The Taffrail
A taffrail is a railing at the stern of the ship or the handrail around
the open deck area at the stern of a ship or boat. The term is a
shortening of taffarel, the original name for this ornament.
The stern of the Prins Willem with a wooden carved taffrail and a Captain on the Poop deck taffrail, by
William Heysmann
Overend
(1851-1898)
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Sometimes the railing refers only to the curved wooden top of the stern of a sailing ship or an East Indian ship. It could also be a complete handrail along the poop deck. The rail of these wooden sailing ships usually had hand-carved wooden mouldings, which were often highly ornamented.
