Misson

Mary, with your background, you and I should talk... Coco-nut, Inc. Main Office, some island in the Caribbean... Actually, I am a huge fan of wild flora and fauna. I once told one of the local Metropark guys I would gladly pay double the annual fee for membership just for the privilege of being able to walk the forest paths therein. (It turns out he, in turn, would gladly accept.) Apparently Coco-nuts were all the rage in the East Indies during period and just before. This, from Edward Barlow's Journal: "Here [belopatan, India] is an English factory also for the Company [East India Trading Co.], the place producing only pepper, with 'cardimunes' [cardamom] and beetle nuts, and some little 'calieves' [unsure on this one], and fruits, as plantains and bananas and cocoanuts in great plenty. I bringing two or three [coconuts] from this place to England to show some that were desirous to see the fashion of them, for it is too far to bring the right taste of them, they being the 'necessariest' fruit that grow, they making things for all uses, being both meat and drink, and clothing and cables and rigging for this country's vessels." (Barlow's Journal, p. 189)

Ok, if William canna' come someone's gotta step up as captain, cuz' otherwise I am the only officer (and a measly warrant officer at that) and I sincerely, honestly, really, seriously do not want to be in charge of the Mercury crew.

Hey, I think Greg at the Weeping Heart Trading Company might be looking for an onion bottle source if the price is right. (Greg's a nice guy, I imagine he'd be a good guy to work with.)

Ah, now this is interesting. It alone may explain much. From Barlow's Journal again: "[1669]And about four or five days afterward, we arrived in 'Tangere' Road, and coming to an anchor, we found a frigate there called the Princess, which had been at 'Lisborne', and they told us how one of the King's ships was burnt in the river of Chatham by accident; for the gunner lying on board and having his wife on board, and it being the same winter that we were in the Straits, and it being cold weather, they having in the cabin a chafing-dish of coals along with them to warm themselves by, and going to bed and leaving them (the coals) carelessly in the night, they took fire in the cabin and set the ship on fire, and so the ship called the Defiance was burnt, the King losing a good ship through the means of having women on board and to be pleased with what they want, they being such ----- evils, doing more harm than good wheresoever they come." [Note: I suspect the left out word was 'damned' although it's just a guess on my part. I have seen swear words left out of materials by reprinted editors in the late 19th and early 20th centuries before.] (Barlow, p. 171) This sort of thing (if not this event alone) may well have led to the rumor that women were bad luck on ships. I know from John Keevil's book Medicine and the Navy 1200-1900: Volume II – 1640-1714 that the Navy was always short on money and the somewhat capricious loss of one of His Majesty's ships would not have pleased Him. Of such things rumors could well be made. It is interesting that even the gunner could bring his wife on board a BRN ship in 1669, though, isn't it?

I just happened to find this and Sjöröveren's comments are very interesting and agree with things I have read. Also, I have read that use of leeches was on the wane during period. Of course, like everyone else, I am not sure where I read that. I do believe John Kirkup talks about the lack of leech-oriented instruments in his book The Evolution of Surgical Instruments; An Illustrated History from Ancient Time to the Twentieth Century during period, but I didn't write it down (what "isn't" didn't seem interesting) and don't have the book. I know the medical books at the time often recommended against cauterizing as they were concerned for the comfort of the patient. If it was out of fashion, leeching did increase in popularity in the late 18th century. From Kirkup, “Leeching was an alternative to venesection and generally safer for children and the very ill, although blood oozing due to the anticoagulant effect of leech bites were often difficult to stop. Their application reached a zenith in Europe during the 1830s when demand outstripped the supply of leeches available. Thereafter leeching declined in parallel with venesection, although leeches are still occasionally used by some British plastic surgeons for aspirating fluid collections beneath skin grafts.” (Kirkup, p. 407) And another example from the late 18th century: “After treatment, patients were removed from the cockpit to the adjacent gun room or the berth deck for observation, and the slightly wounded were ordered back to duty. If there was fever after surgery, [Edward] Cutbush [(1735-1790), Surgeon for the U.S. Navy] recommended a low diet and repeated bleedings as necessary. He believed that animal food was the best sustenance after wounding. Leeches were attached to the wound edges to reduce the swelling. Tetanus (lockjaw) was the most feared complication, according to Cutbush, and always resulted in death. The titanic symptoms of stiffness, facial grimacing, rigidity of the spine, and distortion of the limbs were palliated with calomel, opium and cold baths…Cutbush’s treatments were those used by the British.” (Zachary Friedenberg, Medicine Under Sail, p. 125)

I thought this was interesting. It's from Barlow's Journal by Edward Barlow, edited by Basil Lubbock: "[1666-7]...and the next day we [the Monk, commanded by Capt. Thomas Penrose, serving at this time as a BRN vessel in the second Anglo-Dutch War] came into Falmouth, for our commander, being a Cornishman, had the liberty to go in for two days to see some friends and to settle some things, for his wife being aboard along with him that winter [Emphasis mine] we went for 'Hamborow', she died on board of our ship when we lay in 'Grimesby' Road in the Humber, and was buried on shore at 'Grimesby' Church." (Barrow, p. 132-2) Curious Note: I think Lubbock puts quotes around locations and names that he knows Barlow has misspelled, although I'm not entirely sure. If so, he misses some - Barrow refers to Sir Christopher Minns and Mines when it should be Myngs, around whose name there are no quotes. Still, he does this repeatedly for names I know are misspelled, so that's my guess. If anyone knows different, I'd love to hear about it. (Even more curiously, I know for a fact Lubbock has changed non-Name and Location spellings because he uses the original journal wording as the captions to reproduced drawings from Barlow's Journal. In those captions, it's just like all the other original documents from period - wild, irregular and phonetic to the extreme - yet the regular text of the book is not that way.

1: probably a dozen times 2: twice 3: thrice

It is true there were efforts on behalf of the government and industry to promote private car ownership. GM gave the city of Detroit a fleet of diesel buses in the 60s and Detroit scrapped their commuter train system. Still, I believe ridership was down because we are generally a pretty independent lot. That and good marketing made everyone want to own their own cars. OTOH, with the high gas prices, ridership is up - who knows, maybe mass transit will become cost-effective for cities to run once again. (This could be another solution that comes from out of left field. (Left field for the US at any rate.) Oh, for the fine transit systems of cities like London. Mind the gap!) I think revolution is a fine idea, but few people would have the guts to sign up. As hurricane noted, we're comfortable. Plus we don't all agree on what to the goals of such a revolution would be. For example, I think the Baby Boomer "Revolution" of the 60s, had it succeeded (and I personally don't see how it could have) would have put this country into a socialist model that is every bit as flawed as all the other socialist models that are out there. (Yeah, yeah, tell me about the one or two countries where it has succeeded, more or less. They're usually very small. The big countries have great struggles with the same model.) Capitalism is by no means perfect, but our country is built more upon that model than any other. Innovation requires the freedom of economy that a capitalist model encourages (again, more or less). Throw this out and we're just another socialist state fighting a losing battle. (The more socialist you are, the slower innovative progress seems to be and the more fixed your resources appear to be. So you end up trying to give more to the people with a perceptually fixed pool of resources because progress in expanding resources is stifled by regulation and less economic incentive.) Curiously, most countries that have made great strides recently have done so by adopting a more capitalist model, not a more socialist one. (Although there is always a mix of capitalism with other ideas - if one country finally decides to go all out in this direction with reasonable controls against the gross excesses of industry (by which I mean monopolies and unreasonably unhealthy work environments, NOT things like theoretical future damage that may be caused by global warming emissions), I think the US will have met its global power match and we'll be second rate while we wallow in socialist policies designed to keep us safe and comfortable. Keep a sharp eye on China with their huge human resource pool. Imagine the creativity that could be unleashed if they adopted even more capitalist incentives.)

I don't think they used a lot of mulch chips during period. I suggest you go with your first inclination and see what Google has to say on the matter. I just thought Dampier's description was interesting.

I thought you might find this interesting, Cheeky. It's from Barlow's Journal, by Edward Barlow, edited by Basil Lubbock: “[1661] And also there are in this city [Lisbon] many courtesans, many of them both young and handsome, who will call any Englishmen or strangers as they walk the streets, and will ask them in as good English as they can speak whether they will come in and drink the wine and take a bit to stay their longing; sitting and looking out of their windows upon who passeth by, and they are decked very handsome in apparel and ‘gorny’ in their hair, finely dressed with ribbons and open sleeves and buttoned jackets, their shifts being as large as half-shirts in England, very neat and handsome.” (Barlow, p. 63)

I think (as I hinted earlier) that as soon as we adopt the new stop-gap 'solution' several things are likely. 1. We will soon begin hearing about how damaging the new solution is to the environment and thus will have solved little as far as the environmentalist concern goes. 2. The market will naturally respond to an increase in demand by an increase in prices. It's still simple supply and demand. 3. Other unforseen (or ignored) long-term consequences will arise. Off the top of my head, a) Your home energy costs will go up as a result of converting a large number of vehicles to electric power, so that should be deducted from your predicted savings. Most comparisons assume current prices and this is not valid. See point 2. b.) Further strain on the already strained energy grid - which may cause outages and thus limit your transport. When they go to upgrade the energy grid to solve this, it also increase the cost of electricity because of the expense. See point a. c) The increase in pollutants from energy companies . This is related to supply/demand but is a separate issue in a way. Nuclear is one proposed solution to this, but it will take years to build the plants. The most efficient solar option (last I read), was 3x or 4x more expensive than coal, so that is not a very good solution at present. (Although they are ever trying to improve it's efficiency. One company is up to 22 or 23 percent. But, naturally, their equipment is more expensive to buy than the others whose efficiency is in the teens) And so forth. Right now, it's coal for the short-term and coal produces a lot of pollution. See point 1. And so forth. A lot of these would be solved in the long-term, but in the short-term, I think the savings would accrue to the very early adopters. Everyone else would probably wonder why they did it. It's an inelegant and messy solution. On the other had, take a left-field solution like the introduction of the fuel-injection system in the 80s. I've heard estimated that it just about doubled the fuel efficiency of the car over the carburetor. If we take that as a working premise, you effectively doubled the supply of fuel if you think of it in terms of how much fuel is required to power how many cars all other things being constant. This essentially increased supply in economic terms, which helped end the gas crises of the late 70s. It was transparent to most users and didn't require huge up-front costs. It was an elegant solution. That's what I see happening eventually. Something like that that we're not even thinking about that completely changes the rules of the game.

In William Dampier's book New Voyage Round the World he has a great deal to say about the coconut tree. In fact, I think it would make a fascinating display if all the things he discusses could be put together. "The Coco-Nut Trees grow by the Sea, on the Western-side in great Groves, three or four Miles in length, and a Mile or two broad.... The Nut or Fruit grows at the head of the Tree, among the Branches and in Clusters, 10 or 12 to a Cluster. The Branch to which they grow is about the bigness of a Man's Arm, and as long, running small towards the end. It is of a yellow Colour, full of Knots, and very tough. The Nut is generally bigger than a Man's Head. The outer rind is near two Inches thick, before you come to the Shell; the Shell it self is black, thick, and very hard. The Kernel in some Nuts is near an Inch thick, sticking to the inside of the Shell clear round, leaving a hollow in the middle of it, which contains about a Pint, more or less, according to the bigness of the Nut, for some are much bigger than others. This Cavity is full of sweet, delicate, wholsom and refreshing Water. While the Nut is growing, all the inside is full of this Water, without any Kernal at all; but as the Nut grows towards it Maturity, the Kernel begins to gather and settle round on the inside of the Shell, and is soft like Cream; and as the Nut ripens, it increaseth in substance and becomes hard. The ripe Kernel is sweet enough, but very hard to digest, therefore seldom eaten, unless by Strangers, who know not the effects of it; but while it is young and soft like Pap, some Men will eat it, scraping it out with a Spoon, after they have drunk the Water that was within it. I like the Water best when the Nut is almost ripe, for it is then sweetest and briskest. ... Besides the Liquor or Water in the Fruit, there is also a sort of Wine drawn from the Tree called Toddy, which looks like Whey. It is sweet and very pleasant, but it is to be drunk within 24 Hours after it is drawn, for afterwards it grows sowre. Those that have a great many Trees, draw a Spirit from the sowre Wine, called Arack. Arack is distill'd also from Rice, and other things in the East-Indies; but none is so much esteemed for making Punch as this sort, made of Toddy, or the Sap of the Coco-nut Tree for it makes most delicate Punch; but it must have a dash of Brandy to hearten it, because this Arack is not strong enough to make good Punch of it self. This sort of Liquor is chiefly used about Goa; and therefore it has the Name of Goa Arack. The way of drawing the Toddy from the Tree, is by cutting the top of a Branch that would bear Nuts; but before it has any Fruit; and from thence the Liquor which was to feed its Fruit, distils into the hole of a Callabash [a bowl made from the rind of a fruit] that is hung upon it. ... The Kernel is much used in making Broath. When the Nut is dry, they take off the Husk, and giving two good Blows on the middle of the Nut, it breaks in two equal parts, letting the Water fall on the Ground; then with a small Iron Rasp made for the purpose, the Kernel or Nut is rasped out clean, which being put into a little fresh Water, makes it become white as Milk. In this milky Water, they boil a Fowl, or any other sort of Flesh, and it makes a very savoury Broath. English Seamen put this Water into boiled Rice, which they eat instead of Rice-milk, carrying Nuts purposely to Sea with them. This they learnt from the Natives. But the greatest use of the Kernel is to make Oyl, both for burning and for frying. The way to make the Oyl is to grate or rasp the Kernel, and steep it in fresh Water; then boil it, and scum off the Oyl at top as it rises: But the Nuts that make the Oyl ought to be a long time gathered, so as that the Kernel may be turning soft and oily. The Shell of this Nut is used in the East-Indies for Cups, Dishes, Ladles, Spoons, and in a manner for all eating and drinking Vessels. Well-shaped Nuts are often brought home to Europe, and much esteemed. The Husk of the Shell is of great use to make Cables; for the dry Husk is full of small Strings and Threads, which being beaten, become soft, and the other Substance which was mixt among it falls away like Saw-dust, leaving only the Strings. These are afterwards spun into long Yarns, and twisted up into Balls for Convenience; and many of these Rope-Yarns joined together make good Cables. This Manufactory is chiefly used at the Maldive-Islands, and the Threads sent in Balls into all places that trade thither, purposely for to make Cables. I made a Cable at Achin with some of it. These are called Coire Cables; they last very well. ... "In the South Seas the Spaniards do make Oakam to caulk their Ships, with the Husk of the Coco-nut, which is more serviceable than that made of Hemp, and they say it will never rot. I have been told by Captain Knox, who wrote the relation of Ceylon, that in some places of India they make a sort of coarse Cloth of the husk of the Coco-nut, which is used for Sails. I my self have seen a sort of coarse Sail-cloth made of such a kind of substance; but whether the same or no I know not. I have been the longer on this subject to give the Reader a particular Account of the use and profit of a Vegetable, which is possibly of all others the most generally serviceable to the Conveniences, as well as the Necessities of Human Life. Yet this Tree, that is of such great use, and esteemed so much in the East-Indies, is scarce regarded in the West=Indies, for want of the knowledge of the benefits it may produce...I have found them growing very well in low sandy Islands (on the West of Sumatra) that are over-flowed with the Sea every Spring-tide; and though the Nuts there are not very big, yet this is no loss, for the Kernel is thick and sweet; and the Milk or Water in the inside, is more pleasant and sweet than of the Nuts that grow in rich ground, which are commonly large indeed, but not very sweet. These at Guam grow in dry ground, are of a middle-size, and I think the sweetest that I did ever taste. Thus much for the Coco-nut." (Dampier, p. 202-5)

It's still a stop-gap solution. The best option of the lot you name seems to me to be solar - and that still isn't worth the investment without subsidy and it's currently not entirely reliable. (Plus it produces disposable waste in the form of batteries.) I think the real solution will come from an as-yet undiscovered or poorly popularized option. It's happened many times in the past. And the powerful controlling Industry (whichever folks choose to portray as a source of consipiracies against the general populace) is usually all but powerless to stop it when it occurs. No one can stop an idea whose time has come. Innovation is a by-product of freedom.

What does the electric car solve? Electricity has to come from somewhere. It's the same sort of short-sighted solution that Ethanol is - and the resulting long-range problems from adopting such would most likely at least equal the problems of the gasoline engine. (It sounds like a bait and switch tactic to me. I think the same is true of the CFLs as well. Soon after their adoption in 2012, I'll bet we'll start hearing stories about the hazardous waste (Mercury) being created by CFLs and we'll have to switch to something else. Maybe to candles. Oop, no, they give off carbon emissions. We'll have to live in the dark. Ah, such progress in the name of safety.)

"Senator Chance," Mr. X replied, "we don't dare tell the American people the truth because there are so many laws already passed and regulations on the books that if the government decided to impose them all on us and enforce them, they could put us into bankruptcy within six months." What I find interesting (and what much of this boils down to) is how much freedom we'll give up to live in "safety". The power gradually being ceded to the judicial branch - which he is talking about in the above quote- is a bid for safety. The war was a bid for safety. Universal health care is a cry for safety (well, for protection). Gun control is a bid for safety. (They obviously were deluded when they wrote the 2nd Amendment.) Environmentalism is a bid for safety. (Global warming is an interesting long-term safety scheme - if we don't protect the world from the theoretically harmful carbon emissions, our children and grandchildren may suffer. Usually people aren't quite that far-thinking, so I have to give them credit for selling us that particular bill of goods.) I wonder what the history books will say about this era and our willingness to give up our freedom (the true engine of US economic success) for the unobtainable holy grail of safety? "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” Benjamin Franklin

This is an amazingly good read and provides splendid insight into the day-to-day life of a sailor during period. It's better than Woodes Rogers or William Dampier for readability and flow. Although it's definitely something you want to get through a library; the only copies I found for sale were well north of a thousand dollars. (Good old inter-library loan...) I just got it yesterday and I'm 60 pages into it. Absolutely fascinating. It comes in two volumes with lots of illustrations Barlow did in the margins of his journal. Search for it as: Barlow, Edward, Barlow’s Journal of his Life at Sea in King’s Ships, East and West Indiamen & Other Merchantman From 1659 to 1703, Transcribed and edited by Basil Lubbock, London, 1934.

Here's one for ya' from Dampier: "It was well for Captain Swan that we got sight of [land] before our Provision was spent, of which we had but enough for three Days more; for, as I was afterwards informed, the men had contrived, first to kill Captain Swan and eat him when the Victuals was gone, and after him all of us who were accessory to promoting the undertaking this Voyage (from the West Indies to the East Indies). This made Capt. Swan say to me after our arrival at Guam, Ah! Dampier you would have made them but a poor Meal; for I was as lean as the Captain was lusty and fleshy." (Dampier, p. 196) He shortly after holds forth at some length on the benefits of the Coco-Nut tree. In fact, this is very interesting, but I don't have time to type it all in. Perhaps I will give it it's own topic as he says it was used for all sorts of things in the East Indies.

In word. Click on the Tools on the menu bar. Choose Language/Set Language/English UK (you can choose Canadian also ...or Irish or ...you get the idea. Ooooh...very cool. Thanks, Silkie!

I'm in favour of 16. Except let's not pay the taxes. It could well be an improvement. And why, oh why, doesn't the MS word spell-checker have an option to accept correctly-spelled English words? I keep having to add every word - and worse, every variation of said words (plural and so forth) - that contains 'ou' to the spell checker. Where's Ed Foxe when you need him?

Yeah, I think he's off his nut, myself.

The effects appear to be far reaching.

You went and entered your birth date in your profile? (It would take only a nudge to make you like me. To push you out of the light.) Happy birthday, imaginary friend. (Here's your gift: a 2-D cubist rendering with a nose like a tapir. )

They have tolerably good prices on hides, too - I was looking for something on which to display my tools. Thanks for the link.

I finally remembered to bring Yonge's book. This is from The Journal of James Yonge, Plymouth Surgeon 1647-1721: "At last, Nov. 24th [1664], it pleased God we stood over to the eastward of Genoa [in the Mediterranean] to see how favourable that shore would be to us. Falling in between Spetia and Port Pinn, we plyed on to Genoa, and against the wind got in to the old mole [a large man-made stone wall used as a breakwater and built to enclose or protect an anchorage or harbor], within the castle.... Things notable during my stay there were...The Lantern, which is a tall tower, smaller than the steeple of Plymouth Church, but very much higher. On the top it's glazed round with large and very thick glass. In it are 32 lamps of glass, which so hang as not one of them hides the other, so that they give the greater light, and is seen a great way off at sea. It stands near the water side, at the west end of the Haven." (Yonge, p. 70-1) He also put a bunch of sketches in his journal, including this one of Genoa: (It's about midway down on the left side. If you Google the Genoa lighthouse, you'll find they think it goes back to the 12th century.) He mentions the lighthouse at Eddystone as well: "November 26th this year [1703] happened a most terrible tempest the like never known, in which much damage was done to churches, houses and trees in abundance. Many ships were lost in Catwoller, but not one man-of-war, but the wonderful structure on Edyston was beaten down and in it perished Mr. Winstanly, the contriver and make of it, and 4 more. (Footnote 1: The first lighthouse at Eddystone was built by Winstanly in 1698 and was raised from 80 to 120 feet in the following year. After its destruction in 1703 it was rebuilt by Rudyerd in 1708.)" (Yonge, p. 226-7)

I do note that Atkins says coffee is indeed served "per Dish", with a nod to the Captain on his comments in said discussion. Your point, sir.