The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-07-26
The aaaehita Daily EAGLE Saturday lor,ine Gully 2e 1890
FIGUREHEAD LORE.
SIGNIFICANCE ATTACHED TO THE
EMBLEMS BY SAILORS.

I
Distinguishing Marks-origin of the
Figurehead.
| OF course it was only by way of finish
! of just TO improve her appearance that
the stem of Prince George Of Wales little
ship, the Thrush, recently received the dec
grafton of fgurehead of the approved
shield and scroll work pattern, which is
nowadays the thing" in the navy. When
| first designated as Prince Georges ship,
! the Thrush, like the other vessels Of her
rate, bore nothing whatever on her plain
cutwater. Nobody would dream Of our
enlightened Jacks of the present year of
grace-any A. B. of whom could, IN the
way of general attachments, give points"
| TO all the port admirals in England IN Mel
sons day-attaching any significance to
the possession Of fgureheaA Il was not
always SO, however certainly not In
eighteen hundred and war time" Il
never knew a vessel with fiddle head do
! anything" one of MsTTyat's old salts, the
! gunner of the Rattlesnake, is made 10 tell
Peter Simple. In Difference to which super
stition we learn that the RattlesnAke's
| fiddlehead-a plain, unadorned volute type
Of head rounding off the top Of the ships
l
! fgurehead made with the help of coil of
/ rope and cleft block Of wood. embfamatic
( of the ships name. There sre several cases
/ noted by Capt. Basil Hall and others of
! our Jacks showing q semi-supersfftious
regard for the 6gurehead of their ship, as
though it were a sort of tuteIary deity. As,
| for instance, by their decking it out when
! in chase of an enemy with necklets of treas
] loHH u,,6 dc hrrr1 tod bS>r
| sion from their kit bags, and cosxing it
in terms of enGearment and with promises
| of extra coats of paint to hasten the good
| ship on.
In other ways the figurehead has played
! part in naval story.
THE FIGUREHEAD IN NAVAL STORY.
Marryat's yarn of how the ships com
pany of the RattleSEake cut of the head
| and rattle from the efligy Peter Simple had
| provided for the vessels figurehead, after
! their commander, the cowRrdly Capt
Hawkins, had made the ship show her
stern to an enemy who WAS her fair match
has an historical basis. So has the story
of how the men of the old Brunswick at
the battle Of the GLORIOUS First of June"
sent deputatiOn to the quarterback in the
heat Of the fight to borrow from the cap
cooked hat shot away off the head of the
effigy of the Duke of Brunswick that did
duty as the figurehead of the ship. The
men on getting 1.-The best gold laced hat
the captain had nailed it on the figure
head, where it remained for the rest of the
day.
The French privateer Surcouf again, the
terror of the Indian seas in the Napoleon
| = ,oSl e, - -
urehead in his famous cruiser, the Reve-
| nant, which represented corpse in the
act of casting of its shroud, in the famous
address he made to his crew on first put
ting to sea: This ship shall be our tomb
or cradle of future glOry!' Similarly there
was much meaning in the grewsome figure
head-a skeleton-which the famous En-
glish privateer ship Terrible bore. Accord
ing to the old ballad the Terrible sailed
from Execution dock on Friday in No
vember. 1857, with Capt Death. First
Lieut.. Devil and Surgeon Ghost on board,
20 fight as bloody sea duel as any on rec
ord in the West Indies with the French
privateer Vengeance on another Friday.
Nor ought mention TO be omitted of the
rather too realistic fgurehead Of the sioOp-
of-war Pearl, of George IFS navy, the
cancer Black beard, as struck of his dead
body, with which CHASTITY trophy as a fig
urehead Lieut. Maynard adorned his YES
sells bow as he sailed into Port Royal
after his victory over the redoubtable pi-
rate
One of Basil Halls post captains once
found his ships figurehead useful as a
lever with which to work up the energies
81 ~ has tod "A
fgurehead which was literally the idol Of
the crew. One day, when sailing in com
pany with other ocean high flyers Of the
same class, she had been beaten at reefng
topsails. Upon the commodore signaling
that the squadron should repeat the exer-
else the captain Of the fri9ate in question
hailed his men who were aIoft with Now,
/ tell you what ID is, my lads, unless you
are off those yards and the sails are hoisted
again before any other ship in the squad
ron. by the Lord Harry I'll paint your fig
urehead blackr' The result was that from
that time forward the }s+gate beat every
/ other ship on the station at all drifts aIoft.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE FIGUREHEAD.
| There is much that is curious about the
| development of the igurehesd through the
/ various forms that at one time or another
! il has assumed. The learned date its orr
/ gin to the primeval times-tO the days
! when mans only method CT getting TO the
! other side of any piece Of open water was
! TO propel himself across astride of the near
/ est fallen tree trunk Antiquaries profess
/ TO find the first idea of the fgurebesd in
/ the grim and grotesque face resemblance
1 that would be left in the preliminary trim
| ming OF the roots of the tree trunk. which
would be necessary to make IL float head
! first. Whether this was so or not IN pre-
/ historic ages does not, however, much
matter.
! Fizureheads in the earliest historic times
seem TO have been sacred enbleuns borne
on board ship TO insure good luck and avert
the perils of the sea. Egyptisa sculptures
give numerous representations Of vessels
with heads of the sacred ram Of Anmon,
or Ibis heads at the PROV. and We read that
images representing the mystic Cabtri-
diyiuitiss who had special power Of pro
| tecttug their worshipers from storm and
vr,ck-were similarly made Use Of By ths
| PhrnicIan MARINERS. A bough cut from
| the sacred spreading oak that ruled IN DO
dona's AIRED grove" according 70 ancient
! MYTH. did duty AZ hsurebesd for jason :
| Arco sbip. and vvas Of 10 TRIVIAL account,
! the learned sag. IL safeguarding the hftJ
heroes through all the pertls Of their lux.
ins voyage Ths burroWins sTuoltion o'
French savazts and German professors has
also unearthed a. facts thHs the ships
Achilles took TO Troy lad golden Asrs4d
G. 2zs~