The Nome daily nugget., 1935-09-28


 Ing into the wind as whlte-saled vessels skip along over the blue waves of the Atlantic
 lime was when the art of carving ships figure heads gave employment to many skilled work men, In Boston alone there were no less than six firms engaged almost exclusively in supplying such emblems, That was In the old days of the great windjammers, when the swift Yankee clip per ships were the greyhOunds of the ocean, In those days elabOrately carved and gaily painted figures of angels and cherubs, beautiful women In flowing robes, generals in uniform Indians in feathered war-bOnnets and fringed garb stern statesmen, kings and queens and gods and god desses were set beneath the bowsprits.as em- blens of tradition that had endured since first men went down to the sea in ships
 But when steam and steel replaced wind and Wood they took away much of the romance of the old seafaring days and with 1t the traditional fgurehead. Today they are co temporal O moresrD "landlubbers" In that you are more likely to find them in museums or set up on ped eStals on private estates or In public parks than you are to find them in their proper place at the bow Of sea-going vessel. They are also "col- lectors items" in that they represent examples or so-called American primitiyes" or American folk art" sharing that distinction with such things as cigar store Indians and cast iron deer and dogs for lawn ornaments. Uncdentally when those artisans who carved ships figure heads were thrown out of work at the end of the clipper era they turned their talents to cary ing wooden Indians for the traditional sign of the tobacco store and this helped keep their art alive for many years) As collectors items they frequently have value attached to them greater than their makers ever could have dreamed they would have and as relics some of them have had more romantic histories than ever they had while they were voyaging on the waters of the world.
 One of the most romantic Is that of the figure of Andrew Jackson which once adorned the bow of the U. s. S. Constitution, the frigate affec- tionately known to all Americans as "Old Iron sdes," and it was just a hundred years ago. In 1884, that this fgurehead was the center of bitter political row. "Old Ironsdes" had no less than six different fgureheads during her long and honorable career, but the Jackson figure had by far the most interesting history.
 Built in 1797, the Constitution bore first bust of Hercules, typifying the strength of union and the power of the new nation and carved by the Skillngs brothers of Boston, renowned makers of ships igureheads. But when, under the com mand of Commodore Richard Preble, "Old Iron sides" sailed into the harbor of Tripoll to at tempt the conquest of the Barbary pirates, the figure of Hercules suffered severely from the effect of hostile shots and it was replaced by a ngure or Neptune, Salu to nave been taken rom the wreck of vessel in the Mediterranean
 During the second administration of Andrew JacksOn the Constitution was sent to the Charles Town navy yard near Boston to be re- built and reconditioned. At that time the dis pue over the United States bank was at it's height and when the "solid men of Boston heard that Jackson had signed the order for removing it's deposits to state banks, they were furious. Their anger was increased when they learned that L. S. Beecher famous Boston carver, had been commissioned to make a full-length statue of Jackson as a igurehead for "Old Ironsides.' '' They tried to get Beecher to cease work on the figure but he refused and feeling became so intense that his haf-carved block of wood was removed to the navy yard where he finished his work under the protection of guard of marines
 The Whigs raised a terrific uproar over the matter saying that no living man save perhaps James Madison, the father of the United States Constitution, should be accorded the honor of having his image adorn the ship named for that document and some of the sailors around Boston declared that placing an efigy of a landsman on