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It was the height of the War of the Austrian Succession when Richard Avery Hornsby, who lived in Sunderland’s Vine Street, set off for The Hague on his brig, the Wrightson and Isabella.
His little ship was laden with malt and barley for the voyage and he had a crew of just five men and two boys. Such was the routine nature of the trip, that the Isabella was built for speed rather than battle, boasting just four small guns, two swivel cannons and a few blunderbusses.
With such poor defences, she must have appeared an easy target to the 75 French pirates on board the Marquis of Brancas, who spotted her off the Dutch coast. But the Brancas’ ten guns, eight swivel cannons and 300 small arms proved no match for the fighting spirit of the British on that fateful day of 13 June 1744. There follows a song of the time, and an account of the adventure -
IN PRAISE OF BRAVE CAPTAIN HORNSBY
"Come all you brave sailors that plough on the main,
And hear of the brave Captain Hornsby by name;
How bravely he acted and play'd his own part,
That he made the proud Frenchmen to quake in their hearts!"
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A STEAMPUNK NOVEL, FULL OF
ANARCHIC EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE
"Hodges emitted a scream the like of which
I hadn't heard since his scrotum was burned off
Unrelated to this post, below is an example of
eclectic science esoterica
Nuclear missile launching & re-entry of multiple (dud) warheads
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