DOWNES CURTIS
Humorist, Historian, Innovator
 Downes Curtis, Oxford Sailmaker

Downes Curtis was a renowned sail maker in Oxford, Maryland for nearly 70 years. Downes began as an apprentice to English sail maker David Pritchard in 1928 in an old loft on Town Creek. With his brother Albert, Downes not only broke racial barriers with his skill and industry, but attracted the business of sailors everywhere. Clients included early schooner captains, Ralph Wiley (Oxford racer and yacht broker), C. Lowndes Johnson (designer of the Comet), Errol Flynn and James Cagney.

From 1940 to 1996, Downes and Albert rented the
second floor of the former colored school on Tilghman Street in Oxford. From this small loft with no heat or air conditioning, they produced by hand a prodigious array
of sails for skipjacks, sailboats of all sizes, and champion racing log canoes like the Island Bird and Island Blossom.
 




One of the four sewing machines
used by Downes and Albert for different
kinds of stitching. This machine has a
foot treadle for slowing the motor,
and a knee lever for raising the
needle holder off the sail, allowing
Downes to keep his eyes on the
sail pieces at all times.

Downes Curtis, Oxford Sailmaker

Tilghman Street Sailmaking Loft

Making a sail in the sail loft
The old schoolhouse on Tilghman Street
where Downes and Albert made sails in
their second floor loft from 1940 to 1996.		 Downes and Albert laying out a
small mainsail for a Hampton 1-design.
   

Albert stacking orders in the loft

Downes Curtis Home on Tilghman Street, Oxford, MD
Albert stacking orders in the loft. Downes Curtis home on Tilghman Street
across from his sail loft.
Sailmaking photographs courtesy of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.

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