Navy Fleet Figureheads Saved From Decay

(Picture: MOD/Crown Copyright).

Fourteen figureheads from Royal Navy ships are to get a new home in a museum and gallery in Plymouth.

The sculptures were retrieved from Royal Navy ships before they were scrapped and will be displayed at The Box.

The wooden sculptures were falling apart when artists and restorers from The Box decided to care for them and bring them back to their former glory.

The experts were in charge of removing old paint and rot, while also getting rid of non-professional repairs that had been carried out over the decades.

Restorers told the BBC that the damage was so severe on many of the sculptures, that the only thing holding them together were fiberglass repairs.

Fiberglass is not longer used to tie the figureheads together, as restorers used resin instead.

Each figurehead, such as the mythical Basilisk, has its own character.

The Box, which is due to open next year, will display the figureheads in the entrance.