pleasure boat, Malta, c.1930 This feature records sailing vessels in or around Malta through a sequence of antique images.
Boats were mostly photographed in the harbours, at their least photogenic, with their sails stowed. My selection includes the last remnants of powerful British hybrid warships, on which steam engines coexisted with majestic sail rigging, marine training ships for young seamen and the native and (with lateen sails) for transport of passengers and light cargoes between the islands and fishing. Sadly, almost none of the latter have survived.
A Gozo dgħajsa tal-latini, Salvatore Lorenzo Cassar postcard, 1920s Another Salvatore Lorenzo Cassar postcard of sailing vessels in Malta, early 1930s Maltese commercial photographers found these native boats fascinating and marketed many images as postcards, par.