An historically important ship's figurehead from the Brazilian slave ship, 'Piratenim',
carved wood and painted, modelled as a South American gaucho, the three-quarter length figure wearing a curled brim hat, fastened to his chin with a string, with history and career after seventy years in private hands, this historically important carving is coming back on to the market with an outstanding provenance.

Had the unfortunate 'Piratenim' been engaged in general trade, it's doubtful that this charming figurehead would have survived as one of countless small merchant figureheads produced during the first half of the nineteenth century, but the fact that he was removed from a known and notorious slaver, and as such possibly the only acknowledged and documented figurehead from a vessel engaged in the slave trade, has ensured his survival.

From the time he was removed from the bow of the vessel as a trophy and given first to Sir Joseph Bailey, to the ultimate safe keeping of its last owner, Mr Vivian Collett and his descendants, very few surviving figureheads have the weight of history so heavy on their shoulders. But this is one such figurehead, the benign stare of that charming unknown Argentine gaucho belying the horror of the trade its host undertook, and the surviving journal of John Bailey, lieutenant in command of HMS Sharpshooter, is compelling reading, bringing its history to life.

'Piratenim' is an important and rare artefact in the history of the abolishment of the slave trade during the first half of the nineteenth century as well as a ship's figurehead, the only surviving relic of its host vessel, offering this figurehead an enviable provenance given to very few carvings of this age, size and subject.

Richard Hunter
Figurehead Historian, 'The Hunter Figurehead Archives'
'Piratenim' to the front, a white shirt and a red scarf, a brass buttoned jacket and clasping his boleadoras to his left,
32cm wide
38cm deep
63cm high,
together with a book by Captain John C Bailey, 'HMS Sharpshooter',
privately printed, and
a typed draft of Averil MacKenzie-Grieve's 'The Last of the Brazilian Slavers, 1851',
with an alternate title ' A Brazilian Slaver's Figurehead - The Story of the Capture by HMS Sharpshooter' (3)

Bought by the vendor's grandfather, Mr Vivian Collett, from an antique dealer in Worcester in the 1940s.

Literature:
Averil Mackenzie-Grieve 'The Last of the Brazilian Slavers, 1851, Mariners Mirror, Vol. 31, 1945.
Captain John C Bailey 'HMS Sharpshooter'.

HMS Sharpshooter was one of the first iron steamers to be used by the Royal Navy. It was built by Ditchburn and Mare in 1846 and entered service after sea trials in 1848. In Captain Bailey's account she was, 'a brand new and experimental steam gun vessel of 489 tons and 202 horse-power, carrying eight guns, namely six 32-pounder medium guns on the broadsides, one 8-inch 68-pounder pivot gun forward, and one 10-inch 84-pounder pivot aft. She was the first iron ship to which the screw propeller had ever been applied'.

After serving in the Channel Squadron and the Mediterranean, HMS Sharpshooter headed to the coast of Brazil on anti-slavery duties.

Averil Mackenzie-Grieve's 'The Last of the Brazilian Slavers, 1851', published in 'The Mariners Mirror', Vol. 31, 1945, takes details from Captain Bailey's account and explains vividly the capture of the 'Piratenim'.

Over seventy years ago, a small two-page article appeared in the British publication, 'The Mariners Mirror', under the heading 'The Last of the Brazilian Slavers, 1851'.

The story of a figurehead, describing the extraordinary history of the 'Piratenim', from its dramatic capture by the British warship HMS Sharpshooter, to its remarkable survival as a relic of a vessel with a tragic