Hoist High the Jolly Roger


back to The Mystery of Astove Island

 

February 11, 1935

 

Lotta, Fury and Ivanov are somewhere in the Indian Ocean, near Zanzibar. They receive a radio message from DeLacy -- the other adventurers are off to England for more "consultation", and will return in about a month. In the meantime, Lotta is urged to pester Boulle's vessels and operations in the Indian Ocean -- he will no doubt be sending ships and equipment to and from Astove Island. And there's still the sunken galleon just offshore from Astove Island. 

 

Lotta's crew immediately sets to repainting the CAMS 37/12 amphibian.

 

There's about a month available before the other Heroes return to the general vicinity ...

 

12 February, 1935

 

Lotta, Fury and Ivanov fly the CAMS 27/12 amphibian to Mombasa; the Fury's Fate will be there in a day. Fury visits Navy House, and meets Lt. Fullbright RN -- a not very useful fellow -- who in turn puts Fury in contact with Lt. Alberts RN. Alberts asks Fury to come back in a day or two, while he confirms our bona fides as Boulle-Botherers.

 

In the evening, the three Heroes begin a spree of drinking, eating, singing and wench-fondling that will go on for days ...

 

February 13, 1935

 

The Fury's Fate arrives at Mombasa.

Bruno Hauptmann is convicted for the death of Charles Lindbergh Jr.

 

From this point onward, Ivanov is acting as the cook again aboard the Fury's Fate.

Breakfast:  coffee (le jus) or tea, sausages, fruit, and toasted bread with olive oil, butter or marmalade

Lunch:  la soupe with bread, olive oil, rice and wine

Dinner: more variety here; can include roasted meat, pasta, bread, simple soups, beans,baked goods if in harbor. Served with wine or lager depending on supplies

 

La Soupe

This a form of ratatouille -- a very basic, military form.

Procure roughly equal amounts of:

  • peeled, drained tomatoes

  • sliced-up eggplants or leeks

  • sliced-up zucchini

  • green bell peppers, with stems and seeds removed, sliced into strips

  • peeled and chopped-up potatoes

  • chopped-up onions.

Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, or other seasonal vegetables can substitute for any of the above. In addition:

  • a very few cloves of garlic, chopped up (maybe one per person)

  • salt and pepper

  • a package of bouillon (beef, chicken, or whatever) if you've got it

  • basil, thyme and parsley if you have them

Put the main components and the garlic in a pot, fill with water to just cover, add the spices, and stew till the veggies are soft. Stir frequently.

 

February 15, 1935

 

Lt. Alberts meets with Fury, and tells him that the Navy will (with utmost discretion) provide information about any of Boulle's ships passing through the Suez Canal or the Red Sea. We are to visit a bar named the "Head of the Ram" each night, to meet with a naval petty officer named Poe. Poe will pass along any news (both ways).

 

February 16, 1935

 

Fury begins making the four HE bombs and one giant pink smoke/tear gas bomb for the amphibian. Lotta takes the night train to Nairobi; Ivanov visits the "Head of the Ram" each evening.

 

From Rome, the first detachments of Italian troops left for Italy's African colonies as Benito Mussolini continued silent as to the stand he means to take in the Italo-Ethiopian controversy.

 

February 17, 1935

 

In Nairobi, Lotta reviews the stockpile of loot, and snags a pair of goggles and some other stuff. In the evening, she takes the night train back to Mombasa.

 

February 18, 1935

 

Lotta arrives back in Mombasa. Fury's bomb factory suffers a fire and slight explosion. 

 

At Berlin, Baroness Benita von Falkenhayn (Benita von Berg), 34, and Frau Renate von Natzmer, 37, were beheaded for treason; Fraulein Irene von Jena, 31, and Baron George von Sosnowski, 45, were sent to prison for life. The charge was "betraying military secrets." Sosnowski was a Polish officer.

 

At Naples, the German and French ambassadors to Italy signed four final accords for the transfer of the Saar basin from the League of Nations back to Germany. They include:  transfer by France to Germany of mines, railroads and other property. Private insurance policies of French citizens. Social insurance. Transfer of the administration of the territory to Germany.

 

February 19, 1935

 

By 67 to 20 the state House of Representatives killed a bill to repeal Tennessee's "Monkey Law", which prohibits the teaching in schools of any theory that man is descended from a lower order of animals.

 

February 20, 1935

 

Fury has finished his five bombs, and with Ivanov's help has attached them to the airplane's bomb-racks. The spree continues for a few more days ... Fury, Ivanov and Lotta now each have the skill Mombasa Knowledge at 35%

 

The impoverished widow, 72, of ex-U.S. Senator H.A.W. Tabor, the "Silver King" of the 80s, died of cold in a shack at the mouth of her Matchless Mine, at Leadville, Colo.

 

February 23, 1935

 

In the evening, Ivanov meets CPO Poe at the "Head of the Ram", and is told that two of Boulle's freighters will be leaving the Gulf of Aden tomorrow, heading into the Indian Ocean. He meets with Lotta and Fury around midnight, to inform them of the news. The crew of the Fury's Fate are rounded up, and the ship is set out to a rendezvous point near one of the Seychelles Islands (it'll arrive in 3 or 4 days).

 

February 24, 1935

 

At dawn, the CAMS 34/12 takes off from Mombasa, and heads into the rising sun over the Indian Ocean. After noon, we spot the two ships -- one with large containers on deck -- and immediately attack. The ships open fire with machine guns and at least one Oerlikon gun each! During the first pass, Fury manages to drop one of the HE bombs onto the bridge of a Boulle ship, but the other vessels radios (in French, and not on a normal maritime channel) for assistance. On our second and final pass, the tear gas bomb and an HE bomb miss the target, and the remaining HE bomb hangs up on the bomb shackles!

 

Lotta crawls out onto the wing to try and convince it to fall off, but only causes damage to the wing fabric. She returns to the cockpit and takes the controls -- Fury crawls onto the wing, and (in a display of aerial bravery as impressive as it was fortunate) kicks the bomb loose. It detonates before reaching the ocean!

 

As some of Boulle's fighter planes may arrive in a couple of hours, we speed away to the rendezvous point, land near a beach, and hide the amphibian. Before sunset, some of Boulle's planes are seen patrolling about ...

 

February 25, 1935

 

Our Heroes patch up the wing of the amphibian, along with a number of bullet holes, and otherwise lounge in hammocks.

 

Foreign Minister Luis A Riart cabled to Geneva announcement of Paraguay's withdrawal from the League of Nations.

 

February 26, 1935

 

About sunset, the Fury's Fate arrives, and we load the amphibian on-board and cover it up. The ship sets sail in the night towards Karachi.

 

At Dallas, Tex., the mothers of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker and eighteen other relatives and friends, convicted of harboring the slain desperado couple from the law, were sentenced in Federal court to imprisonment ranging up to the maximum of two years.

 

The British freight steamship, Blairgowrie, of Glasgow, sent out distress signals in mid-Atlantic. Rescue ships found no trace; 26 were aboard the lost ship. Storms on the Atlantic are causing much loss of property and lives, at sea and at ports.

 

March 1, 1935

 

The Saar became Gereman again. Chancellor Hitler took part in the exercises at Saarbruecken. The celebration throughout the Reich extended to Danzig.

The same day, the recreation of an air force was admitted by the appearance of commissioned uniformed officers. The fact that elaborate up-to-date air fields, etc. had been constructed was well known, but no figures as to the strength of the German air force have been given out. Gen. Goering, Minister for Air, in a speech to foreign correspondents, May 2, declared that it was the equal of any nation, made up wholly of modern up-to-date planes.

 

In Greece, there was a revolt at Athens and elsewhere, led by Venizelist army and navy officers. The ex-premier made his headquarters on the island of Crete.

Mustapha Kemal Ataturk was reelected president of the Turkish Republic, by the Grand National Assembly at Angora; 17 women sat as delegates.

 

March 2, 1935

 

King Prajadhipok of Siam resigned his throne. He signed the document of abdication at his temporary home, Knowle House, Cranleigh, Sussex, England, where he had been staying with his family and retinue since the operation on his eye. His successor was proclaimed at Bangkok as Prince Ananda Mahidol, 11, his nephew, then at school in Switzerland.

 

March 3, 1935

 

The revolt in Greece spread to Macedonia and other areas, and, with the entire island of Crete in the hands of the revolutionaries, assumed the dimensions of a civil war. The uprising was the action of Republicans headed by Eleutherios Venizelos and Gen. Nicholas  Plastiras.

 

March 4, 1935

 

Gen. Hugh S. Johnson, ex-N.R.A. head, publicly denounced, in an address at New York City, Senator Huey P. Long of Louisiana and the Reverend Charles Coughlin, "radio priest", as demagogues.

 

March 6, 1935

 

The Fury's Fate arrives in Karachi. Lotta arranges for her crew to be housed and fed, and the ship tended to.

 

The sum of $107,000 in gold (about 128 lbs) vanished from a safe at Croydon Airdrome. It was never recovered.

 

March 7, 1935

 

Lotta, Fury and Ivanov take an express train from Karachi to Peshawar.

 

In the Greek Civil War, several were killed, mostly in the fights in Macedonia. The rebels held onto the island of Crete, and seized the islands Samos, Chios, and Mytilene. They got ahead in Thrace. Bombing planes were active on both sides.

At La Paz, Bolivia, Congress, in special session, gave President Jose Luis Tejada Sorzano a blanket mandate to carry out the Chaco war. The Constitution was amended to fix the beginning of the Presidential term as August 16.

 

March 8, 1935

 

Lotta, Fury and Ivanov arrive in Peshawar, and settle into rooms at the Metropole Hotel.

 

March 9, 1935

 

In Greece, a loyalist army under General George Kondylis advanced on a 25-mile front to Bolitsa. Rebel resistance cost several score lives on the two sides. Loyal troops entered Seres and Siderocastro on March 11, and chased the rebels out of Macedonia and Thrace. General Demetrius Kamanos, commander of the Greek revolutionary forces in Macedonia, accompanied by members of his staff, Governor Ksidos of Thrace and several other high officials, reached the Bulgarian frontier.

 

March 10, 1935

 

The Mendieta government declared a state of war in Cuba. Strikes are crippling Havana. and the military is battling revolutionaries.

 

March 11, 1935

 

In Cuba a general strike was inagurated. Commercial employees joined the strike, but the military authorities forced many of the business houses to open their doors. Some remained open and others closed again, but all were without clerks. A lack of customers prevented any business transactions. The tobacco industry joined the strike movement, as well as small factories, delivery trucks and other allied industries. Havana was without milk ice or bread deliveries. The army operated trains, buses, gasoline trucks.

The U.S. House of Representatives, 302 to 98, voted to repeal the "pink slip" (full publicity) clause in the Income Tax law.

 

(That provision, enacted in 1934, required all taxpayers filing income tax returns to submit an additional form (printed on pink paper) containing name, address, gross income, deductions, net income, and tax liability. The pink slip would then become a public record available for inspection by anyone.)

 

 

 

On to The Treasure of Tamerlane!