eBay score
I scored these splendid steampunk binoculars on eBay today for £46. They are quite large, measuring over 10 inches when fully extended. According to the seller they were handed down from his grandfather, and they once belonged to one of the crew on the RMS Carpathia, the ship that saved 705 people from the sinking Titanic. Of course it’s hard to prove the provenance but it’s a nice story and I’m sticking with it.
I’m going to mount them on the ceiling of the wheelhouse control room in my lifeboat studio, using a concertina scissor mechanism. This will give me a sweeping view of the North Sea, where yachts frequently founder on the shallow sandbanks. Sweet!
Rumour has it that the residents of small villages in Cornwall and the Hebrides used to rig fake navigation and lure ships onto the rocks, then plunder their cargos. I think this would be a terrific way to fund the completion of the studio, and for that matter, my forthcoming album. Lifeboat turns pirate ship! I love it.
The concept of having one thing masquerade as another is all around us, especially in the UK.. Road Safety Cameras – say no more.! We all like a good conspiracy, now there’s a theme for a song and a challenge, plenty of material out there..
And… from the last entry about song lyrics not making sense.. When I used to listen to Hip Hop back in the 80’s my Dad would always say that it was rubbish and didn’t make sense, all I used to say in return was, “so what was Little Richard trying to tell us when he came out with ‘A-Wop-bop-a-loo-lop a-lop-bam-boo’â€. So clearly if it sings well who cares if it’s factual in any way!…
There’s even an opera about them, “The Wreckers” by Ethel Smyth, a friend of Britten and Beecham. She was a prominent suffragette and noted outrageous lesbian. I’ve never heard more than a few excerpts, but everything Smyth did was eccentric and hilarious, so it would be worth adding to your collection.
“Lifeboat turns pirate ship! I love it.”
—————————————–
Everybody sing:
“… EUROPA!”
I live in a community that made a comfortable living down the years through wrecking and smuggling. I’m 100 per cent behind you on this, right up to the moment the revenue men turn up.
you sure you don’t want to build your own Wall*E with those?
Those are beautiful, Thomas. Great find!
I turned my wife onto eBay and taught her the art of the “snipe bid”. Now our home is filling with beautiful retro clocks and other bits of 1950′s Americana. The title of my forthcoming book will be “I Created an eBay Monster” (kidding!)
Looking forward to seeing pics of the Lifeboat studio when it’s done.
Thomas.
I don’t know if you are seeking any specific memorabilia, but there is a great stock of Naval relics here in Houston that I would be happy to scout for you. It’s on me. So name it.
BTW, great find. History is after all – His Story. Embellishments happen.
I must relay a story of my own.
In 1985, I flew to Nairobi, Kenya from Philadelphia and on to Diego Garcia. I had purchased a semi-used Walkman from a shipmate shortly before departure and was listening to tapes of George Clinton (R & B Skeletons in the closet), The Police and all of the intricacies of “The Golden Age of Wireless” and “The Flat Earth”, emphasis on the latter two compilations.
I must say, that “Flat Earth” is absolutely suited for a long flight over terrain that is meant to invoke contemplation inward.
So, thank you, for being unafraid to take the listener, like myself, up the tree and out to the very edge of a fragile branch and delivering us back to ground safely.
Hey Thomas, the coastal town of Nags Head, North Carolina got its name this way, too. During storms, the land pirates would run old busted nags up and down the sand dunes at night with lanterns tied to their necks. The effect from afar was that of a ship riding at anchor in a sheltered harbor, so captains would try to make anchorage & their ships would go aground. Or so goes the legend. I can’t imagine what other reason someone would name their town Nags Head.
My parents used to vacation us there every summer and I ended up with a great collection of legend and ghost story books from the area. My favorite is the mystery of Aaron Burr’s daughter, who is thought to have perished from just such a murderous pirate rampage. I always thought the story would make such a great Hollywood movie.
Talking about nonsense lyrics, I heard the other day that “Doo-Wah-Diddy” was code for “Do what daddy did to mummy to make me”. There’s no shortage of slightly disguised smut in popular music (reggae may be the least shamefaced exponent of the form), and it always gives me a measure of pleasure when a song about kink, drugs or other misbehaviour gets taken up by the straights and used for advertising. For some reason, songs about heroin are particularly good at this – Another Girl, Another Planet and Golden Brown are both perennial favourites – but from the moment the Beatles sang “She was just seventeen, if you know what I mean”, the game was afoot.
Elaine
Lot’s of history along the East coast of the U.S. The college of William and Mary paid for by the booties stolen by pirates that broke the rule of 20 with the Queen.
Nags head is absolutely beautiful.
And there are treasures to be had for those who persevere; from the National Wildlife Refuge South of Virginia Beach to Corolla. I know, first hand. The Wash Woods hold as much treasure as they do mystery.
Plenty of Steampunk happenings this year. We’d love to have you visit the California Steampunk Convention 2008 and Party at the Center of the Earth Concert in Sunnyvale, California in October, seeing how I am a musician and worship everything from “The Golden Age of Wireless”.
Nice find, with an interesting back story as well.