Megaera (1849)

Scale: 1:48. A plan showing the bow, headrail, head and proposed figurehead for Megaera (1849), an iron screw troopship originally designed as a 20-gun First Class screw sloop. The ship was recommissioned at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1860-61 and this figurehead approved (according to the faint pencil note ‘App’).

The figurehead is a three-quarter length bust of a female figure facing forward. She represents one of the goddesses of vengeance and retribution (called Furies). Megaera ‘the jealous one’ would punish those who committed crimes, especially marital infidelity. This figurehead uses the classic symbol of the Furies, a woman with snakes in her hair. Her pleated peplos mantle (classical Greek body-length garment) is draped over the left shoulder, leaving the right shoulder and breast exposed.

Signed by Henry L. Peake [Assistant Master Shipwright, Devonport Dockyard, 1849-]. The plan includes Admiralty Letter Book number S692.