The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1917-03-15
Old SHIP CARvERs
MAR Occupation Gone, Theirs Is
Now a Lost Art.
s,euseHEAOs OUT OF DATE.

7hsse Famous o'a
' s,.borstsIy Fashioned In Wood. Find
Z. place In the Decorative Scheme
= Modern Windiammsr.
while there is revival of wooden
..,nbu,lding In Maine, giving employ
80 d the carpenter. rigger and sail
.ssr there is not on the whole length
y ,bs coast any job for the carver
4. sculntor in wood who used to make
i. aoureheads. That's an occupation
.0w entirely gone. for the figurehead
!. ant Of date and its carving lost art.
One of the most famous of the ship
..rvers was the late William L. Sea
,ev Of Bangor, who fashioned figure
Ao.ds for the best square riggers that
.vsr left Maine. He learned his trade
n Bangor shipyard when the banks
:, 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-
lion entirely gone.
For forty years or more did Seavey
esrye angels and cherubs, kings and
oueeus mermaids and dolphins, states
man and warriors, not to mention an
occasional lion and numerous eagles.
for the adornment Of down east" yes
seIs, for every craft of any considera-
ble size carried figurehead. some sort
M 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
and white ROBBED queen wearing vel
low crown. When they build vessel
now-square riggers are no longer
thought of-they whittle her. Off for
ward to 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 q 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 a pine log.
had golden trimmings on her Grecian
robes and In one dainty hand held aloft
Q golden goblet. Now she is weather
worn and grimy. and the goblet hand
gone, but she is the most striking
memorial Of Seavey, all his other paint
ID beauties being scattered to the
seven seas under foreign flags or gone
10 the port of dead ships.
One Of the finest figureheads in it's
day was that of the clipper ship West
srn 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 1875
His handiwork was carried by Bath
quit ships to the most remote parts
OF the world, and it is related that
south sea island chief was so impress
60 with the Yankee carver's skill that
ne sent him commission by friend
skipper to make a set of idols to
meet the theological needs Of the
enlers heather subjects.
Inc Western Belle is spending the
evening of her days as a coal barge,
uut the lady who graced her PROV was
retired from the sea and now occupies
pace In garden. One of her pecu-
naritles was detachable arm, the one
~ which she held the wheat. During
'oyages 1t was unscrewed so that the
seas might not break it, being replaced
wuen the ship was about to make a
pOrt This was not known In the more
siaoorate of the old wooden figure
seaus especially of men-of-war, where
ua1ser OF SCATTERING was greatest.
sumo hgureheads were illustrative
the vessels name. others were
"u,lns OF the owners or the captains
a anu sun others symbolic of events oc-
s-n. ng at the time the vessels were
s u.n. Inc schooner War Eagle. for In
saace was built in wartime, and she
aau LOT her figurehead a fierce looking
has, perched on heap of cannon
,s,a ' ana with arrows clasped in IT'S
sa ,ons' The War Eagle was destroyed
49, 49, years ago at Boston by an explo-
sa@ u OF naphtha in her cargo. The
~ oner American Eagle was decorat-
80 WIN gorgeous bird of freedom.
s,s u tue brig American Union was lib
NIL s ornamented, stern and bow.
M symbols of this nation.
Aht Old Qtaapnnr urvx>1....l ia a