The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-12-27

OF a modern WinuJdmmers
While there is Il 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 fgurchead
is out of date and its carving a lost art.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 riggers that
{; or left Maine lie learned his trade
in a Bangor shipyard when the banks
oi the Penobscot bristled with new
vessel frames, piled his cleaver. chlsel
and gouge through all the years of
=, nerica's greatest maritime glory,
- messed 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
'qaeens. mermaids and dolphlns. states
men and warriors, not TO mention an
occasional lion and numerous eagles,
fer the adornment of ''down east yes
SETS, for every csaft of any considera.
bio size carried a figurehead some sort
.oi 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 as blue eyed
aud white robed queen wearing a yell
low crown. When they build vessel
nOw-square ringers are no longer
thought of-they white her or for.
ward to a billet head and let her go at
that. Maybe gilt scrollwork tops her
stem. but nothing more.
Thus II is that Bangor knows the
wood sculptor no more the sole re-
hinder of Seavey's art being a broken
and faded specimen of his work. once
carried by a 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 chiseed from pine log,
bad golden trimmings on her Grecian
robes ana in one dainty hand held alott
a golden goblet Now she is weather
worn aud 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 tigureheads in its
day was that OF tie clipper ship West.
ern Belle. 1t was the fun sized figure
of woman. with her left arm out.
stretched. carrying n few spears Of
wheat. Her right hand gathered the
folds Of her skirt tie 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 it rs suspected tnat the ear.
yer had worked in marble o" was
natural genius. His name was Samp-
son. He neglected TO cut bis first
name on his masterpieces. He lived
and toiled in Bath, the home Of Amer
lean shipbuiidlng, where the Western
Belle was built in 1876.
His handiw0rk 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 50 impress
ed with the Yankee carver's skill that
he sent him q commission by friend
~ skipper to make set OF idols to
meet the theological needs of the
chiefs heather subjects.
The Western Belle is spending the
evening of her days as coal barge,
but the lady who graced her prov was
retired from the sea and now occupies
n plnce in q garden. One of her pecu-
larities was detachable arm, the one
in which she held the wheat. During
voyages it was unscrcwed so that the
seas might not break it. being replaced
when the ship was about to make
port. This was not known in the more
elaborate of the old wooden figure
heads. especially Of men-of-war, wher-
danger of shattering was greates..
Some figlreheads 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
had for her figurehead a fierce looking
eagle, pcrchod on heap Of cannon
balls and with arrows clasped in its
talons. The War Eagle was destroyed
some years ago at Boston by an eXplo-
sion of naphtha in her cargo. The
schooner American Eagle was decorat
cd with gorgeous bird Of freedom.
aud the brig American Union was lib
orally ornamented. stern and bow,
with symbols of this nation.
The old steamer Expounder had u
figure of John Marshall holding the
constitution outspread. and the steam
pr Daniel Webster carried on either
paddle box medallion head of the
great orator while in her saloon was
hung life sized portrait Of him, pre-
scented by the citizens of Boston.-Bos-