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Pizzaz
Supporter
Username: Pizzaz
Post Number: 2598
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 7:49 pm: |     |
A Synopsis of the Circumnavigation
The Golden Hind - Perhaps
(From the Hondius Broadside map of circa 1595)
Late in 1577, Francis Drake left England with five ships, ostensibly on a trading expedition to the Nile. On reaching Africa, the true destination was revealed to be the Pacific Ocean via the Strait of Magellan, to the dismay of some of the accompanying gentlemen and sailors. Still in the eastern Atlantic, a Portuguese merchant ship and its pilot - who was to stay with Drake for 15 months - was captured, and the fleet crossed the Atlantic, via the Cape Verde Islands, to a Brazilian landfall.
Running down the Atlantic South American coast, storms, separations, dissension, and a fatal skirmish with natives marred the journey. Before leaving the Atlantic, Drake lightened the expedition by disposing of two unfit ships and one English gentleman, who was tried and executed for mutiny. After rallying his men and unifying his command with a remarkable speech, Drake renamed his flagship, previously the Pelican, the Golden Hind.
In September of 1578, the fleet, now three ships, sailed through the deadly Strait of Magellan with speed and ease, only to emerge into terrific Pacific storms. For two months the ships were in mortal danger, unable to sail clear of the weather or to stay clear of the coast. The ships were scattered, and the smallest, the Marigold, went down with all hands. The Elizabeth found herself back in the strait and turned tail for England, where she arrived safely but in disgrace. Meanwhile, the Golden Hind had been blown far to the south, where Drake discovered - perhaps - that there was open water below the South American continent.
The storms abated, and the Golden Hind was finally able to sail north along the Pacific South American coast, into the previously undisturbed private waters of King Philip of Spain. The first stop, for food and water, was at the (now) Chilean Island of Mocha, where the rebellious residents laid a nearly disastrous ambush, having mistaken the English for their Spanish oppressors.
After this bad beginning in the Pacific the tide turned, and for the next five and a half months Drake raided Spanish settlements at will, among them Valpariso, Lima and Arica, and easily took Spanish ships, including the rich treasure ship "Cacafuego," leaving panic, chaos, and a confused pursuit in his wake. During this time, he captured and released a number of Europeans, whose subsequent testimony survives. The plundering was remarkable for its restraint; neither the Spanish nor the natives were intentionally harmed, there was very little violence, and there were very few casualties. Drake's crew in the Pacific was of unknown number, with estimates ranging from around sixty to one hundred men.
After stopping to make repairs at an island, Cano, off the coast of Southern Mexico and after a final raid, on the nearby (now vanished) town of Guatulco, the Golden Hind, awash with booty, including perhaps twenty-six tons of silver, sailed out of Spanish waters in April of 1579. As she left the sight of all Spanish observers, and of the captured Portuguese pilot who had been set ashore, she was accompanied by a small captured ship, crewed by Drake's men, which was kept for an unknown time.
Sailing first westerly and then northerly, well off the shore of North America, the leaking Golden Hind reached a northernmost position variously reported as between 48 degrees and 42 degrees north latitude, a range which includes most of Washington, all of Oregon, and a sliver of California. There, somewhere in the region he named Nova Albion, in the strangely cold and windy June of 1579, Drake found a harbor - reportedly at 48, 44, 38 1/2, or 38 degrees. He stayed in this now lost harbor for over five weeks, repairing the Golden Hind and enjoying extensive and peaceful contact with the Indians. Before he left he set up a monument, in the form of an engraved metal plate, which has never been found.
After stopping briefly at some nearby islands to fill out his larder, Drake turned his back to America and sailed into the vast Pacific. The crossing was uneventful, and landfall was made in sixty eight days, at a location which, like the Lost Harbor, remains elusive.
The next months were spent puttering about in the Indonesian archipelago, making promising commercial contacts, local political alliances and trading for spices - and again entering the sight of witnesses. Difficulty in finding a route through the thousands of islands nearly ended the journey in January of 1580, when the Golden Hind ran hard onto a reef in apparent open water; but after several desperate days a change of wind brought salvation.
Continuing westward, the Golden Hind crossed the Indian Ocean without incident, rounded the Cape of Good Hope into the Atlantic, sailed up the coast of Africa, and arrived triumphantly in England in the fall of 1580, nearly three years and some 36,000 miles having passed beneath her keel.
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LazyDog
Citizen
Username: Lazydog
Post Number: 90
Registered: 6-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 11:24 pm: | |
1 day
14.15 Arrival at Vladivostok airport. Meeting with the guide.
15.15 Transfer to Vladivostok.
16.00 Check in the hotel “Vladivostok”.
17.00 Dinner.
19.00 Sightseeing tour about Vladivostok (monuments of architecture, memorials to founders of Vladivostok, heroes of WWII, Lenin, revolutionists, two best viewpoints at funicular station and lighthouse, Square to the Fighters for Soviet Power, memorial submarine C-56, Korabel’naya Quay, milestone 9 288 km, Triumph Arch after Tsesarevich Nikolay II, etc.)
21.00 Return to the hotel.
2 day
10.00 Breakfast.
12.00 Voyage by cutter to the Russky Island with fishing (flatfish), and picnic on the island with ukha (Russian fish-soup).
18.00 Return to Vladivostok.
20.00 Dinner.
3 day
Breakfast.
Transfer to the airport.
Departure to Moscow.
Arrival at Moscow. Meeting with the guide. Transfer to the hotel.
Dinner.
4 day
Breakfast in the hotel.
Sightseeing tour about Moscow – the Red Square, Mausoleum, Alexander Garden, the Kremlin, GUM (the main Department Store).
Lunch.
Visiting/viewing Peter the Great monument, Christ the Saver Temple, Moscow State University, Vorobyovy mountains, Arbat (walking street). Dinner. Transfer to the railway terminal. Departure to Sanct-Peterburg. Night in the train.
5 day
Arrival at Sanct-Peterburg. Meeting with the guide at the railway terminal. Transfer to the hotel. Breakfast. Sightseeing tour about Sankt-Peterburg – Vasilyevsky Island, Rostral Columns, Nevsky Prospect, the Kazansky cathedralå, Isaakievsky Cathedral, Dvortsovaya (the Palace) Square, “Copper Horseman” (Medny Vsadnik) Statue, Admiralteystvo, the Smolny Cathedral. Lunch. Visit the Ermitage museum. Dinner.
6 day
Breakfast. Tour to Petergof - Sanct-Peterburg suburbs. Lunch. Visit to cruiser “Avrova”. Dinner. Transfer to the railway terminal. Departure to Moscow by train. Night in the train.
7 day
Arrival at Moscow. Breakfast. Visit to Russian Exhibition Center, Moscow subway. Transfer to the airport. Departure to your destination
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Dave
Supporter
Username: Dave
Post Number: 7604
Registered: 4-1997
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2005 - 12:03 am: | |
Friday Leave LAX on ANA at 11:30 am.
Saturday Arrive Beijing in evening, next day . Overnight Song He Hotel.
Sunday Vist to Yong He Gong Temple. Take to airport for afternoon flight Urumqi. Overnight at the Holiday Inn.
Monday Drive to Turpan. Visit the Flaming Cliffs, Bezerklik 1000 Buddha Caves, Sugongta Pagoda, Gaochang Ruins. Enjoy singing and dancing show in the evening. Overnight at the Turpan Hotel.
Tuesday Visit the Jiaohe Ruins in the morning. Drive from Turpan to Korla. Overnight at the Bayinggolin Hotel.
Wednesday Visit the Iron Door Gate and Lotus Lake (Bositeng Lake). Boat rideon the lake. Drive to Kucha in the afternoon. Overnight Kucha Hotel. Explore the old town in the evening.
Thursday Visit the Kizilgaha 1000 Buddha Caves, Kizilgaha Beacon Tower and Kucha Temple. Drive from Kucha to Aksu. Overnight at the Aksu Friendship Hotel.
Friday Drive from Aksu to Kashi. Overnight at the Kashi Qianhai Hotel.
Saturday Visit the Big Bazar, Old town, Id Kah Mosque, Aba Hoja Tomb. Night Market. Overnight Qianhai Hotel.
Sunday Grand Bazaar. Late fliight to Urumqi . Holiday Inn.
Monday Fly from Urumchi to Yining. Visit the Yili River Bridge, Huiyuan Ancient City, Sailimu Lake. Overnight at Yilite Hotel.
Tuesday Visit with a local family, Orchid and Huolongdong Hot springs. Fly back to Urumqi. Overnight Holiday Inn.
Wednesday Fly to Altai City. Visit local museum, Kazakh baazar in town. Altai Hotel.
Thursday Drive to Khanas. Overnight Lake Khanas Villas (near the River)
Friday Drive back to Altai City.
Saturday Visit ancient paleographic site outside of Altai. Evening flight to Urumchi.
Sunday. Free day in Urumchi.
Monday Fly Urumchi to Beijing, in transit to Narita. Overnight ANA Hotel.
Tuesday Free morning. Self tour of Narita Temple. Fly to LAX. |
monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1390
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2005 - 1:58 pm: | |
1st Day
While stationed in Germany, went on a 45 day leave
2nd Day to 40th day
Partied, went to concerts, and toured around Europe by car, by rail, by bus, by bike, and by boat.
Ended up in a Barn in the south of France once, had no clue as to how exactly I got there, but at least she was pretty.
Partied with the Bulldog in Amsterdam, ate Vietnamese in Paris, had Italian in Switzerland, went Spanish in Spain, but ate Brussels in Austria.
After a little more than a month my alarm went off and I settled down and went home.
Day 46
Went back to work in Kaiserslautern |
Pizzaz
Supporter
Username: Pizzaz
Post Number: 2606
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2005 - 2:30 pm: | |
The meals sound suspicious. Was it delicious to have Italian in Switzerland, Vietnamese in Paris and Spanish in Spain?
BTW: Where was the girl in the barn from?  |
monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1392
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2005 - 2:51 pm: | |
I like the trains there, with the seats that pull out into a bed for the times when you are traveling overnight. |
Mayor McCheese
Supporter
Username: Mayor_mccheese
Post Number: 543
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2005 - 11:02 pm: | |
Monster, I got away with a direct and personal attack when I said that you smell.
I am rebeling against the man. (Or in this case, men, Jamie and Dave.) |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 10035
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2005 - 11:15 pm: | |
You can use "the man" collectively. Jamie and Dave are the man, because they are the powers that be.
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monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1395
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 12:28 am: | |
and yet, they are still men.... |
buzzsaw
Citizen
Username: Buzzsaw
Post Number: 2805
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 10:14 am: | |
they are devo |
Pizzaz
Supporter
Username: Pizzaz
Post Number: 2622
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 12:56 pm: | |
Captain James Cook
James Cook was born on the 27th October 1728, of humble stock, in the little Yorkshire village of Marton. The cottage in which James was born has long since been demolished, and nothing now remains but vestiges of the pump. But his memory is kept green by a flourishing Captain Cook Memorial School founded in 1850. The Cooks soon moved to the village of Great Ayton, where they lived in a cottage that still stands by the stream, while James's father built a more commodious cottage to house his growing family. Of this cottage nothing remains - in England, though a small obelisk in an enclosed space marks the plot where it stood. It was taken down stone by stone and brick by brick and transported to Australia where it has been rebuilt in Melbourne public gardens - one of Australia's most cherished relics.
At Ayton James attended Mr. Pullen's little school where he seems to have shown a flair for figures. He also owed much kindness to the people of the Manor. But it was soon time for him to earn his living; and his father apprenticed him to a Mr. Sanderson who kept a general stores at Staithes. (The name Sanderson occurs on tombstones in Ayton churchyard.) So James went off to the astonishing little harbour-town of Staithes which lies tucked in at the base of the cliffs and is reached by one precipitous road. There he worked all day in an atmosphere of haberdashery and groceries, slept under the counter at night, and in his scant free time listened to the tales of sailormen down by the tiny harbour, or outside the 'Cod and Lobster'.
James stood it for a year and a half. One story is that he got up early one morning and ran away to sea, thus breaking his indentures. Others say it is more likely that Mr. Sanderson, realizing that the life of shop-boy was no life for James, came to a kind and amicable arrangement. What we do know is that James walked the thirteen miles over the cliff to Whitby, found a collier lying alongside the quay, and offered his services to the mate. And the mate, liking the look of the lad, sent him off to see the owners of the little collier fleet - the Walker Brothers, Quakers, of Whitby. James was appointed, and the life of his choice had begun. They plied chiefly between Newcastle and London; but it is certain that they also visited Norway, the Baltic, and Ireland.
Years passed, and James won his mate's certificate; and there is no doubt he would have been appointed skipper of one of the collier fleet had not the Seven Years War broken out. After much thought Cook decided to volunteer, and was sent out to America. At once he made his mark, and before long he found himself master of a king's ship, the Mercury, and was sent to join Admiral Saunders who was besieging Quebec. There he was given the difficult and dangerous work of charting the channel of the St. Lawrence right up to the French lines, and he did it superlatively well. He worked at night in peril of his life - on one occasion Indians leapt on to the stern of his boat as he jumped off the bows - but the work was done, and found to be absolutely reliable. But how he found time, or obtained the necessary books, to make himself an expert surveyor and cartographer, and to study mathematics and astronomy to the point of contributing papers to the Royal Society on abstruse mathematical problems such as finding location by the moon, is a mystery that will never now be explained.
It happened that in 1766 the Government were looking for a man to command a ship for a cruise to the Pacific with the object of observing the transit of Venus. James Cook was the man for the post; he was given a ship, the Endeavour, of the serviceable Whitby collier type which he knew so well, and with a company of eighty-five set sail from Plymouth in August 1768, for the first of his three great voyages.
They rounded Cape Horn, and arrived at the lovely island of Otaheite, where they observed the transit of Venus - and the charms of the inhabitants. For three months they stayed there, on the friendliest terms; the king of the neighbouring island of Huaheine even insisted on exchanging names with the captain - and "Cookee" and "Oree" they became. Next they discovered and named the Society Islands, and then sailed for New Zealand, which was found to consist of two great islands admirably adapted for settlement "should this ever be thought an object worthy the attention of Englishmen." The soil was most fertile, the trees were splendid, the natives vigorous and healthy, though somewhat addicted to cannibalism. Domestic animals were lacking, and that Captain Cook determined to remedy at some future time.
Then they sailed for Australia - New Holland as it was called - explored the east coast for two thousand miles, and took over the country in the king's name. Narrowly escaping disaster when the ship ran on a coral reef, and "beat with great violence upon the rock", they made for Batavia, sailing between New Holland and New Guinea, thus proving them to be two distinct countries.
And now malarial fever and dysentery broke out: the whole ship's company were down with it at one time or another, and no less than a third of them died. They made their way home by way of the Cape and St. Helena, and dropped anchor in the Downs.
Cook spent but little time with his family, for in the following autumn he received another commission, "to complete the discovery of the Southern Hemisphere". He was given two ships, the Resolution and the Adventure, which he took great care to provision with proper food stores, including lemons, enough to last for two years. He left England in July 1772, and sailed by way of the Cape far south into the Antarctic Ocean. For weeks he sailed among icebergs, pushing south wherever he found an opening, while the ship rolled gunwale to, and the frozen rigging cut their hands. After a run of "three thousand five hundred leagues" they put into Dusky Bay, New Zealand, where they landed domestic animals and planted English vegetables. The next few weeks were spent among the islands, where old King Oree was overjoyed to see them; and then once more they sailed to the southern ice. At last in January they reached the great ice-field and could go no further. Cook sailed his ship right round the Pole, and the great southern continent of the old maps proved to be non-existent. He turned for home, discovering and naming many islands; and after crossing a greater space of sea than any ship had ever crossed before, returned once more to England. And this time, during the whole voyage, they lost but one man by disease.
In less than a year Captain Cook was again in command of the Resolution, but not before he had been promoted to the rank of post-captain, and had been presented with the gold medal of the Royal Society and a Fellowship. On this voyage he had with him as navigation officer a young man of twenty-three, of outstanding navigational ability and a sense of location amounting almost to "second sight". His name was Bligh, to be known the world over in years to come as Bligh of the Bounty. The object of this third voyage was to find out whether there existed a north-east passage from Pacific to Atlantic; and for this purpose he sailed to the Pacific, visiting Van Diemen's Land, New Zealand, Otaheite, and the Friendly Islands. Then course was set for North America. The Sandwich Islands were discovered in February, the mainland of America sighted in March 1778. All summer they explored the coast from Oregon northwards, through the Bering Strait, right up to Icy Cape, enduring storm and hardship and privation without complaint; but there was no sign of an ice-free north-east passage; and Captain Cook decided to return to Hawaii in the Sandwich Islands.
Then came the end. The natives were celebrating victory when they arrived, and mistook the Englishmen for their great god Lono and his immortal company. Divine honours were offered; and strangely enough Cook accepted them - perhaps because he was prepared to accept anything that made for the success of the expedition. Trouble soon began, when it became apparent that the entertainment of a god was an exceedingly expensive affair; while the death of one of the immortal crew, and his burial on the island, put a certain strain on even native credulity. Quarrels became frequent; sticks and stones were freely used; and Cook decided to sail away, much to everybody's relief.
Within a week the Resolution had sprung her foremast, and they were back again. Trouble began immediately. One of the cutters was stolen, and Captain Cook put ashore in some force to effect restitution. Natives crowded the beach, armed and excited. Stones were thrown and there was some firing. Cook turned, and as he did so was stabbed in the back and speared. He fell dead into the water.
Thus died Captain Cook at the age of fifty-one. His indomitable perseverance and courage, his disdain of comfort, his calmness and capacity in danger, and his singleness of purpose, have, with his stupendous achievements, marked him as one of the greatest of Englishmen.
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Mayor McCheese
Supporter
Username: Mayor_mccheese
Post Number: 544
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 2:33 pm: | |
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monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1396
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 3:31 pm: | |
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Pizzaz
Supporter
Username: Pizzaz
Post Number: 2629
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 10:44 pm: | |
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monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1400
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Friday, October 14, 2005 - 12:09 am: | |
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Mayor McCheese
Supporter
Username: Mayor_mccheese
Post Number: 545
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Friday, October 14, 2005 - 12:25 am: | |
For Mr. Buzzsaw
I found a buzzsaw for you.
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buzzsaw
Citizen
Username: Buzzsaw
Post Number: 2810
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, October 14, 2005 - 10:05 am: | |
Mr Mayor.
I must have drank about 100 gallons of pepsi out of a glass just like this. I miss that glass. Have you ever dipped a few pringles into a glass of pepsi? If not, you ain't livin'
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Mayor McCheese
Supporter
Username: Mayor_mccheese
Post Number: 546
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Friday, October 14, 2005 - 11:10 am: | |
I can't say that I have.
That is a beautiful glass though. |
monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1402
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Friday, October 14, 2005 - 2:08 pm: | |
speakin' of dipping, have you ever dipped your....
allow time for your wick to become saturated with fuel... After de-virginizing your wick, soaking your toys in fuel for a minute or two is usually long enough... An optimum fuel station will consist of; an area roped off from the audience with easy access for you and enough room for you to dip your toys and spin off, and two containers (one Dipping Bucket, one Spin Off Bucket)... Hold your burn under gently running cool water for about ten minutes to return the area to normal body temperature.... Do not apply lotions or moisturizers, Do not prick blisters, Do not overcool with ice, and Do not put towels or adhesive bandages directly on your burn.... Pressure splits are another common injury and occur when your toys hit your body hard enough to cause an open wound... Head wounds will bleed a lot so don’t be alarmed by the amount of blood that comes from a small pressure split on the head.... |
buzzsaw
Citizen
Username: Buzzsaw
Post Number: 2818
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, October 14, 2005 - 3:05 pm: | |
http://www.zod2008.com/
this might just be the best web site ever. |
monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1404
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Friday, October 14, 2005 - 4:11 pm: | |
Mr. Zod, will there be lots of toys when you are President?
- Katie Vargas
Spokane, WA
General Zod replies: Child, let me explain something quite important to you. Under my new order, I allow you to live. In return for your obedience, you enjoy my generous protection. I expect tribute. Your tricycle, your dolls, everything you own. All these you will gladly give to me. All swear allegience to Zod!
LONG LIVE ZOD! |
buzzsaw
Citizen
Username: Buzzsaw
Post Number: 2821
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, October 14, 2005 - 9:46 pm: | |
If each person on the Planet Houston knows five informants, and it takes ten minutes to relay a report, how quickly will General Zod learn about his picture being defaced in a town of 500 people?
I cry with joy everytime I think of Zod.
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Pizzaz
Supporter
Username: Pizzaz
Post Number: 2641
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, October 15, 2005 - 8:48 am: | |
I like it when he has his own knelling to do.
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buzzsaw
Citizen
Username: Buzzsaw
Post Number: 2832
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, October 16, 2005 - 8:02 pm: | |
Non drops a man from a height of 20,000 feet. If the man falls at 200 feet per second, how many seconds will it take for him to hit the ground?  |
Mayor McCheese
Supporter
Username: Mayor_mccheese
Post Number: 555
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, October 16, 2005 - 8:33 pm: | |
Buzzsaw - I think that it depends on where you are. Are we talking about somewhere in the vacuum of space, or in our moon's atmoshere, or are we on Earth?
Also, out of curiosity, does the man who is falling have any facial hair? A mustache maybe? |
buzzsaw
Citizen
Username: Buzzsaw
Post Number: 2843
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, October 17, 2005 - 12:36 pm: | |
an attempted mustache |
monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1422
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Monday, October 17, 2005 - 1:16 pm: | |
baby fuzz |
Mayor McCheese
Supporter
Username: Mayor_mccheese
Post Number: 557
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Monday, October 17, 2005 - 1:55 pm: | |
OK, then it all makes sense. |
monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1552
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 9, 2005 - 1:57 pm: | |
This thread was feeling a little lonely, and I thought "I'm sure everyone knows someone who deserves a medal"....
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