andy cannon
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Everything posted by andy cannon
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True! and he's getting worse!
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As I was reading this chapter through one last time before posting it, I did wonder what the heck was I thinking when he wrote that? He may need to toss his diary to the sharks in the next chapter.
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A Hand at the Helm Amber light fractured across the map-strewn table; the wardroom was hushed. The usual din of tea cups, log books, and easy chatter had not yet begun; only the faint creak of the hull and the sigh of sails overhead reminded them the ship was still, tethered in the calm waters off Barbados. Lieutenant Vane sat alone at the far end of the table, one long finger tracing the lip of his tin cup. His eyes were on the letter. It had been handed to him just momen
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Under the Quarterdeck Awning As he sun climbed, the stench of sickness rose with it. By order of the surgeon, the sick bay had been emptied, cots dragged up one by one, their occupants blinking or moaning in the sudden light. Sailors moved carefully, stepping over buckets of seawater and mounds of damp linen. In the lower decks, crew scrubbed the wooden bulkheads with vinegar and salt, while a slow column of bitter-smelling smoke curled up from a pot of burning rosemary and juni
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Yeah, you can see that one coming down the pike.
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It's the way of families everywhere, isn't it? No matter how successful you are, no matter how many medals you have won, no matter how much respect you have accrued, there is always an older brother who remembers you couldn't remember which shoe went on which foot for months.
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Not Dying Sickbay -- the Fifth Day When the young midshipman arrived on the evening of the fifth day to read to the officer, Mr. Turner gave him a brief update. The fevers seemed lower, still too high, but improved. All patients were resting more comfortably, though none had come alert. The surgeon opened the shutters over the grate high on the bulkhead in the vain hope of easing the stifling heat in the sickbay, then retired to his bolthole for some much-needed rest. The lad was good
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Certainly I have not been as scrupulous about the dates on replies as I should be, generally opting for a four-week lag rather than a more realistic eight-to-ten week period. It seems that there was a vigorous rotation of ships between the UK and distant fields of conflict, but news was slow to come, It must have been like playing a chess game by mail, and the Admiralty was always responding to circumstances that had long since changed.
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I think the publishing date of 1808 is correct, so since the story has advanced to 1810, Pitt could plausibly have a copy of it if he is the sort of fellow who is dialed in in the latest trends in poetry.
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All I can do is beg your indulgence while the characters dawdle on their way to a denouement. As their actions come under increasing scrutiny and suspicion over the remaining chapters, for some reason it was important to me that they be innocent of any crime vis-a-vis the Articles of War. Please be patient with them for a bit longer, especially William, who has turned into more of a horse's patoot than I would have expected.
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Right! Something like that.
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I didn't have any specific known illness in mind, but something similar to typhoid fever, maybe, without the contact communicability? I read about Royal Navy ships in the Caribbean in the 18th and 19th centuries picking up yellow fever or other acute tropical diseases, and half of the crew would be dead in two weeks or so. I shied away from that much historical accuracy.
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The Fourth Day The fever did not break. Turner made no predictions now. He moved through the surgery like a ghost in shirtsleeves, administering draughts, dampening cloths, and saying very little. The marines drifted in and out of lucidity. One of the sailors had taken to quoting Bible verses backwards. Pitt remained still except when he wasn’t. His muttering had turned rhythmic, an unbroken tide of disjointed phrases, all of them foreign, fractured, or half-swallowed by heat. On
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We'll leave Pitt lingering at death's door form the fever for another chapter of two before returning to more battle adventures. As for Vane, you know he has much more mischief up his sleeve, and the mysterious letter may be the match set to the powder.
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The letters between the three midshipmen and their mothers were all a labor of love and remain very close to my heart, and they capture a little of what these young men were risking their lives for. It has been a quarter century since I first heard Sullivan Ballou's letter to his wife before the battle of Bull Run in Ken Burns series Civil War, and it still chokes me up.
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Under Caribbean Stars The days passed with a kind of sleepy vigilance. The Absolute, sails trimmed to the trade winds, moved in easy, wide loops between Barbados and Saint Lucia. Her coppered hull slipped through turquoise seas, charting a path of vigilance amid merchantmen, gulls, and distant squalls. Each morning brought muster on the sunlit quarterdeck; each evening, an easy reefing of sails beneath burning stars. The war, for a time, felt like it belonged to some other he
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Well, it won't take 23 years or 42 chapters, for that matter, but it does take a little more time.
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My brother, if you are vexed now, by the time William sorts himself out, I fear you will be apoplectic! Pitt is lucky that Jamie has a generous, forgiving nature, since otherwise his repressed behavior would only bring a cold shoulder.
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Tuesday, April 22, 2025 (I)
andy cannon commented on Celian's story chapter in Tuesday, April 22, 2025 (I)
Very promising start! -
Lovely chapter.
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Great story! Looking forward to your next magnum opus.
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Act III - No-one Mourns The Wicked
andy cannon commented on Jack Poignet's story chapter in Act III - No-one Mourns The Wicked
A very satisfying conclusion to a fantastic story! -
Great chapter!
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The chamber convulsed. Candles guttered, relics clattered, shadows bent as the air itself ripped open. Power surged, drowning the heat of their bodies in something vaster, unstoppable. Hadrian lunged, catching Zain as his knees gave way. They collapsed together, tangled, breath colliding—too close, too much—just before the world went dark. That is quite the cliff hanger! Can't wait for the next installment!
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Yes, I see that. Blake and Pitt are restrained by legal considerations, although Pitt has hinted at a ethical issue with the difference in their ages. I don't think they see themselves as immoral or unethical, but another relationship could be complicated by those views. As an example, I'm thinking of pedophilia. It has been a while since I read Lolita, but I seem to recall that Humbert Humbert was nattering on from time to time about the ethics of his love/
