Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the bow, headrails and figurehead for Centaur (1797), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. The colour washed figurehead depicts a full-length centaur rearing up on his hind legs with a raised club in his right hand. A cloak, reminiscent of a horse’s mane, cascades down his back and over his flanks. The trail-board includes a conical quiver of arrows and a bow, surrounded by oak leaves and acorns.

Signed by John Marshall [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1795-1801]. This could be one of a number of proposals for the Centaur’s figurehead as the top left includes the annotation ‘No. 1’. See sketch DIC0047 for signed and dated version of this sketch, and sketch DIC0001 for a possible port side version.