Figurehead

A figurehead is the carved ornamental figure mounted at the bow of a sailing ship, a tradition that ran from antiquity through its peak on the elaborate warships and merchantmen of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. Often a human figure, animal, or national emblem, it expressed the ship’s name and identity and carried sailors’ superstitions about luck and protection. Iron hulls and changing bow forms ended the practice in the steam era. Surviving figureheads are prized museum pieces, with major collections at maritime museums.