Water routes long constituted the most natural way to travel, and the ships that people travelled on also served as an expression of the owner s status and power. The roughly forty ship artefacts in the Maritime Collection at Engelsberg, in the form of figureheads, ornaments and other decorative elements, bear witness to many stories about life at sea. This anthology presents a number of approaches to the many symbols and artistic expressions found on vessels, along with recent photos and new knowledge about the figureheads.