what is the sculptor on the bow of old battelships?

Question

usally mermaids or something like that they were for good luck i think

Answer 1

A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration, often female or bestial, found at the prow of ships of the 16th to the 19th century. The practice was introduced with the galleons of the 16th century, as although earlier ships had often had some form of bow ornamentation, the figurehead as such could not come to be until ships had an actual head structure upon which to place it.
As with the stern ornamentation, the purpose of the figurehead was often to indicate the name of the ship in a non-literate society (albeit in a sometimes very convoluted manner); and always, in the case of naval ships, to demonstrate the wealth and might of the owner. At the height of the Baroque period, some ships of the line boasted gigantic figureheads, weighing several tons and sometimes twinned on both sides of the bowsprit.

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9034241/figurehead
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figurehead
http://www.schoonerman.com/figureheads.htm
http://www.geocities.com/cptblood_1999/figurehead.html
http://seagifts.com/shipfig.html

Answer 2

It's called the figurehead.