In earlier times the FOUNDATION STONE PAPERS, the equivalent of today's house plans, for many structures were sealed in bottles and hidden in the walls of buildings. Centuries later when the buildings where taken down or restored the well preserved plans were discovered and put to good use.

For years pears and plums have been grown in bottles, while the bottle was hung from the branch with rags or string. The fruit,with its bottle, is cut from the tree when ripe. The bottle and fruit are rinsed, then filled with an alcoholic beverage such as Brandy. The result is a very expensive, but very tasty, bottle of Brandy.

Before ship bottling was abject bottling. In fact such object bottling was a widespread spare time occupation for about 200 years beginning around 1700. Most builders lived some form of isolated existence, just as seamen did. Lighthouse keepers, farmers, lumbermen, members of religious orders, prisoners, inmates of asylums and hospitals all were attracted to this most patient art form. They built everything between heaven and earth including yarn wheels, looms, chairs, crosses,entire crucifixion scenes, saws, hammers, axes, saw bucks and of course ships. Of course today you'll see a new more modern list consisting of cars, trucks, planes, trains, motorcycles, rockets, lunar landers and whatever else is invented.

Concerning ships in bottles, the fact is no one really knows for sure or has documentation to support "ships in bottle" history. One of the earliest dated pieces at a museum in Luebeck, Germany has a note on it's sail which is dated 1784. Another ship in bottle by Nils Chistopher Holst of Malmo, Sweden is dated May 10, 1781. However, very few ships in bottles have been found that date earlier than 1820. They began showing up along the shores of Europe about that time in the bars and brothels. Sailors would make them aboard and then give them to their sweethearts or use them to pay bar tabs etc. .

Interest in this art form died almost completely during the mid-1930s. This coincided with the decrease of the use of sailing vessels in commerce. A few old salts continued to build ships in bottles, but very little in the way of general interest was evident until comparatively recently.

In 1978 the SHIPS IN BOTTLES ASSOCIATION began in Marseilles, France. THE SHIPS-IN-BOTTLES ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA came into being soon after that and interest has been growing ever since.

 

For a much more compleat history of ships in bottles, please go directly to this link.

http://user.fundy.net/fpweb/2-hist.htm

This is by far the best account of the art of subjects in bottle.

 

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