” Sea Captain” is a title to refer to any carving that relates to a man of the sea.  What distinguishes this carving as a Sea Captain is his clothing and the items he holds in his hands.  In one hand he holds a rolled up map and in the other a sextant, an instrument for measuring  the angular distance of the sun, stars, and etc. from the horizon to determine position in the sea to then aid in reading the map. 

A Google search of the internet for the word “sextant” brought up pictures of the various styles of sextants so as to choose one to guide the carving of a sextant.  Such research is necessary to have a good visual depiction of an item as a guide for carving that item to resemble it in reality.

A lot of carving is to represent something in artistic form rather than an accurate photographic copy.  Thus carving “exaggerates reality” to carve a close representation of the real thing.  Sometimes with a sea man I will have him smoking a pipe, holding a telescope rather than a map or a rope attached to an anchor.  Any carving is more interesting if the hands are holding or doing something to add to the story the carved figure is telling by just standing there.