Figurehead of the Océan. Career As the largest ship of the line in the Brest fleet the ship spent much of her early career as the fleet Flagship.

A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration, often female or bestial, found at the prow of ships of the 16th to the 19th century. The prow is the very most forward part of a Ship 's Bow that cuts through the water A ship /ʃɪp/ is a large vessel that floats on water Ships are generally distinguished from Boats based on size The practice was introduced with the galleons of the 16th century, as although earlier ships had often had some form of bow ornamentation, the figurehead as such could not come to be until ships had an actual head structure on which to place it. A galleon was a large multi-decked Sailing ship used primarily by the nations of Europe from the 16th to 18th centuries

As with the stern ornamentation, the purpose of the figurehead was often to indicate the name of the ship in a non-literate society (albeit in a sometimes very convoluted manner); and always, in the case of naval ships, to demonstrate the wealth and might of the owner. At the height of the Baroque period, some ships of the line boasted gigantic figureheads, weighing several tons and sometimes twinned on both sides of the bowsprit. Baroque art redirects here Please disambiguate such links to Baroque painting, Baroque sculpture, etc

A large figurehead, being carved from massive wood and perched on the very foremost tip of the hull, adversely affected the sailing qualities of the ship. This, and cost considerations, led to figureheads being made dramatically smaller during the 1700s, and in some cases they were abolished altogether around 1800. After the Napoleonic wars they made something of a comeback, but were then often in the form of a small waist-up bust rather than the oversized full figures previously used. The Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815 involved Napoleon's French Empire and a shifting set of European allies and opposing coalitions The clipper ships of the 1850s and 1860s customarily had full figureheads, but these were relatively small and light. A clipper was a very fast Sailing ship of the 19th century that had multiple masts and a Square rig.

Figureheads as such died out with the sailing ship. Early steamships, however, did sometimes have gilt scroll-work and coats-of-arms at their bows. This practice lasted up until about World War I. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The 1910 German liner SS Imperator originally sported a large bronze figurehead of an eagle (the Imperial German symbol) standing on a globe. History The first plates of her Keel were laid in 1910 at the Vulcan Shipyards in Hamburg, and she made her maiden voyage in 1913 The few extra feet of length added by the figurehead made the Imperator the longest ship in the world at the time of her launch.

It is still common practise for warships to carry ships' badges, large plaques mounted on the superstructure with a unique design relating to the ship's name or role. Naval heraldry is a form of identification used by ships from the end of the 19th century onwards after distinguishing features such as Figureheads and Gilding were For example Type 42 Destroyers of the Royal Navy, which are named after British cities, carry badges depicting the coat of arms of their namesake. History The class was designed in the late 1960s to provide fleet area air-defence The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) A coat of arms or armorial bearings (often just arms for short in European tradition is a design belonging to a particular person (or group of people

In Germany, Belgium, and Holland, it was once believed that spirits/faeries called Kaboutermannekes (water fairies) dwelt in the figureheads. The spirit guarded the ship from sickness, rocks, storms, and dangerous winds. If the ship sank, the Kaboutermannekes guided the sailors' souls to the Land of the Dead. To sink without a Kaboutermanneke condemned the sailor's soul to haunt the sea forever, so Dutch sailors believed. A similar belief was found in early Scandinavia/vikings. Vikingships had decorations like these as well.

External links

• The Figurehead Archive
• South Australian Maritime Museum
• Figureheads