Shoes of Sailors and the Working Class Circa 1687 to 1725

Captain Jack Sawford · February 23, 2023

An assortment of references to shoes worn by sailors and the working class from between 1687 and 1725.

Photo 1 - Open sided latchet shoes, circa 1687. A close up of an image from the London Cries series.
Photo 2 - A selection from a 1725 Dutch painting entitled "A Vegetable Seller and his Son", with focus on the small buckles and small tongues of their shoes.
Photo 3 - Gamekeeper to Sir Nicholas Williams of Edwinsford, circa 1725. Notice the small buckles and short tongued shoes.
Photo 4 - A pair of low tongued, tied, latchet shoes, potentially with an open side, though it's hard to tell. A selection from a larger painting, "Hob Selling Beer at the Wake", a scene from the Opera "Flora", by LaGuerre. Circa 1725
Photo 5 - A close up of the round toed and small buckled shoes worn by Anne Bonny in the illustration from Johnson's General History.
Photo 6 - A shoe excavated and restored from the 1724 wreck of the German merchant ship "Archangel Raphael".
Photo 7 - A closer look at the shoes in the illustration of Edward Teach in A General History of the Pirates.
Photo 8 - Shoe buckles, and how they changed, leading up to, and through, the Golden Age of Piracy. Taken from GentlemenOfFortune.com.
Photo 9 - Shoe buckles, and how they changed, leading up to, and through, the Golden Age of Piracy. Taken from GentlemenOfFortune.com.
Photo 10 - A close up of the round toed and small buckled shoes worn by Mary Read in the illustration from Johnson's General History.
Photo 11 - A buckle shoe, sans buckle, taken from the wreck of Sam Bellamy's pirate ship, the Whydah, circa 1717.
Photo 12 - A Latchet shoe taken from the wreck of the 1690 wreck of the Elizabeth and Mary
Photo 13 - Latchet shoes taken from the wreck of the 1690 wreck of the Elizabeth and Mary