Since it exists I assume that perhaps you can. What an unforgettable experience that would be.
At my age I couldn’t do much but could go as far as a person could on the bow and do the ‘King of the world’ thing. Then they probably keel haul me.
If I only got to load and fire the carronade I’d be a happy man indeed.
Maybe handle the wheel for bit as well. “A tall ship and a star to steer her by…”
Well let me try this again.
Firelock— No way they let you have the wheel or touch anything to do with the cannon. Now you and me will both be keel hauled.
I’ll only bombard any diesel locomotives in sight, I promise!
Now you’re going to get thrown in the klink.
They’d have to catch me first!
“Let fly the fore-courses! Give 'er the mainsail, topsails and t’gallants! Stun’sls too! Every rag she’ll carry!”
Now they are going to get you a shrink.
In my freshman year of high school they still dragged the cannon out on the field and fired it during the national anthem. Being in the marching band, (the Valley Forge Patriots our mascot was a minuteman) we were always smack down range of the thing and even with a small charge it usually scared the bejesus out of at least 10 percent of us musicians! [(-D]
Maybe they better, if I’m going to start having flashbacks to wars I was never in!
Hey Becky, I can imagine how even a small charge of black powder can scare you, especially if you don’t know it’s coming. Sometimes even if you DO know it’s coming.
Here’s a video of Lord Nelson’s old flagship HMS Victory “firing a broadside.” They’re not actually shooting the great guns, what you see are pyrotechnic charges with about three ounces of black powder, and look at the bang they make!
Now, imagine what Victory’s 24 pounders with their usual charge of eight pounds of powder must have been like!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnomDilySlA
"Come cheer up m’lads, 'tis to glory we steer,
And add something more to this wonderful year…"
Well ok… on the USS Niagara video they held a reenactment of the Battle of Lake Erie with 9 American and 6 British tall ships. So I suppose you are quite sane.
Man your cannon Firelock, think I have little choice but to be on the Canadian, err, British side. What a hoot that would be.
Sounds like fun, but a re-enactment only, mind you.
No more “Cousins Wars,” not in this dangerous age we live in.
See, I can be serious!
You’re from New Jersey, aren’t you?
If you’re going to say ‘t’gallants’ then it would be t’s’ls, NOT pronounced “top-sayles”, and it’s ‘stuns’ls’ (an abbreviation of ‘studding sails’ that needs no contraction in the first word, note where the apostrophe goes, just as ‘rarin’ to go’ is NOT an abbreviation of 'raring to go). And you do not ‘give her’ the mains’l the way the Army Air Corps gives her the gun.
And ‘let fly’ applied to sails means to LOOSEN so they stop driving… dogs will go faster if you let them slip, and cannonballs if you let them fly, but there’s a difference with tall ships.
It’s all right, though. Just don’t think you can move to Somalia just yet…
This is VERY strange, considering the relationship between Churchill and the Rex Imp. as described in a number of places in the former’s history of the Second World War. Is that scene in “Churchill” or is it in “Darkest Hour”?
Definitely in Darkest Hour. There are several scenes with the two of them in private and they did seem friendly and showed concern for each other and the country, but this one scene was quite formal. Churchill had just been elected and the King was required to summon him and ask Churchill to form the new government. It was all very proper and stuffy.
Musta been too many of the wrong kinds of Poms watching. British pomp and circumstance can be almost unmatched at times. Fortunately* when the actual time comes to do the do, they get things done most of the time.
*This is a loaded word for some, the al-Fayeds and divers Argentines among them…
CNR had another steamship line, if you consider the GTW carferry across Lake Michigan, between Muskegon, MI and Milwaukee, WI. It ran until 1978. Its last ferry, the City of Milwaukee, is preserved in Manistee, MI. I toured it a few years ago. I might also have ridden it when it operated for the Ann Arbor, but I did not keep track of ships names.
Here in Australia we just had a Royal Visit from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. I’m not really happy with the Duke appearing in a British army uniform with an untrimmed beard, which isn’t in accord with tradition. He has seen some war service, which they weren’t willing to risk with the actual heir, so I give him more credit than William.
One of my favourite movies is “The King’s Speech” dealing with Albert’s stammer.
In the movie, just after George V died, it was said that his last words were “Bertie’s got more guts than the rest of them put together”. Also in the movie, Churchill is seen suggesting to Albert that the name George would be more acceptable than Albert which was seen as too German. (strange given the number of Kings named George that never learnt English).
Peter
More than usually sucky, as Victoria’s Albert was one of the best of the lot … I have often thought (as have other alternative-historian SF aficionados) that the world would have been much better had he lived longer.