Wooden figurehead from HMS 'Serpent' (1887). The figurehead depicted a bearded Indian snake charmer wearing a peaked cap. It is finished with polychrome oil paint: its head, hand and most of one side are missing but survive in private hands. The ship was a torpedo cruiser of 1770 tons built at Devonport Dockyard in 1887 and wrecked on 10 November 1890 near Corcubion Bay in Northern Spain.