Figurehead of the HMS Calypso
Basic Information
- FigID
- F0205
- InstID
- Figurehead type
- Figurehead
- Title
- Figurehead of the HMS Calypso
- Vessel name
- HMS Calypso
- Type (Naval/Merchant)
- Naval
- Copyright owner
- © National Museum of the Royal Navy
- Copyright notes
- Current location
- National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth
- Location date
Physical Information
- Description
- This female bust figurehead is a representation of Calypso, the sea nymph who lived on Ogygia, the island where Odysseus was shipwrecked when returning from Troy as described in in The Odyssey. Calypso forced Odysseus to remain on the island for seven years before setting him free. From the design by Hellyer & Son (1843) and an 1938 photograph we can see that the original figurehead was nude to the waist. However, the existing figurehead today is draped with a blue tunic covering her left breast and her long brown hair almost concealing the other. It is not recorded whether this was added to cover up damage to the carving or as a display of modesty in the training establishment for boy seamen. Bulrushes are carved on the lower part of the figure, alongside other floral and foliage carving. The carving was described by ‘The Mariners Mirror’ in 1913 as:
“A well-developed female bust to the waist, a smirking expression on a well satisfied, rather pretty face. Waving hair in Grecian style; a long curl descending on the breast on either side. A black bead necklace, apparently oak-galls, graduated on a loose wire, with small black Latin cross as a pendant. Loose brass ear-rings; below the waist a small lyre.”
- Maker
- Hellyer of Portsmouth
- Date made
- 1845
- Place made
- Chatham or Portsmouth
- Size
- Materials
- Wood
- Object history
- See conseravtion history.
- Vessel history
- HMS 'Calypso', 6th rate, 20 guns, was launched at Chatham in 1845. She saw service in the Pacific, visiting the Pitcairn Islands, Tahiti and Fiji asserting a British presence in this region. Punitive action was undertaken in Fiji in 1848. She was then sent to the North America and West Indies station in the 1850’s, later returning to the Pacific. She was broken up by Castle & Beech at Charlton in 1866.
- Bibliography
- David Pulvertaft ‘The Warship Figureheads of Portsmouth’ (Stroud, 2009) p.74
Admiralty Catalogue(1911) No 186
Ownership Information
- Owner type
- Public Institution
- Owner name
- National Museum of the Royal Navy
- Contact details
- National Museum of the Royal Navy, HM Naval Base (PP66), Portsmouth PO1 3NH
- Ownership can be cited online
- Yes
- Accessible to public
- Yes
- Data verified by owner
- No
- Date verified
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