Tuesday

                          Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“I just read that Prozac is no longer the number one selling anti-depressant. That makes me sad.”

                                             Mitch Hedberg

I would like to see a show of hands of those that believe the United States and the world is under a coordinated attack by Islamic Jihadist that has been enhanced by a previous gutless United Sates administration. That's what I thought...me too.

As I have stated before in the golden age of pirates the ship's captain was elected by the crew. If his performance was not satisfactory, the crew could vote him out. In the Spring of 1720 Wales born pirate captain Howell Davis stopped and boarded an English merchant ship. In addition to gold, silver and trade goods (including slaves), most pirates were on the lookout for skilled personnel like doctors, carpenters, coopers (wooden barrel makers) and navigators. On this particular ship was a seasoned navigator named Bartholomew Roberts, also a Welshman. Roberts was “impressed” (forced) to join with Davis' crew as navigator or die. Soon after he joined the crew Davis was voted out by the crew and Roberts was elected Captain. Roberts warmed to the task and proved to be especially adept at this lifestyle. Roberts moved their home port from Jamaica to the Cape Verde Islands. These Islands are off the Africa coast at a point that is closest to the Bahamas. This allowed Roberts and company to prey on ships with trade goods heading south from Europe to the Gold, Ivory and Slave coasts of western Africa and it was just a short jaunt to the Bahamas to prey on the slave ships headed from Africa to the Bahamas, South and Central America and the North American east coast. Roberts was one of the most successful of all the pirates of this era of not of all time in the western hemisphere.

He eventually captured and kept 3 warships. One was French man-of-war that he named Royal Fortune and was his flagship. The rest were Ranger, Little Ranger and one unnamed supply ship.  His effect on English shipping was devastating and in 1722 the British Admiralty ordered Admiral Chaloner Ogle and his ship of 30 guns the HMS Swallow to find and take out Roberts and his crews at all costs. He found Roberts and three of this ships riding at anchor near Cape Lopez, Africa. As soon as Roberts saw and identified the Swallow as a British warship he weighed anchor and sailed out meet the attack. Ogle turned and sailed away as if to be fleeing and Roberts followed. During a raging thunderstorm Ogle suddenly turned across the path of the Royal Fortune and unleashed a devastating broadside that killed many of the crew including Roberts who was struck in the throat with chain shot. He was dead before he hit the deck and his corpse as thrown over the side. All of Robert's ships and crews were captured and tried as pirates. Over a period of time 185 of Robert's crew were convicted and hanged. The British Admiralty was well pleased and made Ogle the Admiral of the Fleet.

                    This Date in History   June 13

323BC 33 years earlier one of the most powerful and influential people to ever have drawn a breath is born to Philip of Macedonia and his wife Olympia. His parents choose to employ the acknowledged most intelligent person on the planet as his tutor and that being the Greek genius Aristotle. His father was to be his teacher in military tactics. A wise choice, his father was one of the best military leaders in recorded history, until his son came along; of course, I am talking about Alexander the Great. At the age of 16 Alexander was a commander of several different military engagements and as far as recorded history is concerned, he never lost a battle. Three years later his father was assassinated and Alexander inherited the most powerful and experienced army on earth. Alexander knew his father wanted to conquer the cities in Asia Minor so he rounded up his army and headed east. By the way, Macedonia is just north of present day Greece. Anyway, Alexander kicked ass and went through the Balkan countries and ended up in present day Egypt and founded a city. By now y'all know I am speaking of Alexandria, Egypt. After getting the city under control, he left one of his generals named Ptolemy in command and he continued his voyage of conquest to the east. I think y'all know what an enormous swath of land that this man and his army conquered. He did it the smart way. Of those lands that he conquered, he enlisted the current leaders of these countries to help him administrate. If they did not help, they were looking down the throat of Alexander’s almost invincible army in retribution. A few days before he started feeling bad after several days of partying in a wedding reception. On this night he did not wake up. His body was carried back to Alexandria and legend has it that he was buried in a gold coffin in that city. His burial site has never been found. His conquest covered what was then the known world. It went from northern Greece to India. Look on a map to see what I am talking about. Anyway, Alexander believed that he was a god as did many of his followers and he did not believe he was capable of death...he was wrong.

1381 Because of the bubonic plague epidemic, the supply of laborers in England was very limited. A peasant worker named Wat Tyler led a large group of peasant laborers into London in a show of strength and began burning their way through the city. This started when Parliament refused to acknowledge that England needed the laborers and insisted on sticking to the feudal system and encouraged those owning large tracks of land to stick to the feudal system and not to bend to Wat Tyler and his mob. Parliament then raised the poll tax which essentially prevented the poor from voting. After this the revolt began. Eventually Wat gained audience with King Richard II and the king agreed to many of his demands. All this did was to slow down Wat and guys for a while so that King Richard II could gather together an army. Wat and the mayor of London had a meeting to hammer out an agreement. During the meeting, the mayor got so mad at Wat’s arrogance that he lunged at poor old Wat and fatally skewered him with his word. After this, the leadership of the poor laborers was gone and Richard’s army showed up and one of the worst massacres in world history occurred. Richard II decided to show Wat Tyler’s head on a pole for several weeks thereafter in a field near London.

1777 On this date 19 year old French Marquis de Lafayette arrived in Charleston, South Carolina. The Marquis volunteered his services to the fledgling American colonies who were seeking independence from Great Britain. When he left France on the way to the United States the British navy had known he was headed this way and set up a blockade looking for him. That is why he ended up in Charleston, South Carolina. In spite of his young age he was welcomed into the Army led by General George Washington and given the rank of Brigadier General. This assignment of rank rankled many of General Washington’s older officers but later on the Marquis prove his worth in combat. There were many occasions where the Marquis displayed his military training in one victory after another especially at the Battle of Yorktown.

            Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow