HOME |
RSS | 
The following is an article from Uncle John’s Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader.
Here at the BRI, we’re huge fans of Richard Zak’s books. They’re great bathroom reading. He has a new book coming out: The Pirate Hunter-The True Story of Captain Kidd. Here’s a teaser from his masterpiece, An Underground Education.
WORKIN’ FOR THE MAN
While the popular image of buccaneers is peg-legged, eye-patched rascals, the ultimate anti-authority free agents, roving the seas, plundering ships, raping women, and brawling, the reality is much worse. They did all that and worked for the government.
Prior to 1856, it was standard operating procedure for western nations either to commission privateers directly or to wink at the actions of freelance pirates, so long as those thieves were preying on the commerce of other nations. Piracy was often state-supported economic terrorism. Captain Kidd, for example, was no Joan of Arc, but he was no “Captain Kidd,” either.
MEET CAPTAIN KIDD
William Kidd
William Kidd (c. 1645-1701) was a plain-speaking, high-tempered Scotsman who had made his fortune as captain and ship owner, trading goods in the colonies. In 1696, the 51-year-old Kidd was a prosperous New York businessman, comfortably settled with his wife and family. That year, Kidd and his friend Robert Livingston connived with the newly-appointed governor of New England, Richard Coote, Earl of Bellamount, the King of England’s cousin, to receive an unusual privateering commission.
In times of war, wealthy investors routinely funded privateering vessels to attack the enemy’s merchant ships and divvy the plunder. This was an English naval tradition dating back to Sir Francis Drake. But what was extraordinary about this commission was that it also entitled Kidd to attack pirate ships of all nationalities and keep their booty -no questions asked. It was an amazing financial opportunity.
SMART INVESTMENT
Kidd’s royal commission -secured by Bellamount- did, in fact,
give and grant full Power and Authority to Captain William Kidd, Commander of the ship Adventure Galley …to apprehend, seize and take into Custody the said Thomas Too, John Ireland, Tho Wake, and William Maze, and all other Pirates, Free-booters and Sea-rovers, of what Nation whatsoever, whom he should find or meet with, upon the said Coasts or Seas of America, or in any other Seas or Parts, with their Ships and Vessels, and all such Merchandise, Money, Goods, and Wares as should be found on board of them.
The mission began as an attempt by Britain to crack down on four colonial pirates, but was cunningly expanded so that Kidd would have maximum leeway to capture “prizes” -non-English ships.
In addition to Livingston and Lord Richard, four of the most powerful men in England secretly invested the £6,000 it would cost to outfit the ship. The prospect of profit from this legal larceny was dizzying. If Kidd captured two large ships, the backers could easily received a hundredfold return on their investment in a year. In the official contract with Kidd, four obscure merchants were listed as the investors, but they were shills. The real backers were John Somers, Lord Chancellor of England; Sire Robert Wadpole, Earl of Orford, First Lord of the Admiralty; and two secretaries of state, the Earl of Romney and the Duke of Shrewsbury. The king was to receive 10% of the booty as well, “chiefly to show that he was a partner in the undertaking,” according to The Real Captain Kidd- A Vindication, by Sir Cornelius Dalton. Kidd and Livingston stood to receive 7.5% each, while if the haul totaled more than £100,000, Kidd was to be allowed to keep the ship.
more …
Sailing 3,000 miles across the Atlantic is quite an accomplishment, but what these guys did was a bit more daring. First, they built their own tiny raft out of pipes tied together, and second, the four sailors proved that age is not a limiting factor:
Talk about your ancient mariners! British adventurer Anthony Smith, 85, and a senior citizen crew have sailed their tiny raft, An-Tiki, some 3,000 miles from Portugal’s Canary Islands to St. Martin in the Caribbean. They arrived this morning.
Smith and his three-man crew wanted to show what the elderly can do when they set their minds and hearts to it. [...]
According to the adventure newsletter Expedition News, Smith’s latest escapde began more than three years ago when he placed the following advertisement in a London newspaper, The Daily Telegraph: "Fancy rafting across the Atlantic? Famous traveler requires 3 crew. Must be OAP [Old Age Pensioner]. Serious adventurers only." He got hundreds of eager replies from men fed up with gardening and playing bridge with their wives.
Link | An-Tiki official website
The Plastiki is a boat made from recycled plastic bottles. It was built by a team led by David de Rothschild in order to call attention to the value of recycling. It set sail on Saturday from Sausalito, California and is heading for Australia:
The Plastiki, named in honor of Norwegian explorer Thor Hyderdahl’s raft Kon Tiki, is a boat like no other in the world. Besides the hull of recycled plastic water and soda bottles, the vessel is made of a hardened plastic called PET.
The boat is a twin-hulled catamaran rigged as a ketch. It will rely on the wind for propulsion and has only a small auxiliary engine. No such boat has ever made an ocean passage before.
The Plastiki was built on the San Francisco waterfront in 2009 and has been making trial voyages on the bay.
Link via The Presurfer | Official Website | Photo: Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle
In The New York Times, Henry Fountain has an article exploring how the ancient technology of sailing gets very cutting edge in high-value competitions, such as America’s Cup:
“You have to understand the aerodynamic principles well and how to apply them,” Mr. Drummond said. “If you have the skills to design an airplane, you have the skills to design a yacht. Now we could have a good crack at a windmill.”
Load-shifting can be done with more traditional sails, too, by changing their shape, which is accomplished in part by having a flexible mast. But even with technology — one system uses image-recognition equipment to “read” lines on the sails to see if they match prescribed curvatures — shape-changing is difficult. It is easier with a solid wing.
Alinghi 5 uses traditional sails, but that is not to say it is any less innovative than BMW Oracle’s boat. It has a flexible mast, one that is nearly 200 feet tall, and some of the biggest sails anywhere. Like most advanced racing sails, they are a sandwich of polyester film sheets with a filling of carbon fibers providing strength. The fibers are laid out in radial lines calculated to match the loads, and where the fibers come together in areas of maximum stress the sail has a distinct look, as if it has been dusted with ashes.
Link via CrunchGear | Photo: flickr user ramonbaile, used under Creative Commons license
British citizen and experienced sailor Laura Hughes and her friend John Cochrane were battling gale force winds off the Turkish coast when a rope got caught in her boat’s propeller and killed the engine. She sent a Mayday signal and a boat responded, but the crew demanded 10,000 euros for their rescue -more money than Hughes had. So she jumped in to swim to shore. But she had some precious cargo to take with her -two dogs and their nine puppies who were born during the boat trip!
So, wearing a lifejacket, Miss Hughes jumped out of the boat, carrying the nine Rottweiler puppies ‘African-style’ by balancing the crate on her head and holding the side with one hand while swimming with the other.
Mr Cochrane and the two adult dogs also jumped off the boat and swam to the nearest beach at the Greek resort of Lalissos about 100 metres from their boat.When they got to the shore, exhausted, they were helped by German tourists from a beach hotel and members of the emergency services.
The British Embassy found Laura and John a hotel room for the night – and the puppies spent the night at a local Greek police station.
(image credit: KNSNEWS)
17-year-old Zac Sunderland arrived home in California Thursday after a year of sailing around the world solo in his 36-foot sailboat named the Intrepid. He is now the youngest person to ever pull off such a stunt. Sunderland covered 27,500 miles and dealt with pirates and severe storms.
“The hardest constantly was the tiredness,” he said. “I mean, you get over the loneliness, but tiredness, it’s an ongoing thing. Half the time I haven’t slept in 48 hours and it’s just hard to get enough rest.”
Sunderland said he made some good contacts along the way.
“It’s interesting just thinking back to the different places in the world because I have so many friends in different parts of the world that are like family, you know, and all these different experiences,” he said.
Link to story. Link to website. -via J-Walk Blog
(image credit: Lisa Gizara)
Here is a sweet video of a cupcake who dreams of sailing away and leaving it’s life all behind for an adventure. A very cool stop motion video created by Kirsten Lepore using veggies, fruits, and sweet snacks. After watching this I just felt like having a salad and then a cupcake afterward as a treat. It’s a good 10 minutes of a video so I highly suggest you eat along as you watch…so grab a snack and enjoy!
Kirsten’s website – Link
