The Carving of figureheads

The Carving of figureheads

The reopened Cutty Sark at Greenwich contains a collection of Merchant ships figureheads assembled by London Businessman Sydney Chambers.

http://www.rmg.co.uk/cuttysark/history-and-collections/collections/figureheads

In his letter LXVIII to the Morning Chronicle of 5^th September 1850, the renowned Victorian researcher Henry Mayhew, who was carrying out an investigation into London Trades, published an account of specialist woodworkers, in the ship and boat building trade. This letter contains an interview with a carver of Ships’ figureheads, which gives a brief, if fascinating, insight into the labour behind some of these figureheads.

“The carving of figureheads is a distinct branch of the business of ship-building. In some yards this carving, as at present pursued, partakes more and more of the characteristics of a fine art, and all in all it is less rude than it was. The monstrosities, the merely grim and grotesque, which delighted the seaman of the past age, are now almost entirely things of the past. In the figure-heads of the meanest vessels now built, some observance of truth and nature is displayed. The figure-head is ordered of the carver for the general trade (the greater builders usually comprising that department as well as others in their own establishments). Sometimes he works from a drawing – rarely from a model. A carver upon whom I called had a spacious workshop in the corner of a large garden, immediately behind his dwelling house, which was near the Thames. Ranged alongside the wall, at the top of the garden, were a row of colossal and semi-colossal figureheads, exceedingly grim and sultry, and seeming singularly out of place, for they loomed down, with their unmistakeable sea-faring look, upon the white and orange lilies, the many tainted sweet peas and carnations , and the red and white roses. The figures were all of elm and each had a preliminary coat of paint of a dull brick colour, to prevent the wood from cracking, so that their uniformity of hue added to the curious effect that they presented. It was easy enough to recognise the figures or rather the approximation to the features, of the Queen, Prince Albert, and the Duke of Wellington; though there were several countenances that looked familiar enough, and yet puzzled the memory as to whose effigy was represented. Some figure-heads were robed, and starred, and coroneted, and some had the plain coats of the present day. With these were mingled female forms, some with braided hair, others with very rigid ringlets, carved out of solid wood…

Along the wall of the workshop were the same array of effigies, while in one corner , amidst heaped up timber , was a covered figure in a sitting position, which was much more elaborately worked than the others. A cornucopia rested on its left arm, while the other grasped a snake, the head of which had been broken off, and lay close by. The carving of the thick curly hair, was minute, and showed great painstaking. This, I found, was at one time a choice ornament of the Lord Mayor’s state barge, and represented Africa. An opposite figure, allegorical of another quarter of the world , I was told became rotten and had to be removed from the barge, and Africa was removed at the same time or she would have appeared isolated. When deposited in its present place the figure was gilt, but a great part of the gilding having been rubbed or fallen off, its new owner had it painted all over to resemble the others…

A muscular, hearty, and hale-looking young man , whom I found at work in the shop , presenting many of the characteristics of the one I have more particularly described , but not the same gave me the following information.:

‘ I was apprenticed to Mr- , and have never left London. My father was connected with shipbuilding, and so put me to this branch. I’m unmarried, and live with my friends. I have nothing to complain of in the way of business, as I have pretty good employment. We all drink beer- some of us perhaps, too much, but nothing compared to other trades. Ours is hard work, but we don’t drink much at work. Look you here, sir, this log of ellum, with just the sides taken off by the sawyers to make it square, has to be made into a “head”- into a foreign nobleman or prince, - I don’t remember his name, but it’s a queer one. To do that is heavy lifting and hard work. None of these fellows (pointing to the figures) here is proper size, hardly big enough, or I could easily gouge this one now into a lord. We first axe the log into a rough shape, a sort of outline, and then finish it with chisels and gouges. I sometimes work from a drawing, but mostly out of my own head, and direct myself by my eye. We have nothing to do with painting or gilding the heads. They’re sent home in their woods, just with a coat of paint over them to prevent them from cracking. Yes, you’re right, sir, that head will do for the Queen; but if a Queen isn’t wanted, and it’s the proper size, I can soon make her into any other female. Or she might do for a “Mary Anne”, without altering certainly she might The way the hair’s carved is the Queen’s style , and has been in fashion these eight or ten years. Ringlets ain’t easy particularly cork-screw ringlets as they’re called. The watch-chain and seals to a gentleman ain’t easy, as you have to bring out that part and cut away from it. The same with buttons and stars. Perhaps we aren’t as good at legs as at other carving. We generally carve only to the knee. The shipwrights place our work on the ship’s kneecaps. We have no Slop-workers amongst us; but there are two men who keeps a look out at the docks for broken heads, or heads damaged in any way, and offer to repair them cheap. They’re not workers themselves, but they get hold of any drunken carpenter, or any ship carver that happens to be hard up and out of work, and put them to the job at very low prices. But the thing don’t satisfy, and they do very little; still, it’s a break in upon us. I make 24s to 30S a week the year through, oftener nearer 30s. than 24 s; I make 36s at full work…..”

The birth of European Air Routes

I have a particular professional interest in business travel and travellers, I am also a frequent user of Ryanair and Easyjet, so was particularly interested to come across an article on the early days of European air travel. Anybody who has ever found themselves waiting for a low cost flight at one of Europe’s smaller airports, for example Trieste, Malmo, Bristol, Krakow might be interested in an earlier , more glamorous era of European air travel when rather than being weekend destinations, these airports were vital parts of a new and increasingly integrated network of European Air Routes. A 1933 edition of Flight Magazine published a report on the 13^th Bi-annual meeting of the International Air Traffic Association held in London on 27^th and 28^th September 1933. By 1933, nearly 800 aircraft were in operation in Europe with about 150 continental cities connected by air. The 1933 meeting was attended by representatives of 30 airlines from 15 countries.

Many of these airlines or their successors are still around today, while others have merged with onetime rivals or passed into the mists and oblivion of history. Delegates at the meeting included representatives from: AB Aerotransport ( Sweden); AEI (Italy); Aero  O/Y (Finland); Air France; Avio Linee Italiane; CLS ( Czechoslovakia); CSA Czechoslovakia; Der Danske Luft ( Denmark); Deru-Luft ( Germany- Russia) ; DLH ( Germany) ; Imperial Airways (Great Britain); KLM ( Netherlands); LAPE ( Spain); Navigazione Italiana (Italy); Norske Luftruker ( Norway) ; Osterreichse Luftkevehr ( Austria) ; LOT (Poland); SABENA ( Belgium) ; SAM (Italy); SISA (Italy)  and Swissair.

To some extent, the consolidation of the European Airline Industry was already well under way in 1933. In France, the five principal airline companies Air Union; Farman, CIDNA , Air Orient and the Compagnie Aerospatiale had been amalgamated to form Air France. Together these airlines had operated air routes which linked France with North Africa, Turkey, Sweden, Saigon and South America. As a corporate restructuring, the creation of Air France led to cost savings across the board; with a reduction in back-office administrative posts; transfer of personnel and a more productive use of equipment. The French state was, therefore, able to reduce its annual subsidy from 180 million to 155 million Francs.

By 1933 Air France was operating services such as London-Cannes ( via Paris) ; London – Marseilles ( via Paris and Lyons); ; Paris- Berlin ( via Cologne) and various routes from Paris to Central Europe , including Prague, Warsaw , Vienna , Budapest , Belgrade and Sofia. A weekly service operated from London to Saigon leaving London on a Wednesday evening and arriving Saigon on the following Thursday.

Deutsche Lufthansa (which again was born in an amalgamation of various German airlines in 1926) maintained a comprehensive network of routes across Germany and beyond. Key routes included; Berlin-Hannover- Amsterdam-Rotterdam-London; Berlin-Stettin-Danzig-Konigsberg. There was even an early spot of code-sharing going on the following routes were run in conjunction with other airlines. Berlin-Cologne-Paris ( with Air France) ; Berlin-Copenhagen-Malmo ( in conjunction with Den Danske Luft) and Munich-Innsbruck- Bolzano- Trento- Milano ( with Avio Linee Italiane) . An early example of a commuter shuttle was the “Aerobus” which ran three times daily between Frankfurt and Cologne. Lufthansa also ran connecting services from Berlin to Fredrichshafen where the airship Graf Zeppekin commenced the epic route Frederichshafen- Pernabuco- Rio de Janeiro- Montevideo- Buenos Aires- Bolivia- Chile.

Although Britain’s Imperial Airways was a member of IATA, as with most things Britain’s air routes remained firmly focussed on Imperial Routes. Despite this, by the 1930s there was a growth in internal air routes in Great Britain. Such routes included Blackpool- Liverpool; Bristol-Cardiff; Hull-Grimsby. By 1933 the following British cities had licensed aerodromes; Blackpool, Bristol, Cardiff, Hull, Inverness, Ipswich, Leeds-Bradford, Liverpool, Manchester, Norwich, Nottingham, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Renfrew, Stoke and Southampton.

Also in 1933 Schipol in the Netherland was serving as a major hub for KLM with connecting flights to other parts of Europe in connection with Sabena, Lufthansa, AB- Aerpotransport and Air France. The direct flight from Croydon to Amsterdam took about 2 1./2 hours across the North Sea. Since 1931, the Dutch had operated the longest air service in the world from Amsterdam-Schipol to the Dutch East Indies.

In 1933, Italian Airlines remained fragmented with six major companies. SISA based in Trieste ran services down the Eastern side of the Adriatic to Zara, Durazzo, Brindisi, Fiume and Venice. SAM based in Rome ran flights to France and across the Mediterranean to Libya where services linked up with SAN which ran between Tripoli and Benghazi and Benghazi and Tobruk. SAM also ran routes from Rome to Sardinia ans Sicily. AEI ran routes to Eastern Europe including Brindisi-Athens-Istanbul and Brindisi-Athens-Rome. Finally SA Avio line ran routes from Northern Italy to Germany. In 1934 all of the above with the exception of Avio Linee were amalgamated to form Ala Littoria as a consolidated national carrier.

In 1933 Belgium’s Sabena was able to make the happy claim that they had operated for none years without accidents to passengers or freight. .Possibly this was because they mainly ran short cross channel hops between London and the Belgian coastal resorts. Despite its small size, Czechoslovakia had two airlines the state run CSA operated routes between Prague, Brno , Bratislava and Zagreb, while CLS operated Prague-Dresden-Berlin and Prague to Amsterdam ( via Halle, Leipzig and Mulheim).  Poland’s state subsidized LOT operated routes from Warsaw to the Balkans and Warsaw to Danzig.

Greece by virtue of its position on the edge of Europe found itself as an important centre for aviation. Among those airlines passing through or over Greece, were Imperial Airways on the way to India and South Africa; KLM on the Amsterdam-Batavia route; the French Air Orient Co on its routes from Marseilles to Indo-China and AEI on its routes to Istanbul and Rhodes. In addition Lufthansa, Air France, LOT and SAM ran services from Northern Europe to Salonika. Due to its fragmented topography of islands and mountains, Greece was peculiarly unsuited to rail travel. The 200 mile trip from Athens to Salonika took at least 12 hours by train, 20 hours by sea and only 2 hours by air. By 1932 the Greek Airline EEES was carrying 7,892 passengers a year and understandably looking to expand its routes to the Greek islands.

Spain was lagging behind the rest of Europe. Although French postal routes to South America and Northern Africa traversed Spain, along with the Zeppelin routes to Brazil, there was negligible development of internal air travel in Spain. By 1933 only one company was operating Linea Aereas Postales Easpanoles, running daily services from Madrid to Barcelona and Madrid to Seville and back.

Finally to conclude this brief tour with the Northern Edge of Europe, air travel was developing slowly in Scandinavia. DDL operated a service between Copenhagen and Malmo. In Finland, Aero O/Y in conjunction with Swedish Aerotransport operated a regular service between Helsinki and Stockholm and the short hop between Helsinki and Tallinn.

So looking back, many of those aging terminal buildings which have recently been expanded and spruced up to acts as hubs for new low cost airlines and as new destinations for weekend breaks were vital parts of a rapidly expanding European air network over 80 years ago.

Introduction

I studied history at university, My professional interests are in taxation and in particular taxation relating to expatriates and internatonal executives. I want to use this blog to post on the historical background to some of the professional issues I come across and also on matters of general historical interest which I think might be interesting to talk about.