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A Literary Puzzle for something lighter

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Sea Trac
Master Marine Consultant

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Vanuatu
1357 Posts

Initially Posted - 04/27/2006 : 10:14:43

Spelling and grammer are as per the author's pen.
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<i>Friday 18th. Therm. 31. Winds NW to NE. Course N 20d E. Distce sail'd 18 miles. Latd in South 54d 57m. Longd in Greenwh pr. Reckg. 24d 6m Longd made C. G. Hope 5d 43m East.</i> From Noon till 8 pm kept steering along the Ice, SSW, SE East & NNE as we found it to trend, more broken Ice and small Islands without the Main Feild than usual, in so much that we had continualy some along side. At 8 we sounded but had no ground with 250 fathoms of line, after this we hauled close upon a Wind to the northward the evening being clear and serene (a rare thing here) we could see the firm Ice extending from SSW to NE but this happened not to be the northern point: for at 11 o'Clock we were obliged to Tack to avoide it, at 2 am we stood again to the northward thinking to clear it upon this Tack, but at 4 o'Clock we found this could not be done, it extending to our Weather bow in somuch that we were quite imbayed, we therefore Tack'd and stood to the Westward under all the Sail we could set, having a fresh breeze and clear weather, but the serenity of the sky lasted not long, at 6 o'Clock the Weather became hazey and soon after a Thick Fog. The gale freshened and brought with it snow and sleet which freezed on our Rigging and Sails as it fell, the Wind however veer'd more & more to the NE which inabled us to clear the Field Ice, though at the same time it carred us among the Islands which we had enough to do to keep clear of, of two evils I thought this the least. Dangerous as it is sailing a mongest the floating Rocks in a thick Fog and unknown Seas, yet it is preferable to be intangled with Field Ice under the same circumstances. The danger to be apprehended from this Ice is the geting fast in it where beside the damage a ship might receive might be detaind some time. I have heard of a Greenland Ship lying nine Weeks fast in this kind of Ice and at present we have no more appearence of thaw than they can have in Greenland; on the Contrary Fahranheits Thermometer keeps generally below the freezing point and yet it may be said to be the middle of summer. We have now sail'd 30 Leagues a long the firm Ice, which has extended nearly East and West, the Several Bays formed by it excepted, every one of which we have looked into without finding one openg to the South. I think it reasonable to suppose that this Ice either joins to or that there is land behind it and the appearence we had of land the day we fell in with it serves to increase the probability, we however could see nothing like land either last night or this Morn, altho' the Weather was clearer than it has been for many days past. I now intend, after geting a few miles farther to the North, to run 30 or 40 Leagues to the East before I haul again to the South, for here nothing can be done.
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<i>Sunday 20th. Thermr. 34. Winds NW to NE. Course N 79d 30m E. Dist Sail'd 92 Miles. Lat. in South 54d 0m. Longde in East pr. Reck.g 28d 14m. Long. made C.G.H. 9d 50m.</i> In the PM had thick hazy Weather untill 6 o'Clock when it cleared up and continued so till 6 am when the gale freshen'd at NNE and brought with it hazey weather Sleet and Snow the Thermometer from 31d to 34. Ice Islands as usual of various extent both for height and circuit. Set all the Taylors to Work to lengthen the Sleves of the Seamens Jackets and to make Caps to shelter them from the Severity of the Weather, having order'd a quantity of Red Baize to be converted to that purpose. Also began to make Wort from the Malt and give to such People as had symptoms of the Scurvy; one of them indeed is highly Scorbutick altho he has been taking of the Rob for some time past without finding himself benifited therefrom, on the other hand the Adventure had had two men in a manner cured by it who came, even, from the Cape highly Scorbutick. Such another large brown bird or Albatross as we saw near the feild Ice I saw near the Ship last night: the common sort of Albatross seem not to like an Icey sea for we have only seen one now and then sence we came a month the Islands.
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What am I reading?
Who was the author?
What were his orders?
What was the ship?
Where in the world were they?
What were they doing?
Where were they headed?
What famous person threw a temper tantrum over accommodations and missed out on the Adventure (pun intended)?
What were the ultimate consequences, not necessarily negative, of that person having missed the boat, so to speak?
How much, like me, do you wish that you'd lived in that era and had been a member of that group of gentlemen's association?

J.B. Manley s/v Sea Trac Allied Seawind II #65
DPO s/v Antares Catalina 25 #4849
Association Treasurer 2002 - 2006
Association Bookkeeper 2002 - 2008
Association Quartermaster 2004 - 2008

Edited by - Sea Trac on 04/27/2006 11:49:01

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5895 Posts

Response Posted - 04/27/2006 : 12:36:01

I believe the passage is from the log of the "Resolution," commanded by Captain Cook in December, 1772. His mission was to either confirm or dispel the myth of the existence of a "great southern continent," equal in size to Europe and Asia. They were ranging along the south polar ice pack, somewhere south of the Cape of Good Hope. Johann Forster was a German naturalist who accompanied Cook, and he complained about the small size of his accommodations. I'm not sure about the reference to him missing the Adventure. At one point, he transferred from the Resolution to the "Adventure," a ship that accompanied the Resolution, but a thick fog rolled in, and he couldn't find the Adventure. The crew rowed the ship's launch back and forth for awhile and I believe they eventually found the Adventure and boarded it, so maybe you're referring to some other incident when he missed the boat.

Edited by - on

Sea Trac
Master Marine Consultant

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Vanuatu
1357 Posts

Response Posted - 04/27/2006 : 12:53:16

Way to go, Steve! Actually, I was referring to Sir Joseph Banks' temper tantrum regarding the accommodations for his huge party aboard the Resolution, and his subsequent installment as president of the Royal Society (in which capacity he served for 41 years until his death) that resulted from his having been in London instead of out botanizing around the South Pacific.

Edited by - on

tinob
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1883 Posts

Response Posted - 04/28/2006 : 14:06:38

It is a fact which will be long remembered as remarkable down there, that she was never drowned, but died triumphantly in bed at ninety two.
I have understood that it was, to the last, her proudest boast that she never had been on the water in her life, except upon a bridge; and that over her tea( to which she was extremely partial)she, to the last, expressed her indignation at the impiety of mariners and others who had the presumption to go "meandering"about the world. It was in vain to represent to her that some convieniences, tea perhaps included, resulted from this objectionable practice.

Val on the hard DAGNABIT # 3936 Patchogue, N.Y.

what have I been reading?
who is speaking and to whom is he referring?

Edited by - on

Sea Trac
Master Marine Consultant

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Vanuatu
1357 Posts

Response Posted - 04/28/2006 : 18:42:37

"It was in vain to represent to her that some conveniences, tea perhaps included, resulted from this objectionable practice. She always returned, with greater emphasis and with an instinctive knowledge of the strength of her objection, 'Let us have no meandering.'

Not to meander, myself, at present, I will go back to my birth.

I was born at Blunderstone, in Suffolk, or 'thereby,' as they say in Scotland. I was a posthumous child. My father's eyes had closed upon the light of this world six months, when mine opened on it. There is something strange to me, even now, in the reflection that he never saw me; and something stranger yet in the shadowy remembrance that I have of my first childish associations with his white grave-stone in the churchyard, and of the indefinable compassion I used to feel for it lying out alone there in the dark night, when our little parlor was warm and bright with fire and candle, and the doors of our house were--almost cruelly, it seemed to me sometimes--bolted and locked against it."

I had to Google it to figure it out, as I've never read any of his books. Is it a good read, Val? I suppose it is, given its long-lived popularity.

Edited by - on

tinob
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1883 Posts

Response Posted - 04/28/2006 : 19:15:03

Damn you're good, The quote is essentially the same but slightly off here and there
David Copperfield speaking of the disposition of an old life jacket of his and the elderly lady who won it at raffle. A caul it was and it brought five shillings to the Copperfield coffers.

Her resistance to sailing is espoused not as eloquently as the admirals',"I've got a headache, maybe next time".

Val on the hard DAGNABIT # 3936 Patchogue, N.Y.

ten days to splash

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