Letter from My Grandfather, 1916

I have, among my Mother's affects, a copy of a letter which had been written by her father, Encell Mendel Tener, to his mother on April 24 1916 when he was 19 years old. He had recently joined the US Navy, and was anxious to let the folks at home know what it was like in the Navy. He had followed his Uncle Daniel Mendel into the naval service (it was Daniel who, as a sailor aboard USS Iowa had been the first to spot the Spanish fleet steaming out of Santiago Bay, Cuba on July 3, 1898). The letter itself is quite interesting, giving some details as to life aboard ship, his job and even some details as to the organization of the Navy in general. No doubt this would be classified information today, but in 1916 it was just a letter home, to let the family know what his new life was like, and how he was getting on.

Of note is that he took the entrance exam for the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, and while he did not make it in, he was rapidly promoted during the expansion of the Navy in WWI to the rank of Chief Petty Officer by the age of 21, something rarely seen even in wartime. Obviously he was a very capable young man! It's nice to know something about my own Grandfather in such a time of his life, and that he was respected and well thought of in his chosen profession.

(By the way, the USS New Jersey he speaks of is the "Old New Jersey", BB-16, launched November 10, 1904 and sunk by General Billy Mitchell's bombers in 1923. Also, I've tried to keep the spelling and punctuation as in the original document I have.)

Here's the letter:

USS New Jersey,

Navy Yard, Boston, Mass.,

April 24, 1916.

Dear Mother,

In order that I might uphold the T.L. Lucille gave you for me, I will endeavor, for the benefit of my relations who may be interesting in my life in the Navy, to give a slight description of the Navy, it’s personnel, yards, auxiliaries and maneuvers.

First of all, I will briefly mention Battleships in General. They are divided into four Divisions, viz. First, Second, Third and Fourth, and are classed according to size and age. The first Division ships are the Wyoming, the Fleet flagship, Arkansas, First Division flagship, New York and the Texas. The second Division ships are the Florida, flagship, Delaware, Utah and Michigan. The third Division ships are the New Jersey, flagship, Nebraska Which holds the Red “E” (Efficiency), Virginia and Rhode Island. The fourth Division ships are the Louisiana, flagship, Kansas and Connecticut. Some of the ships in “Ordinary Reserve” are the Georgia, Minnesota and the Mississippi, and a few of the other old rattle traps that the US boasts of as first line battleships.

The ships are very large and compact, but the 1^st, 2^nd, Division ships are more graceful and speedy than the 3^rd and 4^th Division ships.

The Arkansas mounts 14-12” guns and some 20 or more 5” secondary defense guns, besides the submerged torpedo tubes and anti air craft guns. The other big ships have the same except that they have less 12” guns than the Arkie. All the big guns are mounted in turrets, two guns in each, and the turrets extend from the main deck to the platform and splinter decks below. In the third Div. ships the guns are somewhat differently arranged, and as we carry only 4 – 12” guns which are mounted in two turrets, one for’d and one aft. The 8” guns are mounted in superposed turrets, (on top of the 12”) and in waist turrets, one on each side of the ship. We have 20 – 6” secondary defense guns and also the torpedo tubes. In the fourth Division they have no super-posed turrets and the 8” guns are mounted in two turrets, on each side of the ship.

The engines on the New Jersey are immense, they are called, Four Cylinder, Triple expansion, inverted, Reciprocating engines. The cylinder dimensions are as follows:

For’d Low Press. 44” Dia.

High “ 33” “

Intermediate 37” “

After Low “ 44” “,

Stroke 48”

Some engines, and their greatest speed is about 125 revs. per minute, which is a little better than 19 knots, but the highest speed we made on our last full power trial was 18.3 knots, but I hardly think she’ll ever make that again.

We are in dry dock now and you can get a very clear idea of her size when you can see all of her that is submerged when afloat; her propellers keel, keelson plates and the heavy armor, with which she is plated.

The daily routine in port for the Engineer’s Force (I will mention that of the Deck force later), begins with “Up all hammocks” at 6.45 A.M. Then breakfast at 7:30, “turn to” at 8:15 and “Knock off” at 11:30. Dinner at 12:00N. and “turn to” again at 1:15 P.M. and “knock off” at 4:00 P.M. First liberty call for Engineer’s Force at 4:30 P.M., and liberty is up at 8:00 A.M. the following morning. Supper is at 6:00 P.M. and “Hammocks” goes at 7:30. You can turn in anytime after hammocks. “First call” goes at 8:55 P.M., “Tattoo” at 9:00 P.M., and last but not least “Taps” at 9:05 P.M., ad after that all must be quiet and everybody but those on watch turned in.

The deck hands arise at the bright and early hour of 5:00 A.M., and immediately upon getting their hammocks stowed perform the arduous task of scrubbing down decks. After that is accomplished they shine bright work until time for breakfast, which is usually a frugal meal, and afterwards they perform their toilet and lounge until 8:15. Then they shine more bright work clean the compartments and clamp down (wet and mop) the decks, then shift into clean clothes for Quarters. I think I forgot to state that the Engineers who are standing auxiliary watch go to Quarters but not those who are turning to. After Quarters the “Swab” resumes his duties, which he hates and no one blames him for his is never thru. The main difference between a “swab” and one of the “Black Gang” is that the latter works hard in his allotted time, but the former never works hard and consequently is never thru. Is work all thru the day is a constant repetition of what he just did a few hours previous to that at which hs is now working, also he may be called upon at any time of the day or night to do any extra work that might happen along, but an Engineer does his four hours watch (underway) and then sleeps and eats for eight hours before he is again called on for his efforts in the propulsion of the ship.

My duties are somewhat different than any of the above. I am in the Log Room (Engineer’s Office), and the Engineer Officer has been pleased with my work and behavior and has recommended be for F1C. It was he who encouraged me to try the Annapolis exam, and since they are over, he has reinstated me in the Log Room instead of putting me below. If he is satisfied, I may say that I am, and that I will do all in my power to uphold my good record.

You have mostly heard me speak of the pleasant side of life in the Navy so far,. But now, in fairness to any make person who might hear this and take it into his head to enlist, let me speak of the other side of the life.

When you have been cruising at some seemingly foolish manouvers for a week or two, and then come into port and not get liberty, when you come into the Navy Yard and have to work from 5:30 A.M., till 3:30 A.M., the next morning to get ready for a board of inspection and survey; and have to work till 6:30 P.M. when you were supposed to go on liberty at 1:30 A.M., these all go on the wrong side of the crew’s ledger. But these are few and the least of many, but the most important of all is the bum Commissary. Oh! what meals he puts out. He is so bad that the Officer of the Deck has to inspect the messes before “Pipe Down” at every meal. It is not so bad all the time, nor in all the ships, but it is most of the time and on most of the ships all the time. The last sentence is meant for emphasis. Does it work?

Some of the most important ports of call of the fleet are New York, Boston, Phila, Norfolk, Old Point, Charlestown S.C., Portland, Santiago, Havanna, Guantanamo Bay, Culebra (U.S.W.I.) and Newport and Black Island, R.I.

We coal again tomorrow and Friday, taking on some 1500 tons of the so called “Black diamonds”. Our total coal capacity is 19,090 tons of coal, but I have seen us coal so much that the fleer plates of the firerooms were piled high with it.

I don’t know as yet how I made out in the exams, but I expect the returns from Washington in about two more weeks. I hope that they are satisfactory, because I’d hate to fail after these hard months of study.

You can see by the difference in the ink that this letter has been written in installments, but I haven’t had the time to write it all at once. The type needing cleaning and I must do that tomorrow, I cleaned the other machine completely today, taking it almost completely apart.

As we have to arise at about 4:30 A.M. tomorrow, I must turn in early tonight because it is one of our busiest days when we coal ship.

Hoping that this letter is not as bad as I think it, I say goodbye, and love to all.

Your affectionate son,

Encell

The Wolfman

We went to see the latest incarnation of "The Wolfman" the other night. Not too shabby, though I doubt that it will win any Oscars. Still, a nice little romp through late-Victorian England, complete with Scotland Yard inspectors, Gypsies, and werewolves.

There was certainly lots of nice eye-candy to be seen (and I don't mean the pretty girl, though she was certainly fetching). Among other interesting things was a nice steam-omnibus that got at least a little bit of screen time. There were also some magnificent horses, in the form of Andalusians and Friesians, all of whom were very well trained and handled. It's always nice to see such well mannered horses in films, and not having their faces torn off by idiots actors manhandling the reins. Very nice teams pulling some nice little carriages throughout the film, and a couple of gorgeous saddle horses to.

I was also quite impressed with the costuming and hair. At one point Our Hero Lawrence Talbot (played by Benicio del Toro) was wearing an out fit that I KNOW I have seen in photo's of a famous actor from the late-19th Century wearing. I can't recall if it was Oscar Wilde, Edmund Boothe or another actor, but with a velvet jacket, trilby hat and cape he was the very image of an "actor" of the era. Another excellent bit of period fashion was the doctor in the asylum, with his hair parted down the middle...all the way back to his neck. Not many people would know of that oddity of fashion, and I laud the hair designer for it.

Now for the fun part, my "What Weird Guns Did They Have?" section. I was actually pretty impressed by their armourer's choices, for the most part. Lots of Martini-Henry rifles, as would be expected, since the Martini-Henry was the primary issue service rifle for the British Army and Royal Navy during the period from 1871-1888, with issues continuing well into the 20th Century for some units. That the Metropolitan Police might actually have access to these is quite a reasonable expectation. Interestingly there were also a number of the civilian versions to be seen in the hands of various Werewolf hunters as well.

I thought it very apt that the immediate predecessor of the Martini-Henry in the British service, the Snider-Enfield, was also seen in some numbers in the film. Rifles and carbines both, again in the hands of the civilian Werewolf hunters.

The protagonist and his father of course, being gentlemen, carry their beautiful double guns. Hard to tell whether they are double rifles or double shotguns, but from the thinness of the barrels at the muzzle, I will assume them to be double shotguns. Either way, nice big hunting guns with a sufficient calibre to down most any game one could imagine. They look to be 10- or 12-bore to me, and when loaded with a solid slug (of silver, of course!) they make quite a salutary proposition for defense against a Werewolf. I couldn't tell if they were Holland and Holland, Purdy or some other of the host of superb quality gunsmiths who at one time inhabited the British Isles and produced the highest quality firearms ever made, but the under-lever actions were of the type popular in the 1870's and '80's, definitely within the time period of the rest of the material artifacts of the film.

There were also several other interesting rifles shown here and there. One looked to be either an Alexander Henry single shot or a Farqharson-action single-shot, and another oddly enough looked almost like an American Sharps. Hard to tell with only one viewing though. Maybe I'll get it on DVD when it comes out and edit things to be a bit more coherent (and accurate)!

Heros of course must also have pistols, and they were shown in some abundance and variety. One of the first to be seen is a Patrolman's revolver, an Enfield model of 1878, issued to the British Army in caliber .476. They are an odd sort of break-open design that doesn't actually break open all the way, just enough to drop out the empty rounds and ensure that the rims of the loaded rounds still within the chambers will now drop under the star ejector when it returns and jam up the piece completely. One must pull it apart again and try to pry out the loaded rounds and replace them properly in their chambers after the star ejector has returned back down to it's place before you can then reload and finally shoot the blasted piece. So make sure you fire ALL your rounds before you try to reload it.

The next pistol to be seen is a break-open Webley .455", the good old standard which served the British Army so well from the late-1880's through WWII and beyond. The one shown looked to be a Mk II, with a 6" barrel (which was actually somewhat of a rarity. Most have the 4" barrel). It's hard to tell the difference between a Mk II and the Mk's III, IV and V though, the Mk II having a slight "bump" at the top of the grip behind the hammer to keep your hand from slipping forward under recoil. In fact, I suspect that they used several of the models, because I seem to remember seeing examples both with, and without the "pawl" or bump. At any rate, they are a fine weapon, and head and shoulders above the poor old Enfield .476".

I did catch a few glimpses of a Webley RIC .450" (see my review of "Sherlock Holmes", below), but it was not featured to near the extent that the later, larger break-open Webley's were. Actually however, they were probably more likely to have been seen in the hands of both policemen and civilians in the 1880's than the .455's, but what the heck. I'm just happy to see that they were using period revolvers of the proper nationality, rather than just sticking whatever happened to be in the prop house armoury into the hands of the actors and saying "Action!".

All in all, a fun little romp. Lots of action, a fair amount of shooting, and general mayhem, with fun to be had by all. If nothing else, seeing an homage to the original "Wolfman" film complete with an actor who actually rather LOOKS like Lon Chaney Jr. is worth the price of admission.

Cheers!

Gordon

Sherlock Holmes Movie

I just watched the latest Sherlock Holmes movie, with Robert Downey, Jr. in the title role and Jude Law as Dr. Watson. Rather well done I thought, though of course imperfect, and not liable to satisfy the true acolytes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Still it was fun, and without too many glaring historical inconsistencies.

There were of course minor details to attack, such as the extreme youth of the actors portraying the roles of Irene Adler and the Home Secretary, etc. but these are pretty easily overlooked. On the other hand, there were a lot of nifty details to enjoy, enough to make a Steampunk drool.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Proceed at your own discretion

Of the minor details that I loved were, to begin with, the ramming prow of the ship under construction which Holmes and his adversary manage to send down the ways prematurely. Not everyone is aware of just how big those rams were and how prevalent they were in the warships of the day. As a negative, however, the Thames is not 300 feet deep at London (or anywhere else), and unlikely to swallow a major warship whole. But it was a cool effect anyway.

Other nice effects were all of the gadgets and steam engines tossed helter-skelter about the sets. The various steam-boats, factories and general filth from the coal-smoke were wonderful to behold. The filth of the populace was certainly fairly accurate as well, though perhaps not as enjoyable to see. Still, it wouldn't have looked right without them.

A couple of nice carriages, Paddy Wagons and even one nice little Hansom, though sadly it wasn't seen much. Black Friesians of course, but the one coach taking Holmes from the jail showed off it's dapple-grey horses nicely.

The guns. They were great! Not many of them, sad to say, but those which were shown were wonderful. Holmes, Watson and the Police all carried Webley "Royal Irish Constabulary" (AKA "RIC") revolvers, as well they should. They were extremely popular in Britain and the Colonies during the period between 1868 and the turn of the century, as they are compact, powerful and reliable firearms. Shooting the .450 round, they carry a punch, though perhaps not sufficient to stop a charging Pathan or Zulu. Thus the Army moved away from that cartridge in 1878, but it remained quite popular in civilian circles for many, many years. Oddly though, they had the American Ambassador carrying one as well. I should think that any God-fearing American ambassador, be it to the Court of St. James or Timbuktu, would carry a Colt or Smith and Wesson though. Oh well, details, details. I can't have everything.

On the other hand, there WAS one nice little American firearm shown. One of the "Bad Guys" had a gorgeous little Sharps 4-barreled derringer, carried in a wrist rig, that was pretty cool. Such "put it in your hand" devices were in fact known in the Victorian era, and the little 4-barreled derringers were certainly popular, so it's entirely possible to imagine the bad guy in London having such a thing. On the other hand. .30 rimfire is a rather pipsqueak of a round, and unlikely to pierce the skull of anything bigger than a rabbit, if that. But still, a cute little gun that was indeed popular at the time.

The film isn't a classic by any means, but well acted, and as far as the goodies in the background to get the juices flowing, wonderful. I think I'll buy it when it comes out on DVD!

Cheers!

Gordon

Update Jan 15, 2010: Here's an excellent article on "The Guns of Sherlock Holmes"

Nifty Old Revolvers

Since I'm sort of in the Steampunk/ "Lamplight Adventure" mode these days, I thought that I would show off and discuss a couple of interesting revolvers that have come my way. Sadly I only actually own one of them, but what the heck, it's fun just to be able to enjoy fiddling with them while in one's possession. And when you get down to it, such old things aren't actually OURS anyway, we're just the temporary stewards of them, while they make their way through their existence.

To begin with, I'll show off the Galand-Sommerville revolver, patented in 1868. It's pretty advanced for the day, and had a very reliable extraction system not unlike the later Enfield revolver of 1876, which the British Army adopted for general service and issue. Anyway, check it out. Here it is closed, as one would have it when either carrying it in the holster or readying to fire.


Next it's open, after having fired all of the rounds. Note how it pulls the cartridges out by their rims, and dumps them out, clearing the chambers for the next load of cartridges. The one disadvantage is that if you've only fire one or two shots, you still have to to through the motions of dumping out all of them. One would hope that the bullets still in the loaded cases would prevent (or at least slow them down) from just dropping out, but I haven't tried it with loaded rounds, so I don't know for certain. Hard to come up with Webley .442 ammo these days, I'm afraid.


The revolver itself no doubt has a very long and interesting history, which sadly we don't know. My friend who owns the revolver purchased it at a store in Herrat, Afghanistan some 20+ years ago, and it definitely shows some age and hard use. The grip is quite obviously a local replacement, but probably done some years ago. I'm betting that it's an original Galand, as the proofs and marks seem right, but there is also the possibility that it's a "Khyber-made" piece, based on one that may have been picked up somewhere (read "Dead Englishman") by a local and replicated several hundred times over the past 150 years. No matter, it's still a very cool piece.

The next item is also rather interesting in its possible history, and interesting enough in just its pedigree. It is of the Austrian Gasser design, of the pattern decreed by King Nicholas I of Montenegro to be carried by every male subject in his kingdom. (Handy too that King Nick had financial interest in the Gasser company, what?) Unfortunately for Nick, his decree only stated "Gasser Pattern", rather than manufacture so the Belgians, who are always up for a commercial enterprise, filled the gap with their own versions, as this one here is. What is more astonishing though is that, according to some (though I have not found solid evidence, but what the heck. I go with the "It is almost certainly true, because it sounds good!" theory for now) was purchased by Pancho Villa for his revolutionary army ca. 1912 or so. It DOES say on the top of the barrel "For .44 Winchester Cartridge", which to say the least would be an unusual one for Central Europe, but why in English, rather than Spanish? Or did Pancho's purchasing agents figure that the ".44 Winchester" was sufficient? Or what? Hard to tell, but it IS in .44 Winchester Center Fire (AKA .44WCF and .44-40), so who knows. Might even have been for the US market, though I can hardly credit that. On the other hand, Americans HAVE been known to buy some pretty outrageous things because they look cool (Hmm... I guess I'm guilty of that myself...) so here it is.

You'll note that it's a pretty big gun. It IS big. What is odd though is that for all of it's size, it still is only a 5-shooter. The cartridges only come about 3/4 of the way down the chamber, so I guess that the 11mm Montenegrin Gasser cartridge must have been BIG! Lots bigger than the .44WCF at least, and that's a pretty decent sized round. Anyway, here it is now open, with five nice new .44WCF empties in the chambers. Pretty cool old gun, I have to say.


Anyway, that's it for now. I'll post again when I get something new that's interesting, or go on some new wild adventure.

Cheers!

Gordon

SteamCon '09

Last weekend we attended a most amusing and enjoyable event, “SteamCon’09 at the SeaTac Marriott. I had been invited to give a presentation on Victorian-era firearms (the real ones) and was assigned to three other panels for the discussion of various aspects of the genre. It was quite the experience, and definitely worth the efforts we put out for it.

The focus was “Steam-Punk”, which is actually a literary genre developed some decades ago by authors such as Tim Powers (who was in attendance), James Blaylock and others who took science fiction ideas, mixed them with various fantastical elements, and placed the entire mess (usually) in a Victorian atmosphere. Sometimes off-shoots from Jules Verne or H.G. Wells, sometimes taking such period experimentations as Tesla’s ideas and expounding on them, and sometimes just taking modern technological concepts and putting a 19th Century spin on them, Steam-Punk contains a lot of vibrancy and imagination. This energy is felt at such events as SteamCon’09, as most of the participants are passionately interested in some aspect of the genre, and seem to hurl themselves into it with gusto. It’s cute.

We had arrived around noon on Friday at the hotel, as my talk was on Friday evening and I needed to ensure that all of my details were in order. I had brought some 35 antique firearms with me (all of them officially “non-firearms” according to Federal Law, just to be clear on that) to show off and discuss with the audience, so it was important to make sure things were properly arranged.. Lucky for me my good friend Eric Worth and his wife Sarah were some of the top-dogs within the security apparatus, and Graham Ainsley, the Chief of Security is an old acquaintance, so I was comforted by the knowledge that all would be done that could be done to ensure things proceeded smoothly. Which they did, of course..

My first panel discussion however, was “Building an Airship”, which I have to say was rather new to me. Enjoyable to be sure, but my idea of being above the ground usually entails having a horse under me, so I had to do some studying to figure this one out. We had a Physics guy on the panel to keep us firmly grounded in reality (though sometimes a bit too much, alas!), while Cheyenne Wright of “Girl Genius” was the moderator to keep things flowing and draw the ideas out on the white-board. Kaitlin Kitridge, an author, was there for some of the imaginative ideas we could promote, while I was there as the nominal “historian”. Well, I know SOMETHING about the history of heavier-than-air craft, but not enough, I’m afraid. But it was a lot of fun to do this, with all of the audience participation and all, and I think we did a creditable job in “building” Hermione’s Revenge. Might even work!

The firearms talk went very well indeed, though of course an hour is WAY to little time to go through 50 years-plus of firearms development in anything like any detail. I started with the standard British military firearm of the early 1840’s, the smooth-bore, flint-lock Brown Bess musket which was little changed from the muskets used at Concord, or at Blenheim for that matter. But change did come quickly after than, and I went through the development of the rifle-musket, the development of the self-contained cartridges and the the conversions of such rifle-muskets to cartridge, the repeater in the form of the Henry and Winchester rifles, etc. on to the Mauser bolt action of the 1890’s. For handguns, I started with the Colt Paterson “Texas Model”, through various Colt and Remington cap-and-ball revolvers to the early cartridge revolvers such as the Galand-Sommerville, the Colt Single Action Army and the Smith and Wesson break-tops. I ended with the Mauser C-96 “Broomhandle” and the Colt-Browning M1902 auto-loaders. Shotguns were simple: double-barrel percussion, double-barrel cartridge, and the Winchester 1897 pump-action. I think that everyone left the lecture somewhat enlightened and hopefully quite entertained by my antics, as I certainly enjoyed the experience.

Saturday was quite fun of course, my friend Steward Marshall was able to finally get there though unfortunately, as he couldn’t make it on Friday for my talk, without his Gatling Gun. Alas! Well, next year. My panel discussion on Uniforms went fairly well, though I must admit to being totally upstaged by my co-panelist Steve Criss, who wore his Zeppelin Officer’s uniform and (more importantly) brought two of his “crew” with him. The lovely Leutnant and Hauptmann were, shall we say, noteworthy? So whatever we gentlemen of the panel blabbered on about, I suspect that no one really paid much heed to, which is probably just as well.

My final panel, on Sunday was on “Victorian Whiskers”, in which my co-panelist from the day before, Steve Criss was again with me on the panel. It was perhaps the best of the lot, as we had by then worked out a fine banter, and could easily and effortlessly pass the baton back and forth for discussion, and both of us knew enough about the subject to keep the audience reasonably well educated, and I believe quite amused as well. As both of us have fine sets of whiskers, it was of course a subject near to our hearts, and thankfully there were no young beauties to take away our thunder this time. (It would be rather hard to imagine this of course, but one never knows these days!)

The entire convention was enjoyable in the extreme. I engaged in lots of talking to folks whom I either knew well, new a little, or had just met there and then. One gentleman in particular (from Virginia of all places) and I struck up a particular friendship, which was rather as though we had known one another for most of our lives, though we hadn’t ever set eyes upon one another before. Most interesting! Having drinks with the Guest of Honour Tim Powers and his lovely wife Serena was quite nice too. A most enjoyable evening was had by all, I do believe.

One of the things which struck me strongly about the event was that everyone tried very hard (or just about everyone, close enough to it that the very few who didn’t were completely hidden by the masses of people who cared) to capture the spirit of the Victorian age. Not that everyone actually achieved a good Victorian look, and I wouldn’t go about such an event being a thread-counter, but the spirit was definitely in place. Everyone was obviously having a grand time, and were doing their best to look at least ominally “Victorian.” A lot more so than at many of the reenactments I’ve attended, where you are pretty much required to make a good attempt at period clothing! So a tip of the topper to all of those who attended in “proper” Victorian clothing, whether it be in top hat and tails, or in khaki with a pith-helmet and goggles. It worked, and looked good.

Next year’s SteamCon is already in the works, and the good news is that its topic will be “Weird, Weird West”. I think I have a good handle on already. Even better is that I’ve already been invited to speak again, so I’m already very much looking forward to it!

Cheers!

Gordon

More Cowboy Mounted Shooting

Last time I spoke at length about my attendance of a clinic for the sport of Cowboy Mounted Action Shooting. Well, I attended another one yesterday, on a different horse. Since my old War Horse Woody just doesn't like the whole idea of shooting off of his back, I decided to try out my little Quarterhorse Gryphon this time. He's kind of a scaredy-cat about a lot of things, but in our practices he didn't seem to much mind us popping off percussion caps around him, so I thought I'd give him a try. I was very, very pleasantly surprised to discover that he is a GREAT little horse for shooting off of! After the first few shots he didn't even twitch an ear when I fired, and did the course flawlessly at all gaits. I'm impressed with the little guy! I guess I've got myself a good shootin' partner now!

But this blog isn't to discuss the merits of horses exactly, but rather to ponder the imponderables of how and why people do the things they do in the pursuit of, or guise of, Historical Reenactment. It is also to vent my spleen with regards to people who seem to have absolutely no idea as to what they're doing, too, so read on, gentle reader, for my rant.

I guess I have to say that first off, I have an odd proprietary feeling towards the sport of Mounted Cowboy Action Shooting, since I was witness to the official debut at the Cowboy Action Shoot "Winter Range" in Arizona in 1992. I thought it was a hoot and a half, watching three guys (one of whom I had worked with previously, and had just sort of showed up for the heck of it to the shoot, only to get dragged into the match because he had his horse with him. Lucky him!) take part in a very exciting display of shooting from horseback. Of course it was with blanks, and shooting at balloons, but it was set in the "Old West Town" stage of the range, and looked incredibly cool to the onlooker. For a bit more of the history of the sport, check out this article by founder Jim Rogers. Anyway, I thought it was very cool, but as I didn't have a horse at the time, figured that it was beyond my resources to get involved. Time passes...

So 17 years later, lots of films and many horses later I finally decide to try it again, just for the heck of it. The sport has changed from it's humble beginnings, with Jim Rogers insisting upon at least a nod to the historical Cowboy in one's dress and whatnot. From what I can tell on Youtube, it's all about speed, very little about horsemanship, and hardly anything at all about history. As I had long thought, it's simply "Barrel Racing with Guns." Sad. But there is hope out there, so who knows where it will lead.

One of the things that I have noticed about all forms of Cowboy Action Shooting, be they mounted on horses using blanks, or standing at a shooting range using live ammo, is that most folks haven't the faintest idea of what a real old-time Cowboy or 19th Century Westerner looked like. There are some wild flights of fancy, but for the most part I think that people are just lazy and don't bother looking at original photo's to even see what the people they think they're portraying looked like. Or if they have, they've made no attempt to modify their outfits to show that they have. So sad! The whole "Cowboy Era" is one of the most engaging mythologies of North America, and to serve it so poorly by not even giving it's reality a nod is a huge disservice to the men and women who worked, lived and often died in the West in that time. I will admit freely that the participants of the standard Cowboy Action Shooting come a lot closer to a true "historical look" than the Mounted Action Shooters do (that I have seen), but it's sort of like damning by faint praise to say it. I'm sure that it's often as not a case of ignorance, and these folks actually think that they're making a serious attempt to look proper and carry the proper arms and leather, but many times it's just that they don't care. They want to win, and that's what it's all about. And THAT attitude is what is REALLY sad!

By the way, I would like to point out that I not only have nothing against the folks who chose to portray "B" Movie Western characters, but I think that it's great! Guys portraying The Lone Ranger, Hoppalong Cassidy, or even pure fantasy characters who are of the "type" are cool as all get-out, and I laud them for their time and effort that they put into it. After all, it takes time, research and money to come up with a cool alias such as that, and that's what I'm all about. Slightly different focus of course, but I can appreciate where they are coming from.

While I'm ranting, I will veer off into some related issues. There was one gentleman who showed up to the clinic yesterday with a gorgeous mare who was obviously more horse than he was able to handle, and who even more obviously didn't want to be there or be involved in this sport. She jumped every time a blank was fired, and absolutely, positively refused to "run the course", even when virtually forced into it. She just wasn't having any of it. That was fine. What wasn't was the fellow's insistence that she BE a shootin' horse, no matter what. I understand that it's poor form to let the horse win, but by the same token, pushing them past their limit is guaranteed to put you well back in your training, and you'll have to work back up to it to get to the same place you already were before you got stubborn and stupid. Gryphon hates jousting, so he doesn't have to do it, Woody loves it so he gets to. Woody hates action shooting, so he doesn't have to do it. Gryphon seems to love it, so he gets to. There are some things that we're good at, some things not. Horses are no different, so why try to force a square peg into a round hole? Damage to both horse and rider may result in such attempts!

So here's my conclusion, or at least my plea. That people who wish to take part in a form of Historical Reenactment of some sort at least tip their hats to the originals that they claim to represent, and that they treat their horses the way they themselves would like to be treated. It's not all that hard, folks.

Okay, rant mode off until my next rant.

Cheers!

Gordon

Cowboy Mounted Action Shooting

Did something interesting weekend before last. We went to a Cowboy Mounted Action Shoot clinic in Silverdale put on by the Kitsap County Mounted Sheriff's Posse. It was amusing. Bev, Neb and I showed up in our 19th Century kit (Bev and I in Mex-Tex outfits, Neb in her "Explorer" suit complete with pith helmet, taking photos). We brought Woody and Darshan, who is fresh from his long stay in Madera, CA. at a trainer learning how to be a Spanish horse. And of course, I brought some guns.

The clinic was set up so that anyone with a horse could show up and participate, which was nice. The folks of the Sheriff's Posse putting it on brought sufficient revolvers and plenty of blank ammunition (part of the rules are that they always supply the blank ammo, which ensures that no idiots load live rounds into their pistols and blast balloos with lead, sending errant bullets in the the audience at the same time), so that they could (and did) loan out pistols to all who needed them. I think I was the only one who used my own stuff completely.

Just for the record, I brought my Colt Single Action Army "Cavalry Model", made in 1885 with the 7½" barrel and my Colt Single Action Army "Artillery Model" made in 1880 with the 5½" barrel (it's a cut-down Cavalry Model, a modification from the turn-of-the-century). I also brought my 1917 Colt SAA with full engraving, silver plating and ivory grips for Bev to use, but she opted to fire the issued Ruger's instead of getting my "Barbecue Gun" dirty with the blanks. Nice of her!)

They started the program out by desensitizing the horses, which was a wise and intelligent thing to do. We rode in a "herd" around the arena, and as the horses got used to it one of the fellows stood in the middle of the arena and fired off some blanks. As they got used to that, they passed out pistols to various folks in the herd, and they (safely) fired off the blanks towards the center of the arena. Eventually everyone fired off at least five rounds from their horse while their horse was in the relative safety of the "herd".

The final part of the clinic was everyone "running a course", which consisted of 10 balloons on poles, which you ride by and blast with the blank. Since the black powder blanks will shoot burning grains of powder for up to 20 feet, it's not as though you really have to aim, or be particularly close to the balloons to hit them. Most folks took it at a walk or a trot, though since the events are timed eventually most folks take the course at a full gallop. Bev and I did it at a nice trot, keeping the horses well in hand.

In reality it's more barrel racing than shooting, but heck, it combines guns and horses, which are the two things I live for, so it's hard to resist. If nothing else, it's excellent experience for the horses, making them put up with shooting from their backs. I think Darshan was more concerned about the popping balloons than he was the shots fired!

Cheers!

Gordon