FIGUREHEAD OF NELSON

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4327, 17 August 1937, Page 7

FIGUREHEAD OF NELSON

TEMPORARILY " OFF WATCH ” RAVAGES OF TIME AND WEATHER One hundred and twenty-three years of exposure to sunshine, rain, wind, and storm have taken their toll of the oaken heart of Lord Nelson. That is why he no longer stands on his pedestal—one of the most famous maritime figureheads in the world—to receive the regular salutes of the District Naval Officer (Commander Loudoun-Shand) and the 100 officers and 800 ratings and cadets of the Royal Australian Reserve at whose Rushcutter Bay depot he has kept watch for so in an v rears (says the Sydney ‘ M orning Herald ’) But now he is a mere shell of his former self. Serious decay has set in, and those expert manipulative surgeons —the shipwrights of the Royal Australian Navy—are busy providing new wooden heart, lungs, and other internal organs to replace the original wood of which the interior was made. It is an ignominous treatment, perhaps, for so famous a hero, but is none the less vital for the well-being of the figurehead, which is considered to be one of the finest examples in the world, and which, in the words of a commentator of 1815, “ exemplifies the whole artistic ingenuity and workmanship of our professional artists,” and which comprises “ the bust of our brave and ever to be lamented hero, Lord Nelson.”