The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-09-12
OLD SHIPS FIGURFHEADS
ARE NOW PASSING AWAY
Picturesque Are Told of the images
Which Adorned OF Vessels

iDSt AAN o. WIN builders anu snip Oh II
ers. they have gained il with cOllec-
tors OF the curious and antique. Not
so many years ago they were looked
upon as the least valuable of any
. part OF q condemned ship-mere
( truck" that OF a condemned ship
/ storeroOms. Sheathing off a ship )
bottom SOLD readily for use in open
Tireplaces, where its cOlOred flame
was highly regarded by the sentimen-
tally inclined. But who wanted fig
uTeheado
Somebody with a taste for the quaint
and "Oldtimey'' worked one into the
decorative scheme of his den or stu
do, and shortly there were not enough
hgUrsheads to go around. AtticS and
stOrelOfts were ransa cked. Good,
easy boat builders and wharf masters
gave them away willingly, until they
found that the city chaps would bid
for them. Figureheads now are scarce
as grandfather's clocks, and the con-
/ nOisseUr is duly grateful, for a very
ordinary plebeian specimen, even with
out the accompanying story. 1t is
easier 10 supply the story than the
hguTehead- However stories about
these subjects are plentiful enough
In the grounds of the United States
Naval Academy at Annapolis is a
famous old fgurehead that once
adorned the L. S. S. Delaware. 1t Is
the bust of an Indian chief, with
visage grim and warlike, but with a
certain nobility of feature with which
artists are fond of investing Indian
subjects. Him the cadets, induIging
fancy that he exercised control over
the marks that they received and that,
therefore. the inpeTious-l looking say
age was to be pTOpitia5ed, used to sa-
Lutte when they passed. The custom,
although in CONFIRMATION of reguIa-
tons, came to be such an iron bound
one that the authorities were forced
to prohibit it by a general order. The
little daughter of one of the officers,
who had been brought up in Japan,
was once observed to PROSTATE her.
self before the frOwning warrior, as
she had seen the folk in her early
/. Island home do before the image OF
/ Buddha
Seek to Destroy Image.
On board the rehabilitated United
States frigate Constitution, at the
CharlestOwn Navy Yards, are kept the
figureheads and bOw-screws that have
decorated that historic craft in the
days OF its glory. One, however, that
was the object over which a large
number of people worked themselves
into a frenzy of political excitement
is lacking. That one was a bust of
Andrew Jackson, which, because they
deemed it an uncomplimentary like
ness OF their hero, offended many CT
his admirers. Repeated attempts were
made to detach 1t from the bow
of the old frigate. One of the de-
spoilers having worked half the night.
being forced by danger of discovery
to drop into the water and escape,
abandoned his task all but accom-
plished. An effort made in 1S45, as
old ITOnsides" lay at CharIestown,
was successful. and the likeness, good
or bad, of "Old Hickory" ceased to
offend. Within recent years an offer
was made to sell to the government
a figure said to be that taken from
the bow of the Constitution some half
century before. The naval authori-
ties, however, were not convinced that
the carving was the lost flgurehead
and the offer was not accepted
One of the finest figureheads in it's
day was that of the clipper ship Wes-
tern Bell. It was a full size figure OF
a woman with her left arm out
stretched, carrying in the left hand a
few spears of wheat. Her right hand
gathered the folds o. her skirt, the
material was wood. was admirably
executed. From the general outline no
less than from the careless curl lying
along the breast, it is suspected that
the carver had worked in marble or
was a natural genius. His name was
Sampson-he neglected tn cut his first
name on his maSterpiece-and he Iiv-
ed and tOiled in Bath, Me-, the home
of American shipbUilding. where the
Western Belle was built in 1876 His
handiwOrk was carried by Bath built
ships to the most remote parts of the
world. and it is related that a South
Sea Island chief was so impressed
with the Yankee caTver's skill that
he sent him a commission by a friend
" skipper to make him a set of idols
to meet the theological need of his
heather subjects.
The Western Belle is spending the
evening Of her days as 3 coal barge,
but the lady who gTaCed her prov has
retired from the sea and now occu-
pies a place in a garden. One of her
pCCUliaritie5 was a detachable arm
the one in which she held the whea.
During voyages il was uuscrewed -
that the sea might not break it, be-
ing replaced when the ship was about
10 make a port This was not alto
ate of the old wooden figureheads.
especially on men-Of war. where dan
ger of SCATTERING was greatest.
Two 6gUreheads when recall sad
sea stories may be seen, one in front
Of hotel at Virginia Beach, near
Norfolk, II is the image of a woman.
with beseeching upturned face, and il
was washed ashore some years ago
from the wreck Of 2 Norwegian vessel
that went down with all on board. The
other, in the Essex Institute, Salem.
Mass. is also a relic of a wreck. +
is the form Of a woman holding before
her a medallion on which is a paint
ing supposed to represent Thomas
Jefferson; but the name Of the ship
whose dark fate It mUtely records Will
probably never be known. for It was
picked Up on the shore of Cape Cod
after a heavy storm, and It's antece-
dent history is in the keeping Of the
inScrutabIe sea.
The custom Of naming ships for
nnTad orrf4o vOz1Tp TH-ftHT