Pirate Ship Sails

We've all seen countless photos of the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship. And I'd say that at least half of them (maybe more) show the masts and spars devoid of sails, or the sails are furled. Of course it looks best when the red and white striped sails are unfurled and catching the easterly breeze! In this first photo, the ship seems to have wandered into the doldrums.


If you look closely at the sails in the 1956 photo, you can see numerous patches and repairs after only one year of existence. Fresh white stripes alternate with older brownish cloth; and my favorite is the half-assed repair with the little flap of red and white cloth at the top of one sail. The sails were replaced on occasion (I can almost swear that I've seen at least one photo in which the sails are black and white rather than red and white), but at some point these huge pieces of cloth must have been deemed too expensive to constantly maintain.