Comments on: Ahistorical

By: virgil xenophon

virgil xenophon — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:24:44 +0000

Ron/

One of my favorite childhood reads! One of the very first things that ran thru my mind when I saw this post.

By: virgil xenophon

virgil xenophon — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:21:34 +0000

IIRC, it was, but I’m just an ex-zoomie, so ’tain’t no expert. Where have you been, fella? Long time no see.

By: Justthisguy

Justthisguy — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:05:06 +0000

Hey, I thought it was customary to doff shirts when serving the guns!

By: SCOTTtheBADGER

SCOTTtheBADGER — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:39:55 +0000

Sundays were “make and mend day” in the sail Navy.

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:06:19 +0000

I second that — so much of our Naval tradition comes from our British forefathers, and it becomes real onboard Victory. My takeaway was a realization of how violent and brutal naval warfare was in the 1800s.

And the plaque that says “Here Nelson fell” is a simple tribute, to an amazingly complex man. What great thoughts are wrapped up in “England expects that every man will do his duty”. Kinda like the one from Lee I saw every day during my institutionalization — “Duty is the sublimest word in the English language”. I know that at the tactical and below level, we understand those concepts. I’m not sure we understand it at the national level. We are the worse for it.

By: Ron Snyder

Ron Snyder — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:53:47 +0000

Mrs. M., if I may be so bold as to suggest a book: “Two Years Before the Mast” http://bit.ly/GN8Mu

Mr. Dana wrote about his experiences during a two year voyage in the early 1800′s, and is a darned good read.

V/R