A three-quarter length monochrome painted bust figurehead of the Roman general Gaius Marcius Coriolanus from the three-masted steel merchant ship Coriolanus (1876). The figurehead depicts the Roman general in stylised chain mail armour and a helmet with cheek guards. This is a replacement, carved in 1902, after the original full-length figurehead was lost when the Coriolanus (1876) ran aground during a hurricane in Algoa Bay, South Africa. While this figurehead is painted white, photographs show that the figurehead's helmet and armour was polychrome, as were the carvings down the trailboard.

Coriolanus was reputedly a war hero turned traitor when he joined forces with an enemy of Rome in around 490 BC. Coriolanus is better known as the tragic central character in Shakespeare’s tragedy "Coriolanus" and it is likely that this fictionalised version is the inspiration for the vessel’s name.