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

On 7 July 1836 Lieutenant Leib was order to join the Army Transport Schooner 'Motto' in command of a group of sailors and marines with three tasks to complete. The 'Motto' was apparently leased by the Army, as part of Leib's orders included a line that he was at no time to take an active part in the command of the vessel.

His first task was to deliver two artillery pieces to the island of Key West, which was accomplished without any problems.

The second was to call at Indian Key, near the centre of the chain of islands (the Florida Keys), to determine if they were storing an inordinate amount of gun powder, and remove any he thought was excessive to prevent the possibility of it falling into enemy hands. On entering the harbour the 'Motto' had her rudder knocked off by an uncharted rock. This caused them to spend almost a full week there to, at least temporarily, repair the damage. This forced Leib and his men to remain on the island while the ship could not sail. We do not if the populace were aware that the schooner was damaged, after he left Leib received many letters of thanks for letting his force spend so much time with them. He determined that the powder supply was only adequate for defence of the island. Near the end of the war the island was over run and all the buildings burned to the ground, but that was years away.

The third task was to locate the 'Gil Blas' and make sure her cargo was safe from the Seminoles. After all the delays the 'Motto' managed to anchor off the wreck of the 'Gil Blas' on 24 July. Leib had several of his men inspect the wreck, but they could find no lead, and little else of use. As a precaution Leib ordered the wreck to be burned so she might be reduced to sand and leave no sign for others to find her and conduct their own search.

The would be salvagers filed a suit against the government that would not be satisfied until the 1860's. In the end the court ruled that they had been wronged, but as they could not prove the value of their loss, the judgement did not award them any money.

As the 'Motto' sailed back to the south they saw the flames of another fire before them.

Next time we will arrive at the Florida Lighthouse.

F S

I came across "Gil Blas" in college [I as a French major"]. The author was Lesage, who also wrote "Turcaret," which I had to read for a course . John Hamilton Reynolds turned it into an opera in 1822, but no trace of the text survives. So I'm wondering if "Gil Blas" was a French ship? Or was the ship' name an allusion to the popularity of the opera?

[Amy P]

Hi paulh

Thank you for this information. Somehow I never did a search on the name, just the ship itself.

Everything I have found clearly says she was Spanish ship bound from Cuba back to Spain

Here is a short link about her http://www.modernreality.com/hillsborolighthouse/nwsltr/y2002_09/p7.pdf

I do have a transcript of the entire lawsuit in a pdf.

You asked about sailing all the was south in the Gulf Stream the other day. This would not have been done as the current runs in the wrong direction. They would have crossed as quickly as possible off New England, sailing south in the mid-Atlantic. They would not have reentered the current until they were almost in the Straits of Florida.

F S

Thanks for the explanation. That would account for the sailors remaining so cold. And, it was January, after all....

I have found a bit more about 'Gil Blas'. Yes it is a French novel, I found a mention of the Opera, but no more. I even found an English translation on line. The story itself is set in Spain, so it might not be so unusual for a Spanish ship to be given that name in the hope it would bring riches to the owner, of course we all know how that turned out

F S