Relegated to a Bar Curiosity
Screenshot of a post from Noa Nboss Laporga’s Facebook page. The figurehead from the Falls of Clyde used as decoration in the Skull & Crown Trading Co. bar in Chinatown, Honolulu.
Auwe! On the eve of the Falls of Clyde’s 145th birthday, I find it painful to write this post. With all the odds against the ship’s survival, it is just another blow.
As noted in a previous post, Falls of Clyde – August 2023 Update, James Delgado posted on his Facebook page that the Friends (yeah, right) of Falls of Clyde (FFOC) sold the figurehead of the ship for $1500. He questioned why it was not offered to a museum first. I wondered the same thing, although I would not be at all surprised to hear that the FFOC Board of Directors made no effort whatsoever to reach out to other maritime organizations.
As a friend of mine, who is a respected retired ship’s master, said to me when I showed him the photos of the figurehead being removed from the ship, “That is 100% bad luck and really total bullshit!”
I wonder what the money is being used for? Will we see other objects from the ship being sold on eBay or some other site?
While it is not the Falls of Clyde’s original figurehead,* it is an important work by the late John “Jack” French Whitehead (1913–2002). Mr. Whitehead was a British master woodcarver who, among other things, specialized in carving figureheads for ships.
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.
As noted on the Royal Museums Greenwich website:
In the perilous life of an ocean-going ship, figureheads embodied the spirit of the vessel, offering the crew protection from harsh seas and safeguarding their homeward journeys.
As such, they were often lovingly cared for by the crew. The superstitions of seamen meant that the figurehead held great significance to those on board and they would go to great lengths to protect it.
The members of the FFOC Board of Directors should be ashamed of themselves. They had the audacity to sell the Falls of Clyde’s spirit. Auwe!
The new owners of the figurehead saw an opportunity to buy it and took that opportunity. I harbor no ill will towards them. I truly hope they take good care of it and give it the respect it deserves.
*From the 28 December 1912 issue of the Honolulu Advertiser:
As a result of a collision between the Inter-Island steamer Mauna Loa and the Associated Oil tanker Falls of Clyde Thursday afternoon at the new Matson wharf, the jibboom of the latter vessel was broken, its fine figurehead torn off and the bobstays broken, the head gear being so badly wrecked that it would be dangerous for the vessel to put to sea which she intended to do, in tow, last night.
