The Savannah morning news., 1900-08-10

into port without a figurehead at the bow
was like an unpublished shoe. 1t was all
the fad, and entered into the plans for A
vessel about as much as the hull or rig
eing. 1t gave a finished appearance TO
the craft which we don't see in these
ueys' ana was not an expensive addition,
either.
II believe 1 am the only one of the old
| carvers now in the business. 1 started
over forty years ago The only work in
the ship carving line of late is confined to
repairing principally in cabin work | re-
member the elder Nahum Littlefield and
Edward Chapman who were in the BUSH
ness nearly 80 years ago on Central wharf.
Mr. Littletield was succeeded by his son
Nahum, formerly chief engineer of the
nre department, who continued the BUSH
ness under the firm name of Nahum Lit
tiene.d d Brothers, but when the demand
LOT ms work disappeared they retired.
lheodore Johnson was also in the busi-
ness on Union street, but he, TOO, gave It
up wnen the decline in the ship carvers
trade set in
The designs for bow and stern adorn-
mehts were varied Bust and full length
nsufes were considerably in demand al
though the dragon was a popular bow
piece. Those who didn't have a figure on
tne DOW generally had what we called a
ollIet mead with carved trail boards. In
such case there was usually on the stern
some fancy carved moulding intertwiued
with small figures. There were quite a
number of busts and full length figures
an , spread-eagle both on bow and stern.
Ine reclining figure of a woman was also
In much demand. For instance. If a ship
was named for woman. 1t was probable
that bust or full length figure of wo-
man would be used a $ a figurehead
IN some cases the bust or full length
hgure of man would be used If the YES
sci had been named for some well known
cltizen | remember the old ship Will
nam q. Davis, had bust of him in the
Stern moulding. l believe the ship Phi
lena, owned by ]. S. Winslow, had a full
length figure of Mrs. Winslow. The Phi
lena was handsome ship, but was lost
many years ago. The ship Alice Cooper,
built at Knightville by ex-Mayor RAN
dalPs father had one of the handsomest
hgures of any of the vessels coming nto
The harbor. 1t was the full length figure
OF woman. In my time | did consider
able work for vessels built by j. s. Wins
low and Russell Lewis The business be-
gan 10 decline when the profits in vessels
commenced TO disappear. The carving of
ngureheads grew to be looked upon as
unnecessary, although the expense of
such adornment usually ran from 500 to
1900 The first decline began with the
demand for lighter and less expensive
mouldings, until finally the fad or custom
dropped out entirely. As a substitute
common rope came into use A coil Of
rope with knot in the center was at
hrst used, but now not even this is seen
on one-half the vessels. The eye for the
artistic in ship building seems to have
been blinded in these later days by pure
ly financial motives.
Many vessels of the present time have
head and trail boards on the bow, and
some have the scroll head. Some have
fancy quarter board on the side for the
vessels name. Fancy carving on the in
terror and exterior of the cabin, are some
what In use now. But all the inside ard
outside cabin decoration can never take
the place. from an artistic view. OF the
handsome fgurehead of the old days. The
old business is gone" said Mr.. Griffin.
land I do not expect to live 10 see its
revival"
Mr. Griffen explained that the figure
heads formerly in use were usually made
Of hard pine and were carved by hand.