Good morning, Whitewater.
We’ll have a Wednesday of partly cloudy skies and mild temperatures, with a high of seventy-one. Sunrise is 6:06 and sunset 7:50, for 13h 44m 13s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 19.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
Constitution after defeat of Guerriere. Via Wikipedia.
If one is made of strong stuff, success is more likely. On this day in 1812, U.S.S. Constitution defeats and forces the surrender of the British frigate Guerriere:
At 2:00 p.m. on 19 August, the Constitution sighted a large ship to leeward, and bore down to investigate. The weather was cloudy, and the wind was brisk. The strange ship proved to be the Guerriere, whose crew recognised Constitution at about the same moment. Both ships prepared for action, and shortened sail to “fighting sail”, i.e. topsails and jibs only. As the Constitution closed, Dacres first hove to to fire a broadside, which fell short, and then ran before the wind for three quarters of an hour with the Constitution on her quarter. Dacres yawed several times to fire broadsides at the Constitution, but the Guerriere’s broadsides were generally inaccurate, while the few shots fired from Constitution’s foremost guns had little effect.[10] After one cannonball bounced “harmlessly” off the side of the Constitution, a crew member is said to have yelled “Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron!”[8]
Once the range had closed to within a few hundred yards, Captain Hull ordered extra sail (the foresail and main topgallant sail) to be set, to close the distance quickly. Dacres did not match this manoeuvre, and the two ships began exchanging broadsides at “half pistol-shot”,[11] with the Constitution to starboard and Guerriere to port. After fifteen minutes of this exchange, during which Guerriere suffered far more damage than the Constitution due to the latter’s larger guns and thicker hull, Guerriere’s mizzenmast fell overboard to starboard, acting like a rudder and dragging her around. This allowed Constitution to cross ahead of Guerriere, firing a raking broadside which brought down the main yard. Hull then wore ship to cross Guerriere’s bow again, firing another raking broadside, but the manoeuvre was cut too close and the Guerriere’s bowsprit became entangled in the rigging of the Constitution’s mizzenmast….As Constitution prepared to renew the action, the Guerriere fired a shot in the opposite direction to the Constitution.[14] Sensing that this was an attempt to signal surrender, Hull ordered a boat to take a Lieutenant over to the British ship. When the Lieutenant boarded the Guerriere and asked if Guerriere was prepared to surrender, Captain Dacres responded “Well, Sir, I don’t know. Our mizzen mast is gone, our fore and main masts are gone – I think on the whole you might say we have struck our flag.”[2]
Here’s the midweek game in Puzzability‘s Kings and Queens series:
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This Week’s Game — August 17-21
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Kings and Queens
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We’re melding royal pairs this week. For each day, we started with the first name of a famous person whose last name is King, and also a word that can be followed by “queen” to get a familiar phrase or title. Each day’s clue shows the King name and the queen word melded together in a string of letters, with each in order but intermingled with the other.
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Example:
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VAILRAGNIN
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Answer:
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Alan/virgin
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What to Submit:
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Submit the King name and the queen word, in that order (as “Alan/virgin” in the example), for your answer.
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Wednesday, August 19
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