In the days leading up to the 2016 Jane Austen Festival, we'll be looking back at some older posts that showcase the Acastas and their participation in the Festival!
Originally posted in 2013
Whilst ashore, there was some unpleasantness between our purser, Mr. Cushing and Lord Westlake. If I understand it correctly, there was some discussion as to his lordship's courage in comparrison to that of his brother's.
Capt May of the Marines and Capt Freymann acted as the seconds for the two duelists.
Lt. Tumbusch implores the gentlemen, surely there must be some other way to settle things?
Capt Freymann gives Lord Westlake his pistol.
His Lordship fires!
Cushing's leg is merely grazed by the musket ball.
Fit to return fire, Cushing fires back.
Cushing's musket ball strikes true, Lord Westlake is killed.
In the days leading up to the 2016 Jane Austen Festival, we'll be looking back at some older posts that showcase the Acastas and their participation in the Festival! Originally posted in 2013
The Acastas gathered to watch one of their own in the bare-knuckle boxing match.
The fancy gathers as well to see the match.
"Master of the Hose" Joseph Heink (left) versus "Jack Tar" Matthew Cullen of the Acasta (right)
The Mail Packet project has been a great success this present year, and as we get closer to the Jane Austen Festival in Louisville KY, there will be more and more images and information made available about this year's results. Today, let's have a look back at the Mail Packets of the past.
In December 2009, I attended the annual Christmas event at Fort Loudoun in Vonore, TN and decided that I'd put together a packet of 'mail' to take and distribute to those that attended. The soldiers at the fort were always fond of gathering in the barracks in the evening and singing period songs, so I thought it would be fun to burn CDs for everyone with some period songs on them. I wrapped each CD in period repro paper and wax sealed and addressed each as if they were mail and bundled them into the packet. These, along with a few period repro letters for some of the officers are what the first packet was made up of. It was a big hit and a LOT of fun. I made the entire thing from start to finish, the contents and exterior of the packet were all on me. It was fun, but it was also a LOT of work.
the 2009 mail packet, front and back
A much younger 'Doctor' at Loudoun. Make note of the Mail Packet there on the table.
After the creation of the HMS Acasta unit, I decided it might be fun to try it again for the guys in the group. So in 2013 I gave it another go, enlisting the aid of my goode wife and Midshipman Raley. At that year's Jane Austen Festival, every officer and sailor got two handwritten 'prize letters' from the Admiralty, along with some other fun miscellaneous correspondence. And, after putting the call out to the readers of the Acasta site, many of you assisted with some fun submissions, including one from a published historical nautical fiction author. It was a big hit with the guys of the unit and gave them and the public a look at one of the aspects of Naval life in the era we portray. The 2013 mail packet was double the size of the first one from 2009.
the 2013 mail packet, back and front
Our Midshipman with the 2013 Packet in his arms ready to be delivered at the JA Festival.
So for 2014's Mail Packet Project… I started putting the call out early to see if outside people (YOU the readers) wanted to participate. The increased daily traffic on the Acasta website as well as social media like Facebook helped to propel the project to a level of success that I could not have imagined!
The response to the invitation to participate came from all over and some unexpected places… a librarian teaching kids about the War of 1812 by having them write letters, an officer in a 'rival' American naval unit, several fellow reenactors, Acasta fans from as far away as Germany & Switzerland, even a university professor offering her Modern World Civilization students an opportunity to reach back in time and write to guys from the War of 1812.
The size of the packet itself had again doubled from last year! Here are a few images of the final exterior of the packet in 2014:
The Captain enlists the aid of a sailor's knife to open the 2014 packet.
Lt. Tumbusch assists in handing out the letters.
In 2014, I also decided it was time to add a new aspect to the project… VIDEO! I shot video of some of the Acastas reading their letters so that you, our readers, could enjoy them reading some of the awesome submissions. It was my attempt to reward all the hard work of our letter writers.
Baptiste STILL doesn't know who the 'Black Spot' letter came from!
With the success of the 2014 project under our belt, we were definately going to do it again in 2015, but there was a problem. The Jane Austen Festival was being put on hiatus for that year, so we'd have to deliver the packet during a different event. We selected another of our largely attended events, the Fair at New Boston, to deliver the 2015 packet.
It was another HUGE success. In 2015, I actually got more video of the Acastas enjoying their letters than photographs. So much so that I was able to put together a little highlight reel of them:
In short, the Mail Packet project has been an amazing success because of everyone involved who wrote letters and took the time to jump in and participate.
The 2016 Mail Packet gets delivered to the Acastas approx. NOON on Saturday, July 16th at this year's Jane Austen Festival!
Sea Serpents and Lake Monsters of the British Isles
by Paul Harrison
A Book Review by Tony Gerard
This book is a fairly comprehensive accounting of lake monster and sea serpent sightings in and around the British Isles. Loch Ness doesn't get much more than a passing mention, although the author claims his own sighting of the elusive Loch Ness beast; fair enough since it is the subject of dozens of other books.
The book is structured geographically. After the introduction, the chapters are England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Within these chapters the sighting accounts are again divided geographically by region. As an American I find a major fault here - not a single map or geographic diagram is included.
Within each delineated region the accounts generally start out with ancient dragon and lake monster legends of the area. These are often given with minimal detail. The accounts then generally work up from earlier to more recent- but not always. Listed accounts for some areas skip back and forth in time.
The accounts are often frustratingly lacking in terms of actual creature details. Descriptions like "a gigantic serpent" or "fearsome beast" are often all the description we get. In a surprising number of accounts witnesses often mention making a sketch of the creature they saw. This brings up my second major fault with the book- not a single witness sketch is included.
It might seem I'm not a fan of this book. That's really not the case. It fills a real void- making public many sightings which have occurred since the 1960s publication of the exhaustive "In the wake of Sea Serpents" by Bernard Hevilhmans. The author has done a tremendous amount of work in collecting and organizing these accounts.
With the inclusion of maps and eyewitness sketches it could become a really good book. I do recommend it for anyone with an interest in the subject.
This is the FINAL CALL for submissions for the 2016 Jane Austen Festival Mail Packet project… but there's still time for you to get your letters in. Get them sealed up and in the mail before the week's end and they should get to us in plenty of time to be included in the packet. We've gotten some great stuff so far and look forward to YOUR submissions!
Contact me to find out where to send your finished letter… or questions, or for any other additional information.
