Master and Commander - Page 3

shorty943 · 09-28-2007, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg

Does it count as a stays'l if it's not attached to a stay?

The impression I'm getting is that you shouldn't stand in one spot too long on deck because if you do, somebody will attach some canvas to you!

Nope.

And, if you stand still, someone will find you a nice nasty job, to occupy your downtime.

It's a compounding thing.

The wind blows up the waves, the waves toss the ship around, and the ship will toss anything not tied, welded, or bolted down, at you. Oh, and with its full weight.
If it's a little ship, only weighing a few hundred ton, you only get hit with a few ton\metre's of force.
If it's a big ship, even a little thing can hit very hard.

An infant throws something at you, or Mr. T throws it.

Greg · 09-28-2007, 05:47 PM

But Mr. T is harder to move!

Greg · 09-29-2007, 10:20 PM

Aaaarggghhh!!

From page 213:

He's sailing toward the rising sun out of Mahon.
Maps really help in figuring out what's happening in this book!

Fortunately she was moored with simple warps fore and aft, so there would be no slow weighing of anchors, no stamp and go at the capstan, no acid shrieking of the fiddle; in any case, the comparatively sober members of the crew were too jaded for anything but a sour, mute, expeditious casting-off -- no jolly tars, no hearts of oak, no Brittons never, never, in this grey stench of a crapulous dawn. Fortunately, too, he had seen to the repairs, stores and vitualling (apart from that cursed last voyage of water) before he or anyone else had set foot on the shore; and rarely had he appreciated the reward of virtue more than when the Sophie's jib filled and her head came round, pointing easteward to the sea, a wooded, watered, well-found vessel beginning her journey back to indepedence.

I understand that Captain Jack Aubrey wanted to get away from the harbor at Mahón quietly, but what in the name of blue blazes is he talking about?

Minorca
We are here.

Miros1 · 09-30-2007, 01:48 PM

The capstan is the big round horizontal thingie that pulls the anchor up and the sailors usually sing while walking around it pushing on the bars to make it turn, so I assume that's the "stamp and go."

I think I vaguely remember something about the water being the last thing loaded, to try to keep it fresher, so that would be the "last voyage of water."

shorty943 · 10-02-2007, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg

Aaaarggghhh!!

From page 213:

He's sailing toward the rising sun out of Mahon.
Maps really help in figuring out what's happening in this book!

Fortunately she was moored with simple warps fore and aft, so there would be no slow weighing of anchors, no stamp and go at the capstan, no acid shrieking of the fiddle; in any case, the comparatively sober members of the crew were too jaded for anything but a sour, mute, expeditious casting-off -- no jolly tars, no hearts of oak, no Brittons never, never, in this grey stench of a crapulous dawn. Fortunately, too, he had seen to the repairs, stores and vitualling (apart from that cursed last voyage of water) before he or anyone else had set foot on the shore; and rarely had he appreciated the reward of virtue more than when the Sophie's jib filled and her head came round, pointing easteward to the sea, a wooded, watered, well-found vessel beginning her journey back to indepedence.

I understand that Captain Jack Aubrey wanted to get away from the harbor at Mahón quietly, but what in the name of blue blazes is he talking about?

Minorca
We are here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miros1

The capstan is the big round horizontal thingie that pulls the anchor up and the sailors usually sing while walking around it pushing on the bars to make it turn, so I assume that's the "stamp and go."

I think I vaguely remember something about the water being the last thing loaded, to try to keep it fresher, so that would be the "last voyage of water."

This girls good.

The capstan "head" is the big round thingy, with 4 spokes poking out, that turns the windlass head below deck. This in turn, drives the endless rope that is "nipped" to the anchor cable to raise or weigh anchor. The anchor cable as it is properly called, (whether of rope, steel wire, chain, it is the anchor cable) is not wound around either the capstan or the windlass, but runs alongside the endless rope that is wound between the two big round thingy's.
This, is the origins of the term Nipper for a young lad. When a ship had to set sail, the ships boatswain, (pronounced bos'n), would bring a group of dockside urchins on board to work in the lower forecastle, pronounced Foeks'l, using a small length of rope, flicked over the anchor cable and windlass ropes, with a full round turn, then the ends pulled tight, these boys would nip the 2 ropes together, trot up alongside the setup for a few feet, then un-nip and run back to the beginning of the line, nip and run. Nippers.

The word "nickers" is also from the days of sail and "press-ganging".
If a man had done his "duty" for the King, this was signified by a nick to the ear. Not unlike marking herd animals really. If word got around the "National Service Recruiters" (my terminology) were doing the rounds. Somebody would start "nicking" the ears of people to order. They were the original "nickers", not the unmentional ladies garments we think of today.

Greg, simple warps are just single ropes. Any vessel has only one rope, by name, the Bell rope, all others are lines, halyards, hausers, warps, but they are made of rope.
Simple warps, 1 forward to a bhouy, we pronounce it "boy", the other out aft to a similar "ground tackle". If he had any sense the warps should have been passed through the "mooring ring eye" on the mooring bhouy, then brought back onboard to be secured to the ships mooring bits. (the ships equivalent to a wharfe bollard) No need to send a boat away to unfasten at the bhouy, for fast, and quiet get away, loose off from the bits, and haul the line back in, whilst getting sail up. Jobs done.

No shreiking of the fiddle? Or squeazebox, good.
Sea shanties were a way to set the work pace, for a real bitch, drudge job like, oh, let's say weighing anchor. You worked to the tempo of the song, stamping the feet in time to the music as you march round and round and round and round and

.

A tar is a sailor, a sailor with a hangover? Not a jolly tar.

Heart of Oak? One of the ships I served on, named HMAS Stalwart, her motto? Heart of Oak. Stout, steadfast and true.

However, in this case, these are old Royal Navy sea shanties. Work songs. The slaves learned drudge singing from the sailors. The songs of the cotton and tobacco slaves began as copied sea shanties, I believe.
With a healthy does of Baptism beaten into the mix of course.

The rest is no more than any yachtsman does.
At sea, "stores" are parts, bits and pieces, stove fuels etc. Victualling is food.

Wooded, watered and well found. No expense spared to make her as safe and sound as any ship of man can be. Hark back to coppered bottoms and "well found ships". And of course, a ship is independant at sea. We are one.

The author seems to like throwing in the pub talk, that was used for the benefit of the lubbers.

It also seems like our man Jack, was a student of dear old Admiral Benbow.

Harbours, rot ships and men, get my ships to sea now.

He also said, give me the boy until he is 7, and I will return to you the man.

To do with instilling virtues into the child, whilst they are more willing to listen and learn. Very astute man, the old Admiral.

Greg · 10-03-2007, 01:45 AM

Wow! Thanks, Shorty! Now it all makes sense!

This book is lots of fun with the colorful language but lots more fun now that I know what Captain Jack is going on about!

He had a special reason for wanting to sneak way quietly from Mahón harbor. He had been in his cups the evening before and had made some unsavory comments in the presence of the admiral's wife and daughter--nothing rude, just commenting on what his men had been doing during their leave with very colorful language--all the while with his eyes scanning the daughter's cleavage lest any nefarious French frigates happen to suddenly sail forth from between the hills.

He figured it would take a while for the admiral to send a boat to haul him off to a court martial so with the first hint of dawn the Sophie was out of there!

shorty943 · 10-03-2007, 08:15 AM

Uhuh,

odd that.

Ah, the Admirals daughter. Memories, sweet,,, oops.

Actually, it was the Admirals front lawn, some rose bushes, a drunken sailor, etc, etc.

Trouble? It was invented for me to fool around with.

This tale is sounding similar to Tom Cringles Log. And My Master Mariner, and a bunch of others.
Holler for help if you get stuck. We'll sort her, and rig her Admiralty Pattern.

Greg · 10-05-2007, 01:19 AM

I suspect that if you've read lots of sea stories then the Master and Commander series would sound very familiar. There's lots of detail about handling the ships... erm... vessels... that would probably tend to get repetitious. On the other hand, I've never an authentic sea story before so this is lots of fun!

Rose bushes???

shorty943 · 10-06-2007, 05:26 AM

Yeah, rose bushes, on the Admirals front lawn, in Pearl City, Hawaii.

Suffering from Gyroscopic instability, and geographic embarressment,

(I was drunk and lost) I curled up for a restful nap.

Awoke to the startled remarks of a nice lady the next morning, apologized, explained the situation, and asked for directions to Pearl Harbour.
Instead, I got breakfast with the Admiral, and a ride to work in the USN Staff car. Nice folks they were.
My Admiral was not so, amicable. Did not see as much humour in it, as the US Admiral.
You see, I was a lowly, able-seaman,"fraternising", with Flag Officers?
Not by QR and AI. That is, fraternisation is forbidden under,
"Queen's Regulations and Admiralty Instructions for the maintenance of good order and discipline aboard Her Majesties Ships and Establishments".
And if you think the title weighs a bit, just wait till the "Joss" ( Navy slang for the Master at Arms, the captains policeman) throws his book at you.

In trouble again, only ever the depth that varied.

Now for the local news. For the gearheads mainly.

This weekend the "Great Race" is run. The annual Bathurst 1,000 kilometre endurance race for Supercar V8's. Today (saturday) is practice and qualifying. Tomorrow the race starts at about 1030 AEST. Broadcast by the Seven Network Australia, from 0630 AEST, out to the world via affiliated internationals.

Try www.yahoo7.com.au or here http://au.sports.yahoo.com/v8-supercars/ if interested, or try here http://www.v8supercar.com.au/ that is the home site for the series.
If you follow Nascar, Marcus Ambrose is our boy. He moved over to the states after holding the V8 title here for a couple of years and wanted to extend himself.

Greg · 10-06-2007, 03:36 PM

Fascinating! The story of the Admiral's Rose Bush highlights a very distinct difference in British and American culture and perhaps even the real roots of the American Revolution and the drive to move westward from the eastern seaboard. A significant majority of folks over here in the colonies have little truck with aristocracy. Military rank is a job, and only to much weaker degree is it a social position.

The US military has no-fraternization rules as well, of course, but they apply more to romantic situations than being courteous and neighborly and even then the rules generally come into play only if it happens in the chain of command or involves harrassment. I'm sure some US admirals would have pointed the direction and told you to take a hike, but most of the flag officers I've met personally would think it abhorently discourteous not to offer a ride to an able seaman in that situation. The thought that he might be undermining discipline in Her Majesty's Navy probably never crossed his mind.

I'm tempted to speculate that the US take on these things is more effective, based on the track record of the US water company. There have been many battles where an American fleet commander took advantage of a foe's rigid chain of command to win the day even in the face of unfavorable odds (including squabbles with the British navy but notably against the Japanese in WWII). The same goes for ground and air operations. But since WWII, I suspect that the success of the American military owes a great deal to the quality of weapons and training.

On the third hand, today's weapons are increasingly making each individual soldier more and more an independent operator who has to be trained to think and act independently. Even more so for aircraft pilots. Each soldier has to be able to replan the battle and invent new tactics in real time, which drives toward a more level social stata. Flag officers pass along policy and plan strategy, but the less they meddle at the tactical level, the more successful the operation will be.

Wild thought: Imagine a platoon of fully equipped US infantry against all of the Roman legions that existed at the time of Julius Caesar. The legions would line up to march, the Americans would take out their officers, and with no one to tell the legions to keep marching, that would be the end of it!

Miros1 · 10-06-2007, 10:17 PM

Nah, wait 'til they've started marching... then take out the officers so no one can tell them to stop!

shorty943 · 10-07-2007, 01:14 PM

Well, the Admiral was "Dartmouth". RN, not RAN, not one of our boys.

But, to go back to the fraternisation thing, it is all about familiarity and breeding contempt etc. All old school old style, and to a certain extent it is actually vital for good running of certain kinds of ventures. And it applies across the board. Some just take it to the letter of the law, others in the spirit of the law, and others still prefer to be seen to be obeying the law, and don't mind "bending" it where and when needed. (Like the fighter pilots, who treated me as a sort of little brother, I was a student aerobatic pilot in my time off, the top guns looked at me as one of them, and the other officers who fauned all over the top guns, looked daggers at the "lower deckman" who dared speak to a semi-god like an almost equal.

(Insert indignant harumph here sir, if you please, sir)

I think the same mind set is found every where. You always find it more on the big ships, where there are so many officers, and the politics involved in their seniorities. On small ships, the captain is usually called boss or skipper.

On the "lower deck" we don't care, our job is simply to do, or die.
But, in your own time that man there, and fill out the request form, in triplicate, for my perusal, approval or refusal,,,, hmm,,,, how does tomorrow sound.
Right?, get it?, got it?, good!!

One of the reasons they (the Joss and his henchmen) really hated me was, I actually was, to an extent, untouchable. A ship of 1,500 men crewing, and only 2 with my qualifications.
They could not operate without a full deck fire and rescue crew, so they could not "clap me in irons".

Come pay day, I set off ashore, and spent a little on wine, a little on song, and a little on woman.
The rest I just seemed to waste foolishly.

I was late aboard port after port, in mischief time after time.

Never destructive or wanton vandalism or anything like that, just "youthful high spirits". Lots of, and I mean, lots and lots of youthful high spirits.

I'm just a country boy, don't mean no harm, just havin' some fun.

Greg · 10-07-2007, 06:52 PM

Well, so much for my theory that it's a cultural difference.

Yup, there are a lot of people who believe that leaders need to be authoritarian and aloof, or people won't follow them. That might even work for some folks, but within my experience, those folks are only theoretical; I've never met them. I've found that people follow leaders they know and trust; and people do not trust those who do not treat them with respect.

Hey, when it comes down to country boys looking for fun, what really matters is whether a fighting ship is ready and able to fight. If so, then no harm, no foul.

shorty943 · 10-08-2007, 12:24 PM

Come crunch time.

Never been late, never had a failure.

We have the same responsibilities with our respective work. Human life.
Work is serious. Life and death serious.

Now play time, that's different, that is even more serious.
If it goes pear-shaped while I'm playing, I might get hurt.

Greg · 11-22-2007, 12:00 AM

Today I found a totally boffo fan site from a Patrick O'Brian fan:

The Ships of Jack Aubrey

Greg · 11-22-2007, 12:20 AM

And another pearl of great price: HMS Rose!

HMS Rose played HMS Surprise in the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

According to the Ships of Jack Aubrey, HMS Rose was built exactly after the real-world HMS Surprise, which is the ship that Jack O'Brian based Jack Aubrey's ship on.

So what's next? HMS Miros?

Miros1 · 11-22-2007, 03:05 AM

That would be freaky beyond belief.

"Miros" is the name that popped into my head while creating a new Dragon Realms character. The name I originally wanted was Cassandra, but every variant I could think of was taken...

shorty943 · 11-22-2007, 01:16 PM

Interesting site, love those ships lines drawings.

Can make scale replica from them. In fact, that is exactly how apprentice shipwright's are still taught today. They build exact scale models, nails and all.

That photo of The Rose, before the Iceberg, is magnificent.
Ain't she a beautiful golden girl.

Greg · 11-24-2007, 12:27 AM

I never thought to ask where "Miros" came from. When I first saw it, I just thought it was Rose Sim pronounced backwards. Was I close?

Yeah, that's one purdy ship all right. I think those drawings would be neater if they showed the masts and the rigging, but I s'pose a shipwright would be expected to know that part of it.

Miros1 · 11-24-2007, 03:37 AM

Lol, nope, nowhere near! You're actually the second person to think it was some sort of anagram of Rose -- the people in our Dark Age of Camelot guild got very confused because my real name is Rose, my character name is Dirianna Mirosdotter, and my account on the guild bulletin board was Miros! So naturally, they asked the hubby... I've unconfuzzled them a bit by changing my account name to Dirianna also.

Back story: Miros was a maniac dwarven empathic healer/fluffball who spread rumors that Empaths (the name of the class) had to have a minimum amount of fluff (useless stuff that's just cool to carry around with you) before you could be promoted in the guild for the class. You also had to have more wounds than fluff. I did have the coolest fluff... I even had a really cool sword (which was partially fluff because Empaths were forbidden to attack, just parry to defend) which my ingame hubby got for me.

09-28-2007, 05:47 PM	#42
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	But Mr. T is harder to move! __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

09-29-2007, 10:20 PM	#43
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Aaaarggghhh!! From page 213: He's sailing toward the rising sun out of Mahon. Maps really help in figuring out what's happening in this book! Fortunately she was moored with simple warps fore and aft, so there would be no slow weighing of anchors, no *stamp and go at the capstan, no acid shrieking of the fiddle; in any case, the comparatively sober members of the crew were too jaded for anything but a sour, mute, expeditious casting-off -- no jolly tars, no hearts of oak, no Brittons* never, never, in this grey stench of a crapulous dawn. Fortunately, too, he had seen to the repairs, stores and vitualling (apart from that cursed *last voyage of water) before he or anyone else had set foot on the shore; and rarely had he appreciated the reward of virtue more than when the Sophie's jib filled and her head came round, pointing easteward to the sea, a wooded, watered, well-found* vessel beginning her journey back to indepedence. I understand that Captain Jack Aubrey wanted to get away from the harbor at Mahón quietly, but what in the name of blue blazes is he *talking* about? Minorca We are here. __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

10-03-2007, 01:45 AM	#46
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Wow! Thanks, Shorty! Now it all makes sense! This book is lots of fun with the colorful language but lots more fun now that I know what Captain Jack is going on about! He had a special reason for wanting to sneak way quietly from Mahón harbor. He had been in his cups the evening before and had made some unsavory comments in the presence of the admiral's wife and daughter--nothing rude, just commenting on what his men had been doing during their leave with very colorful language--all the while with his eyes scanning the daughter's cleavage lest any nefarious French frigates happen to suddenly sail forth from between the hills. He figured it would take a while for the admiral to send a boat to haul him off to a court martial so with the first hint of dawn the Sophie was out of there! __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

10-05-2007, 01:19 AM	#48
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	I suspect that if you've read lots of sea stories then the Master and Commander series would sound very familiar. There's lots of detail about handling the ships... erm... vessels... that would probably tend to get repetitious. On the other hand, I've never an authentic sea story before so this is lots of fun! *Rose bushes???* __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

10-06-2007, 05:26 AM	#49
shorty943 Banned Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 805	Yeah, rose bushes, on the Admirals front lawn, in Pearl City, Hawaii. Suffering from Gyroscopic instability, and geographic embarressment, (I was drunk and lost) I curled up for a restful nap. Awoke to the startled remarks of a nice lady the next morning, apologized, explained the situation, and asked for directions to Pearl Harbour. Instead, I got breakfast with the Admiral, and a ride to work in the USN Staff car. Nice folks they were. My Admiral was not so, amicable. Did not see as much humour in it, as the US Admiral. You see, I was a lowly, able-seaman,"fraternising", with Flag Officers? Not by QR and AI. That is, fraternisation is forbidden under, "Queen's Regulations and Admiralty Instructions for the maintenance of good order and discipline aboard Her Majesties Ships and Establishments". And if you think the title weighs a bit, just wait till the "Joss" ( Navy slang for the Master at Arms, the captains policeman) throws his book at you. In trouble again, only ever the depth that varied. Now for the local news. For the gearheads mainly. This weekend the "Great Race" is run. The annual Bathurst 1,000 kilometre endurance race for Supercar V8's. Today (saturday) is practice and qualifying. Tomorrow the race starts at about 1030 AEST. Broadcast by the Seven Network Australia, from 0630 AEST, out to the world via affiliated internationals. Try www.yahoo7.com.au or here http://au.sports.yahoo.com/v8-supercars/ if interested, or try here http://www.v8supercar.com.au/ that is the home site for the series. If you follow Nascar, Marcus Ambrose is our boy. He moved over to the states after holding the V8 title here for a couple of years and wanted to extend himself. Last edited by shorty943 : 10-06-2007 at 05:57 AM.

09-30-2007, 01:48 PM	#44
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	The capstan is the big round horizontal thingie that pulls the anchor up and the sailors usually sing while walking around it pushing on the bars to make it turn, so I assume that's the "stamp and go." I think I vaguely remember something about the water being the last thing loaded, to try to keep it fresher, so that would be the "last voyage of water."

10-03-2007, 08:15 AM	#47
shorty943 Banned Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 805	Uhuh, odd that. Ah, the Admirals daughter. Memories, sweet,,, oops. Actually, it was the Admirals front lawn, some rose bushes, a drunken sailor, etc, etc. Trouble? It was invented for me to fool around with. This tale is sounding similar to Tom Cringles Log. And My Master Mariner, and a bunch of others. Holler for help if you get stuck. We'll sort her, and rig her Admiralty Pattern.

10-06-2007, 03:36 PM	#50
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Fascinating! The story of the Admiral's Rose Bush highlights a very distinct difference in British and American culture and perhaps even the real roots of the American Revolution and the drive to move westward from the eastern seaboard. A significant majority of folks over here in the colonies have little truck with aristocracy. Military rank is a job, and only to much weaker degree is it a social position. The US military has no-fraternization rules as well, of course, but they apply more to romantic situations than being courteous and neighborly and even then the rules generally come into play only if it happens in the chain of command or involves harrassment. I'm sure some US admirals would have pointed the direction and told you to take a hike, but most of the flag officers I've met personally would think it abhorently discourteous not to offer a ride to an able seaman in that situation. The thought that he might be undermining discipline in Her Majesty's Navy probably never crossed his mind. I'm tempted to speculate that the US take on these things is more effective, based on the track record of the US water company. There have been many battles where an American fleet commander took advantage of a foe's rigid chain of command to win the day even in the face of unfavorable odds (including squabbles with the British navy but notably against the Japanese in WWII). The same goes for ground and air operations. But since WWII, I suspect that the success of the American military owes a great deal to the quality of weapons and training. On the third hand, today's weapons are increasingly making each individual soldier more and more an independent operator who has to be trained to think and act independently. Even more so for aircraft pilots. Each soldier has to be able to replan the battle and invent new tactics in real time, which drives toward a more level social stata. Flag officers pass along policy and plan strategy, but the less they meddle at the tactical level, the more successful the operation will be. Wild thought: Imagine a platoon of fully equipped US infantry against all of the Roman legions that existed at the time of Julius Caesar. The legions would line up to march, the Americans would take out their officers, and with no one to tell the legions to keep marching, that would be the end of it! __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

10-06-2007, 10:17 PM	#51
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	Nah, wait 'til they've started marching... then take out the officers so no one can tell them to stop!

10-07-2007, 01:14 PM	#52
shorty943 Banned Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 805	Well, the Admiral was "Dartmouth". RN, not RAN, not one of our boys. But, to go back to the fraternisation thing, it is all about familiarity and breeding contempt etc. All old school old style, and to a certain extent it is actually vital for good running of certain kinds of ventures. And it applies across the board. Some just take it to the letter of the law, others in the spirit of the law, and others still prefer to be seen to be obeying the law, and don't mind "bending" it where and when needed. (Like the fighter pilots, who treated me as a sort of little brother, I was a student aerobatic pilot in my time off, the top guns looked at me as one of them, and the other officers who fauned all over the top guns, looked daggers at the "lower deckman" who dared speak to a semi-god like an *almost equal*. (Insert indignant harumph here sir, if you please, sir) I think the same mind set is found every where. You always find it more on the big ships, where there are so many officers, and the politics involved in their seniorities. On small ships, the captain is usually called boss or skipper. On the "lower deck" we don't care, our job is simply to do, or die. But, in your own time that man there, and fill out the request form, in triplicate, for my perusal, approval or refusal,,,, hmm,,,, how does tomorrow sound. Right?, get it?, got it?, good!! One of the reasons they (the Joss and his henchmen) really hated me was, I actually was, to an extent, untouchable. A ship of 1,500 men crewing, and only 2 with my qualifications. They could not operate without a full deck fire and rescue crew, so they could not "clap me in irons". Come pay day, I set off ashore, and spent a little on wine, a little on song, and a little on woman. The rest I just seemed to waste foolishly. I was late aboard port after port, in mischief time after time. Never destructive or wanton vandalism or anything like that, just "youthful high spirits". Lots of, and I mean, lots and lots of youthful high spirits. I'm just a country boy, don't mean no harm, just havin' some fun.

10-07-2007, 06:52 PM	#53
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Well, so much for my theory that it's a cultural difference. Yup, there are a lot of people who believe that leaders need to be authoritarian and aloof, or people won't follow them. That might even work for some folks, but within my experience, those folks are only theoretical; I've never met them. I've found that people follow leaders they know and trust; and people do not trust those who do not treat them with respect. Hey, when it comes down to country boys looking for fun, what really matters is whether a fighting ship is ready and able to fight. If so, then no harm, no foul. __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

10-08-2007, 12:24 PM	#54
shorty943 Banned Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 805	Come crunch time. Never been late, never had a failure. We have the same responsibilities with our respective work. Human life. Work is serious. Life and death serious. Now play time, that's different, that is even more serious. If it goes pear-shaped while I'm playing, I might get hurt.

11-22-2007, 12:00 AM	#55
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Today I found a totally boffo fan site from a Patrick O'Brian fan: The Ships of Jack Aubrey __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

11-22-2007, 12:20 AM	#56
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	And another pearl of great price: HMS Rose! HMS Rose played HMS Surprise in the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World According to the Ships of Jack Aubrey, HMS Rose was built exactly after the real-world HMS Surprise, which is the ship that Jack O'Brian based Jack Aubrey's ship on. So what's next? HMS Miros? __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

11-22-2007, 03:05 AM	#57
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	That would be freaky beyond belief. "Miros" is the name that popped into my head while creating a new Dragon Realms character. The name I originally wanted was Cassandra, but every variant I could think of was taken...

11-22-2007, 01:16 PM	#58
shorty943 Banned Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 805	Interesting site, love those ships lines drawings. Can make scale replica from them. In fact, that is exactly how apprentice shipwright's are still taught today. They build exact scale models, nails and all. That photo of The Rose, before the Iceberg, is magnificent. Ain't she a beautiful golden girl.

11-24-2007, 12:27 AM	#59
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	I never thought to ask where "Miros" came from. When I first saw it, I just thought it was Rose Sim pronounced backwards. Was I close? Yeah, that's one purdy ship all right. I think those drawings would be neater if they showed the masts and the rigging, but I s'pose a shipwright would be expected to know that part of it. __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

11-24-2007, 03:37 AM	#60
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	Lol, nope, nowhere near! You're actually the second person to think it was some sort of anagram of Rose -- the people in our Dark Age of Camelot guild got very confused because my real name is Rose, my character name is Dirianna Mirosdotter, and my account on the guild bulletin board was Miros! So naturally, they asked the hubby... I've unconfuzzled them a bit by changing my account name to Dirianna also. Back story: Miros was a maniac dwarven empathic healer/fluffball who spread rumors that Empaths (the name of the class) had to have a minimum amount of fluff (useless stuff that's just cool to carry around with you) before you could be promoted in the guild for the class. You also had to have more wounds than fluff. I did have the coolest fluff... I even had a really cool sword (which was partially fluff because Empaths were forbidden to attack, just parry to defend) which my ingame hubby got for me.