Post by mmt on Nov 17, 2013 22:31:20 GMT
I visited one of my sons in Vancouver last week. He is in his final year at theatre school and a play he'd written is part of the graduating class presentation. I was absolutely surprised that he'd written about the Japanese-Canadian experience in British Columbia during WWII. Made me cry for certain sure.
While deciding what I wanted to do on Thursday I discovered that there is a Maritime Museum and, furthermore, that it holds a small archive of Nelson's letters and Trafalgar correspondence. The ladies at the desk wondered what happened to me because the museum is tiny and I'd been inside for close on 2 hours. You'll have to excuse the quality of the photos because the papers are displayed flat in showcases and it was the dickens trying to eliminate glare from the overhead lights.
These are a) the letter announcing Nelson's appointment as C in C in the Mediterranean and b) a transcription of the letter
This is the Order of Battle as laid out at Nelson's order by Admiral Collingwood. 27 copies were made one for each of the captains. 3 copies survive. The second photo is a close up. I especially like the teeny coloured flags which when flown from the corresponding mast indicated which ship was which. In the full photo you can see the 3 columns which are L to R, Fore Main and Mizzen.
A letter from Nelson, written left-handed, to Lord Northesk about the appointment of a lieutenant and the transcription.
After the battle an accounting was made of the French and Spanish ships. Here are 2 parts of the list of French ships and the transcription:
One section of the Spanish ship list and the transcription:
Also on display at the museum is the St. Roch, the (tiny) RCMP schooner that was the first ship to navigate the NorthWest Passage from west to east in the early 1940s. Now that's what I call messing about in boats.
`Nice? It's the ONLY thing,' said the Water Rat solemnly, as he leant forward for his stroke. `Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING--absolute nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing,' he went on dreamily: `messing--about--in--boats; messing----' Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
While deciding what I wanted to do on Thursday I discovered that there is a Maritime Museum and, furthermore, that it holds a small archive of Nelson's letters and Trafalgar correspondence. The ladies at the desk wondered what happened to me because the museum is tiny and I'd been inside for close on 2 hours. You'll have to excuse the quality of the photos because the papers are displayed flat in showcases and it was the dickens trying to eliminate glare from the overhead lights.
These are a) the letter announcing Nelson's appointment as C in C in the Mediterranean and b) a transcription of the letter
This is the Order of Battle as laid out at Nelson's order by Admiral Collingwood. 27 copies were made one for each of the captains. 3 copies survive. The second photo is a close up. I especially like the teeny coloured flags which when flown from the corresponding mast indicated which ship was which. In the full photo you can see the 3 columns which are L to R, Fore Main and Mizzen.
A letter from Nelson, written left-handed, to Lord Northesk about the appointment of a lieutenant and the transcription.
After the battle an accounting was made of the French and Spanish ships. Here are 2 parts of the list of French ships and the transcription:
One section of the Spanish ship list and the transcription:
Also on display at the museum is the St. Roch, the (tiny) RCMP schooner that was the first ship to navigate the NorthWest Passage from west to east in the early 1940s. Now that's what I call messing about in boats.
`Nice? It's the ONLY thing,' said the Water Rat solemnly, as he leant forward for his stroke. `Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING--absolute nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing,' he went on dreamily: `messing--about--in--boats; messing----' Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows