h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: HMS Captain - A87801582
Author: Bluebottle - U43530

Take a voyage to the bottom of the sea...

At the start of the year, Florida Sailor wrote 'From Sail to Steam - Evolution of a Navy'
More recently, Tucuxii wrote 'Guano, Rubber, Oil and Railways'
I criticised them both, so I think it's fair to give them both a chance for revenge and criticised something I've written on the subject.

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Excellent work

I have a challange for you ....... SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT

Naval History HMS Friday the origins of the myth and the superstition of sailors Friday 13th


SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT just up your street

What I love about this:

1. It is extremely readable.
2. The story is exciting.
3. The headers make the action easy to follow.

What I don't love about this:

1. As usual, it is extremely LONG. Naval history buffs will love it. The rest of us start yawning about 2/3 of the way down, because we are suffering from TMNI - Too Much Nautical Information.

That said, I never knew the British were so afraid the French would invade in the mid-19th Century. This puts a completely different complexion on those silly navy songs in G&S's 'Patience'.

Now, go back to ignoring me and talking about gunwales and suchlike technical stuff.

Very well done.

In the 'Monitor' Section you might want to mention that several larger types were built with double turrets, as you get into multiple turrets later.

>>Although the Monitor Weehawken forced the ironclad CSS Atlanta to surrender, it sank soon after.4

Could you clarify which vessel sank? It leaves a bit of confusion.

>The survivors made landfall at Corcubion Bay on the coast of Spain

With a grew of 500, 472 lost and 18 recovered at sea it would seem to imply that a total of 10 men made it to Spain, could you confirm or correct?



I did notice a place or two where a word or two are missing on my first read. I did not spot them this time , but I will look closer later,

F S

Thanks all – some changes made.

Bob's mentioned that there is a story that sailors believe that Fridays are unlucky, and that the Royal Navy decided to prove once and for all that there was no basis for this superstition. So they decided to build a HMS Friday to be commanded by Captain Friday, with constructing the ship's keel begun on a Friday and the vessel launched on a Friday, only for it to sink on a Friday.

It's a fun little story, but not actually true.

It is possible to look at the Royal Navy's disasters (sinking of Mary Rose, Royal George, naval defeats etc) and victories and see how many of either took place on a Friday to try to gather whether or not Fridays are statistically unlucky, but it isn't something I plan to do at the moment. HMS Captain sank on a Wednesday.

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well done