This is a low contrast black and white photo in landscape format of a square rigged sailing ship underway and about to vanish into a bank of sea fog. Southampton Water, UK (2019).
The lower quarter of the photo is filled with calm, flat and light grey sea water. There is an ill defined horizon with a thin sea fog, (a visibility of about one km), that obscures the sky and anything beyond. Very slightly to the right of centre is a two masted, tall ship, a brig, underway from left to right. The vessel has a historic look with a black hull, a thick white stripe running the length of the hull with square windows set in the stripe giving it the appearance of gun ports. Above the deck is a white deckhouse with 3 portholes and is located between the two masts. Stretching from the sides of the deck upwards to the first yard arm are ratlines, rope ladders, with sailors dressed in black, climbing up. Each mast has 3 yard arms with 6 sailors on the middle yard of the aft mast unfurling the sail. There are 2 further sets of ratlines, 1 reaching the upper yard, the other stretching to the mast head. The ship has just passed between 2 large navigation buoys marking the deep water channel. The nearer buoy has the words 'Black Jack' in bold white letters.
Our ship is the 34m, 'TS Royalist'. A training ship, hence 'TS', owned and operated by the The Marine Society and Sea Cadets, carries 536 sq m of sail, has a permanent crew of 8, plus up to 24 Cadets and 2 adult trainees.
