I was reading Utmost Gallantry by Kevin D. McCranie and came across an intriguing line. When Captain Isaac Hull of USS Constitution was fleeing a British squadron in 1812, he passed within gunshot range of a British frigate, but the enemy held her fire. Hull later wrote that the frigate "did not fire on us, perhaps for fear of becalming her as the wind was light."

I immediately remembered that Frederick Marryat wrote something very similar about a ship's guns somehow stopping the wind, and found it in The King's Own: "wind lulled by the percussion of the air from the report of the guns."

This was apparently a genuine sailors' superstition!

Action at Sea: an English and a French Frigate Engaging by Robert Dodd c. 1802 (ArtUK).

I searched Google Books for more references and found one in a late 18th century dispatch to the Admiralty quoted in Memoir of Robert, Earl Nugent: "their guns had so lulled the wind as to leave us little prospect of getting nearer to them."

I can see how, in an era long before smokeless powder, it might seem like firing large guns made the wind die down as the combatants were enveloped in clouds of smoke.

@ltwilliammowett have you heard this one?

Whenever the wind is foul, which it now most certainly is, for I am writing any thing but “Newton Forster,” and which will account for this rambling, stupid chapter, made up of odds and ends, strung together like what we call “skewer pieces” on board of a man-of-war; when the wind is foul, as I said before, I have, however, a way of going a-head, by getting up the steam which I am now about to resort to — and the fuel is brandy.

— Frederick Marryat, maybe being a little too honest in the middle of Newton Forster.

in honour of and apologies to @marryat92

as generated from neural network ai midjourney more information at @teuthisdreams

Fitz Flute

About Graham Gore Fitzjames said that "he plays the flute dreadfully well"

Apparently Fitzjames owned a flute as a teenager but never had much time to actually play it. He took it with him on the HMS Pyramus and HMS St Vincent.

After that we hear no more of the flute.

[Detail from: The Interior of a Midshipman's birth, 1821 Print, after Captain Frederick Marryat, British Museum]

Fitzjames mentions the flute in a few letters:

HMS Pyramus June 29th 1826

Dearest Uncle

You no doubt expected a letter from me yesterday but I could not get on board till to day — so I did not write — I arrived quite safe at Portsmouth on Tuesday Morning, but when I got here I had to pay 10 Shillings for they said that when I was booked you only paid 10 Shillings. I told them that I paid a sovereign & they kept my luggage till I had paid it — I forgot the ink Powder but got every thing else quite safe — Mr Sterling got me a very nice flute indeed and I have got it quite safe

-----

HMS St Vincent Decr 20th 1830

My Dear Uncle

I am now comfortably on board, and am a little more accquainted with my messmates some of them, indeed all of them, are very nice fellows, and I think I shall be very comfortable. I have a good birth for my desk, and one of the mates has allowed me to keep my flute and several other things in his cabin.

----

To William Munn [a friend/neighbour from Blackheath]

In the Bosphorus HM Cutter Hind

April 10th 1832

[...] The flute gets on slowly as I have not much place & time to play. You must be quite a professor by this time.

[Detail from: 'Master B finding things not exactly what he expected', the midshipman arrives on board ship; study for an illustration to 'The Life of a Midshipman', 1820 Drawing by Captain Frederick Marryat, British Museum]

Thanks @marryat92 for pointing me to these wonderful illustrations

Okay per the recommendations from @marryat92 I downloaded Frank Mildmay and this note in the preface is so funny??

Tie your bouquet more accurately.

  By, and by.                                     48 ₁ Do, does, doing.                                     49 ₁ Else, where.                                     54 ₁ Ever.                                     55 ₁   Where, ever.                                     92 ₁ Weather.                                     875 ₁ Whether.                                     881 ₁ Weather.                                     885 ₁   Noon.                                     61 ₂ Nor.                                     62 ₂ Nobody.                                     63 ₂ Nothing.                                     64 ₂   Beacon.                                     188 ₂ Bow.                                     189 ₂ Breeze, s.                                     190 ₂ Baffle, s. d.                                     191 ₂   Chafe.                                     230 ₂ Chain.                                     231 ₂ Channel.                                     232 ₂ Character, s, ized.                                     233 ₂   Cold.                                     247 ₂ Combination.                                     248 ₂ Communicate, s, d.                                     250 ₂ Compose, s, d.                                     251 ₂   Hard, er, ly.                                     404 ₂ Harden, s, ed.                                     405 ₂ Havoc.                                     406 ₂ Hazard, s, ed, ous.                                     407 ₂   Influence, d.                                     432 ₂ Ink.                                     433 ₂ Instance.                                     434 ₂ Undo, did, done.                                     604 ₂   What, ever.                                     631 ₂ When, nce, ever.                                     632 ₂ Where, ever, of, on.                                     633 ₂ Wherry.                                     634 ₂   Tie your bouquet more accurately.                                     140 ₃

—

ex The floral telegraph; or Affection’s signals, by the Late Captain Marryatt [sic]. London : Saunders and Otley, [1850?] Cornell copy, accessible at hathitrust : link

₁ : from Vocabulary, Part I, “One knot to be tied on the string between each number [i.e., flower].” ₂ : from Vocabulary, Part II, “Two knots to be tied before each number.” ₃ : from Vocabulary, Part III, “Three knots to be tied before each number.”

see Daniel Wuebben, “Captain Frederick Marryat and the Floral Telegraph; Or, a Forgotten Coder and his Floral Code,” Victorian Literature and Culture 42:2 (June 2014) : 209-233 : link (no access); link (readable, at least)

uncertain that Marryat is the author, but no matter. Small matters are signs of great things.                                     303 ₃  

What have we here? It is a novel by Captain Frederick Marryat: The King's Own (1831). See how the page, absent intention, falls open to a passage that may both mimic and direct my thoughts: "Since the World Began, history is but the narrative of kingdoms and states progressing to maturity or decay. Man himself is but an epitome of the nations of men. In youth all energy, in the prime of life all enterprise and vigor; in senility, all weakness and second childhood. Then, England, learn thy fate from the unvarying page of time." And there we have it, Spengler's two turgid volumes reduced to a mere paragraph.

David Mamet, Bambi vs. Godzilla

Feminisation in Female Led Relationships

At home I’ll wear normal female clothing, including trousers if I wish. Alice is not permitted male clothing at home or even female trousers and uses more feminine and revealing clothing, such as pretty miniskirts or short summer dresses. The more girly the better. I also ask her to be naked or exposed at home when the weather permits it.

God Bless Our Native Land

Okay, so this may just be news to me a proud Scot and staunch anti-monarchist who's made a point of never actually knowing the words to the British national anthem, but it's just come to my attention that Hickey's actually singing quite a specific version of it.

The lyrics heard within the show are credited to William Edward Hickson, a British educational writer, and they first appear in his book The Singing Master, published in 1836.

This is very interesting to me for two reasons.

-

Firstly, while Hickson's lyrics do still have a strong religiosity to them, they are also far less stridently imperialistic and sycophantic in their praise of the divinely-appointed monarch. In fact, they don't make specific mention of a monarch at all. Compare a verse of the more popular, traditional version of the national anthem:

O Lord our God, arise, Scatter her enemies, And make them fall, Confound their politics; Frustrate their knavish tricks; On Thee our hopes we fix; God save us all.

To a verse from Hickson's:

Not on this land alone But be God's mercies known From shore to shore. Lord, make the nations see That men should brothers be, And from one family The wide world o'er.

It makes perfect sense to me that Hickey would espouse one version over the other. Not only would he likely have been in the formative years of his youth/young adulthood when first exposed to Hickson's lyrics, given what we know about Hickey's politics it follows perfectly that he might identify far more with those less imperialistic, less monarchical words.

-

Secondly, it's very important to me and a tiny bit funny to discover the specific point at which Hickey's rendition in the show is cut off by Tuunbaq's impending arrival. Hickson's lyrics continue:

God bless our native land, May heaven's protecting hand Still guard our shore; May peace her power extend Foe be transformed to friend

And suffice it to say, a foe being transformed into a friend is certainly not what happens next!

Please help! My 19th-century man went on his Grand Tour and has returned with an entirely unhealthy and excessive obsession with the classical world. He peppers Greek into his everyday conversation, has taken to calling his very good friend Antinous (Is this an eccentiricity or an affect? The poor man's name is Arthur!) and I fear he will be crushed under the weight of all the marble relics he brought home with him. What can be done?

To begin: congratulations on your enthusiastic antiquarian! Too many 19th century men go on a grand tour, and the most beloved souvenir they want to display is some kind of ridiculous knick-knack.

Young Mr. Lacquer, "whose continental gatherings were confined to an enormous pipe, and some foreign jewellery, was himself always talking of them."

Studying a language is a wonderful enrichment for anyone, not just a 19th century man, and it sounds like he enjoys connecting the ancient and modern worlds with his classical allusions. Balance, however, is key, and if he's reluctant to engage in other activities you might try asking him what lifestyle habits his favourite authors of antiquity recommend.

I also understand that there is a limit to how many marble relics can fit into the average home, but your 19th century man may have a very different sense of what makes "too much" stuff in a room. Chances are he wants curios and collectables on every surface, pictures covering the walls, and has a very busy, crowded sense of interior design compared to a 21st century person.

A cool batchelor pad and a cozy domestic scene (you know there is chintz in there).

You can help him arrange his collection for display—and you might need some additional shelving installed, let's be honest. But it's a small price to pay for a 19th century man to have so much happiness and comfort, wouldn't you agree?

Buddha's Foot

Date 18th C–early 19th C

Medium stone, glass, bitumen & gold

donated by Captain Frederick Marryat, 1826

The British Museum

Here's what you are in Marryat's code of signals! Happy Valentine's Day, friend!

Thank you my friend!! ❤️

In the 1847 (tenth) edition of Marryat's Code of Signals, I believe I found your intended message:

HOWEVER. The first thing I pulled up was the fourth edition of 1826, which has a distinctly different message for 943:

Hopefully no one would be sailing around in 1847 with an edition of Marryat's Code over 20 years out of date, but this could set up some pretty catastrophic misunderstandings...

"Update your software code book! OR ELSE."

As the night advanced, so did the wind increase and the sea rise; lightning darted through the dense clouds, and for a moment we could scan the horizon. Everything was threatening; yet our boat, with the wind about two points free, rushed gallantly along, rising on the waves like a sea-bird, and sinking into the hollow of the waters as if she had no fear of any attempt on their part to overwhelm her.

— Frederick Marryat, Poor Jack

Storm at Sea, French School, 18th century (Art UK)

The Naval Officer Frank Mildmay

"I was now in my twenty-second year; my figure was decidedly of a handsome cast; my face, what I knew most women admired. My personal advantages were heightened by the utmost attention to dress; the society of the fair Arcadians had very much polished my manners, and I had no more of the professional roughness of the sea, than what, like the crust of the port wine, gave an agreeable flavour; my countenance was as open and as ingenuous as my heart was deceitful and desperately wicked." -- Frederick Marryat, Frank Mildmay, or The Naval Officer

generated from the text prompt "young proud handsome arrogant smirking Royal Navy naval officer" and image prompts of: the naval novellist captain frederick marryat and a picture of ioan gruffudd as hornblower using the neural network AI midjourney with a few edits and tweaks post-generation

with thanks and inspiration to @marryat92

Book illustration for Mr. Midshipman Easy written by Captain Frederick Marryat

"Midshipman Easy, Page 173 - "Oh Mr. Easy, Please Forgive Us". by unknown

Hey, how are you? I wondered what you use as book props in your videos? Are they classics? Notebooks? A novel you personally enjoy(ed) reading a lot?👀

I’m good thanks! consistently tired but hey, what’s new 😂

haha there are 3 books I think I’ve ever used in my vids - a smaller black one called something deeply hidden by sean carroll, a larger red one which is an edition of the feynman lectures on physics and the green one is called children of the new forest by frederick marryat.

the first two are because I am a nerd, the last one is because the book ✨looked pretty✨