Decision details

Jim Fuller (1919 to 1999) lived all his life in Ipswich, apart from the years he served in the merchant navy.

He was referred to as Cabin Boy Jim because as a 14yr old boy he was one of two young lads on the square-rigger, the Joseph Conrad, in 1929 when it left Ipswich. Captained by Alan Villiers, the plan was to circumnavigate the world. Jim Fuller as a young boy illustrated Villiers' books about the voyage. We would like to take in these books inscribed by Villiers, as well as the original illustrations Jim drew for them.

The Joseph Conrad is now in Mystic Seaport Museum, Connecticut, the largest maritime museum in the United States.

https://web.archive.org/web/20121211002416/http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=B3AF7031-E022-6432-8AE3F674FA3026CA

The donation also includes World War Two material documenting conflict on the seas, and images that were on display in the United Seamen's Exhibition in New York 1946.

Ashore he was a bricklayer. From 1950 until his death, he lived in the Maidenhall area. He drew and painted all this life, and his work includes scenes of life in Ipswich as well as his travels while in the navy. His wife Sybil, whose portrait is included, was a seamstress at Phillips and Pipers, and later worked for many years as a geriatric nurse at a local hospital.

The decision made is to accept the donation of drawings, paintings and sketchbooks by Jim Fuller from his son George Fuller which consists of 51 items.