Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the bow, headrail, head and proposed figurehead for Castor (1827), a 34-gun Fifth rate frigate. The proposed figurehead (later approved) was a replacement for the first carving. It coincides with the ship’s refit at Plymouth Dockyard between November 1798 and March 1799.

The figurehead of the Castor is a male bust representing the Greek warrior Castor, twin of Pollux. He is wearing a Greek helmet surmounted with a star, referencing his transfiguration to a star in the constellation of Gemini. Below the bust is a shield in the shape of a flattened armour breastplate with a white swan on it. The swan refers back to the myth of Castor’s birth from an egg, as the result of the rape of Queen Leda by the Greek god Zeus disguised as a swan, although some versions have him as the mortal twin because his father was King Tyndareus. Behind the shield is a flowing red cloak finished off as a bow and a spear.

Signed by John Marshall [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1795-1802]. The design was approved and initialled by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806].