These were men….

14 Responses to These were men….

1. mawm says:

   March 15, 2014 at 08:21

   Dana’s “Two Years Before the Mast” gives an insight into the hardships these sailors faced. Very tough buggers!
   • KG says:

     March 15, 2014 at 08:25

     Aye. And Alan Villiers wrote some great stuff about them too, from first-hand experience.
     • mawm says:

       March 15, 2014 at 10:43

       Dana’s experiences were definitely first-hand.
       • KG says:

         March 15, 2014 at 12:34

         Of course.
2. Ronbo says:

   March 15, 2014 at 09:29

   Tough old birds

   They had to be in order to survive a voyage on a sailing ship around the dread widow maker known as Cape Horn.

   I noticed that the survivors lived long lives…Alpha males to be sure
   • mawm says:

     March 15, 2014 at 10:56

     Can you imagine having to take in the top gallants at night, in a Horn gale, in winter in snow and ice, pitching and rolling…. and claw in the sails with frozen fingers, no lights, no safety harness and no modern clothing to keep you dry or warm. If you fall it is either instant death as you hit the deck or slightly slower death if you go overboard.
     • thor42 says:

       March 15, 2014 at 12:16

       incredible (and terrifying) to think about.

       *Truly* great men.
3. Darin says:

   March 15, 2014 at 12:04

   A good article on them-
   http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1988-03-08/features/8804050473_1_ships-wrecks-cape-horn
   • KG says:

     March 15, 2014 at 12:14

     Good stuff.
     • Darin says:

       March 15, 2014 at 12:59

       Long read on the Locomotives shipped around the Horn during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.

       http://cprr.org/Museum/RR_Shipped_by_Sea.html
       • KG says:

         March 15, 2014 at 13:35

         Fascinating stuff. Those guys routinely did things that would take half an army and a year’s planning nowadays.
         And all without an Environmental Impact Report and Health and Safety bureaucrats……
4. KG says:

   March 15, 2014 at 12:36

   O/T:
   ‘THE investigation into missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 will “sharpen its focus on sabotage” according to reports, amid indications the plane changed course and tried to mask its location.’
   Changing course and masking the location indicate a hijacking, not sabotage.
   It seems as though everybody is strenuously avoiding the “h” word. Why?
   • Darin says:

     March 15, 2014 at 13:18

     Because there is one particular group that hijacks planes and ships these days and they are followers of the pedophile prophet.

     The story gets stranger as the days go by-
     http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/world/asia/malaysia-military-radar.html?smid=tw-bna&_r=0

     The USS Kidd is joining in the search-
     http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/uss-kidd-search-missing-malaysia-airlines/2014/03/14/id/559594/

     One thing is for sure,whatever happened that plane is WELL off it’s intended course.
5. Contempt says:

   March 16, 2014 at 01:41

   The fellow in the vid who said it was living life second by second is in the bullseye. These sailors did it millisecond by millisecond. Nice clip.