Old sailing ships were built from wood joined with angled joinery wood pegs. In more modern construction bronze bolts and screws are also used.
You're probably thinking of the bowsprit, to which the stays of the foremast are attached.
Ariel was attached to Prince Eric.
Bowsprit tortoise was created in 1812.
The crew atempted maintaining the bowsprit.
Mermaids don't even exist It is called a figure-head and it doesn't have to be a mermaid, can be pretty well almost anything.
The Little Mermaid
No it is impossible to swim there a mermaid needs to be in a clean place to where the mermaid is attached to their friends and family and at the grand trunk is just to crowded.
At the bow
it is a boat that has beentipped
the ideal dress style for an hourglass figure would be more of a mermaid style gown.
If it's above the surface, attached to the rigging, it's a bowsprit. If it's below the surface, it's a ram. More commonly found on rowing ships, triremes and such.
Its called a figurehead and they come in all sorts of designs.