Awww the romance!

[anteros_lmc]

James Anthony Gardner describing a shipmate's attempts at courtship:

GEO. RULE BLUET - midshipman, then mate of the hold.
Dead. A lieutenant; a good-natured fellow with good abilities but drank hard. I recollect being of a party at Gossport when Bluet wanted to make love to a young lady, but did not know how to begin. At last he took out of his pocket a plan of the Edgar's hold which he begged her to accept, and hoped she would keep it for his sake!

HMS Edgar
Gardner, A. J., (2003), Above and Under Hatches: The Recollections of James Anthony Gardner, Chatham Publishing.

Comments

[esmerelda-t.livejournal.com]

The plans to the hold?! Would have had more luck with a bottle of lambrusco pal.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Speak for yourself! Give me a plan of the hold any day ;P

How else are you supposed to find your way to the sail locker?

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

I think it is very sweet. He was an ur-dork. Back in the Jurassic, when I was young, men like that carried graph paper.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

It is sweet isn't it?! Did Mr Eglantine woo you with plans of the hold? :)

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Something like that. I noticed the other day, that we still so the walking in step thing.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Awww, that's so lovely. There's a lot to be said for being able to walk in step :)

[esteven]

Awwwwwwwwwwww. Cute, but maybe not effective. I would have liked to have that plan...

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

So you'd have run off with the plan and left the poor wee mid all lonesome and bereft? Awwww! ;)

[esteven]

*nods*
Yes!

Isn't that what one does to middies, those snotty creatures?

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Oooh! You're a hard woman. Sensible though! ;)

[esteven]

*g*
Reading O'Brian gives a good idea about middies in general and in particular. :D

[aletheiafelinea.livejournal.com]

Not effective??? Well, maybe so, but only for that silly lasses prefer gallant lies over clumsy sincerity. Or just a desperation. *g*

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

I love that he asks her to keep it for him. Wonder if she did, and where it is now.

[aletheiafelinea.livejournal.com]

She did. And two weeks later, a thousand miles from the shore, he stood in the middle of the hold, scratching his head and thinking "Damn, I should have learned poetry or something..."

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

ROFL! Oh dear, that did make me laugh! Poor Mister Midshipman Bluet XD

[aletheiafelinea.livejournal.com]

Seducing can be a risky business. ;D

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Especially when you need to find your way round the hold afterwards! XD

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Perhaps she was a bit of a fangirl herself and kept it as her most treasured possession!

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

I'd have been impressed. What a sweetheart. I want to see a picture of him...

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I'm really touched that so many of my flist would have been happily seduced by a plan of the hold! I'm sure Mr Midshipman Bluet would be a very happy bunny indeed XD

[nodbear.livejournal.com]

Well one only has to think of those Indy ships plans of course to see the seductive power of plan of the hold...

these days for romantically inclined fans of naval history maybe the equivalent of meeting under a station clock or in the office romance whihch begins at the water cooler would be the new larlge screen for viewing ships plans which is now installed in the CAird Library !

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Well one only has to think of those Indy ships plans of course to see the seductive power of plan of the hold...
Yes indeed! We all know some folks around here who go weak at the knees at the very sight of hold plans! *cough*

the new larlge screen for viewing ships plans which is now installed in the CAird Library !
Awww, how romantic! That exhibit has just won an award btw. I forget which one, but I saw the announcement on twitter.