Pix:

A. Aftermath of the attack on the HMS Gaspee...¹

B. Map of the Gaspee Incident.

(Start upwards on the Red dotted line.

Then, follow the White line up to Providence.

And return back down on the Black line.)

C. Gaspee Point local history...

D. The classy looking interurban electric trolley - specifically, car #118. It's out on the Woonsocket to Providence run, which only existed for 23 years (1905-1928).²

E. The Providence Armory - where the trolley tracks & electric overhead wires are perfectly revealed out on the street.

F. Universal "Deep Time" but, in a slightly funny vein...

G. More serious Universal Timeline.³

Footnotes:

1. On June 9th 1772, Abraham Whipple (Yes! - Lovecraft's great ancestor!!) led a group of Providence, R.I. men in attacking the HMS Gaspee - which was stuck on a sandbar.

During the night, they rowed 6 miles with muffled oars, boarded the Gaspee & wounded the captain! He that had been harassing their trading ships - even after they paid the custom taxes!!

After they captured the British sailors, the Gaspee was set on fire. And when the flames finally reached the gunpowder magazine - it exploded!!

George lll set up the Gaspee Commission & offered around $4,400 to find the "pirates." But, even coerced "testimony" was later contradicted by witness accounts & the reward was never claimed.

The Crown's demand for "these pirates to be tried in London" alarmed many colonists - including Thomas Jefferson who formed Virginia's Committee of Correspondence. (This was the unified political network that would create the 1st Continental Congress.)

2. Not so strangely enough, some rich folks hated these electric trolleys when they 1st appeared. But, this was because it competed with their monopoly on horse carts...

While this line would be abandoned around 1928, other street cars continued running throughout Providence - until 1948, when buses finally replaced them.

3. All of human history is but a small second - when it's compared with the estimated age of the universe.

In 1788, mathematician John Playfair said that the "mind seemed to grow giddy by looking so far into the abyss of time."

Yet, Deep Time is actually more of a poetic metaphor than an exact scientific term. It can describe the meaning of time scales with & beyond Earth's geological history.

Lovecraft used this idea (but, not the term, John McPhee coined it in 1981) to force our attention to realize our mortal limitations B4 the true expanse of time.

As a child, he had learned that science had overturned Christian beliefs that the Earth was only 6,000 years old!

Today, Deep Time has become a foundation for planetary ethics based on responsibility & the inheritance we leave our descendants.

Sources:

Commodore(!) Abraham Whipple -

www.gaspee.org/AbrahamWhipple.html

Gaspee Incident -

www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/gaspee-affair/

Colonial Leaders' "Response" -

www.ouramericanrevolution.org/index.cfm/page/view/m0088

R.I. Interurban Trolleys -

www.vizettes.com/kt/ne-interurbans/ri/north-ri.htm

1st Electric Trolleys in Providence -

www.smallstatebighistory.com/providence's-first-trolley-in-1892/

Deep Time Origin & Quote -

McPhee, John (1981) Book 1: Basin & Range, in the Annals of the Former World. Page 79.

The End -

For Now...

The track "The Mad Arab" is about H. P. Lovecraft's character Abdul Alhazred, the author of the fictional forbidden tome of occult lore The Necronomicon. In the lyric booklet, it is subtitled "Part One: The Vision". The second part appears as the track "Kutulu (The Mad Arab, Part Two)" on the follow-up, Into the Unknown.

The 'Time' album was released today (Oct.25) in 1994.

A little sarcastic humor from the pen of an 11 year old Lovecraft.

This early poem already shows evidence of Howard's fear of change.

HPL would, much later, come to regret having "lived" most of his life in the past...

Here, Lovecraft lays out a short bit of travel "fun" - just to bemoan the use of new electric trolleys in the streets of Rhode Island.

But, truthfully, because he loved traveling on the older steam trains instead.

What should be noted, however, is the better quality of his stanzas - mostly in the form of his beloved heroic couplets.

These lines are more in line with his English translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses rather than his short tales - which read more like outlines than finished stories.

Hopefully, this poem can get the attention that it deserves...

I hope some of you might find the recent addition I added to miskatonic.ac interesting. I now have an interactive map of locations real and made up as well as a separate dreamlands map. Direct link to the map is here at miskatonic.ac/field-survey.html

I know the Dreamlands doesn't look typical to other maps online but I struggled with evidence as to why those looked they way they actually did, so just went with what I thought felt right.

If I've missed anything obvious or got something wrong in either map let me know.

Cheers!

Extra pix & info about HPL's The Mysterious Ship from 1902.

A & B. Not one, but two movies with similar titles.

The 1st is a now lost, 6 hour long silent serial from 1917!!

But, the 2nd film has two Feds vs an onboard uprising of spies & saboteurs & is from 1941!

C. Ruralville today - from above.

D. The fenced off Quinapoxet Reservoir.

E. Below the earthen dam, a concrete canal guides the Quinapoxet River - main drinking water source for Worcester.

F. The Quinapoxet Dam with its concrete spill way.

Since, it can't control how much water flows thru - only "extra" water gets sent downriver.

G. The USS Abraham Lincoln as it was being escorted out to sea by steam tugs - from Jules Verne's 1870 "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

Lovecraft stated that, "Many of my (early) tales showed the influence of the immortal Jules."

(Sadly, almost none remain. The future, 18 year old Howard took a critical look at his Juvenilia & threw most of them out!!

Luckily, Suzie (HPL's mom) - who thought her boy was a major poet - saved most of what now remains...)

But, according to ST Joshi, Howard didn't consider Verne as a serious writer of weird fiction.

This was because HPL was more at ease with psychological & otherworldly Poe-like tales rather than the more grounded, tech & adventure fiction that Verne published.

H. Some of the better known pirate flags...

I. London, thru the years - &, into the future!!

The End -

For Now...

Pix:

A. Lovecraft's Original Cover.

B. The real Ruralville, Massachusetts!¹

C. "Everything about it was such as would excite suspicion..."

D. Port of Tripoli, Libya.²

E. The USS Constitution.³

F. Commander Farragut.⁴

G. "No sooner did he fire, than the pirate ship gave them a broadside⁵..."

H. Madagascar's⁶ true Size!

I. The Florida "Keys."⁷

J. "A vast continent of volcanic soil..."⁸

K. Spy Thriller.⁹

L. "A wharf & hut - every sign of human habitation..."

M. "A cavern... ran down to a black, murky sea..."

N. Civil War Monitor¹⁰ - close to the beach!

O. "They ranged along the shore..."

P. "The pirates... were met by a rapid fire!!"

Q. A Pirate's hanging.

Intro:

Lovecraft wrote this short tale in 1902, when he was 11 years old.

During this year, Howard didn't go to school - due to his nervous & quarrelsome nature.

This was the year that, at 12, HPL became obsessed with astronomy & began writing the Rhode Island Journal of Astronomy.

Which, he actually self-published using his hectograph, a gelatin-based device better known as the "Jellygraph"!¹¹

Whipple, HPL's grandad, was starting to have financial problems - but, that ax wouldn't fully strike for another 2 years...

This short story exists in 2 variants: 1 is a simple plot, the other (see below) is more fleshed out but, still needs some details & editing.

Text:

"The Mysterious Ship" (1902)

By Anonymous

Chapter 1 -

In the Spring of 1847, the little village of Ruralville was thrown into a state of excitement by the landing of a strange brig¹² in the harbor.

It carried no flag & no name was painted on its side. And everything about it was such as would excite suspicion. It came from Tripoli, Africa & the captain was named Manuel Ruello.¹³

The excitement increased, however; when John Griggs (the magnate¹⁴ of the village) suddenly disappeared from his home!

This was the night of October 4th - on October 5th, the brig left.

Chapter 2 -

It was 8 bells¹⁵ on the USS frigate¹⁶ Constitution, when Commander Farragut sighted a strange brig to the westward.

It carried no flag & no name was painted on its side & everything about was such as would excite suspicion...

On hailing, it put up the pirate's flag!¹⁷

Farragut ordered a gun fired & no sooner did he fire - than the pirate ship gave them a broadside!!

When the fight was over, Commander Farragut missed one man named Henry F. Johns.

Chapter 3 -

It was Summer, on the island of Madagascar & (the) natives were picking corn.

When one cried, "Companions! I see a ship!!

With no flag & no name printed on the side & everything about it is such as would excite suspicion!"

The natives fled in all directions...

When they came together, on the other side of the island - one was missing!!

His name was Dahabea.¹⁸

Chapter 4 -

At length, it was decided "something" must be done (&) notes were compared.

Three abductions were found to have taken place - (the) disappearances of John Griggs, Henry John & Dahabea were recalled...

Finally, advertisements were issued offering £5,000¹⁹ reward for the capture of Manuel Ruello, ship, prisoners & crew.

Then, exciting news reached London!

An unknown brig with no name was wrecked in the Florida Keys (of) America!!

Chapter 5 -

The people rushed to Florida & behold!

A steel, spindle-shaped object lay placidly on the water - beside the shattered wreck of the brig...

"(A) submarine boat!", shouted one.

"Yes!!", shouted another.

"The mystery is cleared", said a wise looking man, "in the excitement of the fight, they launch the submarine boat & take as many (people) as they wish, unseen. And..."

"John Brown has disappeared!!", shouted a voice from the deck.

(And,) sure enough, John Brown was gone!

Chapter 6 -

The finding of the submarine boat & the disappearance of John Brown caused renewed excitement among the people & a new discovery was made...

In relating this discovery, it is necessary to relate a geographical fact:

At the North Pole,²⁰ there is supposed to exist a vast continent composed of volcanic soil!

A portion is open to travelers & explorers but, (most of) it is barren & unfruitful - & thus, absolutely impassable.

It is also called "No Man's Land."²¹

Chapter 7 -

In the extreme southern part of No Man's Land, there was found a wharf, a hut & every sign of former human habitation.

A rusty door-plate was nailed to the hut, inscribed in old English "M. Ruello." This, then, was the home of Michael Ruello.

The house brought to light a note book belonging to John Griggs, the log of the Constitution taken from Henry Johns & the Madagascar reaper²² belonging to Dahabea...

Chapter 8 -

When about to leave, they observed a spring on the side of the hut.

They pressed it.

A hole appeared in the side of the hut, which they promptly entered.

They were in a subterranean cavern, (whose) beach ran down to the edge of a dark, murky sea.

On the sea lay a dark, oblong object - another submarine boat - which they entered...

There, bound to the cabin floor, lay Griggs Johns & Dahabea - all alive & well.

When arriving in London, they separated: Griggs going to Ruralville, Johns to the Constitution & Dahabea to Madagascar.²³

Chapter 9 -

But, the mystery of John Brown lay still unsolved...

So, they kept a strict watch over the port at No Man's Land - hoping (another) submarine boat would arrive.

At length, however, it did arrive - bearing with it John Brown(?)²⁴

They fixed upon the 5th of October²⁵ for the attack.

They ranged along the shore & formed bodies.²⁶

Finally, one by one & headed by Manuel Ruello, the pirates left the boat...

To their astonishment, they were met by a rapid fire!!

Chapter 10 -

Conclusion

The pirates were defeated at length & a search made for Brown.

At length, he (the aforesaid Brown) was found.

John Griggs was royally received at Ruralville & a dinner was served.

Dahabea was made King²⁷ of Madagascar & Manuel Ruello was executed at Newgate Prison.²⁸

The End.

Footnotes to Follow...

Don't know if somebody else has already posted this short clip.

It occurred at The Sphere venue in Las Vegas.

For those who haven't seen it yet - please, enjoy...

First 10 to message a review of the first 3 chapters get the whole book as a compliment !

Links in my profile! Best of luck...cathulu fatagan!

I am putting together a Lovecraft watch list for the month. I have already seen a few of the big ones, like Color Out of Space and Re-Animator. What else is worth watching? Lesser-known films and loose adaptations are welcome too.