Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 9,001
The man who was "Robinson Crusoe"...
On February 2, 1709, the British privateer "Duke"...
...drops anchor at the uninhabited island of Mas-a-Tierra off the coast of Chile in the Pacific!
William Dampier...
...the privateer's navigator lets himself be rowed ashore with a few sailors - and goes in search of an old acquaintance:
The wanted man's name is Alexander Selkirk...
...and he had worked as a sailmaker five years earlier on another privateer, the "St. George"...
...hired as a sailmaker, then captained by William Dampier.
Selkirk had had good reason to put himself as far as possible from his native Scotland: he was wanted for all sorts of offences, including piracy!
In his time there were subtle but vital differences between "caper" and "piracy":
A pirate was considered an outlaw who stole booty at sea for his own pocket!
A "caperer", on the other hand, was - in war - provided with so-called "letters of marque" from his government, which allowed him to hold ships of the respective enemy power harmless!
If pirates were caught, they were tied to the main yard without much ado. Privateers only faced this fate if they fell into enemy hands.
The "Duke", the ship on which Alexander Selkirk serves, here a replica...
...is equipped with letters of marque from the British Crown and is supposed to hunt down French and Spanish ships off the coast of South America.
In addition to his criminal tendencies, Selkirk must also have been a very irritable and rude character, for he soon clashed with Captain Dampier, who was not exactly a gentleman either.
In order to prevent worse, Selkirk switches to the escort ship of the "St. George", the small "Cinque Ports" under Captain Stradling.
Dampier allows this to happen, after all you can't careen a sailmaker thousands of miles from home!
However, the quarrel with Captain Dampier did not end with Selkirk's transfer to the "Cinque Ports" - it even intensified because it was impossible to capture an enemy ship.
And no prey means: no share for Selkirk, who as a sailmaker was entitled to much more than a normal "man in front of the mast"!
And Selkirk is doing his best - which Dampier also knows - to incite the team against the captain...
In October, both ships call at the island of Mas-a-Tierra to replenish their water supplies...:
The "St. George" and the "Cinque Ports" are placed on the stand to inspect the underwater parts of the hulls.
It appears:
Both hulls are extremely badly attacked by the seafarers of the time feared borer mussels...:
Over time, these mussels puncture even the strongest oak planks like Swiss cheese - a ship with borer mussel infestation is sooner or later lost...:
Columbus' famous "Santa Maria" and other of his ships also fell victim to borer mussels!
Until people learned to clad wooden hulls below the waterline with copper plates, as shown here in the model...:
...hundreds of ships have fallen victim to the sea shells!
Selkirk is now openly calling for mutiny, fearing both ships will sooner or later sink! He was absolutely right about that, because the "Cinque Ports" actually went under a short time later.
The final confrontation between Captain Dampier and Selkirk takes place on the island's beach. Selkirk loudly declares that he definitely wants to stay on Mas-a-Tierra, but can't find anyone willing to follow him!
The other sailors prefer to trust their ailing ships instead of waiting for their fate on an uninhabited island at the end of the world.
Realizing he's standing alone, Selkirk suddenly changes his mind and exclaims, "I've changed my mind!"
Dampier replies calmly: "Not me!" - and lets the other sailors row him back to the "St. George" - Selkirk stays behind!
Before that, Dampier leaves behind a few pieces of equipment for the abandoned man: a musket with gunpowder and bullets, tobacco, flint, additional clothing, an axe, a knife, a cauldron and a - Bible.
**continued next post**
On February 2, 1709, the British privateer "Duke"...
...drops anchor at the uninhabited island of Mas-a-Tierra off the coast of Chile in the Pacific!
William Dampier...
...the privateer's navigator lets himself be rowed ashore with a few sailors - and goes in search of an old acquaintance:
The wanted man's name is Alexander Selkirk...
...and he had worked as a sailmaker five years earlier on another privateer, the "St. George"...
...hired as a sailmaker, then captained by William Dampier.
Selkirk had had good reason to put himself as far as possible from his native Scotland: he was wanted for all sorts of offences, including piracy!
In his time there were subtle but vital differences between "caper" and "piracy":
A pirate was considered an outlaw who stole booty at sea for his own pocket!
A "caperer", on the other hand, was - in war - provided with so-called "letters of marque" from his government, which allowed him to hold ships of the respective enemy power harmless!
If pirates were caught, they were tied to the main yard without much ado. Privateers only faced this fate if they fell into enemy hands.
The "Duke", the ship on which Alexander Selkirk serves, here a replica...
...is equipped with letters of marque from the British Crown and is supposed to hunt down French and Spanish ships off the coast of South America.
In addition to his criminal tendencies, Selkirk must also have been a very irritable and rude character, for he soon clashed with Captain Dampier, who was not exactly a gentleman either.
In order to prevent worse, Selkirk switches to the escort ship of the "St. George", the small "Cinque Ports" under Captain Stradling.
Dampier allows this to happen, after all you can't careen a sailmaker thousands of miles from home!
However, the quarrel with Captain Dampier did not end with Selkirk's transfer to the "Cinque Ports" - it even intensified because it was impossible to capture an enemy ship.
And no prey means: no share for Selkirk, who as a sailmaker was entitled to much more than a normal "man in front of the mast"!
And Selkirk is doing his best - which Dampier also knows - to incite the team against the captain...
In October, both ships call at the island of Mas-a-Tierra to replenish their water supplies...:
The "St. George" and the "Cinque Ports" are placed on the stand to inspect the underwater parts of the hulls.
It appears:
Both hulls are extremely badly attacked by the seafarers of the time feared borer mussels...:
Over time, these mussels puncture even the strongest oak planks like Swiss cheese - a ship with borer mussel infestation is sooner or later lost...:
Columbus' famous "Santa Maria" and other of his ships also fell victim to borer mussels!
Until people learned to clad wooden hulls below the waterline with copper plates, as shown here in the model...:
...hundreds of ships have fallen victim to the sea shells!
Selkirk is now openly calling for mutiny, fearing both ships will sooner or later sink! He was absolutely right about that, because the "Cinque Ports" actually went under a short time later.
The final confrontation between Captain Dampier and Selkirk takes place on the island's beach. Selkirk loudly declares that he definitely wants to stay on Mas-a-Tierra, but can't find anyone willing to follow him!
The other sailors prefer to trust their ailing ships instead of waiting for their fate on an uninhabited island at the end of the world.
Realizing he's standing alone, Selkirk suddenly changes his mind and exclaims, "I've changed my mind!"
Dampier replies calmly: "Not me!" - and lets the other sailors row him back to the "St. George" - Selkirk stays behind!
Before that, Dampier leaves behind a few pieces of equipment for the abandoned man: a musket with gunpowder and bullets, tobacco, flint, additional clothing, an axe, a knife, a cauldron and a - Bible.
**continued next post**
