Ceredigion artist weaver Vicky Ellis recalls our seafaring coastal communities of old in the exhibition, ‘Woven Memories of Ceredigion Shipwrecks’.

Vicky, who lives in Aberarth, a once important shipbuilding village, makes woven responses to paintings, places, and people that inspire her, often integrating words to tell Welsh stories about the sea.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, ships were the main form of trading transport for coastal communities. It was a dangerous occupation for mariners, who faced storms and unpredictable weather. Between 1855 and 1879 alone, 49,322 shipwrecks were recorded in the UK, with a loss of 18,319 lives. At the end of the 19th century, about one out of every eight shipwrecks happened around the Welsh coast. Vicky’s exhibition memorialises some of those ships and their fates.

The varied descriptions of ships in the records as sloops, smacks, schooners or brigs were determined by how many masts and sails they had. Often, vessels were given the names of their owner’s wives or used words that reflected sentiments.

The story of one ship is particularly pertinent to Llanerchaeron. ‘Vigilance’ was mentioned in a 1764 letter in the National Library of Wales to John Johnes from his sister Elizabeth Lewis of Llanerchaeron, as a wreck with a cargo of oranges and white wine. The wine stored in a number of ‘pipes’ holding up to 105 gallons each had been ‘scrambled over by country people’. Guards were employed to stop more wine being stolen. Elizabeth reports that wine was for sale locally for four shillings a gallon; worth £47 in today’s money, surprisingly similar in cost. She wanted to buy back some for her brother, but as her husband had issued warrants to those suspected of taking the wine, this would have been embarrassing. She did, however, manage to get him some!

Vicky’s exhibition is at Llanerchaeron, Aberaeron, until 6 September.