In 1798, HMS Colossus, a ship of the line, ran aground on the Isles of Scilly and was lost.

One of the earliest major portions of the ship that was discovered was a carving depicting a male figure in neo-classical dress holding aloft in his left hand what appears to be a laurel wreath. A flag or pennant is carved just to the side of this, directly above a semi-circular window head. This highly decorated window head would have been the stern window of the captain’s lavatory in the port stern gallery.

The figure would originally have been on the upper port side of the stern immediately to the port side of a round-headed window opening. The carving is over 3.30m tall and is carved from several pieces of elm.

HMS Colossus stern figure face close-up

HMS Colossus stern figure face close-up

This figure was raised by Mac Mace and Kevin Camidge and taken to the Mary Rose Trust for conservation.

Recently, in conjunction with on-going recording by Mary Rose Archaeological Services and Kevin Camidge, we have undertaken high-resolution 3D laser scanning of the figure as part of the recording process prior to conservation.

The stern carving is currently undergoing conservation at the Mary Rose Trust in Portsmouth. Once conservation is completed, the carving will be returned to Scilly and displayed with the Valhalla figurehead collection in the Abbey Gardens, Tresco.