About Me

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Sacramento, California, United States
so salty pieces of coral from surfing Hawaii in the 60's and 70's getting reef pounded living in my body fall through my skin from time to time!

sailing to Oahu

Jimi Hendrix was playing on Oahu. I had never sailed. Surfed Mexico, California, Hawaii! Aw, how hard could it be to sail 90-110 miles from Kauai to Oahu? Piece of cake, right? Remember it was the 60's! This is so bad. We thought we were looking at Kaiena Point,Ohau, knowing we weren't going to make the concert! But at least we were in site of Oahu-wrong! Coy, who had never sailed before, me,who had never sailed before, jeff and Abbott etc. We were looking at the sleeping giant on Kauai! We had done three-sixty's in the night! We sailed on the only tri-marran I've ever sailed on ( except later ) in my life, missed the concert! It was at the Waikiki Shell Ampitheater ( Moon eclipsed . We finally made Nawilwili Harbor! The Skipper tried to give us his boat saying, " It's trying to kill me"! We watched him go stark raving mad not even realising that had we got caught in the channel current we were on our way to Japan! Remember it was the 60's and we were going to see Hendrix. I left out some of the good stuff but I will make up for it later!

Friday, October 30, 2009

navigator/cartoligist/father/husband-James Cook

The Demise Of Captain Cook


by Betty Fullard-Leo



Captain Cook Monument in Kealakekua Bay.

The bay at Kealakekua is so translucent, so placid, that scores of novice snorkelers slip into the water daily, arriving by boats from Kailua-Kona, which anchor, bobbing peacefully, just beyond the obelisk that marks a far more violent episode in Hawaiian history. It was here that the great navigator Captain James Cook was killed on February 14, 1779.



Cook and his crew had sailed through the Hawaiian Islands little more than a year earlier when they anchored off Kaua'i to re-provision his flagship Resolution and a smaller vessel, Discovery. This was Cook's third Pacific voyage, but his first to explore the North Pacific. It was the voyage that earned him credit as the first westerner to discover the Hawaiian Islands.



When the British ships sailed past O'ahu to Kaua'i in January 1778, they were met by a fleet of canoes filled with Islanders prepared to do battle. Luckily, Cook and his men had learned a bit of Tahitian months earlier. Tahitian was close enough to the Hawaiian dialect so the two groups could communicate, and when Cook gave gifts, the Hawaiians realized he had come in peace. The boats had been anchored for three days at Waimea Bay, Kaua'i, where the crews had discovered that Hawaiian women gave freely of their sexual favors. While there, the High Chief Kaneoneo returned from across the island to board the Discovery and meet Captain Charles Clerke before the two English ships left Waimea, headed for Alaska and Canada. Cook had anchored off Kaua'i during the time of makahiki, a period of months set aside for the collection of taxes in the form of produce, crafts and other goods, while war was suspended and ceremonies and games were the order of the day. There are, however, no notations in Cook's logs that indicate he knew anything about the makahiki season or its peaceful traditions. Ten months later, he returned from the north, badly in need of provisions and a safe harbor to repair his ships. It was November; once again it was the makahiki season. Cook dropped anchor first off Maui, where a meeting with King Kahekili went well. The Hawaiians were pleased to obtain valuable iron nails to fashion into fishing hooks, as well as iron tools, in trade for food and water.





An interpretation of Hikiau Heiau, the temple at Kealakekua Bay, based on 1779 descriptions Painting by Herb Kawainui Kane.

Near Hana, Cook's ships were met by King Kalaniopu'u, who had been warring against Kahekili, but because of the makahiki, the fighting had been suspended. Eight of Kalaniopu'u's chiefs (among them the young Kamehameha) remained on board to direct Cook to the Big Island. From his reception, Cook surmised that swift canoes had raced across the channel to forewarn the Big Islanders of his arrival. Off the northern shore of the Big Island, near Waipi'o Valley, canoes laden with men waving white banners paddled out to greet them. During makahiki, white kapa banners were always hung for ceremonies and displayed at heiau around the islands. Next came young women dressed in their finest kapa, and canoes loaded with "pigs, fruit and roots."



The ships were re-provisioned, but unable to make landing. Cook chose to circumnavigate the Big Island around the windward side, extending his journey far beyond the few days it would have taken for him to reach Kealakekua Bay sailing to the lee. The Islanders, and presumably King Kalaniopu'u, were happy with the decision, as at each seaside village canoes paddled out to trade for valuable western goods. By the time the Discovery and the Resolution, with torn sails and rotting lines, were able to enter Kealakekua Bay for repairs, they were surrounded by possibly 1,000 canoes and thousands of people swimming or on surfboards.



Captain William Bligh, Cook's sailing master, who would later go down in history as captain of the mutinous crew of the Bounty, was sent ahead to check the depth of the bay and to find fresh water, thus becoming the first European to actually set foot on Hawaiian soil.



Cook invited one of the Hawaiian elders to dine with him and received a pig and a red tapa cloak in return. Lieutenant James King kept detailed journals of the proceedings. When Cook went ashore, with King in the retinue, King wrote, "...[We] were received by 3 or 4 men .....who kept repeating a sentence wherein the word E Rono was always mention'd, this is the name by which the Captn has for some time been distinguish'd by the Natives."



Early historians determined that Cook had been mistaken for the god Lono, most closely associated with the makahiki, but later scholars and Hawaiians cast doubt on the idea. One theory sometimes advanced is that Hawaiians were saying, "E rono," translated as "listen" or "attention," which they called out to attract the crowd's attention to Cook's presence and his important stature.



Cook was led to a heiau, the same rock temple called Hikiau that can be found at Kealakekua Bay today, to take part in an elaborate ceremony, at the conclusion of which he was made to bow to the ground and kiss an image of the war god Ku.



Cook was not the only one to be treated with honor; Captain Clerke was also led to the temple, and a small pig was sacrificed to him, accompanied by an elaborate ceremony and chanting.



Nine days passed before the Big Island king appeared, accompanied by a long line of sailing and paddling canoes. The British were surprised that the king was none other than their old friend Kalaniopu'u, who had settled in the village where about 125 dwellings were occupied by chiefs. This is the same area that holds the monument to Captain Cook today.





The following morning, the king boarded the Resolution from his own 70-foot canoe. He was surrounded by chiefs attired in bright red-and-yellow feather cloaks and helmets and accompanied by canoes carrying chanters, feather idols, and provisions.





While their ships were repaired, the British camped in a nearby sweet potato field, and some attempted to learn about the Hawaiian culture; others, like Surgeon's Mate David Samwell, learned lascivious songs from the young Hawaiian women and enjoyed feasts and boxing exhibitions, typical makahiki past times.



When Cook ordered the king to purchase the wooden railings atop the heiau they were freely given, possibly because the makahiki season was drawing to a close and the ceremonial structures would soon have been dismantled anyway. The British ships sailed away on February 4, but within days a gust of wind had broken the Resolution's main mast and Cook had to return. By then the time of peace was past.



The mast was hauled ashore; all the while, Islanders continually pilfered from Cook's ships. When an Islander was spotted making off with a pair of blacksmith's tongs from the Discovery, British sailors rowed ashore in pursuit of his canoe. They tried to confiscate his canoe to hold until their tongs were returned, but the canoe's owner came out and was struck with an oar. Hawaiians retaliated by throwing stones.



Cook, with Lieutenant King and a marine, came down the beach to intervene, and the three Britishers set off in pursuit of the man with the tongs, but they were misled and laughed at by the Hawaiians. Cook ordered the sentries to reload their fine-shot to the more deadly ball ammunition.



When a boat was discovered missing from the Discovery on February 14, ill feelings escalated. The British fired cannons at canoes in the bay and Cook went ashore with some sailors to try to bring Kalaniopu'u back to the Resolution as a hostage. A crowd had gathered by the water's edge when, at the far end of the bay, a shot rang out from one of the British boats, and the chief Kalimu, standing in his canoe, was killed. The Hawaiians began to don their war clothing and, when a challenging motion was made toward Cook, he turned and fired his musket. Then his marines fired. When the king's guards charged, the marines, who had no time to reload, headed for the water. Many of the men, like Cook, could not swim.





The death of Cook, February 14, 1779. Painting by Herb Kawainui Kane.

The recorded details are not exact, but it is thought that Cook was struck with a club from behind, then stabbed repeatedly with an iron dagger that had been obtained from the British in trade by a chief named Nua.





Following Cook's death, five British sailors were killed, and four Hawaiian chiefs and thirteen kanaka maoli (commoners) died, before cannon fire from the British ships forced everyone to leave the beach. Captain Clerke, suffering from tuberculosis, took command and had repairs completed to the foremast on deck. He asked repeatedly for Cook's body, only to learn through friendly Hawaiian priests that it had been cut into pieces and the bones stripped of flesh; as was the Hawaiian custom in the treatment of the remains of a high chief. Islanders believed that the keeper of such bones inherited the mana, the spiritual power, of the deceased.





Animosity continued, with Hawaiians on shore taunting the British sailors, until three days later. On the 17th of February, Clerke fired cannons toward the shoreline. Two chiefs came to the ships to discuss peace, but that same evening, British sailors who came onshore to replenishing their fresh water, were pelted with rocks. The sailors burned an unprotected village and cut off the heads of two Hawaiians, displaying them on poles, until Captain Clerke had them deposited into the ocean to show that the British were not cannibals.



The following evening, a truce was declared. Some of the remains of Captain Cook were returned to the British, which Clerke deposited in a weighted box and sank in Kealakekua Bay. Kalaniopu'u is said to have kept Cook's long bones and jaw, and the young warrior Kamehameha was given the hair.



The Hawaiians questioned what the British would do and they wanted to know when Erono would return. In early history books, these questions were often said to indicate that the Hawaiians considered Cook the god Lono, while others say it only indicated they feared retribution from Cook's ghost, as ghosts were very real to them.



Clerke and his men sailed north after further provisioning off Kaua'i, but Clerke died off Siberia before returning to his native land. In England, the story of Cook became a legend, and he was immortalized in books and in a French stage play: "La Mort du Captain Cook". The story that Hawaiians believed Cook was their god Lono was commonly accepted. With the blurring of history, it is a question that probably never will be settled completely.



I believe that James Cook is the embodiment of Lono.  Hunter S who is as whacked as a human can be/ wrote one of his " Fear and Loathings"  called "  The Curse of Lono"!  It's not just that!  I lived on Kauai for twenty years.  I became a sailor from a surfer/diver/fisherman.  I married my wife in Australia and continued to N.Z.  I sailed through the " South Seas"!  I married a " Kiwi"!  What did I learn in my travels?  Captain Cook has a statue or a pass everywhere I've been.  I visit my sister in Anchorage, Alaska and there is James.( a statue )  I sail to New Zealand and here is- the "Cook Straits", seperating the North Island from the South!   My wife delivers a boat to Cooktown, Aus, where after sailing through one of the two passes (Grafton)he finally ran aground, off loaded cannon, ballast- goes up the river and fixes (as in survives ) his boat so that the town with a museum is named " Cooktown"! I sailed from Samauri to Cairns and even with a chart that was a bad ass entry!  But Cook found that entry by exploration!  He designed the charts that I read! Yea, Jim is "ono"with the " L "!!  Everywhere I sailed in the Pacific Ocean or have been, I run across his name.  He died when he was 51 but oh! how he lived!  This man covered a lot of territory and did it with style.  He was a smart sailor that left a heritage to be admired and to be lived up with!  So be it!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Why? Captain James Cook Rules?

    Do you believe in mystery?  A man lives and dies and lives!  That is what is said and sometimes believed- about Jesus, the Christ!  Regardless of what I believe or know- you must believe in something!  I believe in un-belief as much as I have faith in my belief!.  My values  have the luxury of contemplating a mystery.  It is simple.  I can do nothing to earn or buy the thing that I want and can't afford.  But becauseI have faith- I can have what I want and also know I can't afford it but still desire to have it!  Can it be?  The answer is Yes!    It's like this.  If I owe a friend of mine money but another friend pays my debt for me, do I still have debt?  Here lies the paradox. My debt has been paid but I didn't pay it!  Do I owe the person who paid my debt for me? At the very least, do I owe the price paid that I Could Not Pay?    How could a man live for 51 years and do the things Captain Cook did?  This man gathered a scientific commnity together when a country,  thought water, and the  taking of showers was a harmful thing.  George, the Third, of England, hadn.t even decided yet that it would be better to let " the colonies go" and defeat the " Frogs ", their arch rivils! It is around this time that Benjiman Franklin expressed the future of a new country by politically stating in regards to a fellow explorer he had met, James Cook, who is flying the flag of England, this quote, " not consider her an enemy, nor suffer any plunder to made of the effects in her, nor obstruct her immediate return to England by detaining her or sending her into any other part of Europe or America but that you treat the said Captain Cook and his people with all civility and kindness, affording them, as common friends to mankind, all the assistance in your power which they may stand to be in need of."  Here is the beauty of the Mystery!  There have been key events, historically that have altered or shaped thought processes en masse throughout time.  I always love the pure quotes written by the  so called ' " Enemy " .  I'm sure I know who the enemy is.  Ignorance!  Rebellion!  In the pursuit of knowledge, real knowledge, which is a far cry from the " Art of "One-Up-Man Ship", we all in the pursuit of a transforming truth find ourselves amongst a divine family on a quest or adventure into the " Great Unkown ", and that Is The Divine Mystery, my friends!  Step to it!!!!!  James cook was torn apart in Hawaii, thought to be a minor God, Lono, a white or light skinned god!  Ben Franklin provided "his"vessel free port and yet when Ben wrote that secruity clearence, Jim was dead!  The boat returned to England the other way, South Africa, The cape of Good Hope, circumventing the up coming violence that would change the face of the world as they new it!  At that time!  So be it! 

Monday, October 26, 2009

Sailing; The Who And What For?

God I swear! I looked at the title (above) that came at me and I saw a history so vast and complex that I am not sure it wouldn't require volumnes and has/to even approach what has driven, compelled seaman for a myriad of reasons to go to sea and search horizons just beyond the curvature of the Earth in this quest for: Just maybe this is not the time to name drop. The Explorer Guys. The Warrior Guys. The Loyalty guys/for various countries and Queens or Kings.  I know it sounds like chess and yet it is and was,  The very cool thing about history is that it is/was written by more than one person from more than one country!  Make up your mind and choose the history you want to believe.  I recommend that you start with a premise that simply says three things. Or four!  I really want to believe would be your first premise.  The second would be , I'm sorry I doubt!  Now you are approaching diametric oppisition.  Ain't life grand? The third is I question because I can and so I challenge.  The fourth is I am ordered to sail with Magellan or Columbus and I have no choice.  So a few of you made it back from a sail or two.  Magellan didn't but Columbus discovered America without stepping foot on the continent!  Isn't history wonderful?  Ponce de da Leon didn't discover " The Fountain of Youth "' , in Florida either but don't tell the " Seminoles " , that.  otherwise when the " Cherokee " nation walked to Florida from Oklahoma they wern't going to find it either!  So is the " Trail of Tears" like the " Bataan March"?  Can you imagine being 15 years young and busted in London, England for stealing a loaf of bread and being sent to " Botany Bay" , ( Sydney, Aus) .  Or the 2nd son of a royal family, the non-inheiritor!  Sent to OZ to make your fortune!  What did the Aborigine think?  I know-Dreamtime!  So sailor's have done some shit to the world!  So what!!  This next four years will tell if we are going to survive as an island/country/whole Earth Family sailing through space as a ship with captain and crew!  Remember the island where a few rabbitts were left.  Without food they consumed each other to extinction!  They multiplied then divided!  Steady as she goes mate!!!!

Shanghaiied (cont) Fearsy and Sitsu

      I was a lucky one.  I survived a period of California's history that has never seen the like until today!  My three claims were so remote and early and so far removed from the hungry, greedy, jackels that feed off the works of the successful that I thought I just might have a chance of finding what I was trying to provide for my family.  I did! But the ravenous dogs who stalk, thought they won, again!  At every step of the way I was taken.  When my shovel broke, I walked six miles to an outpost, hiding my trail to purchase another.  I paid two onces of gold for that shovel.  Sixty dollars!  Can you believe it?  They tried to follow me back to where the gold originated from.  I was too Ohio for them.  They were cityfied people, thieves and I was a farmer//hunter that fed a large family by what we grew and what we shot or raised on our farm and it's surrounds.  I learned from Sitsu ( that's how you pronounce it ) how to walk with no sound and no trail when I was friendly to a people that were here before us.  My father taught me that people are great but that sometimes the governments that pretend to control the people lose touch that they also are the people!  Kind a hard to get but I did!  Sitsu is my friend and always has been.  He is one of the reasons that I survived being " Shanghied " in San Francisco.  He is a major reason I didn't lose my claims in the " Gold Country ".  While Sit was showing me the ways of his tribe he was studying the ways of our tribe.  A way of thinking from both parts is the way I see it.  While I'm studying him, He is studying me.  I knew it, He knew it!  So I guess friendship is a mutual exchange of something!  Because here is what I got from my friendship with Sitsu.  First, I survived being shanghaied.  When I returned, I was richer, emotionaly and financially and intellectually than when I began!  Why do I attribute this to my friend Sitsu?  When I walked with my friend in the wilderness, he allowed me to take the time to listen to forest sounds and let the sights and sounds lead me to the actions that would determine survival of not just myself and family but all that are part of that forest.  No one ever found the gold that I had claimed in California.  I came back years later knowing what I would find.  It is all still there.  I knew because of my friendship with an American Indian (Sitsu) that in a crisis situation I could accept my spiritul destiny but not without asking  the Great Spitit is this what it appears to be?  When I woke on that nightmare from hell called, " The Reefer " bound for China, I could have called all the gods that be to have nothing to do with me-ever again!  Fearsy ( Joesph Israel Jacobson ) only kicked me once and became a best friend as did Sitsu ( he never kicked me )  who taught me how to wait for the meaning of things before stricking out.  But stricking out is neccessary when your claim has been jumped.  Or when your family is under attack.  Or when ever you decide that justice is not being served.  Or !!!!!   Friendship is priceless.......

Mumbleskumdarknut

        Ughhhrrhhh!  Mumbleskumdarknut!   I must be near a farm for I hear sheep, chickens and cattle and smell them also!  But why in this darkness that even with eyes open can't see, still everything seems to be moving and pounding til my senses all are overcome with to much.  I can feel that the weight of my gold is gone.  Was I robbed?  I remember little but a ship grounded!  Lights and laughter with merry music and ladies dancing and all seemed well!  The owner shouted  all a' round and I felt I was with friends for the first time since I had left my home in Columbus, Ohio.  My beautiful bride and my two children, Robyn and Luke, whose father went to California to find the wealth that was in every paper from Florida to Maine!  Gold, In California, Lying on the ground to be picked up by anyone who can find their way to this place! " Eureka!  I've found it!"  So where am I now? Am I at sea?  A kick to my side sent my wandering mind to the realities at hand!  The pain and a voice that I was to hear for two years and more set me to a trade that I did not aspire to gain.  His name is Fearsy and he is first mate on a vessel from hell named , " The Reefer"!  The cattle I heard meowing after I was adjusting to being " Shanghaiied ", out of San Francisco was headed for China with a load of laundry.  Can you believe that? Because of the  Gold Rush ", and the building of the " Railroad"  there was a period of time in San Francisco where a class of people found it more affordable to send their washing by a slow boat to China and back than to do it them selves?  My gold is gone.  Maybe my claim has been jumped!  I don't know at this time because I am waking up after a " Mickey Finn " and apparently have signed " the articles" of seamanship and now am owned by the ship!  Well, this is before the uncivil war!  I realized that Fearsy was a simple man that was very good at following orders.  He only kicked me the one time because when I realized that we were outside the Farallon's headed more west than I had intended to go I knew I had to get back to my family! I be- friended him and used his friendship to propel me and his-self up to better food and a more responsible life.    I learned ( I was told ) nautical realities faster than any man before the mast before me.  When I returned to California on " The Reefer"  I returned as a bit of an anomaly.  Because I was educated and knew mathematics there was need for me and I learned the skills of navigation.  People aboard ship before and aft the mast placed me in a position to arbitrate the disparity or distance between solvency and active harsh punitive measures that upset the balance of the fluid operation of the owners goals, which was and is profit alone! I sailed with a sick captain from San Franisco to the island of New York around " The Horn"!  We lost four men off that cold harsh frozen tip of converging oceans.  Becalmed at " The Latitudes"!  No wind, just heat.  The hides we had picked up at " Thousand Steps", in Dana point made the owners wealthy.  The captain died two days after arriving at " the Port of New York"!  He was 43 years old.  I think it was malaria from the mosquito that got him.  I never got on with him.  He was a frog.  Never found one I liked.  Still looking, but not that hard.  So, Shanghaied in San Fran.  Sailed half way around the world. Sailing became me.  So here is what you have to look forward to.  The wife and children in Ohio.  The "Claim" in California.  Sailing and the " Uncivil War".  And,of course, what is Fearsy's name and what happened to him.  He is still my friend and is alive and well in my heart!  Arrggguhhh, matey!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Who Shanghaied Whom--Jonah and the Fearful Sailors

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Jonah and the Fearful Sailors 

6/14/03 Grace Fellowship Jonah and the Fearful Sailors Jonah 1:4-16



Mercy is for misery. If not for sin and suffering, the mercy of God would not be evident. In pain and travail, in trials and heartaches, it is God's mercy that we pray for. Fathers don't understand the need for mercy like any woman who has ever given birth. After 8 1/2 months of pregnancy, every mother-to-be understands mercy and the need of it. We are all aware of the need for mercy because all of us have found ourselves in difficulty, oftentimes because of our own sin and its terrible consequences, and at other times because of the sins of others.



• The man who is addicted to smoking or alcohol needs the mercy of God. He needs God's pity upon him to grant him the grace needed to overcome the effects of his own sin.

• The parents of the child who suffers from cancer simply because we live in a fallen world, because all sickness is ultimately a result of sin, those parents pray for the healing mercy of God.

• The woman who lives in an abusive marriage cries out for God to have mercy upon her and protect her from harm by her sinful husband.

• The family in financial difficulty because of their own irresponsibility asks God to have pity upon them and forgive them for their sinful disregard for His providence.

• The Christian who lies in a filthy prison cell in chains, for years on end, separated from his wife and children because he will not repent from following the Lord Jesus, cries out for the mercy of providence for his family and deliverance from his, and God's enemies.



But in the book of Jonah, we see God purposing to have mercy upon a people that don't ask for it, nor are they aware of a need for it. There is no request from the king of Nineveh for an evangelist. There is no cry from Assyria for deliverance from the eventual wrath of God. There is no invitation sent to Israel for a prophet to come and explain the gospel to them. It is God who initiates an act of mercy and commands His prophet to go to that great city and preach against it so that He might have mercy upon the people there. And Jonah, being the great prophet of God that he is, in effect says, "Let them die in their wickedness. I will not go."



In contrast to the prophet Isaiah who said, "Here am I. Send me!" Jonah's response to God's order is to do as much as possible to avoid Nineveh and God's plan to show them mercy. He knows Jehovah well enough to know that He delights in mercy towards sinners. Consequently, because of his own sin of hatred, he himself is in need of much mercy. But not only does his sin make him a candidate for mercy, he places others in great danger so that they too are in need of God's mercy. Read 1:1-16.



Verse 4 Jonah has boarded a ship for Tarshish. He carries on board with him his sins of rebellion and hatred. In that act, unknown to him or the sailors, he jeopardizes the lives of everyone on board. This scene reminds me of a man trying to outrun the police. He may outrun a single policeman or a single police car, but he can't outrun police radio. Wherever he goes, the police are already there because the police helicopter sees his every move. There is no escape. But what makes it worse is his endangerment of many others in the chase.



How does one outrun God? When God has all of creation at His disposal, where does Jonah plan to go that will provide him a safe haven from God and His command? God has the wind and the waves which respond to His beckon call. For He commands and raises the stormy wind, Which lifts up the waves of the sea.



So He calls upon them and they respond to such a degree that the little boat carrying the little prophet is about to be destroyed. This speck of wood in the middle of the sea with Jonah on it, being tossed around like a leaf in the wind, "was about to be broken up" into so much flotsam because of the sin of rebellion from the man of God.



Verse 5 If you are onboard a ship, and those professional seamen who are responsible for the safe operation of that ship are so afraid the boat is about to be destroyed, that they all suddenly and simultaneously become prayer warriors, how should you respond? Fervent prayer and sailors are not usually equated with one another. These mariners are convinced that their boat is going down, and every one of them prays to his god for deliverance. Perhaps one of the men will appeal to the correct god who is obviously not happy, and they will be shown mercy. They are employing the shotgun approach to prayer: "Oh god, whoever you are, if you are there and if you are able, please help us out of this mess!" Such prayer is futile because it has no recipient. Such a person prays to the air. It is no better than praying to a rock or a statue that can do nothing.



But while fervently praying, they do everything possible to save their own lives. These guys are not like many so-called Calvinists who expect God to do all the work while they wait for Him to act. They are so desperate that they throw their cargo overboard. They had a better understanding of the Christian life than many Christians I know. This is the stuff they were supposed to be taking to Tarshish. They were throwing their paychecks overboard! This was serious! They worked AND prayed because their lives depended upon it!



In the meantime, there is another who is not only comfortable with this critical situation, but completely unaware of it. Jonah is in the lowest part of the boat, fast asleep. This is the effect of unrepentant sin: it desensitizes us. Prolonged unrepentance makes us callused to the obvious danger we are in. Notice that Jonah "went down to Joppa". Then he went down into the boat, into the lowest parts of the ship. How much lower can you go? Much lower! Be patient. God will take Jonah far lower than he would have thought possible. But the lesson illustrated here is that sin brings us down. While the Scriptures repeatedly speak of God as being up, in the Heavens, on high, etc., sin brings us down to the depths, away from the presence of the Lord.



But the amazing thing here is that a prophet of God should have such peace about his own blatant rebellion. Are there ever things "we have peace about", that are in clear violation of God's will for us? Believers do this all the time! O. Palmer Robertson commented on Jonah's peace by saying this:



"Do you realize how subtle words can be? Very often a phrase comes to mean the exact opposite of what it actually says. I have seen Christians shatter the terms of a contract, and cover over their action by stating, 'I really do feel good about it.' In this case, "I really feel good about it' actually means, 'I have suppressed my conscience on this matter.'



Sometimes the name of God is blasphemed by the most pious Christians. Have you ever heard the phrase, 'I just didn't feel the Lord wanted me to do it,' or 'I really didn't have peace in that matter'? Well-intended Christians will break their word to you and cover infidelity with a cloak of 'feeling'.



Jonah had plenty of peace. He was sleeping like a baby. At the very time when he was running from the will of God, he had great peace. Beware of appeals to inner peace." (O. Palmer Robertson; Jonah: A Study in Compassion; p.20. Banner of Truth, 1990)



Verse 6 The KJV doesn't quite do the job in verse 6: "What meanest thou, O sleeper?" When the captain of the ship openly displays panic, then it is time to get serious with prayer. You can hear the incredulity in his voice: "What do you mean, sleeper!?" The NIV says, "How can you sleep?" If I had been the captain of that ship, Jonah would have been in the water right about now. He would have gone over the side with the rest of the cargo. But the sailors needed him to pray to his God. Maybe Jonah's God would help them out of this storm. Maybe Jonah's God would be merciful and spare them all from drowning. They didn't even know who Jonah's God was, but whoever He was, it was worth a try. "Perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish." These guys are ready to do whatever to appease whoever: burn incense, offer a sacrifice, harmonic convergence, “Hail Mary's,” pray to anybody who may be out there. They are on the verge of death and they are absolutely terrified of death at sea.



Verse 7 In their superstition, they decide to cast lots to figure out which one of them made somebody really mad, because shotgun prayer isn't getting the job done. They need to be more specific. They finally come to the conclusion that someone on board has to get off the boat. But even in their unbelieving paganism, Jehovah sovereignly directs the lot to the right person: Jonah. It is a mercy displayed to the godless sailors when the true God reveals the source of their trouble. It is Jonah's God who is angry.



Verse 8 All the sailors barrage him with a variety of questions, but the basic question is, "What did you do?" What could you have done to get us all in this mess?? So he gives them the answer:



Verse 9 "I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land." Apparently what Jonah means by the word "fear", and what the rest of the Bible means by "fear of the Lord" are two different things. If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then Jonah is not only rebellious, but also a fool. Psalm 34:7 says, "The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them."



If Jonah had feared the Lord, he would be in Nineveh by now. This is the most ironic and contradictory statement in this entire story. Jehovah, who is the God of Heaven, of the dry land and of the sea, is the God Jonah is trying to avoid. How does he hope to evade capture? What fools we become when we entertain our own lusts and desires over God's revealed will for us. Although he knew better, Jonah followed his lusts and ran away from the will of God. The fear of God leads to obedience, not rebellion.



Verse 10 But notice the response of the sailors: "What do you think you're doing?!!" Before, they thought they had offended one of the local deities. Now they find out that they are under the wrath of THE Deity! Palmer refers to God as "the big One". They were afraid before, but now they are EXCEEDINGLY afraid! "Why have you done this?"



Personal sin often brings community sorrow. Jonah's rebellion isn't OK as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. Our sin hurts others. He's about to get them all killed because of his hardness of heart. His heart is so hard that throughout this entire episode thus far, we never hear Jonah pray. It is the pagans who are doing all the praying, while the man of God refuses to do so. How can it be that the unsaved are often more spiritually oriented than the righteous? Nearly everyone prays sometime, but in this moment of great crisis, the prophet doesn't pray.



Verse 11 Now things are getting even worse, when things can't get much worse. This boat is being smashed to bits while the sailors interrogate Jonah. "What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?" What must we do to appease your God, Jehovah?



Verse 12 The answer: "Get rid of me," Jonah says. Notice there is no contrition. There is no remorse. There is no repentance. There is no cry for mercy. This man is still so stubborn that he would rather drown than repent. I don't think it is unreasonable to assume that if Jonah had prayed and asked God to forgive him and deliver them all from the raging sea and the howling wind, that God would have done it. God may have even moved the sailors to take Jonah back to land. But his hardness of heart would not allow him to say, "I was wrong."



What makes people believe they can repent whenever they choose? Why do we believe we can entertain our own sin until we feel like saying we're sorry? Jonah reminds me of Pharaoh, and I wonder if God didn't harden Jonah's heart in order to teach him a lesson in humility. Is God using Jonah as an object lesson for us? How hard can a person's heart get? His response to the sailors to throw him overboard is not some humble self-sacrificial move to save the ship. Rather it is a self-centered tactic to escape from God.



I was once told that we learn everything is by mistake. It may be true that much, if not the majority of the things we learn, we learn from the mistakes we make. But God has given us the Scriptures, as well as some measure of common sense, so that we might learn from the mistakes of others. How foolish and hard-hearted is Jonah, and it is to his own shame that he is so. He serves as an example of how depraved the human heart can be that even a Christian is capable of believing he can outlast God and finally win an insurrection. Jonah is a man to whom God actually speaks. He is not your average believer, but a prophet and a spokesman for the God of Heaven. And he is foolishly walking around with his fingers in his ears because he prefers his own will to God's. He is stubborn even to the point of death.



Verse 13 These pagan Gentile sailors have more of a conscience than Jonah does. Rather than immediately toss him overboard to save their own lives, they row hard to get to shore so they can deposit him on land, or at least close to land. But God would not have it. Their rowing was an exercise in futility. Jonah was a marked man, and God was after him. So the unbelievers do all they can to save the servant of the Lord. They have more mercy than Jonah does. And the name of God is blasphemed because of people such as Jonah.



Verse 14 The sailors become instant theologians. Here is an acknowledgment of God's right to do whatever He chooses with what He has made. They also understand the gravity of murder. They are about to intentionally drown a man. In their minds, Jonah is as good as dead as soon as he crosses the side of the boat. There are no search parties or life jackets. There are no inflatable rafts in which to ride out the storm. These sailors are sending this man to his death. But they do so reluctantly because they have tried every other option. Now they are convinced that Jonah's God is forcing this action upon them, and they are absolutely correct.



Was God pleased to terrify these men? Was God happy to have Jonah thrown into the drink? Is that what it means when the sailors say that it has pleased God to force them to kill Jonah? To say that God works according to the good pleasure of His own will simply means that He does whatever He wants. In this situation, God has chosen to have these innocent men throw the guilty party overboard to his death. It is God's will that they do so. They have been forced into it, and they know it.



How is it that these godless men discern and do the will of God, while the so-called God-fearing man would rather die than obey? I believe it was at the Toledo Reformed Theological Conference that one of the speakers mentioned overhearing some seminary students referring to one of their professors as having a pastor's heart. "A pastor's heart"; it sounds so holy and reverential. Do you want to know what a pastor's heart is like? "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (Jer 17:9, NKJV).



Verse 15 So these terrified sailors reluctantly pick Jonah up and heave him into his watery grave. Immediately upon doing the Lord's bidding, the storm ceases. The word literally means "to stand still" or "to stop moving", like the Sea of Galilee when Jesus commands it to be still. Storms don't do that. The sea doesn't just flatten out and stop heaving its huge boat-smashing waves. The reaction of the sea to Jonah's splash in the water caused these presumably seasoned mariners to be so amazed that…



Verse 16 tells us they "feared the Lord exceedingly". In verse 5, the sailors were afraid of the storm. In verse 10, they were exceedingly afraid of the Lord because He was bringing the storm upon them. But here in this verse they "feared the Lord exceedingly" because He instantly stopped the storm. If there were any doubts about the origin of their troubles before, there are no doubts now. So these Gentile sailors are not only prayer warriors, but worshippers of the true God.



Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters,

They see the works of the LORD, And His wonders in the deep.

For He commands and raises the stormy wind, Which lifts up the waves of the sea.

They mount up to the heavens, They go down again to the depths; Their soul melts because of trouble.

They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, And are at their wits' end.

Then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble, And He brings them out of their distresses.

He calms the storm, So that its waves are still.

Then they are glad because they are quiet; So He guides them to their desired haven.

Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!

Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people, And praise Him in the company of the elders.

(Psalms 107:1, 23-32, NKJV).



Jonah's flight away from his responsibility to take the message of repentance to the Gentiles may have been the occasion for unwittingly bringing repentance to these idolatrous sailors and quite possibly to every port they visited in the Mediterranean Sea for many years to come.



1. God has free will. Whereas men have a semblance of freedom to do as they please, God has the ability to move heaven and earth and men to do His will. How is it that the lot that determined the guilty party fell to Jonah? How is it that the sailors were correctly convinced that their only escape from death was to throw him into the sea? Even after doing everything within their power to avoid God's plan, the mariners wind up performing exactly what God prescribes.



Not only does God have free will, but He has the power to accomplish whatever he wills. Men cannot do this. We do not have unlimited resources and infinite power to perform whatever we choose. God does, and according to Scripture, He actually works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11). God not only can do anything, but He does do whatever He chooses to do because His desires are not contingent upon the cooperation of sinners or anything else He has created. He is not subject to His creation, but rules over it. Wind and waves are subject to Him. Saved and lost are subject to Him. He is Lord over all.



2. The Gospel not only eventually reaches Nineveh in spite of Jonah's foolishness, but it also reaches these sailors whom God has mercifully spared and revealed Himself to. Men who were not looking for God, found Him, and their discovery of Him was unmistakable. Men who had gods to worship, within a few hours find the true God and worship Him. In His mercy, God spares their lives. In His grace, He reveals Himself to them as the true God of Heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.



3. God is longsuffering and patient. Even with someone as mule-headed and insubordinate as Jonah, God is the One who is still in charge of the situation. He moves step by step to the accomplishment of His will, the display of His mercy toward those in misery.



4. God will glorify Himself either with or without our cooperation. He will be glorified in His merciful dealings with unbelieving sailors, or He can glorify Himself in the chastening and disciplining of His wayward prophets. Either way, He will not give His glory to another. The Westminster Catechism says that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. That is also the chief end of God: to glorify Himself and enjoy Himself forever. We exist for God, not vice versa.



==============================================================

• Do you need pity? Do you suffer from sin or the effects of it, either your own sin or someone else's? Do you need God to have mercy upon you? He is willing. He delights in showing mercy, particularly to His own children.

"Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:9-11, NKJV).



• Or, are you running from God, quite comfortable in your rebellion, at peace with yourself in your sinfulness because you have hardened your heart against God to the point of being unconscious of your desperate need? Do you sleep peacefully even in the midst of your wickedness, while putting those around you at risk of suffering for your sin? Repent! God will have mercy upon you as well.

Shanghaiied

The shipping articles, or contract between the crew and the ship, from a 1786 voyage to Boston.The role of crimps and the practice of shanghaiing resulted from a combination of laws, economic conditions, and practical considerations that existed on the American west coast in the mid-1800s. Crimps flourished in port cities like San Francisco in California, Portland[2] and Astoria in Oregon,[3] and Seattle[4] and Port Townsend in Washington.[5]



First, once a sailor signed onboard a vessel for a voyage, it was illegal for him to leave the ship before the voyage's end. The penalty was imprisonment, the result of federal legislation enacted in 1790.[6] This factor was weakened by the Maguire Act of 1895 and the White Act of 1898, before finally being eradicated by the Seamen's Act of 1915.



Second, the practice was driven by a shortage of labor, particularly of skilled labor on ships on the West Coast. With crews abandoning ships en masse due to the California Gold Rush, a healthy body on board the ship was a boon, and an actual able seaman was worth his weight in gold.[7][8]



Finally, shanghaiing was made possible by the existence of boarding masters, whose job it was to find crews for ships. Boarding masters were paid "by the body," and thus had a strong incentive to place as many seamen on ships as possible.[7] This pay was called "blood money," and was just one of the revenue streams available.[9] These factors set the stage for the crimp: a boarding master who uses trickery, intimidation, or violence to put a sailor on a ship.[citation needed]



The most straightforward method for a crimp to shanghai a sailor was to render him unconscious, forge his signature on the ship's articles, and pick up his "blood money." This approach was widely used, but there were more profitable methods.[9]



In some situations, the boarding master could receive the first two, three, or four months of wages of a man he shipped out.[7] How this was accomplished requires some explanation. Sailors were able to get an advance against their pay for an upcoming voyage. The purpose was to allow them to purchase clothes and equipment. However, the advance wasn't paid directly to the sailor, because he could simply abscond with the money. Instead, those to which money was owed could claim it directly from the ship's captain. An enterprising crimp, already dealing with a seaman, could supplement his income by supplying goods and services to the seaman at an inflated price, and collecting the debt from the sailor's captain.[9]



Some crimps made as much as $9,500 per year in 1890s dollars, equivalent to about $220,000 in 2007 dollars.[10]



The crimps were well positioned politically to protect their lucrative trade.[11] The keepers of boardinghouses for sailors supplied men on election day to go from one polling place to another, "voting early and often" for the candidate who would vote in their interest.[citation needed] In San Francisco, men such as Joseph "Frenchy" Franklin and George Lewis, long-time crimps, were elected to the California state legislature, an ideal spot to assure that no legislation was passed that would have a negative impact on their business.[citation needed]



The most infamous examples included Jim "Shanghai" Kelly and Johnny "Shanghai Chicken" Devine of San Francisco, and Joseph "Bunco" Kelly of Portland.[11] Stories of their ruthlessness are innumerable, and some have survived into print due to their rough humor. One example of such a story involved "Bunco" Kelly passing off a wooden Cigar store Indian as a much-needed crewman to a desperate ship's captain.[1]



Another example of romanticized stories involves the "birthday party" Shanghai Kelly threw for himself, in order to attract enough victims to man a notorious sailing ship named the Reefer and two other ships.[11]

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Don't need no stinking lighthouse!

We were sailing to Kieta, Bougainville from Gizo after clearing customs. We got word that someone we had sailed with had been forced to buoy an anchor to mark it's location as they could not free it from the ocean floor. We thought we might swing into this little island, pick up the anchor, have a little relaxing dive and brunch. One half of the Solomon Navy didn't agree. They had this little gun boat smaller than President Kennedy's PT boat! They let us know that we had cleared customs in Gizo ( after spending three months in the Solomons) and were not welcome in their territorial waters any longer! There were no tense moments. We invited all four of them aboard for lunch ( they liked my bread ) while they checked with the proper authorities to see if we could be allowed to dive for our friends anchor. After a lot of posturing and a wasted four hours we were told in no uncertain terms we were persona non grata! It was a disappointment not to be able to bring our friends anchor to Kieta. We had the abillity and the technology but Governments love to exihibit their power. I loved paying the light bill in the Solomons. All the lighthouses were built by the U.S and maintained through WW11. After that they were maintained by the country itself for about a month! In the entire Solomon Islands we found one of twenty-one lights working. They charged us in Haniara $ 210.00 for light fees! I wonder what it is now? As far as I know that anchor is still sitting in that bay waiting for someone to come and get it! The island can't be accessed because it belongs to the Solomons and there is no way to clear customs. You only can clear at Gizo or Honiara ( Guadacanal )! This island is only about 8 hours from Bougainville. Sticky wicket! When we arrived at Keita they had a perfect Jap Zero mounted like a model a kid might have in his bedroom. Royal and I later found one in 15 feet of water in a channel. You could free dive it and actually sit in the cockpit! Both wings were attached and all the gages in place. It was really erie! Royal took one gage as a sovenier which I am sure he still has to this day. Thus his name Royal Gage! Ha!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

P.T 109

Story time not" Dream Time" boys and girls! We said our goodbye's to Phil at Gizo, Solomon Islands. Worst case of Malaria I've ever witnessed. He's alright. Saw him a few years later in Adelaide, Aus. He's a grower of organic foods and has a great spread. Still gets knocked down by the bug but handles. Back to Gizo! We all meet this guy ( American ) named Royal Gage. I know his name sounds contrived kind of fictional, well he is all of that and then some! This guys life stories of which he never embellished put mine in the corner. I liked him ( still do )! He was the first American I had seen or spoken with in many months. He was in Gizo to dive J.F.K's sunken PT 109. After realizing Australia's southern coastline was a bit much even for an ocean going kayak he was headed home to Seattle to continue building boats. After downing a few schooners we figured I may as well join him and dive Kennedy's wreck! So we did with a dive group package that does these kinds of things in the south seas. After that we drank a few more middies and Royal was asked if he would like to go sailing? Dave, the skipper of Guinevere, asked if he would consider continuing his journey for a bit longer? Everyone liked him. A family of four and me. We were going to pick up Andrew Pete later. But for now he said," cool "! And this is where it gets interesting. It's my fault. I had been making, " Hopi ", alcohol for months. I had a really good batch begging for consumation. It's 2 O'Clock in the morning and Royal and I are yarnin on the second spreader with a gallon of firewater in a very still clearing habour with fifty free anchored vessels trying to sleep. For once not one generater was running. Guinevere's mast is 62' off the deck. We, without knowing it, were broadcasting laughter, bad jokes, meaningless babelings, selfish giggles and were totally unaware that we had offended everyone. And because we were so high up,( no pun intended ) the amplifcation factor carried us into a state of unpopularity only ascribed to a few! Our boat ( the family ) held court the next day. Should Royal sail with us or not? He did. I never made Hopi again as part of the deal. Don't think for a minute that it wasn't loved. It was just time for something else. I still made bread and we still drank beer when and where we could find it! But to sail with Royal to Cairns, Aus was priceless. Let me tell you of the time that one of our cockpit cushions flew overboard off of Papua. He- but that is another storie!!

Friday, October 9, 2009

alcohol and bread

Shit! I hated not being able to make a sandwich while sailing from north to south! Even rice was hard to find. Eventually a cigarette became a luxury! All of these necessities become a story but not yet! Let's do bread and alcohol! I can turn these into many stories or processes that one who has traveled the distances I have, just, might understand the need for one and maybe the other! I learned, at sea to make loaves of bread on a rolling deck! I was able to feed a large crew, at sea, sandwiches only because of my need. I love bread and I also love booze. I have a formula for the finest kine sailing alcohol that has ever been found. We call it Hopi. It is an interesting combination of local fruit ( sugar ) yeast, water, containment, aging, a process that only requires a rolling deck, a desire to believe and a hope that your behavior might be affected/effected by the consumation of said " Hopi "! After eating the bread I made I sat on the secound spreader, fifty feet off the deck of Guinevere, drinking " Hopi ", with Royal Gage, contemplating our sail from Gizo,Solomans to Cairns, Aus- This will be another story! arrugghh

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Rabaul-PNG

Water is very important to a sailor. One of the greatest quotes ever stated was by Magellan. " Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink"! What did he mean by that? Oh yea! He hadn't been able to catch rain and wasn't near land to gather fresh water from a river but was surrounded by an ocean of salt water. Well in a small way sailing into Rabaul was like this but different. In the " South Seas " good water is still a blessed thing. Some atolls only fresh water is the rain they catch off of their tin roof, guttered into a barrel to be used casually as they deem fit. In Raboul the drinking fountains taste of sulfur from the active volcano which shaped the underwater cauldron you sailed into thinking, Oh what a natural harbor! Sorry, I have found out that since we were there it blew! The sulfuric content Guinevere ( our vessel ) was floating in killed all the skirting ( living moss ) clinging to our hull. We normally had to dive and scrape off our hull so we could maintain a forward speed under sail without unneccesary drag! If the water from their town tasted like and smelled like sulfer why would anyone contaminate their water tanks with smelly water? We didn't but the alternative is just as rank! We found a man in Rabaul, an expatriot, who said we could take on water from his rain catch on the other side of the bay. The water was sulpher free but it had mosquito larva in it o'plenty. We siphoned the water through a screen-filtering, jury-rigged process before it ever entered our 300 gallon tanks. After we loaded the water we dropped in just enough clorine to kill all micro-organisms but not taint the tanks. Sticky wicket but! It took a team effort but the sulpher contact to water storage tanks from an active volcano is way more lasting than the smell of rotting eggs. What happens is your water tanks have to be replaced as the taste and smell can never be put aside. All new water takes on that flavor which is not desireable. I do recommend however, that whenever possible pull into any volcanic harbor as it cleans your bottom as it has never been cleaned before! AARRGHH, Matey

Friday, October 2, 2009

Fatique

When does one reach the farthest limits of one's endurance? When does metal bend over and over again while it becomes red hot and then loses it's tensil strength? Ask a samarai sword maker as he heats metal and beats it over and over again until it folds into itself making an edge sharper than a razer by the heat, pounding and cooling of an artists attention! I have been that sword. The oceans I have sailed with Masters, have tempered and shaped this sword and more! The waters with a cooling effect have affected the Master and myself, being crew and then shaping/ merging into a oneness/sameness, becoming togetherness and then-forgetfulness. Complete in a fugue of fatique that by the force of a combativeness, the violence of extremes seemed brought together by a mystery it seems/ a fellowship that has lasted and will last. The ocean and people who ride Her understand Her diverse personallity and because of their fatique understand that She has not that thing!

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