PASSING OF THE FIGUREHEAD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18768, 23 January 1923, Page 10

PASSING OF THE FIGUREHEAD

THE OLD ORDER CHANGES. By H. S., in the Argus. In the recent collision in Bass Strait between the ship Muscootn and the steamer Yana, the Musooota left her figurehead on the Yarra. When the captain of the Mus-coot-n, mi arriving at Sydney, hoard of this, he said. "I must get that figurehead back " Although figure-heads are seldom seen nowadays, they were until comparatively lately almost an integral part of a ship. The old salts, iiiaeed. would hardly have sailed in a ship lacking such an essential; it would have been almost as unthinkable as signing on in a craft that had no name, figureheads were the rale—and had been the rule before the Pyramids were built. The only exception I know of was that of the Maine (U.S.A.) whalers of the last century; they were owned by Quakers, who considered it irreligious even to make a graven image, let alone to bow down and worship one. figureheads of ships seem from time immemorial to have been regarded ns a sort of mascot, and oven to-day the fruit traders of the Mediterranean carry the imago of the Virgin or of St. Nicholas at their bows to protect them fropi the perils of the mistral and the sirocco. Female figureheads have been generally preferred. Tennyson had noted this when he wrote. “Her full-busted figurehead stared o’er the ripple feathering Irom her bows.” Still this was not always (he case. The Koval Prince, 1200 tons, launched in 1608, and the largest British ship of her time, carried at her bows an heroic figure of a prince on horseback; it weighed some tons. The Royal Prince was built in the reign of •Tames 1, and her prince on horseback was intended as a mark of honour to that monarch’s unfortunate son, afterwards Charles I. Some were oven more elaborate than this. In his “Hlackwall Frigates” Basil Lubbock says that up to 1700 Rriush "first rates” usually had kingly figures on prancing horses weighing down their beaabends. The figurehead cf the Sovereign of the Sens was a group' of statuary, consisting of King Edgar on horseback, trampling on those seven kings who, according to history, were compelled to row the royal barge round the kingdom. Lubbock adds that in those days the woodcarver was a man of immense importance Doth at. sea and on snore. Ho might have ndoed that in some cases bo was a great sculptor, whose medium was wood instead of marble, for in not a few oases figureheads were real works of art. Perhaps ft was the French who excelled in the now almost forgotten art. The French flagship. 1.0 Ro: Solid, had a really splendid figurehead representing a mermaid balanced in the bend of her tail; and quite as notable was the figurehead of another French ship of the line. This was u full-length female figure of a goddess in flowing draperies, and the whole beak of the ship was carved to represent a carpet of oak leaves on which she was standing. Long after figureheads had been abandoned in the British navy they were retained by the American naval authorities. The Olympia, which wa; Admiral Dewey’s ship at Manila, carried at: her bows a magnificent Winged Victory, holding aloft a bronze eagle. This was designed by St. Gandens, the celebrated French sculptor, and it cost several thousand pounds. An entertaining volume might be written about fiurgeheads alone, for the old records contain scores of interesting facts about them. For instance, there is the American Constitution, which is to Americans what the Victory is io the British. According to these records, she is the most figure-headed ship that we. know- of. She commenced with a Hercules and his club, but when she was rebuilt- in 1815 Hercules gave way to Neptune. Neptune did not- last long, for a round shot carried him away when the Constitution fought our Guerricre in the English Channel. For the next 20 years or so the Constitution had only a gill scroll at her bows, but when she was again rebuilt —that was in 1834 —President Jackson scowled under her bowsprit. The admirers of "Old Hickory” thought the Idleness so uncomplimentary that they pretested to the authorities. Wut the authorities, holding that it was a striking likeness, though not perhaps a flattering one, declined to go to the expense of having another “Old Hickory” carved. One' night Captain Samuel Dewey rowed off to the Constitution, got aboard her without attracting any attention, clambered out, to Old Hickory’s wooden image, sat astride of it, and sawed its head oh ! Captain Marryat tells how a British captain of a man-of-war brought, a mutinous crew to a sense of shame and discipline by threatening to have the figurehead of his shin painted black unless they returned to their duty. I like that story, too, of the frigate Brunswick, which one day during 1792 was engaged in a fight with some French ships in the English Channel. Her figurehead represented the Duke of Brunswick. Presently a 12-pounder shot away the Duke’s hat. Her gallant captain immediately climbed out to the figurehead and put matters right by clapping his own cocked lint in the place where the wooden one had been. One can imagine how- the rough old sea dogs would cheer this splendid piece of bravado, and what a heart it would give then to “carry on.” ... ■ It is not altogether for reasons that the figurehead has to all intents and purposes passed away. Sailing ships still have them, but the sailing shin is an anachronism to-day, and soon it will bo rare as the dodo For many years after they were introduced steamers had chpp'or bows, and these steamers usually carried figureheads. Perhaps the most graceful steam craft ever launched was the Inman liner City of Rome (1882). She had a clipper bow, ornamented with an opulent mailed presentment of a Roman warrior in full armour. 'liio American liners New york and Philadelphia also had clipper bows, from the first “stared o’er the ripple feathering from her bows” Lily Langtry; and from the second, Mary Anderson. But for the last 50 years or so clipper bows have given place to the straight stem. With the straight stem a figurehead is an encumbrance, for where every inch might be precious in docking, the ngurohead would add several feet to the length of the hull. Hence the figurehead is doomed. Possibly the only modern liner fitted with one is the Berengana (ex Imperator). Whether this still survives I do not know, but when the Imperator was launched an enormous eagle clipped her bows between its wings. The bird, richly gilt, and splendidly proportioned, breaking, as it did, the monotonous straight lines of the stem, was not only artistic, but it served a useful purpose as well, for the interior of the carcase made a spacious chamber, 50ft wide, in which a look-out man was stationed. He had a telescope, and by means of this he could sweep the seas, for in the breast of the bird there were two great porthole*

It has been said that figureheads were regarded as sort of mascots, but to the sailors of a bygone day they were something more than this; they were, indeed, the very personification of the ship. Those were the old romantic days—if we may digress for a moment —when men loved their ships (if they were lovable craft) and really believed that a ship, like a man or a woman, Had . n personality of its own. One of the officers of that dashing little opium clipper Falcon relates (quite seriously) how she had her moods; how, in all circumstances, sue "would do "all that may become a ship”—but not a fraction more! So if they crowded her too much in order not to lose a minute in getting rid of her precious perilous cargo she would get sulky arid would not do her best for them iof quite a while, apologise to her and humour her as they might. Wo used to say that she was “huffed,’’ ho writes. And w'hon she was huffed she was a vixen: ordinarily a boy at, the wheel could handle her, but it was another matter then. However, her tits of temper (so they said) did not last long. Reading this, we can understand, perhaps, tho sentimental regard that the men had for (heir ship’s figurehead, where her very soul, as they thought, had its dwelling place. When H.M.S. Serpent was wrecked in 1891, and 173 bravo men lost their lives, there were three survivors. Ihoy wore in desperate peril, but they were prepared to further risk their lives for the sake of bringing home souictliinrr of Their lost ship. And so they managecF to break away the Serpent’s figurehead—it represented a snaTTe charmer —and until they were rescued there was no chance too great for them to take in order that this precious fragment might bo saved.