The Night Mail

[AndyID]

3 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

What did Nelson signal to the fleet?

 

I don't suppose it was "I see no ships". 😄

[AndyID]

BTW, the first substantial memorials to Nelson were created in Scotland 😂

[J. S. Bach]

4 minutes ago, AndyID said:

I don't suppose it was "I see no ships". 😄

Depends on which eye he used! 🙄

[Chris Snowdon]

22 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

You need Popham's 'Telegraphic Signals of Marine Vocabulary', or so Wikipedia tells me.

 

What's the date today?

 

I'll give you another clue - the father of the LNWR's chairman of 1852-1861 was one of the intended recipients.

Fair enough and understood.  My copy if the ICS is the current version (I found it, hiding in between my histories of the USCG and Trinity House, and my copy of Escoffier - my library is currently a mess).  The Wikipedia page on Popham and link to "England Expects" shows the use of twin-flag, single-letter code.

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Get thee behind me Satan!! 

 

Dave

I see, a promotion in the field.

 

Most people only describe me as a little devil.

 

When do you want to borrow the book?

[BSW01]

Nelson’s flag message was:-

England expects that every man will do his duty

[AndyID]

7 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

Most people only describe me as a little devil.

 

 

Other words were expressed.

 

Anyway, my "unattached utility building" is in serious need of a major tidy-up and there is a 33 foot long baseboard (potentially extendable) not doing a lot so feel free to "pop-in" anytime if you have any creative ideas.

[Chris Snowdon]

12 minutes ago, BSW01 said:

Nelson’s flag message was:-

England expects that every man will do his duty

If memory serves (and it is failing), the signals were condemned at the time as grammatically strange.  Flag-code under ICS is "supposed to be" groups of three but you can go to more if the string's long enough.  I once called out a seven-flag code for my client (using the repeats).  I was once told that Nelson's signal was a seven-flag job something like "England/Rquires/Evryman/Hisduty" and was also condemned for being en claire, not code.  They had "leet", even then...

[AndyID]

19 minutes ago, BSW01 said:

Nelson’s flag message was:-

England expects that every man will do his duty

 

He should have said "Britain...." rather than England. Large numbers of the crew were Welsh, Scottish and Irish.

[Northmoor]

11 hours ago, br2975 said:

"Remember, it's the green bins every other Tuesday".

[BSW01]

The flags are read vertically, in columns, from left to right, except the last 4 columns, which are single letters. 

Like so

 

England 

Expects

That 

Every

Man

Will

Do

His 

D

U

T

Y

 

Edited 15 hours ago by BSW01

[Dave Hunt]

6 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

"Remember, it's the green bins every other Tuesday".

 

BRILLIANT! How did you know that tomorrow is green bin day at Hunt Towers? I've just been putting them out.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

2 minutes ago, BSW01 said:

The flags are read vertically, in columns, from left to right, except the last 4 columns, which are single letters. 

Like so

 

England 

Expects

That 

Every

Man

Will

Do

His 

D

U

T

Y

 

 

Thank God we had radios is all I can say.

 

Dave

[Winslow Boy]

So it wasn't- henceforth I wish to be known as Doris, then?

[AndyID]

17 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

So it wasn't- henceforth I wish to be known as Doris, then?

 

What's wrong with Doris? Alternative names are available.

 

Returning to the nautical aspect it's simply a question of "whatever happens to float your boat" 😄

Edited 14 hours ago by AndyID

[pH]

41 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Thank God we had radios is all I can say.

 

Dave

Hard to fly flags at Mach 1, then?

[pH]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

 

He should have said "Britain...." rather than England. Large numbers of the crew were Welsh, Scottish and Irish.

Apparently many more nationalities than that:

 

https://www.tumblr.com/ltwilliammowett/624555296803733504/the-crew-of-hms-victory

 

(Though that article doesn’t give primary sources.)

[br2975]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

???

 

Dave

 

2 hours ago, Chris Snowdon said:

Sorry, this defeats me.  Memory fails.  Can't find my copy of ICS, so used an old ALRS Vol 5.  So, "MV".

.

England expects every man will do his duty

.

Nelson's penultimate signal

.

21st. October, 1805

.

His final signal read

.

"Engage the enemy more closely"

Edited 14 hours ago by br2975

[Chris Snowdon]

38 minutes ago, br2975 said:

 

.

England expects every man will do his duty

.

Nelson's penultimate signal

.

21st. October, 1805

.

His final signal read

.

"Engage the enemy more closely"

The flag-code is still meaningless to me when I don't properly know the two or stree [three] standard codes using the same (and not so similar) codes but similar flags.  Was taught EEMC as well, but with some concerns about whether he commanded the signal, or it was just a shout.  Ignoring the irony of it (it's how and why he was shot) I held that as a mantra for much longer than I should have done.

Even when presented as vertical three-flag standards, it's still not obvious to be, but so I fail.

Edited 13 hours ago by Chris Snowdon
Correcting to actual English.

[Chris Snowdon]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

BRILLIANT! How did you know that tomorrow is green bin day at Hunt Towers? I've just been putting them out.

 

Dave

We don't have green bins here.  We just have "bin day".  That involves coloured bags, rather than coloured bins.  I have a 330l compost bin and I do my best.  I tried putting the garden waste, tea-bags and coffee-grounds into the compost bin, and the empty wine bottles into the special bag, and using the by-product of latter upon former.  Didn't really work as well as I hoped it would.

[J. S. Bach]

2 hours ago, br2975 said:

 

.

England expects every man will do his duty

.

Nelson's penultimate signal

.

21st. October, 1805

.

His final signal read

.

"Engage the enemy more closely"

I prefer his:

 

"Get so close you cant miss"

 

 

Even if that was not his.

[J. S. Bach]

Night owl from the Piedmont.

[enz]

3 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

He should have said "Britain...." rather than England. Large numbers of the crew were Welsh, Scottish and Irish.

 

Nelson may have got it right with "England" - how many at home in Ireland, for example, might  have quite liked it if the RN hadn't won?  OK, the crews probably would have preferred if their particular ship wasn't sunk, but to throw off the English overlords...

[iL Dottore]

Not your basic Nissan Qashqai

 

Spotted at the Nissan Flagship Store in the Ginza: The Nissan Hyper Punk all electric hybrid crossover. I couldn't find a price 😢🙁

 

Finally, as I leave Japan, here's an endearing little thing spotted at the Sony Flagship Store in the Ginza:

日本からさよならを言います

[polybear]

6 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

BRILLIANT! How did you know that tomorrow is green bin day at Hunt Towers? I've just been putting them out.

 

Dave

 

Mrs H flies the flags from the Chimney Stack.....

 

5 hours ago, br2975 said:

 

.

England expects every man will do his duty

.

Nelson's penultimate signal

.

21st. October, 1805

.

His final signal read

.

"Engage the enemy more closely"

 

And his final, final signal read:

 

"Rattin' Piggin' Turdycurses"

 

4 hours ago, Chris Snowdon said:

We don't have green bins here.  We just have "bin day".  That involves coloured bags, rather than coloured bins.  I have a 330l compost bin and I do my best.  I tried putting the garden waste, tea-bags and coffee-grounds into the compost bin, and the empty wine bottles into the special bag, and using the by-product of latter upon former.  Didn't really work as well as I hoped it would.

 

That must be fun when the green waste came from a Pyracanthus.

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Not your basic Nissan Qashqai

 

Spotted at the Nissan Flagship Store in the Ginza: The Nissan Hyper Punk all electric hybrid crossover. I couldn't find a price 😢🙁

 

If you have to ask then....