Re: Monday's answer
Stars for the forehead for Lynn and Tom. Also, after consideration, one for Dale for Trailboards (Trail boards). That wasn't my answer, but they came before the others and stayed after. They were also carved elements and when with my answer butted against the answers I was looking for.
1. Eight Presidents:
Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Ford, Bush, Nixon. T. Roosevelt and F. Roosevelt as civilian Naval Department administrators (Assistant Secretary of the Navy)
2. Billethead and fiddlehead. Fiddlehead curves upward, and billethead turns downwards. Also accepted would have been rosette and C curves. These items could be by themselves on the bow or "stretched" out with trailboards.
In TR's "Great White Fleet" �big stick� power projection 1907-1909, the gold scrollwork also had a stars and stripes shield of the Republic which looked cool on these otherwise white behemouths. (I haven�t been able to find a photo of the shield only long shots of them at sea. It was a shield with a eagle with stars on the horizonal top portion and and stripes vertically down)
Here�s an interesting note or two. In battle or storms figureheads that were carved with extended appendages like wings and arms were reduced in section by hauling in the removable appendages to keep them safe. It also turned out that the sailors hated the figureheads because the lines always found a way to get tangled in them. No one wanted to get out on the bow to free the lines in foul weather and most sailors of the time weren�t much with swimming and captains even less inclined to turn about. One good wave and no one would ever know you were there.
In 1833 a figurehead of Andrew Jackson was fitted to the Frigate Constitution when up for repairs in Boston. Jackson was from the West and Boston Easterners didn�t want him ensconced on �their� Constitution. Jackson, shall we say, was not popular with them at the time. On July 2, 1834 a person named Dewey on a literally dark and rainy night climbed on board from a row boat and with a saw decapitated Mr. Jackson. He eventually returned the sawed off portion personally to the Secretary of the Navy and confessed. (No charges were placed when President Jackson laughed when told the story, AND Mr. Dewey dared the Secretary to get a conviction in Essex County, MA where the �crime� occurred.) Soon thereafter in another place the figurehead of Jackson was replaced and stayed until 1874. The latter figurehead is now at Annapolis.
Kranz, American Nautical Art and Antiques, pp68-90 . Examples of billetheads can be found in any maritime museum. Mystic and San Francisco, Hampton Roads offer examples.
