Via Portsmouth Historic Dockyard’s Facebook page:
Crossrail uncovers remains of historic Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company
Tag Archives: Warrior
BBC’s National Treasures Live to officially open the Sick Berth on board HMS Warrior 1860: News from the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
A Tale of Two Figureheads
Those of you who know me, know of my long-standing interest in the history of the Royal Navy in the Age of Sail. I have been feeling rather guilty as of late, because that interest has taken a bit of a back seat due to my involvement in the effort to preserve the Falls of Clyde. Therefore, I was pleased to learn of a connection between the two.
The late John “Jack” French Whitehead (1913–2002) was a master woodcarver who, among other things, specialized in carving figureheads for ships. Two of his projects: Falls of Clyde and HMS Warrior.
From Mr. Whitehead’s obituary in the 8 March 2002 issue of The Independent (UK):
“Originally built in Scotland in 1878, the Falls of Clyde was under a full restoration project in Honolulu for the Bishop Museum when in 1974 Whitehead was given the job of replacing the original carving. A massive 8ft high, it weighed over a ton and a half. Ever the perfectionist, Whitehead flew out to supervise the fitting of the ‘White Lady’, possibly the first time a carving of this size had been fitted on a vessel in over 100 years.”
“One of the last Whitehead and [Norman] Gaches projects was perhaps one of the most important carving commissions undertaken on a British vessel. HMS Warrior was built in 1860 at the Thames Iron Shipbuilding Company in Blackwall, London, the original figurehead having being carved by James Hellyer and Sons of London. By the late 1980s she was under restoration in West Hartlepool, on behalf of the British Maritime Trust and in need of a new figurehead, the original having been destroyed as late as the 1960s.”
Here is the Falls of Clyde’s figurehead as it looked in 2007:
In early 2009, after it had been removed when the ship was being prepared for scuttling in the Summer of 2008:
Although I have had the fortune to visit HMS Warrior, I regret that I do not have a photo of her figurehead. However, here is a link to an article about the ship which includes a picture of Norman Gaches working on it:
(It is interesting to note that both vessels served as fuel hulks before they were restored.)
HMS Warrior (1860)
Here’s another image from my collection. HMS Warrior at Portsmouth in the early 1990s.
Notes From the Wooden and Iron World 