This is the story of the carved wooden bow decoration that once adorned almost every stem of every wooden ship under sail. Hans Jürgen Hansen and Clas Broder Hansen begin with a report on the mythological origin of the bow decoration, which had a long life in seafaring superstition. It shows the development of figureheads from the Polynesians, Phoenicians, and Vikings to the high point of the gloriously decorated Renaissance and Baroque ships. Then it moves on to the imaginative, original variety of the figureheads of the 18th and 19th Centuries, the last windjammers and the school sailing ships that are still in use today. It details the different types of figureheads as well as the sculptors who made them.

Format: Hardcover.   Dimentions: 6 1/2" x 9 1/4"   Pages:128   Illustrations: 133