Here is a concise and a comprehensive history of figureheads and ship carving from Ancient Egypt to the present, with the main emphasis, however, on the great period of the ship decoration that lasted from the late Sixteenth Century to the end of the age of sail. There are chapters on the ship carvers themselves and their special skills and training, while the present-day collections of figureheads in museums around the world are listed. A useful reference work for ship modellers and a delight for those with an interest in the age of sail, this new work will also enlighten all those visitors to museums who admire the colourful and characterful figureheads, now sadly dissociated from the ships they once adorned.