The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1898-09-02
THEY POINT TO VICTORY.
Eigureheads Have Always Been g
Prominent Feature on Warships.

Eigureheads Have Always Been a
Prominent Feature on Warships.
Sad to relate, our modern mariners
give very little thought to figureheads.
A warship feels any number of times
securer with few torpedoes up her
sleeve than she possibly could with the
most aesthetic or formidable f1gurehead
on her stem. In fact, look about any
harbor and note how few ships boast
anything in the shape of this sort of a
mascot Yet time was when a vessel
would as soon have thought about
starting out with leak as without a
figurehead, and the farther back we
60 the more was this fact. The ear
liest discovered model of figurehead
belonged to pleasure boat Of one of
ancient Egypt's dark-eyed queens. be
ing In the form Of lotus, and SO very
much to her mind and heart that she
had 1t buried with her; but warships
with animals carved upon the prows
are known to have existed in Egypt be-
fore the day of this queen, In fact, as
early as 1000 B. @. The subject usu-
ally corresponded to the name of the
ship. This was before the introduction
Of rams. A few fgureheads, as we'll
as anchors and rams, found in the ruins
Of the locks at Athens serve to give
notion Of the dimensions of ancient
Grecian warships. The niche occupied
ON the Flying Dutchman by the human
skeleton was the niche that in the mid
die ages was occupied by saint, and
this in turn was an outcome of q way
they had In the days Of the Roman con-
suls of taking their lares or tutelary
gods to sea in the after part Of the ship.
Apparently each particular nation
had O favorite emblem. The owl was
as conspicuous on the Athenian ships
as was the cock, that emblem OF vigi-
lance, on the prows Of the Phoenicians.
The shining blade Of st. Theodore, the
patron saint of the Venetians, was their
favored flgurehead, while the British
lion became so universally the figure
head of English ships that other ma
tons who followed closely the naval
architecture Of this ''f1rst nation on the
sea" adopted also the lion, as much to
conceal their Identity as because 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 1gureheads preserved at
our Naval Academy that Of the Della
ware, which was launched ct Norfolk
in 1920, attracts the most attention.
This image, called by some Tecumseh,
by others Powhatan, or even King
Philip, is not believed to be portrait,
but rather to represent great sachem
OF a powhatan, title having among
the Indians a significance quite like
that Of pharaoh among the Egyptians.
At any rate, here he is, with his toma-
hawk, his arrows and his stern brow,
as much part Of the scheme as the
cadets themselves.
After the civil war the figurehead, Of
the Columbus, which Commodore Ma
cauley burned and sunk at Norfolk in
1861 In order that the Confederates
might not gain possession, was fished
up and brought to the academy. The
f1gurehead of the Macedonian, which
was for four years used as q practice
originally French ship, was captured
from the French by the English. In
1912, after q short, fierce fight, she be-
came an American ship. A wooden
figurehead In the shape Of lion did
duty as a mascot on her quarter deck
at the time Of her capture. Other of
our historic figureheads are the bust
of Washington, from the line-of-battle
ship by that name, the figure of St
Louis on receiving ship and the gild-
ed eagle which once belonged to the
Niagara.
Though the origin Of the figurehead
be lost in obscurity, let US hope and
believe that the f1gureheads of our war
ships will lead them to thrilling vic
tory. This is surely presaged by the
f1gurehead on the Massachusetts, of
Commodore Schley's feet, which surely
stands for Samothrace-The Winged
Vlctory.-Philadelph Record.