Britain gallery: Figurehead

You don't see these ships- or boats- figureheads as often now as you used to, and I don't

recall seeing any in a marina anywhere for many a year. But in maritime or naval museums

throughout the UK they abound, either as preserved examples or in miniature on ships models

or in design drawings. Their variety is astounding, but its always as some form of carved charm

that is to bring luck or fortune to the seafarers in their respective vessels, or a means of

preserving the prestigious name of the vessel. Highly decorative and often gaudily - even

grotesquely - coloured, and often with gold incorporated somewhere, as here, they would

preserve the ship's identity and aid its recognition. Many a seaman has only found his own ship

after a few hours ashore by the the sight of his looming Neptune or Ariadne hanging off the

bowsprit. He may not be sober, but at least he's 'home'. Most Napoleonic-era 'wooden-wall'

battleships, of both Britain and France (and many other nations) would have had beautifully

sculpted figureheads, often being preserved from ship to ship as they were rebuilt with later

designs. But come the era of the ironclad and the Dreadnoughts of WW1, there was no place

for them and their colourful history was at an end, to be replaced by ships' badges mounted on

the superstructure.

You don't see these ships- or boats- figureheads as often now as you used to, and I don't recall

seeing any in a marina anywhere for many a year. But in maritime or naval museums throughout

the UK they abound, either as preserved examples or in miniature on ships models or in design

drawings. Their variety is astounding, but its always as some form of carved charm that is to bring

luck or fortune to the seafarers in their respective vessels, or a means of preserving the

prestigious name of the vessel. Highly decorative and often gaudily - even grotesquely - coloured,

and often with gold incorporated somewhere, as here, they would preserve the ship's identity and

aid its recognition. Many a seaman has only found his own ship after a few hours ashore by the

the sight of his looming Neptune or Ariadne hanging off the bowsprit. He may not be sober, but at

least he's 'home'. Most Napoleonic-era 'wooden-wall' battleships, of both Britain and France (and

many other nations) would have had beautifully sculpted figureheads, often being preserved from

ship to ship as they were rebuilt with later designs. But come the era of the ironclad and the

Dreadnoughts of WW1, there was no place for them and their colourful history was at an end, to

be replaced by ships' badges mounted on the superstructure.