This article, sadly, does NOT follow the series which Sea Breezes magazine has been publishing, featuring David’s paintings and the stories behind them but, rather, explains why there will be no more of them.
At the end of 2025, “Sea Breezes” published its final issue. I had been reading it since about 1959, and had been a regular contributor for the last ten years or so. It is particularly sad for me, as “SB” had been a contributory factor in my embarking on a career at sea. Living in Great Yarmouth, I spent much of my spare time mooching about the quaysides in the harbour. But Yarmouth was a very minor port, with only a variety of coasters and small vessels visiting. Sea Breezes opened my eyes to the wider world of the shipping scene. From age about 12 I was set upon a career at sea, and by about 15 I knew exactly what I wanted to do. A cadetship with Ellerman Lines commenced in 1965.
One of the regular contributors to SB was Captain John Isherwood, whose series of articles “Steamers of the Past” was always interesting and authoritative. Years later I was taught seamanship subjects by Captain Isherwood at the School of Navigation at Warsash, where I was on “MAR” (Mid-apprenticeship Release), later studying for my Second Mates’ and First Mates’ tickets. Isherwood’s articles detailed the history of the subject ship, and were illustrated with meticulous line drawings of each ship, sometimes several drawings showing the vessel at different stages of her career. His series ran for over 300 articles, and I often wonder what happened to the original typescripts and drawings. As a youngster I often copied his drawings, and became quite adept at “drawing ships”.
When I first started reading SB it was a slender A5-sized publication, no colour except on the cover. A great variety of very authoritative articles penned by the leading maritime historians of the day, and by ex-seafarers chronicling their experiences at sea during peace an war, under sail and steam. It was meat and drink to me, eagerly anticipating every monthly issue (one shilling and sixpence). Photographs were frankly awful, being poor quality reproduction of black-and-white pictures, but no matter.
In more recent years, the adoption of A4 format, with full colour made the publication far more attractive. But the number of authors was diminishing. Many of the older contributors had passed on, and fewer” youngsters” are interested. I started contributing in about 2016 with a feature called “From the brush of David Bray”. I felt honoured to be following in the metaphorical footsteps of Captain Isherwood.
My good friend Tony Cooke rang me at the end of 2026 to say that the December issue would be the last. Tony, incidentally, is one of the leading maritime historians in this country, has published many books on the subject of ocean liners, and ran his own publishing house, “Carmania Press” for many years. Together with Andrew Bell, he contributed the excellent series “Ships we forgot to remember”.
Subscribers have been transferred to the similar magazine “Shipping Today and Yesterday” but it is so sad that Sea Breezes, after 105 years, is no more. RIP