AnneElliot
Midshipman
Waving, not drowning.
Posts: 75
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Post by AnneElliot on Mar 11, 2014 14:01:59 GMT
How about a letter from Styles to the ship's steward, after his ship was boarded by the crew of the Constitution:
"So here I was, pressed into service as a cook. Told them I was really good with chickens, so they shipped me off to a posh white mansion. Hadn't seen a woman in six months. I was making eyes at Dolly while adding a packet of pepper to the soup. Was really gunpowder. Burned the whole house down. Oops. I knew there was something fishy about that fire. How about from Doughty after he swims for it?
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HMSCody
Lieutenant
Happy to be of service, as ever.
Posts: 427
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Post by HMSCody on Apr 5, 2014 17:54:59 GMT
Does anyone here know of any museum's period letter collection being digitized/transcribed and becoming available online?
How about historic British newspapers from the second half of 1813 to the first half of 1814?
I'm trying to encourage the class with as many links to stuff as possible but I'm not having any luck, beyond one Google book on letter writing (in addition to the one on the Acasta site). Any help from this clever crew would be appreciated. Thanks!
HMSCody back to the hunt
ETA: The Good Doctor is doing a series of posts on how to write letters, inspiration, subject matter, etc. this week (April 7-11). So go check it out!
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HMSCody
Lieutenant
Happy to be of service, as ever.
Posts: 427
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Post by HMSCody on Apr 30, 2014 15:32:20 GMT
I just received the first extra-credit letter from one of my students to a member of the Acasta crew. It is pretty danged funny and only needs a small tweak or two to be perfectly period appropriate. I can't wait to see what the rest of the gang comes up with.
HMSCody
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Post by shipoftheline on Apr 30, 2014 16:05:08 GMT
Any chance you would be sharing them here?
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Post by Phizz on Apr 30, 2014 21:17:30 GMT
Any chance you would be sharing them here? Oh yes! I'd love to see what they came up with ... but only if they're willing to share! Duh! They're the Facebook generation... sharing is what they do! ~Phizz
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HMSCody
Lieutenant
Happy to be of service, as ever.
Posts: 427
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Post by HMSCody on May 1, 2014 16:21:12 GMT
How about some anonymous excerpts in July, after the Acastas read their mail? Just in case some of them check in over here.
Hey, you never know!
HMSCody
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Post by Phizz on May 3, 2014 0:56:11 GMT
That would be great!
~Phizz
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AnneElliot
Midshipman
Waving, not drowning.
Posts: 75
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Post by AnneElliot on May 6, 2014 16:00:47 GMT
I look forward to that!
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HMSCody
Lieutenant
Happy to be of service, as ever.
Posts: 427
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Post by HMSCody on May 6, 2014 18:30:29 GMT
Oh, shipmates, I just received one that has me rolling on the floor.
Some of the submissions need some real tweaking, but a few of the students gave it a good try and produced some things of beauty (word-wise, at least).
Again, if any of you want to write one but don't want to have to do the pen-to-paper end of the deal, I'll be happy to do the scribing if you'll come up with the wordsmithin'.
HMSCody
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AnneElliot
Midshipman
Waving, not drowning.
Posts: 75
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Post by AnneElliot on Jul 23, 2014 22:37:11 GMT
Hola, Cody! Did you see that the Acasta website gave you a shout out among their special thanks for the mail they received? Go check it. I am there, too. In fact, you may detect a certain sense of humor behind the letter read by the Surgeon's Mate in the little video. Who, who would strive for outside-the-box humor in a period context? Who, I wonder?
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HMSCody
Lieutenant
Happy to be of service, as ever.
Posts: 427
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Post by HMSCody on Jul 24, 2014 3:49:38 GMT
Who indeed?!? Tee hee.
I did spy a certain Shipmate's name among those cited... and wondered if it could be the same one I knew...
Oh, poor Mr. Girard! I also suspected that his unhappy missive may have originated on board this ship knowing the general sense of humor around here. One of his debt notices was from one of my students (the one in French) and when I saw the video I wanted to apologize for making him unhappy.
I have been having such a good time seeing the photos of the event coming over The Book of Face. It did not surprise me one bit to see the Horatians hanging with the Acastas and indeed it was most satisfying. They seem as good when met by my friends as I imagined them to be.
Were you present when the Doctor opened the letter from his German colleague in Heidelberg?
HMSCody
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HMSCody
Lieutenant
Happy to be of service, as ever.
Posts: 427
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Post by HMSCody on Jul 24, 2014 4:06:39 GMT
As for an anonymous excerpt of letters sent by my students, one of them wrote to one of the crew telling him that a mutual school friend was in great need of comfort as his fiancé had abandoned him. In the next paragraph he announced that he himself was getting married, to the same girl that had abandoned their friend, and would he stand up with him at the wedding? Two wrote great descriptions of the Thames freezing over and the Frost Fair that was held on the ice. Here's a bit of one: He might have gotten parts of this right off of a historic newspaper, but I was so happy that he even found it that I gave him some points.
HMSCody
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