P.S. I DIE TOMORROW
Frederick the Great was known for the strict discipline in his army. When his army was on the march, he ordered that all fires and lights be extinguished by a certain hour. One night he was walking through his camp after the curfew and saw a light in a tent. He walked into the tent and saw one of his officers writing a letter by candlelight. When asked what he was doing, the officer begged forgiveness and explained he was writing a letter to his wife. Frederick looked him in the eye and said: “Add this to the end of your letter. ‘Tomorrow I will be executed for disobeying orders.’” And he was.
– maroon 18
MOZART BY A NOSE
Mozart once bet fellow composer Haydn that he could not play a composition that Mozart had written that day. Haydn accepted the bet and sat down at the piano with the music in front of him. He started out well, but then reached a part of the composition which was impossible to play because it required each hand to be on opposite ends of the keyboard and at the same time a note be struck in the middle. Giving up, Haydn turned the piano over to Mozart, who proceeded to play the note with his nose and won the bet. (This story may be apochryphal, but it sounds like something Mozart would have done.)
– maroon 22
THE OPIUM DREAM POEM
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a poet and an opium addict. One day in 1797, he went to sleep under the influence, after having read about Kublai Khan’s palace at Zanadu. When he awoke, he began to feverishly copy down a poem he had dreamed. It began with the famous line: “In Xanadu did Cublai Can build a stately Pallace…” When he reached the fifty-fourth line (one sixth of the way through the planned poem), his writing was interrupted by the infamous “person on business from Porlock” and by the time he got back to work, he had forgotten the rest of his most famous poem. So, next time you have trouble remembering a dream, it is not that big of a deal.
– maroon 23
PENNILESS IN A WHORE HOUSE
King George II of England liked to go out at night in disguise to sample the ladies of the realm. One night, in disguise, he visited a house of prostitution. During his visit his pocket was picked and when it came time to pay his bill he was in a bind. He promised he was good for it and would return tomorrow to pay, but the madam was not falling for that. She called for her bouncer, meanwhile the girls were laughing at this poor fellow who was too poor to pay for their services. With the brutish bouncer looming over him, the King took off a ring and offered it as payment. The madam sneered at what must be fake jewelry. The king demanded a jeweler be summoned to confirm the value of the ring and finally convinced the bouncer to take the ring to a local jeweler. The jeweler was awakened and was wide awake when he looked at the ring. It was clearly of tremendous value. The jeweler insisted on meeting the owner of the ring and when he was taken to the king he recognized him and fell to his knees. The madam and the ladies were stunned by this turn of events, but soon were begging forgiveness of their monarch. The king took it with humor and asked if he might get a bottle of wine also with the ring.
– maroon 41
JOSEPHINE’S DOG
On their wedding night, Napoleon and Josephine retired to her bedroom only to find Josephine’s dog in his usual place in the middle of the bed. When Napoleon approached the bed, the dog growled and Josephine explained that the dog was very possessive. They should try not to disturb the little dog. They took one side of the bed and began kissing when Napoleon let out a scream of pain. The dog had bitten him in the leg. The rest of their honeymoon was spent with Josephine putting cold compresses on the bite and Napoleon moaning about the possibility of rabies.
– maroon 43
TAINTED CONVICTS
Frederick the Great once visited a prison. At each cell, the inmate invariably proclaimed their innocence. Finally, he reached a cell where the convict remained quietly seated on his bed. Frederick looked in and said: “And what crime are you innocent of?” Convict: “I am guilty and deserve to be here.” Frederick turned to the guards and said: “Release this man, we can’t have a guilty man tainting all these innocent fellows in here.”
– Hume 34
NAPOLEON VERSUS THE RABBITS
In 1807, after signing the Treaties of Tilsit which ended a war between France and Russia, Napoleon proposed a celebratory rabbit hunt. He put his chief of staff Alexandre Berthier in charge. Berthier found a rabbit farmer in the area who sold him hundreds of rabbits. The rabbit cages were spread out in a field and when Napoleon and his generals came into the field, the rabbits were released. But instead of scattering in all directions, most of them charged towards Napoleon. His men tried to shoo the rabbits away, but soon Napoleon was in danger of being mobbed by the bunnies. He retreated to his carriage and raced away, tossing rabbits out the window as he went. It turns out that the Emperor looked like the farmer and the rabbits expected Napoleon to have their food.
SON OF A GUN
For those unfamiliar with this classic slang term, it means a man who is a bit of as scamp or rascal. In some cases, it acted as a more acceptable version of “son of a b****”. The most accepted explanation for the origin of the phrase comes from the Royal Navy. Although it was against the rules, women were fairly common on warships during the age of sailing ships. When a ship was in harbor, the officers usually looked the other way when prostitutes came aboard to provide entertainment. Below decks could be pretty risqué. Some of the trysts took place on the gun deck where the cannons provided some amount of privacy. When the ships went to sea, some of the women might remain aboard. No longer as prostitutes, but more likely as “wives” of some of the seamen. Naturally, on these long voyages, pregnancies ensued. Some of the labor may have been in locations similar to where the conception occurred. Regardless of where the baby was born, a new member of the crew would be recorded on the ship’s roll as a “son of a gun”. Originally, the term was used for any son of a military man, but soon it became more of an insult.
https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/son-of-a-gun-origins?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2
ROYAL NAVY TERMS
Several phrases we use today originated in the Royal Navy in the days of wooden warships.
“chock-a-block” – this refers to the blocks used on pulleys to raise cargo onto the ship. When the two blocks got next to each other, the pulley would jam and could not be moved. The phrase became associated with a packed room where you can’t move.
“letting the cat out of the bag” – although the ships carried cats on board to handle the rats, it is not a cat that the phrase refers to. In this case, cat is short for cat o’nine tails which was used for whipping sailors who violated one of the numerous rules on board the vessel. The cat o’nine tails was a stick that had nine strands of iron-tipped leather. This made fifty lashes particularly nasty. Taking the cat out of the bag meant someone was about to get a bloody back. Today it means a secret has been let out. Speaking of cats, the phrase “not enough room to swing a cat” also refers to the cat o’nine tails. You needed a lot of room to swing that device.
“true colors” – Sometimes British ships (and those of other nations) would go into battle flying the opponents flag (colors) to make the enemy think the approaching ship was friendly. Before opening fire, you were supposed to put your real flag up. This supposedly cancelled out the cheating.
“groggy” – next time you wake up groggy and it’s from drinking, you’ll know it originated as a drunking reference. British sailors (tars) were entitled to a daily ration of rum. This was some powerful stuff, even though it was prepared with one part rum to two parts water. It wasn’t enough to get you drunk, but sometimes a tar might save up several days’ worth and then take them all at once to get drunk. He would wake up the next morning feeling “groggy”.
– “not enough room to swing a cat” – this was another reference to the cat o’nine tails
– “square meal” – meals were served on square plates for easier stacking and storage
FORGOTTEN WAR: The Quasi-War with France (1798-1800)
As every American knows, the 13 Colonies could not have gotten their independence without aid from France. That aid came with a prize as the newly created United States owed a substantial debt to the French king. One reason Louis XVI was overthrown was because of the damage his huge debt had done to the viability of his government. Naturally, the new French government wanted America to help out by paying its debt to France. The Americans argued that they owed the money to the king and since he was deposed, the debt did not exist anymore. You can imagine what the French thought of that argument. Plus, the French were aggravated by the ingrate Americans continuing to trade with their enemy Britain. They began to seize American merchant ships. In 1796, over 100 American ships were taken, mostly by French privateers. Pres. Adams responded by reauthorizing the U.S. Navy (which had been allowed to wither after independence) and sending our frigates out to counter the French. Our first victory was the USS Constellation defeating the French frigate L’Insurgente. Our frigates turned out to be stellar and included the very first Enterprise. Several captains, including Stephen Decatur, made names for themselves. Because of the pain caused by the U.S. Navy and general exhaustion, the French agreed to negotiate an end to the war. You could call it a tie, but the French did take nearly 2,000 merchant ships during the “war”.
https://historycollection.co/nation-war-9-forgotten-american-wars/
JACK SHEPPARD
Jack Sheppard became the most famous criminal in early 18th Century England. Born to poor parents in 1702, he was apprenticed to a carpenter. After five years, he was one year away from completing his training, but that’s when he discovered the joys of drinking and whoring. Soon he was in need of more funds to keep partying. He fell in with a bad crowd and took up with a prostitute named Edgworth Bess. He started robbing houses and picking pockets. He was twenty years old and a charming rogue. Called “Honest Jack” by the clientele of the various taverns he frequented, his popularity boomed through a series of escapes from prison. In 1723, he was arrested for shoplifting. He broke through the ceiling of the jail and lowered himself to the ground using a rope made from his clothes. His second arrest got him imprisoned with Bess. He filed off the chains, burrowed through the cell wall, lowered himself and Bess with another clothes rope, and they climbed a 22-foot wall to freedom. The third time, he was sentenced to death. He filed off a bar and then when Bess and another prostitute named Moll Maggot distracted the guards, he slipped out. The women smuggled him out of the prison dressed in women’s clothes. His fourth escape was the one that made him famous. In 1724, he was arrested a put in prison again. He picked the handcuffs and the padlock that kept him chained to the floor. He broke through several doors and scaled a wall to reach the roof of the prison. Using his blanket, he slid down the roof onto a nearby rooftop. He exited through the front door. Unfortunately, he was caught two weeks later drunk. This time there would be no escaping the death sentence. Before the appointed day, Daniel Dafoe ghost-wrote his autobiography which greatly enhanced his celebrity status. It was estimated that 200,000 Londoners lined the streets to see him go to the gallows. Women dressed in white and threw flowers. Supposedly, Dafoe and his publisher hatched a plan to take Sheppard’s body and get a doctor to revive him. However, the crowd swarmed the gallows and pulled on his hanging body to hasten his death, out of mercy.
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Amazing-Escapes-of-Jack-Sheppard/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Sheppard
IT’S GOOD TO BE THE KING
Louis XIV was the greatest French king and probably the one with the best life ever. He became king at age 5, but he did not have to rule until age 23 when his chief minister died and was not replaced. He always ate alone. He never used a fork. A typical meal consisted of four different soups, a whole pheasant, a partridge, a large salad, two thick pieces of ham, a dish of mutton, pastries, fruit, and hard-boiled eggs. When he went to bed, a roast chicken, two loaves of bread, and two bottles of wine were placed on the bedside. The “Mona Lisa” hung in his bedroom. He once shot 250 birds on one hunt. As an old man, he hunted deer while reclining on a coach. He had a diamond-encrusted robe that was worth the equivalent of $25 million. He had battle scenes painted on his high-heeled shoes.
– maroon 123
Life on a Sailing Ship
A typical seaman in the Royal Navy in the early 19th Century was awakened at 3:40. He and his mates gathered on the deck for muster and inspection and then morning watch began. Each tar (as the sailors were called) had a job to do. Some would scrub and swab the deck. Others worked on the rigging (the ropes attached to the sails and masts), the masts, and the sails. Some went through gun drills with the cannons. Breakfast was served at 7:00. It usually consisted of oatmeal and coffee. Forenoon watch was more of the same. 11:30 was lunch. This might consist of beef lobscouse which was a salt beef stew with potatoes, carrots, and onions served with a biscuit (watch out for the weevils). The beverage was called grog. It was one part rum to three parts water with some lime juice mixed in to prevent a disease called scurvy. At 1:15 P.M., there was another muster on deck and then afternoon watch began. At 4:00, the tars got some down time where they could tell stories, joke around, play dice and cards, or sing sea songs. Supper came at 6:30. It might feature pease pudding which was made with split peas, butter, and eggs. You were in your hammock at 10:00.
THE REAL BLIGH
There have been at least five movies on the “Mutiny on the Bounty”. William Bligh became the poster boy for tyrannical captains. He is depicted as mistreating his crew with his unreasonable discipline to the point where they justifiably mutiny against him. Led by the saintly Fletcher Christian. Be careful about learning your history from Hollywood. In reality, Bligh was an above average captain. He preferred a good scolding to whipping. He organized fair work shifts, daily exercise led by a fiddler, and a good diet including lemon juice to fight scurvy. Granted, you probably would not want him as your next door neighbor, but his reputation has been besmirched by the movies. The mutiny was not due to ill treatment. The HMS Bounty had been sent to Tahiti to bring back breadfruit trees to be used as a food source for slaves in the Caribbean. They spent six debauched weeks on Tahiti where the crew enjoyed the tropical paradise and all it had to offer, especially the willing native girls. After a few days on the return trip, faced with the mundane shipboard life, the crew decided Tahiti was better. Led by Fletcher Christian, who was overly sensitive about Bligh’s criticisms, the mutineers placed Bligh and seventeen loyal sailors in a boat with five days worth of provisions. Not nearly enough for the almost 4,000 mile voyage ahead. In a remarkable act of seamanship, Bligh got the men back to civilization. Christian and the mutineers settled on an island near Tahiti with their native wives and some men they intended to enslave. Christian turned out to be an incompetent leader and was killed by natives, as were most of the other mutineers. When a British naval expedition eventually arrived to bring the men to justice, there was only one still alive.
https://historycollection.co/odd-details-about-famous-historical-events-nobody-talks-about/8/
https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/british-and-irish-history-biographies/william-bligh
THE EVOLUTION OF AIRCRAFT
Around 1,000 A.D., a Benedictine monk tried flying from a tower using wings. He ended up with two broken legs. Leonardo da Vinci imagined parachutes and helicopters. In the late 18th Century, the Montgolfier brothers came up with the idea for hot air balloons after observing smoke wafting from chimneys. In 1783, two fellow Frenchmen flew their balloon over Paris for five miles at 300-foot altitude. In 1785, a Frenchman and an American took off from the cliffs of Dover in a car attached to a huge balloon. Crossing the English Channel, they began to lose altitude so they jettisoned all unnecessary equipment and even their clothing. They landed in a French forest in just their underwear. In the 1890’s, Otto Lilienthal experimented with gliders, making over 2,000 flights. The last one killed him. In 1797, Frenchman Andre Garnerin made the first parachute jump, from a balloon at 3,000 feet. In 1852, Henri Giffard flew the first dirigible over Paris. In 1900, German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin introduced the rigid dirigible. As far as the airplane, the idea went back to Englishman Sir George Cayley, who proposed a fixed wing vehicle with a propulsion system.
– Strange 186-9
FACTS ABOUT HORATIO NELSON
- He was the sixth of eleven kids from a poor upper-class family. He was sent to sea under his uncle at age 12. His uncle famously said that perhaps a cannon ball would take off his head and thus solve his financial straits. He took to life at sea, but he suffered from seasickness his whole career. He also had trouble sleeping asea. He took catnaps in a special chair.
- At age 14, he went on a failed expedition to the North Pole. He defended a small boat from a walrus attack and fended off a polar bear with the butt of his rifle when it misfired.
- He was promoted to Admiral at age 39 for disobeying orders (a trait of his). At the Battle of Cape Vincent (1797), his ship was near the rear of the British column. He broke formation and took on three ships. On boarding one of them he yelled either “Glorious Victory” or “Westminster Abbey” (the former seems more likely). His superiors overlooked his disobedience and promoted him.
- That same year, at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, he led an amphibious attack via boats. He was hit by a musket ball in the right arm. It was amputated without anesthesia. He had earlier lost most of the sight in his right eye from debris during the siege of Calvi in 1794.
- In 1798, he destroyed Napoleon’s fleet in Egypt at the Battle of Aboukir Bay (sometimes called the Battle of the Nile). He was proclaimed Baron Nelson of the Nile and Burnham Thorpe (his birthplace).
- In 1801, he once again disobeyed orders at the Battle of Copenhagen. When his commanding officer signaled for him to hold off on an attack, he held his telescope up to his blind eye and said he could not read the signal. This is the origin of the phrase “turning a blind eye” meaning to disregard something purposely. Nelson won another spectacular victory and was promoted to commander-in-chief of the Royal Navy.
- The captains under him were referred to as his “band of brothers”. His leadership style was called “the Nelson touch”, a phrase he used himself. Both phrases probably came from his favorite Shakespeare play “Henry V”. Historians posit he was thinking of “a little touch of Harry in the night” which is a line in the play describing King Henry’s mingling with his men the night before the battle. Nelson would meet with his captains before a battle to outline his plan and then he would give them the initiative to carry it out.
- He suffered probably the most famous death in British military history. Before the Battle of Trafalgar, he famously signaled the fleet “England expects that every man will do his duty”. (Which, if you think about it, is slightly condescending.) It was almost like he had a death wish as he would have known that the French loved to use snipers and yet Nelson wore his full uniform with all his medals on the deck of the HMS Victory. Sure enough, he was hit by a bullet that punctured a lung and fractured his spine. It was a mortal injury and he lingered a few hours. Long enough to learn of the extent of his victory. His captain Thomas Hardy (Nelson was the Admiral using the ship as his flagship) would periodically come below deck to appraise Nelson of how the battle was going. The last time, Nelson said “Kiss me, Hardy” (as in kiss me goodbye). British historians were uncomfortable with this phrase and turned it into “Kismet, Hardy”, which they explained meant “it’s destiny, Hardy”. Nelson’s last words were: “Thank God I have done my duty.”
- Nelson’s body was returned to England in a cask of brandy to preserve it. 100,000 people filed by his body when it lay in state.
- He had one of the most infamous love affairs in British history. After ten years of marriage, he started an affair with Lady Emma Hamilton (the wife of Sir William Hamilton, the British envoy to Naples). He was 40 and she was 33 when it began. Sir William tolerated the arrangement and it was no secret in England. (Nelson had a portrait of her in his cabin.) The public was intrigued and upset with the “menage a trois”. It was a good thing Nelson was so successful in battle. It was a true love match. They had a child named Horatia. Although he never divorced his wife, he and Emma exchanged rings the day before he left for the Battle of Trafalgar.
https://www.anglotopia.net/british-history/ten-interesting-facts-admiral-horatio-nelson/
https://www.thetrafalgarway.org/blog/fun-facts-about-lord-nelson
https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-horatio-nelson/
FACTS ABOUT THE GUILLOTINE
- In 1789, Doctor Joseph-Ignace Guillotin suggested a more humane way of executing people. At the time the lower classes were hanged and upper class were beheaded with a sword or axe. Both methods could result in considerable pain before the victim expired. Beheadings relied on the accuracy of the beheader and it was not unusual for more than one whack to be needed.
- Guillotin supervised the building of the first model. It was designed by a Doctor Antoine Louis and built by a harpsichord maker named Tobias Schmidt. Guillotin quickly disavowed it, as he was against capital punishment and was aghast when it was named after him.
- It was first used in 1792 to execute a violent criminal named Nicolas Pelletier. The crowd booed because it was too efficient.
- It is most associated with the Reign of Terror. The public quickly decided that quantity was better than quality as far as executions were concerned. Large crowds (including children) witnessed the mass executions. Front and center were the “Tricoteuses” (the knitters) who knitted as they watched the enemies of the Revolution lose their heads. Located nearby was the “Cabaret de la Guillotine” if you felt like a bite to eat.
- There were guillotine toys for kids. You could decapitate your doll or rodents. Some tables had a novelty guillotine to cut bread and vegetables.
- Executioners became celebrities. The Sanson family provided the chief executioner from 1792-1847. Charles-Henri Sanson executed Pelletier. A Sanson executed King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Louis and Anatole Deiber held the job from 1879-1939.
- Hitler ordered twenty guillotines and over 16,000 were executed using it. Most were resistance members or political opponents.
- The last public execution using it was in 1939. A huge crowd gathered to revel in the spectacle. When the head came off, some of the crowd charged the platform to dip items in the blood for souvenirs. That was the end of public attendance. It was last used for Hamida Djandoubi for torture and murder in 1977. Two years later, France banned capital punishment.
- As far as does the victim remain alive briefly after being decapitated, some claimed that when the executioner lifted the head sometimes you could see facial twitches or even blinks. Later experiments involving mice has proved that a head might have as much as 7 seconds of life after being severed.
https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-guillotine
https://www.discoverwalks.com/blog/10-grisly-facts-about-the-guillotine/
https://factslegend.org/40-interesting-guillotine-facts/
FREDERICK THE GREAT’S THREE QUESTIONS
Whenever Frederick noticed a new member of his elite guards, he liked to ask them three questions: 1. How old are you? 2. How long have you been in the army? 3. Are you content with your pay and your treatment? One day, a French lad came over to join the Prussian army. He was so physically imposing that it was decided to place him in the guards. Unfortunately, he did not speak German, so what to do if Frederick questioned him? His captain told him to memorize the answers to the three questions. A few days later, Frederick decided to inspect his guards and when he noticed the new man, he stood before him to ask the questions. However, he asked the second question first. The young soldier answered: “21 years.” Perplexed, Frederick asked how old he was. The soldier answered: “One year.” At this point, Frederick proclaimed that surely one of them had lost their senses. The soldier, thinking this must be the third question, responded: “Both.” The frustrated Frederick was beginning to question his own sanity, when the soldier revealed in French that he did not understand German. Frederick got a good laugh out of the encounter.
– The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes by Max Hastings pp. 162-163
THE WAR OF JENKINS’ EAR
The most famous war that is famous simply because of its name is “The War of Jenkin’s Ear”. So, who was this Jenkins and was his ear worth a war? Robert Jenkins was a British merchant ship captain whose ship Rebecca was boarded for suspected smuggling by a Spanish vessel off the coast of Havana on April 9, 1731. The Spanish commander severed Jenkins’ ear and proclaimed: “Go, and tell your King that I will do the same if he dares to do the same.” (I’m not sure what he meant by that, but them was fighting words!) The story got some play in British newspapers, but was soon forgotten. However, in 1738 opponents of British Prime Minister Robert Walpole were looking for a way to weaken his government and war with Spain was determined to be a good way to do this. Plus, the South Sea Company and other mercantilists saw the war as a way to cut into Spanish trade in the Caribbean and Spanish America. Some politician remembered Jenkins and brought him before Parliament to gin up outrage. According to legend, he brought his ear in a jar (although most historians doubt the veracity of this imagery). Mission accomplished as Jenkins’ mistreatment and a general Spanish policy of harassing other smugglers was deemed cause for war. In 1739, Britain declared war and sent a fleer led by Admiral Vernon to attack Spanish possessions in the Caribbean. . “Old Grog” was known for wearing a grogram cloak in bad weather. When he ordered that the daily rum ration be diluted with water. The disgruntled tars named the mixture “grog”. He successfully captured Porto Bello in Panama. He captured the port with only six men-of-war. When he was feted at a banquet in London, “Rule Britannia” was played for the first time in public. However, he failed in several attempts on Cartagena in Columbia. The last attempt was with a fleet of 180 ships, 2,620 artillery pieces, and 27,000 men. 4,000 of those men were Virginians commanded by Lawrence Washington, George’s older half-brother. ( Later, Lawrence named his plantation after the admiral.) The assaults on the fortress failed (once because the Virginians’ scaling ladders were too short) and yellow fever decimated Vernon’s men. At one point, Vernon declared victory prematurely, resulting in celebrations in England and the coining of medals. Oops! Vernon gave up after a 67-day siege. The war fizzled after this and was largely forgotten until historian Robert Carlyle had the brainstorm to name it “The War of Jenkins’ Ear” in 1858. That’s right, more than 100 years later.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Jenkins%27_Ear
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/history/war-jenkins-ear-defeat-huge-british-armada-m.html
– The Greatest War Stories Never Told pp. 40-41
THE FLEET THAT WAS CAPTURED BY HORSEMEN
One of the most unique battles in history occurred on Jan. 23, 1795. It occurred during the War of the First Coalition which was basically a war between European powers and the new revolutionary government of France. They were attempting to squash the democratic ideas of France before they spread to their monarchies. They underestimated the revolutionary zeal of the French armies and suffered a series of defeats. Instead of marching on France and putting a new king on the vacant throne, the French marched out of France. One area they marched into was Holland. On Jan. 19, the city of Amsterdam fell. A forced of 1,000 Hussars, each carrying a soldier, moved on to the town of Den Helder. The residents there, who were sympathetic to the French Revolution, ratted out a Dutch fleet that was in the harbor. So, said Lt. Col. Louis Joseph Lahure, what do you want cavalry to do about it? Did we mention it is frozen? responded the townspeople. Sure enough, the 14 warships were stuck in deep ice. It had been a very cold winter. Lahure had his men wrap the horse’s hooves with cloth and on the night of Jan. 23 they rode gingerly out on the ice. Some of his men climbed aboard the French flagship and encountered the French admiral. He promptly surrendered his fleet. The Dutch fleet was captured without a shot and with no casualties.
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/history/cavalry-captured-fleet-unique.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_the_Dutch_fleet_at_Den_Helder
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT EDWARD JENNER
- He was born on May 17, 1749 in England. He was the 8th of 9 kids born to a Reverend and his wife. He was orphaned at age 5 when both parents died. He was raised by siblings after that, but got a good education. As a child, he was variolated (given a mild dose of smallpox to develop immunity).
- He was apprenticed to a local doctor and then after 7 years, he learned under a famous surgeon at St. George’s Hospital in London.
- In 1772, he set up his practice in his home town. He once almost died on a house call because he got caught in a blizzard. He went bankrupt because he often worked for free.
- He got the idea for a smallpox vaccine from the observation that milkmaids seldom got the disease because they had contracted cowpox. He decided that individuals could get immunity by being given cowpox. He scraped pus from cowpox blisters on a milkmaid and injected it into eight-year-old James Phipps, his gardener’s son. The cow’s name was Blossom. This was not the first time cowpox had been used, but it was the first scientifically and openly done experiment.
- Jenner was instantly famous, partly because of opposition to the vaccine. The Catholic Church was opposed to the injecting cowpox from lower animals. But the efficacy of the vaccine made him a hero. Napoleon, who was at war with England, gave him a medal. The Empress of Russia gave him a ring. American Indian chiefs gave him a string of wampum beads. Jenner became Physician Extraordinary to King George IV. By 1853, his vaccine was not only accepted, but Parliament banned variolation and made vaccination free and compulsory.
- Jenner was also a naturalist. He refuted the belief that cuckoo birds would kick the eggs and babies from a nest so its fledgling could occupy it and be raised by foster birds. Jenner discovered that it was the fledgling that did the evicting!
- It has been estimated that Jenner saved more lives than any other scientist in history. Before his vaccine, 60% of people got smallpox. 10-20% of a population could be killed by an epidemic.
https://www.theschoolrun.com/homework-help/edward-jenner
https://learnodo-newtonic.com/edward-jenner-facts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jenner
THE “LADY” PIRATES
Not all pirates were men. Two of the most infamous were Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Much of our information about this fascinating duo comes from “A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates” by Capt. Charles Johnson (which some think was a pseudonym for Daniel Defoe). The book tells the tales of the two women.
Anne was born in Ireland. Her father got the family maid pregnant. She was dressed as a boy while growing up rather than being recognized as a bastard. People were told “he” was a relative raised by her father. The family moved to South Carolina. She had a fierce temper and may have killed a female servant. When she entered her teens, she took to drinking and seducing sailors. She was disowned by her father. She married a sailor named James Bonny. They moved to Nassau in the Bahamas. It was a well-known pirate lair. Ironically, James became a snitch, giving pirate names to the governor. Anne took the opposite approach. In August, 1720, she joined the crew of the notorious pirate John “Calico Jack” Rackam. She did not hide her identity from the crew, but she would dress as a man if action was afoot. She carried a cutless and two pistols. She earned her shipmates respect when she chopped up a dressmaker’s mannequin doused with fake blood within sight of a merchant ship, which promptly surrendered. Rackam liked wild women, so the two became lovers. The “Revenge” cruised off the Bahamas, taking fishing boats and the occasional merchant ship. One of those ships carried Mary Read.
Read had also been an illegitimate child. She was disguised as a boy for financial reasons. It was easier to bring in money if you were a boy. At age 13, she went off to sea on a warship as a powder monkey. She fought in Flanders as a soldier. In 1720, she was a sailor on a merchant ship that was taken by the “Revenge”. To the crew, she seemed to fit in as a new recruit. She swore like a drunken sailor and looked like one. Supposedly, Anne was the first to discover her true identity when she attempted to seduce her. Anne agreed to keep her gender a secret and they became besties. Later, Rackham barged in on them and was shocked to find that Anne’s new friend was a woman. He also agreed to keep the crew ignorant.
On the night of October 22, 1720, the crew of the Revenge was sleeping off a day of drunken carousing. A sloop commanded by the famed pirate hunter Jonathan Barnett snuck up on the Revenge and opened fire. Rackham and the other men took refuge below decks, but the women stayed on deck shouting defiance. Supposedly, Anne fired a pistol into the hold, killing a shipmate. The ship was taken and the pirates were hauled off to prison. In the trial on Nov. 28, 1720, all three were found guilty and sentenced to death. The star witness against Bonny and Read was a woman who had been captured by the Revenge and roughly handled by the duo. (They had urged Rackham to kill her, but he refused.) Rackham was hanged but his salty cross-dressers were spared that when it was discovered they were both pregnant! Mary died in prison, possibly connected to her giving birth. Anne disappeared, but not from history.
https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/anne-bonny-mary-read-female-pirates-lives-crimes/
THE MOST INFAMOUS HIGHWAYMAN
America had Jesse James. Australia had Ned Kelly. And England had Dick Turpin. All three were popular heroes who were noted for their “rob from the rich and give to the poor” Robin Hoodish careers in crime. Unlike Robin Hood, all three men were actual historical figures and the truth for each was far from the myths.
Richard “Dick” Turpin was born in 1705. He was apprenticed to a butcher as a teenager. This occupation made him attractive to poachers needing to trade their purloined deer and rustled cattle. At first, just a facilitator, he soon joined the gang called the Essex Gang (also called the Gregorys Gang). From poaching deer and rustling cattle, the gang moved on to burglary and murder. In 1735, in the Earlsbury Farm robbery, the gang beat up an old man and poured boiling oil on him (in some versions, he was forced to sit on a fire). A woman was raped, possibly by Turpin. This notorious crime brought attention to the gang and soon the heat was too high. Several of the gang members were brought to justice and the gang broke up.
Turpin became a highwayman. Highwaymen were the British version of stage coach robbers. He eventually paired up with Matthew King. The partnership came to an end when Turpin accidentally killed King in a melee resulting from the two being cornered in a tavern. Turpin escaped. Soon after that, Turpin killed a gamekeeper’s servant who had foolishly tried to bring Turpin in by himself. The reward for him reached 200 pounds (46,000 pounds today). On the wanted posters he was called “Turpin the Butcher”. Turpin changed his name to John Palmer and tried to avoid justice. However, in 1739, he shot a chicken and threatened to kill the irate chicken-owner. He was arrested and foolishly refused to pay bail. His true identity was discovered when a man who had taught him as a boy recognized his handwriting in a letter he wrote from jail. He was quickly convicted of horse theft and sentenced to death. Turpin went to his death with panache, but the actual hanging was less than glamorous. The executioner (another highwayman escaping a similar fate by volunteering to be the hangman) used the “short drop” method which resulted in five minutes of suffocating. Gruesome, but crowd-pleasing. He deserved the punishment. Turpin was 33 years old when he was executed on April 7, 1739.
So, how did this thief, rapist, and murderer become a popular hero? In 1834, Harrison Ainsworth published a novel entitled “Rookwood”. In it he created the character Dick Turpin which the public found so appealing. His Turpin was a dashing ne’er do well who staged daring robberies of only the rich and did not use violence. He fought corruption and was ever the gentleman in his robberies. In other words, he was the exact opposite of the real Turpin. The most famous of his escapades was his 200-mile nighttime ride on his horse Black Bess to establish an alibi. (The 200-mile ride was based on an exploit of another highwayman named Nevison which took place in 1679.) The public’s clue that Ainsworth’s Turpin was not the real Turpin was the fact that the book was clearly fiction. But the public overlooked that and demanded to know more about this 18th Century Robin Hood. Poems and ballads added to the legend. And later, television and movies as well.
https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/the-myth-of-highwayman-dick-turpin-outlives-the-facts/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Turpin
https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-dick-turpin/
https://www.history.co.uk/articles/the-truth-about-dick-turpin-englands-most-notorious-higwayman