Washington sentinel., 1898-07-30
- SENTINEL
Firureheads on Marships,

Ftgureheads on Marshtps,
Sad to relate, our modern
marines give very little thoughtto to
6gureheads. A warship feels any
number Of times securer with a few
torpedoes up her sleeve than she
possibly could with the most Gs-
thetic hguEehead on her stern. In
fact, look about any hsrbor and
note how few ships boast anything
IN the shape oil this sort Of a mas
cot. Yet, time was when vessel
would as soon have thought about
starting out rVith leak as without
figure head, and the farther back
we 90 the more was this a fact.
The earliest discovered model Of
6gurehead belonged TO pleasure
boat OF one Of ancient EgYpts
dark eyed queens, being IN the
form Of a lotus, and SO very much
to her mind aRd heart that she had
it buried with her; but wsrships
with animals carved upon the
prows are known to have existed
in Egypt before the day OF this
queen, in fact, as early as 1000 b. c.
The subject usually corresponded
to the name ofthe ship. This was
before the introduction ofTams. A
lew 6gureheads as well aach,En
and rams, found in a1lttRe locks oithe
IBIS at Athens serve to give
notion ofthe dimensions of ancient
Greecian warships. The niche
occupied on the FLYING Dutchman
by the human skeleton was the
niche that in the Middle Ages was
occupied by a saint, and this in
turn was an outcome OF a way
they Iad in the days OF the Roman
consuls OF taking their laTes or
tutelary gods to sea in the alter
parI OF the ship.
Apparen ly each particular ma
ton had a favorite emblem The
owl was as conspicuous on the
Athenian ships as was the COCK,
that emblem of vigilance, on the
Phoenicians. The shining blade OF
Saint Theodore, the patron saint
81 the Venetians, was their favor
ite hgurehead, while the British
lion became so universally the
hgurehead OF English ships that
other nations who followed closely
the architecture Of this ''hrst nation
ON the" adopted also the lion, as
much to hide their identity as be-
cause they were built after English
models. So common was this that
in France the curve Of the bow
was known as the sweep OF the
lion."
Of the few hgureheads preserved
at our Naval Academy that OF the
Delaware, which was launched at
Norfolk in 1870, attracts the most
attention. The image, called by
some Tecumseh, by others Pow
hatan, or even King PhiAp, is not
believed to be portrait, butrather
- to represent a great sachem or a
powhatan, title having among
the Indians significance quite
like that Of Pharoah among the
Egyptians. At any rate here be
IS, with his tomahawk, his arrows
and his stern brow, as much part
Of the scheme as the cadets them
selves.
After the Civil war the figure.
head OF the Columbus, which
Commodore Macauley burned and
sunk at Norfolk in 1861 in order
that the Confederates might mol
gain possession, was ished up and
brought to the academy. The fig
urehead Of the Macedonian, which
was for lour years used as a prac-
tice cruiser, is there too. The
Macedonian, originally French
hip, was captured from the
'rench by the English. In 1879,
after a short, fierce fight, she be-
came an American ship. A wooden
6gurehead in the form OF lion die
duty as a mascot on her quarter
deck at the time Of her capture
Other Of our historic 6gurehead:
are the bust of Washington, from
the line e-of-battle-ship by tha
name, the figure Of ST. Louis on Z
receiving ship, and the gildec
eagle from the Niagara.
Though the origin OF the figure.
mead be lost in obscuritY, let US
hope and believe that the figure
heads of our warships will lead
them 10 a thrilling victory. This
is surely presaged by the figure
head on the Massachusetts, ol
Commander Schley's fleet, which
surely stands for Samothrace.-
The Winged V1cE0yV.