Naval Figureheads – Lost but not Forgotton

female figureheadVery little is know as to the name of this massive female figurehead, for many years she stood in the Yard of Hughes Bolkow at Battleship Wharf in Blyth, and may well have been taken from a vessel broken up by this company, in time she was moved over to stand outside the main office until the company was closed in the 1970’s, sold she has now been moved to a private collection in the Far East.

female figurehead2A second view of the mystery lady at Hughes Bolkow of Blyth, this time she is seen with items of furniture made from the timbers obtained from broken up obsolete warships, also on her right stands a bow carving from one of the Victorian Royal Yachts.

The original Figurehead of HMS WARRIOR, seen just inside the entrance to the Royal Dockyard at Portsmouth, Hampshire, in the early 1900’s the size of hms warriorhe two Dockyard Police man make the figurehead look larger that it was, at just under 12 feet high it was still one of the largest in the Navy, it survived until the 1960’s until it was destroyed due to rot and neglect, a modern replica Figurehead is now on the bows of the restored WARRIOR down in Portsmouth Dockyard, carved the well know team of Jack Whitehead and Norman Gaches.

hms marsFigurehead of HMS MARS shown in the Sheffield Head Officer yard of TW WARD and company, just before the last War, this Figurehead was to find it’s way over to New York, and may well still survive in private hands.

hms royal adelaideThe beautiful and magnificent Figurehead from HMS ROYAL ADELAIDE seen just inside the entrance of the Royal Naval Barracks at Chatham in Kent, she was not to survive and was lost some time during the second World War, a sad and tragic loss.hms royal adelaide2