Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1916-12-21
old SHIP CARVERS

Their Occupation Gone, Theirs Is
Now a Lost Art.
FIGUREHEADS OUT OF DATE.
These Famous Old Faneifui Figures,
ElaboratsIy Fashioned In Wood, Find
No Place In the Decorative Scheme
Of Modern ndjammsr.
While there Is revival of wooden
shipbuilding in Maine. giving employ
ment to the carpenter, rigger and sail
maker. there is not on the whole length
OF the coast any job for the carver
the sculptor In wood who used to make
the fgureheads. That is an occupation
now entirely gone, for the fgurehead
is out Of date and its carving lost art
One of the most famous Of the ship
carvers was the late William L. Sea-
vey Of Bangor. who fashioned figure
heads for the best square ringers that
ever left Maine. He learned his trade
In Bangor shipyard when the banks
OF the Penobscot bristled with new
vessel frames, piled his cleaver, chisel
and gouge through all the years Of
Americas greatest maritime glory.
witnessed the decline of our ocean
commerce and lived to see his occupa-
ton entirely gone.
For forty years or more did Seavey
carve angels and cherubs, kings and
queens. mermaids and dolphins, states
men and warriors. not to mention an
occasional lion and numerous eagles.
for the adornment of down east YES
sells. for every craft of any considera-
BILE size carried fgurehead. some sort
Of ornament under the bowsprit be-
ing regarded as necessary to complete
her outfit. But now all that is gone.
Owners can see no sense in spending
money on such gewgaws MS blue eyed
and white robed queen wearing vel
low crown. When they build vessel
now-square Triggers are no longer
thought of-they white her off for
ward to billet head and let her go at
that. Maybe gilt scrollwork tops her
stem, but nothing more.
Thus 1t is that Bangor knows the
wood sculptor no more. the sole re-
hinder of Seavey's art being broken
and faded specimen of his work, once
carried by big ship, but for many
years mounted as sign over his shop
door in Exchange street. In the days
of her youth this statuesque lady.
whitfield and chiseled from pine log.
had golden trimmings on her Grecian
robes and in one dainty hand held aloft
golden goblet Now she is weather
worn and grimy. and the goblet hand
is gone. but she is the most striking
memorial of Seavey. all his other paint
ed beauties being scattered to the
seven seas under foreign flags or gone
to the port Of dead ships.
One Of the finest figureheads in its
day was that of the clipper ship West
ern Belle. 1t was the full sized figure
of woman. with her left arm out
stretched. carrying few spears of
wheat. Her right hand gathered the
folds Of her skirt. the drapery of which.
considering that the material was
wood. was admirably executed.
From the general outline no less
than from the careless curl lying along
the breast 1t is suspected that the car
yer had worked in marble or was a
natural genius. His name was Samp-
son. He neglected to cut his first
name on his masterpieces. He lived
and toiled in Bath, the home of Amer
lean 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
south sea island chief was so Impress
ed with the Yankee carver's skill that
he sent him commission by friend
~ skipper to make a set of idols to
meet the theological needs of the
chiefs heather subjects.
The Western Belle is spending the
evening of her days as a coal barge.
but the lady who graced her PROV was
retired from the sea and now occupies
place in garden. One of her pecu-
liarities was 4 detachable arm. the one
in which she held the wheat. During
voyages it was unscrewed so that the
seas might not break it, being replaced
when the ship was about to make a
port This was not known in the more
elaborate of the old wooden figure
heads. especially of men-of-war, where
danger of shattering was greatest.
Some fgureheads were illustrative
OF the vessels name, others We're
whims of the owners or the captains
and still others symbolic of events oc-
curing at the time the vessels were
built. The schooner War Eagle, for in
stance. was built in wartime. and she
q III,