This morning, I looked for some music by Delius and found his Sea Drift composed right in the midst of the Impressionist era. I am very fond of Walt Whitman’s poetry, especially the text he wrote that was set to music by Vaughan Williams in his Sea Symphony.

I was intrigued by the painting of a raft from a wrecked ship on a very rough sea. I share it with you here:

It is the Ninth Wave by the Russian artist Ivan Aivazovsky, who painted it in 1850. It shows the sea in the aftermath of a storm. A few survivors of a shipwreck cling for dear life to what appears to be a piece of a mast. The yellow-orange light gives warmth and hope of survival. I love this painting.

The sea is an amazing creature, both obeying and defying the laws of physics. Waves often come in a sequence, their number depending on where you are. On our Normandy coast, our waves usually come in threes followed by a big fourth wave, so you launch your boat at just the right time. Beaching is less easy and is a sure test of seamanship – I can say so with two broken masts (one mast but broken twice) to my credit!