The Figurehead Archives
Built up during a period of over 40 years the full Figurehead Archive can be divided into two quite distinctive areas of research, the first and 
perhaps most important are the photographic representations of Ships Figureheads, both on and off the vessels, plus a number of other Maritime Woodcarvings, such as Stern Board Carvings, and Cats Heads, this is built up from historic Black and White prints taken from the early 1900’s until the late 1950’s, to more contemporary prints in colour, and now digital images.
The Archive also has an extensive collection of colour slides from both private and public collections around the world, many show Figureheads that have been lost due to war, fire, neglect, or are no longer on public display or form part of private collections.
In many ways it has been possible to study the life of individual carvings over a long period of time, looking at both historic black and white photos and more contemporary prints showing before and after restoration or damage, at the moment the photographic collection stands at around 45,000 images, including slides, photographs and digital images, with new items added almost daily.
The second part of the Figurehead Archive is a library of over 800 books and publications on the subject of Ships Figureheads, Maritime, Woodcarvings, Maritime Antiques including a large number of magazines, newspaper articles and cuttings from the 1850’s to the present day from all around the world. As with the photographic collection the bibliography material is being constantly added to building a collection and archive of international importance.
Richard Hunter,
Figurehead Historian.
FOR SALE
Two unique replica Figureheads carved by
The well respected Charles Moore
Finding an authentic Ships Figurehead in today’s Antiques market is becoming extremely difficult, and if you do find one in an antique shop or auction the prices can be prohibitive, modern day fibreglass replicas lack the appeal and weight of real wood, over 50 years ago Charles Moore gave up a well established clock making business in Clerkenwell London and moved lock stock and barrel to the beautiful Cornish coastal village of St Just-in-Roseland, finding a set of old woodcarvers chisels, and with a love or the sea and all things nautical, Charles began to carve small copies of original Figureheads that could still be found in the local harbours and villages around the coast, the local Isles of Scilly and the magnificent collection on Tresco served as inspiration in those early days.
Figureheads of the Royal Navy By David Pulvertaft
A review by Richard Hunter Figurehead Historian
Not all that long ago looking for a book on the subject of Ships Figureheads was very much limited to a few “General” works on the subject, exploring as they did the tradition on both Merchant and Naval vessels, offering the reader a narrow insight into both subjects, for anyone interested in primarily Naval Figureheads “Old Ship Figureheads and Sterns” by L G Carr Laughton published in 1925 has been the principal source of information, dealing with the style and construction of decorative carved work on and around the bow and stern of vessels, as well as British Naval Figureheads, Laughton also deals with the tradition of decoration in other major European nations, such as France, Spain, The Netherlands and Scandinavia, with a number of re-prints over the years this I am sure will continue to be one of the primary sources of information, when Laughton began to write his book during the first quarter of the twentieth century.
A Special member of staff
Step into the reception of any World class hotel and you will be invariably greeted at the desk by an attractive young woman or handsome young man, always eager to help and make your stay as pleasant as possible, in the hope that you will visit them again or recommend the hotel to family and friends, was the room comfortable, the service and food good, all questions to make your stay as pleasant as possible. The facilities vary from hotel to hotel; some rely on Old World charm with a magnificent location, others modern and stylist, it’s a very competitive market.
Second Revised and Expanded Edition,
Standing in front of a massive ships Figurehead one is in awe of the skill, effort and time that went in to the creation of such icons of the sea, size and weight held little fear for the eighteenth and nineteenth century carvers, the original Figurehead of HMS Victory when she was built in 1765 stood a staggering 24 feet high and over 18 feet broad, the shear weight of wood needed to create this monster of a carving is difficult to imagine, if we turn the time clock forward over 200 years, we find a modern day craftsman keeping the skill of figurehead carving alive, only this time the amount of materials need in wood and the size of workshop is staggeringly small, the American Lloyd McCaffery has a skill equally as astounding as that given to our ancestors, only this time in reverse, his creations are figureheads in miniature, breathtaking gems of the carvers art, that take weeks and months to create Lloyd offers an insight in to creations. 