Sea trade routes

The collection of paintings of 19th century Galaxidi sailing ships by well-known port painters, apart from its artistic value, provides details about the ships and the ports they visited.

Many ships are painted with Venice, Marseilles and Livorno (Leghorn) in the background, and others with the fortress of Malta, Vesuvius at Naples and the port of Algiers. On some the date of arrival or departure from the port is written and on others phrases such as “in danger”.

Also descriptions of the voyage and details about the cargo are found in the ships’ logs, ledgers and freight contracts. Unfortunately only a few of these records have survived.

In the Galaxidi sailing ships the owner was often the captain too. The voyage had a definite destination determined by the freight contract, but the length depended on the peculiarities of the sails, weather, sea currents, season. Apart from the Corinthian Gulf and the Ionian Sea, the larger Galaxidi ships sailed to all the ports of the Mediterranean, Black Sea and Sea of Azov but also to northern Europe and across the Atlantic.
A picture of the 19th century sea trade can be drawn from the study of these documents.