"hpeer" wrote in message
...
Bruce In Bangkok wrote:
On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:14:44 +0100, "Edgar"
wrote:

"mmc" wrote in message
g.com...
It is actually "Ship shape and Bristol fashion". there seem to be a
number of explanations for the term but it certainly has been in use
for more then a hundred years as it is mentioned in "Two Years Before
the Mast", printed in 1840. The meaning apparently has always meant in
top notch condition. (and I don't know where that term originated :-)

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)
"Two Years Before the Mast"
What a great book. Haven't heard the title mentioned in a long time.
I reread it earlier this year and it is a most interesting account of
life aboard ship around the 1830's and a good picture of Southern
California in those days..
Interesting how they went across to the west coast of USA and stayed
there for two years while they steadily filled the hold with hides,
compressing them down with levers until sometimes the pressure would
lift a ships deck up off its beams. I presume they were buffalo hides so
no wonder there are not so many of these animals left. I doubt there
were enough people there in those days to eat all the carcasses so they
must have all been wasted.
And then there is the bit about a shipmate who fell off the ice covered
yardarms while running towards Cape Horn and they had no option but to
sail on while his cries faded away astern...
I wonder if it is still in print. My copy came from a s/h bookshop and
was inscribed as a Christmas present to someone in December 1900.

It's been years since I read the book but I have the idea that these
were cattle hides. Isn't there something in the book about being
anchored near some ranch and the ranch hands throwing dried hides down
a cliff so the crew could load them aboard?
Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

Way off topic here but some random thoughts.......

As I recall the Arch Duke Ferdinand, the guy that got shot to start WW1,
was famous for hiring a train for a "hunting" trip. He would run through
a wild region when the caribou or whatever were migrating and shot himself
silly, killing hundreds.

Munich has a hunting museum. They have a painting of some royal having a
"hunt" where they run hundreds of deer into a river to drown them.

In Newfoundland they have the spring seal hunt for pelts. Apparently they
just skin the animals on the ice and leave the carcass'. My Aunt
sometimes makes "flipper" but has to plan to get the meat. She has to get
someone from Gander to go up to Twillingate to get the meat when the boats
come in. Most don't bring any meat home. Not bad if it is cooked right.

I remember the one time I was in St.John's back in 1969.
They were selling raw seal flippers on wooden tables down on the waterfront.
The locals claimed they tasted great.
I passed.