Figurehead (object)

A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the bow of ships, generally of a design related to the name or role of a ship. They were predominant between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries, and modern ships' badges fulfil a similar role.

History
Early ships often had some form of bow ornamentation (e.g. the eyes painted on the bows of Greek and Phoenician galleys, the Roman practice of putting carvings of their deities on the bows of their galleys, and the Viking ships of ca. A.D. 800–1100). The menacing appearance of toothy and bug-eyed figureheads on Viking ships were considered a form of apotropaic magic, serving the function of warding off evil spirits.

The Ancient Egyptians placed figures of holy birds on the prow. A wall relief at Medinet Habu depicting Ramses III defeating the Sea Peoples in the Battle of the Nile Delta circa 1200 BC depicts Ancient Egiptian ships with a fierce lioness figurehead carved on the bow of two of the ships. Likely this depicted their warrior goddess, Sekhmet, who was seen as their protector. The Phoenicians used horses representing speed. The Ancient Greeks used the heads of boars to symbolise acute vision and ferocity while Roman boats often mounted a carving of a centurion representing valour in battle. In northern Europe, serpents, bulls, dolphins, and dragons were customary and by the thirteenth century, the swan was used representing grace and mobility.

In Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, it was once believed that spirits or faeries called Kaboutermannekes (gnomes, little men, faeries) dwelt in the figureheads. The spirit guarded the ship from sickness, rocks, storms, and dangerous winds. If the ship sank, the Kaboutermannekes guided the sailors' souls to the Land of the Dead. To sink without a Kaboutermanneke condemned the sailor's soul to haunt the sea forever, so Dutch sailors believed. A similar belief was found in early Scandinavia.

In pre-colonial Burma, during the Konbaung dynasty, figureheads were used to distinguish several types of royal barges allocated to different members of the royal court; each barge had a specific mythical figurehead at the front.

A general practice of figureheads was introduced in Europe with the galleons of the sixteenth century, as the figurehead as such could not come to be until ships had a stemhead structure on which to place it. During the period from the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries the carved subjects of figureheads varied from representations of saints to patriotic emblems such as the unicorns or lions popular on British ships. When the ship was named after a royal or naval personage the head and bust of the individual might be shown.

As with the stern ornamentation, the purpose of the figurehead was often to indicate the name of the ship in a non-literate society (albeit in a sometimes very convoluted manner); and always, in the case of naval ships, to demonstrate the wealth and might of the owner. At the height of the Baroque period, some ships boasted gigantic figureheads, weighing several tons and sometimes twinned on both sides of the bowsprit.

A large figurehead, being carved from massive wood and perched on the very foremost tip of the hull, adversely affected the sailing qualities of the ship. This, and cost considerations, led to figureheads being made dramatically smaller during the eighteenth century, and in some cases they were abolished altogether around 1800. After the Napoleonic wars they made something of a comeback, but were then often in the form of a small waist-up bust rather than the oversized full figures previously used. The clipper ships of the 1850s and 1860s customarily had full figureheads, but these were relatively small and light. During their final stage of common use figureheads ranged in length from about 18 in to 9 ft.

Decline in use


Figureheads as such died out with the military sailing ship. In addition the vogue for ram bows meant that there was no obvious place to mount one on battleships. An exception was HMS Rodney (1884) which was the last British battleship to carry a figurehead. Smaller ships of the Royal Navy continued to carry them. The last example may well have been the sloop HMS Cadmus (1903) launched in 1903. Her sister ship HMS Espiegle (1900) was the last to sport a figurehead until her breaking up in 1923. Early steamships sometimes had gilt scroll-work and coats-of-arms at their |bows. This practice lasted up until about World War I. The 1910 German liner SS Imperator originally sported a large bronze figurehead of an eagle (the Imperial German symbol) standing on a globe. The few extra feet of length added by the figurehead made Imperator the longest ship in the world at the time of her launch.

It is still common practise for warships to carry ships' badges, large plaques mounted on the superstructure with a unique design relating to the ship's name or role. For example, Type 42 destroyers of the Royal Navy, which are named after British cities, carry badges depicting the coat of arms of their namesake.

On smaller vessels, a billethead might be substituted. This was a smaller, nonfigural carving, most often a curl of foliage.