[mary celeste] just the facts, ma’am

Part 1 below concerns events up to, including and after the event and considerable effort has been made to expunge all descriptive adjectives and speculative comments from the record of events.

Part 2 though, is highly speculative and lists theories, official and no, of what could have occurred. I have to admit that after two years of reading now, I’m as baffled as when I started. Based on the evidence below and on any other evidence you may yourself know of, what’s your theory?

The 101-foot, 282 ton brigantine Mary Celeste, was built in 1860, the maiden venture of a consortium of pioneer shipbuilders at the shipyards of Joshua Dewis on Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia. She was originally christened Amazon and was launched in 1861, the year that saw the start of the American Civil War.

Her first skipper, a Scot named Robert McLellan, fell ill and died. Then John Nutting Parker assumed command and skippered the Amazon's maiden voyage, but she ran into a fishing weir off Maine, received a large gash in her hull and had to go to the shipyards for repair. While she was there a fire broke out amidships, bringing Captain Parker's command to an end.

Amazon's first Atlantic crossing went without mishap until she entered the Straits of Dover and collided with a brig. The brig sank, Amazon again went for repairs, and her third skipper went to seek another command.

Following the necessary repairs and the appointment of a new captain, Amazon returned to America, and she ran aground off Cow Bay, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

She was pulled off the rocks and repaired, but appears to have passed from one owner to another, several of whom seem to have gone bankrupt and none of whom derived any good from their contact with the ship. She eventually passed into the hands of J.H. Winchester and Co., a consortium of New York shipowners.

By this time the Amazon had been enlarged, flew the Stars and Stripes, was named Mary Celeste. According to testimony, just prior to this trip, she had been purchased at a salvage auction in New York for $2,600 and rebuilt for $14,000. Her rebuilt condition was confirmed by the crew of the Dei Gratia later when they said, "Her hull appeared to be nearly new."

The latest captain of Mary Celeste was a stern, puritan New Englander named Benjamin Spooner Briggs. He was born at Wareham, Massachusetts, on 24th April 1835, the second of five sons born to Captain Nathan Briggs and his wife Sophia.

Continued here …

[sailing record] 14 year old crosses atlantic

A 14-year-old British schoolboy today became the youngest person to sail the Atlantic single-handed, arriving in the Caribbean after setting off from Gibraltar just over six weeks ago. Michael Perham, from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, sailed into Nelson's Dockyard on the Caribbean island of Antigua at 10am (2pm UK time), and was escorted into dock by a flotilla of boats.

Now, as a fellow sailor [still count myself current], this is more than astounding. I began sailing about 8 but only sailed single-handed at 12. By 14 I’d graduated to bigger boats but this was all bay sailing. I didn’t try a trek until I was 23. But to get a 28 foot keeler across the Atlantic – this is more astounding than I can say and quite frankly, it’s hard to believe he didn’t have total backup e.g. some other boats alongside or near him.

Having said that, John Prescott is right in that it’s an extension of the British Maritime Tradition and there are some august personages on that list. Amazingly well done to the lad!

[sensitivity] of testimonials and insults

The Golden Greek made the point: I'd actually been toying with the idea of dropping the testimonials from my sidebar at some point - feeling that they shout "me me me" a bit too loudly.

I would suggest that this is a retrograde step. Of course, when a blogger emblazons eulogies in his header, they do have a habit of convincing people, that's undoubtedly true. Maybe I should write: 'James Higham knows Voodoo economics' or 'Make him a Life Peer - fast'. Then I'll make up some name for the ones who said them, e.g. Hugh Jensen [Houston Times] or Nitwan Purlwan [Lhasa Chronicle] and no one's ever going to bother to check.

No, the solution seems to be this: perhaps if a blogger were to run a special page, linked from the sidebar, in which all testimonials and negative comments were listed together, maybe in chronological order, as and when they come up and with brutal honesty, this would give people a better view of us. For example, Cityunslicker said : "ill-informed" amongst the positives and that's good - it's more convincing.

Which brings me to what would insult us and what wouldn't. People have generally found that it's hard to insult me - 'balding git' does nothing, 'opinionated bore' is a compliment and I thrive on 'curmudgeon'. I was called a 'bastard' and immediately thanked the girl and looked on her more kindly after that. It's not everyday one is complimented in the heat of battle.

Perhaps if it's something we really value and have worked for and it's dismissed, that would hurt. Stand by for a moment whilst I try it. 'Woeful traffic.' Nope. 'No one's interested in your crappy little blog' [from Australia]. That's getting warmer. 'Tosser.' Nope, getting cold again.

Wonder how you'd feel insulted.

[anna and liz] vital questions in the wee hours

Thought this was cute until I saw at what time they were posting:

Anna said...

When is twelfth night? And why is there an 'f' in twelfth? 2:30 AM

Liz said...

January 6th. Because there's a V in twelve. 4:45 AM

Anna said...

I know there's a V in twelve, but that still doesn't make sense. January 6th - Saturday? Yuck. I hate taking down the decorations. Is Harvey using his ramp yet? 5:15 AM

Now I’d like to meet these two girls.

[soft on crime] only 1% lead to conviction

Central News reports that: Just one crime in every hundred now leads to the offender being caught, charged and punished by the courts, latest statistics reveal. The Home Office's own figures showed crime on the rise last year and more criminals being caught by police, yet the numbers being sent before the court dropped sharply by eight per cent year-on-year. Opposition critics blamed the dramatic rise in the use of "summary justice" - instant fines or cautions and warnings handed out by the police.

I have the solution, people.

[rousseau] a gracchus on the not so noble savage

Tiberius Gracchus says, about Rousseau:

He believed that man was a solitary animal to start with and then came together to form societies. Like Hobbes or Locke he believed in a state of nature.

Or that man was ‘good’ in a ‘state of nature’.

His argument was that in a state of nature, man had no self-consciousness, that civilisation and society were the products of the development of a self consciousness as a human being amongst other human beings and that that self-consciousness was inherently competitive.

And at the same time becoming increasingly dependent on them, moving from amour de soi [satisfaction with self] to amour propre [pride].

No problem up till here but then this Social Contract business gets in the way. If citizens are to rule directly and individuals must obey the ‘general will’, then who actually defines this ‘general will’? It’s a mare’s nest.

I have other objections too. Rousseau presupposes the capacity of all men to reason in order to participate in this process. But all men are not equal. There are women, babies, criminals, youths, the ignorant, the wise and the learned and by definition, certain types will rise and others mark time or fall.

He presupposes ‘goodwill’, stemming from ‘good nature’ and whilst he may be right to a point [Adam and Eve started in a state of nature], there is the other side to man. The humanist would say the dualistic nature of man and the Christian would say an external force for good and an external force for evil. Much is explained by the latter model.

This is why I accept Rousseau’s premise of ‘good nature’. It is the serpent who perverts it but it’s also society, as Rousseau said. To resolve this dilemma, there was already in existence the Olivet Discourse and Sermon on the Mount which provide excellent models to strive for in society, without any ‘forcing’ to the general will, so beloved of the left. They have yet to be surpassed.

Tiberius’ other point that ‘one gets the feeling that Rousseau's intellectual preoccupation was the explanation of Rousseau to Rousseau’ is also right on the money.

[china] the scope of the threat [part 4]

In Parts 1, 2 and 3, the article basically looked at the Chinese mindset, their ability to uncritically obey, the hierarchical nature of their society, their fear of the US [for now] and their strategic moves.

All of which is over simplistic about a society of that size and complexity and still proves nothing. Any country is going to do these things for itself. Any country has an overdeveloped ego. Just look at the dangerous mindset with which France approached World War I – with the concept of élan which supposedly every Frenchman possesses which would allow him to prevail against two Germans.

So with the British. So with the Chinese. There’s been no major movement by land from China since Genghis Khan and for sure, if they’d wanted to and could keep Iran at bay or in alliance, not a lot could stop them sweeping through Kashmir – but to where? Why would they wish to anyway?

Why not take them at their word that they’re simply developing the west of their country economically, for GDP reasons? Why not look at their military manoeuvres as just that?

That’s how I felt until I spread my 5 foot by 3 foot German map of the world, appropriately entitled Der Welt and plotted the course of the silk road in detail. Now I’m not so sure. Plus I read a strange little book.

More here …

[iain dale] congratulations on your mindboggling stats

Iain Dale has announced that his December traffic was marginally down on November and October at 130,872 unique visitors and 228,952 page downloads. I did a quick calculation and my uniques were roughly 43 times less than his. Should I therefore:

1] Slit my wrists forthwith and give up the ghost;

2] Warmly congratulate Iain and hope he'll link to me just the once, for goodness sake so that I can double my traffic that day?

3] Feel quietly proud of being a member of Blogpower, of my traffic being three times what it was in October, of the twenty or thirty e-mails to friends each day, of being better regarded now by those excellent bloggers who were initially a little cool and of the new blog friendships which have been forged;

4] Throw up the hands and seriously consider my position as a blogger, as Clive Davis is now doing?

I think one should be gracious about these things. Iain worked to get where he is, he co-started Doughty, he brought out those lists, he's done much. And he's visible. I'm not and cannot be. Plus his blog is entertaining and always fresh. That's why he gets his Malkin like statistics. Plus I like his jaunty cheekiness and indefatigability. Now, where's that carving knife?

[blogpower] still alive - see you soon

One or two of the Blogpowerers might be wondering where I've got to. Actually, I've been roaming around the L-Z and Fine Blog section of my blogroll and am wending my way slowly up the list. I'll inflict myself on you soon, no doubt.

[blogfocus tuesday] simple, homespun prose [part 2]

To complete the simple, homespun theme this evening, we’ll look at 14 bloggers [plus one Mystery Blogger] in three different categories.

The ‘rustic’ category

1] Have you ever sat in a garden shed, having first moved the tools out of the way and reflected on life? This man has:

Every so often we should all take some time to review the larger questions in life - death certainly is high on the list and we should occasionally take the time to think it over. Not to live in fear, but to live as we always intended to with purpose and confidence. Mine's going a bit better now I've just dealt with life's other certainty - filling in my annual UK tax return !

2] This man was not exactly sitting in a garden shed but he was still fairly rustic about it all, just the same:

A view of a nicely manicured garden including olive trees near Grasse. If you look at the hill behind you see many, many more olive trees in gardens too. Once upon a time all these were "working" olive trees, but these days I would guess very few of them are actually harvested. I suspect that the ones in the foreground, which is the garden of large old chateau/villa, have always been partly there for display but I am sure that once upon a time they were used for oil as well.

3] Whilst this man moved his entire house. Well actually, he moved to another house, to be precise. Whether it has a garden shed or not is not stated:

When you move house, naturally, you then need to get the telecoms in the new place sorted out. Portugal Telecom has a system whereby you can transfer your old account to the new place. Excellent. However, there has been a slight hitch as ADSL at the desired speed is not available [we're that little bit too rural]. So, instead of telling us this the order was simply cancelled. So, today, off to the Telecom shop to get it all reinstated.

Eleven more bloggers plus one Mystery Blogger here.