Bad Omens Solution and Prizes
Dec 10, 2020 13:52:06 GMT -5
GeneticBlend, tinaj, and 2 more like this
Post by forgottenhistoryhunt on Dec 10, 2020 13:52:06 GMT -5
The solution to BAD OMENS is the 1871 Whaling Disaster, when thirty-three whaling ships became trapped in the ice off the coast of northwest Alaska. Some ships were crushed as huge chunks of ice crashed through the hulls of the ships. Amazingly, there was no loss of life, but this event was the beginning of the end of the whaling industry, which was being replaced by petroleum.
Clues:
Title: Bad Omens = This comes from a chapter heading in an article about the incident:
www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/1871-whaling-disaster-33-ships-crushed-arctic-ice/
1-1 Named for the murdered Mr. Bahuaud = JULIAN, Nebraska, named after Julian Bahuaud
1-2 Empire from 27BC = The ROMAN Empire
1-3 The Wonder Horse = CHAMPION
2-1 Actor Mitzi, died 1972 (state) = Mitzi the Dolphin from "Flipper", buried in FLORIDA
2-2 October 13, 1775 with only two = Birth date of the Continental NAVY
2-3 Match(n.) or oppose(v.) = CONTEST, a match is a contest, and to contest is to oppose
3-1 The boy who will be king = Prince William's son, GEORGE, will one day be king of England
(A lot of first guesses were ARTHUR, but the key words here were WILL...BE)
3-2 Executed at Fotheringhay Castle = MARY, Queen of Scots was executed there in 1587
3-3 A commonwealth = The four US commonwealths are KY, MA, PA and VA, and only MASSACHUSETTS fits in the spaces.
Entering these answers into the spaces, you get:
1. Julian, Roman Champion.
2. Florida Navy Contest.
3. George & Mary, Massachusetts.
Plus 24 in LA, MD, DE = The remaining 24 ships that I did not list. LA =18th state, MD =7th state, DE=1st state, so this means 18-7-1, or 'in 1871'
The background is a map of the NW coast of Alaska where the ships became trapped.
__________________________________________________________________________________
As an aside, my great-great grandfather Charles was a boat steerer on one of these ships, the Awashonks. They set sail from New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1870 on a 3-year voyage, but they were only out one year when disaster struck.
Here are a few entries from his journal as the disaster unfolded:
Fri, Sept. 1, 1871: "snowed hard and [we] came down on ice and jammed in solid, so nothing of account going on today."
Sun. Sept. 3: "...reports the Roman and the Brig. Comet a total loss being stoved in while at anchor."
Mon. Sept. 4: "...the Reindeer is leaking."
Wed. Sept. 6: "...reports three boats from the northern fleet were stove in."
After a week of enduring sea ice crashing against the ship, Charles wrote in his journal on Fri. Sept. 8, "Breakfast at seven and at eight a cake of ice came through the port quarter and all hands went to work... and so ends the old Awashonks."
He drew a picture in his journal of the ship, pushed up onto the ice with the masts broken off. In paintings of the event, you can see the Awashonks, looking just likes drawing. It's the one tilted up on the ice with broken masts. You can see an image here:
westerndigs.org/wrecks-of-long-lost-19th-century-whaling-fleet-discovered-off-alaska-coast/
Ariel Norton, the unpopular captain of the Awashonks, abandoned his ship and crew to stay aboard the Minerva. On Tues. Sept. 12, the captain stopped by the Awashonks to collect some supplies and then Charles wrote, "He left without as much as a grunt, and joy go with him." Norton then rowed himself and his family out through the ice in a whaleboat, leaving his crew camped on the ice pack to fend for themselves.
On Thurs. Sept. 14, Charles and the rest of the Awashonks crew loaded the remaining whaleboats with supplies and rowed out to open water where they were rescued by the whaleship Midas. The Midas and six other ships escaped the ice and dumped their loads and equipment to make room for the 1200 stranded sailors.
The Midas sailed to Honolulu, Hawaii where the rescued sailors disembarked. Charles spent a month waiting for space on another ship. He was finally able to find passage aboard the Moses Taylor to San Francisco. From there, he took a train to New York, passing through Chicago a month after the Great Chigago Fire. Finally, he caught another boat home to New Bedford MA, arriving home just in time for Christmas, on Dec. 24, 1871.
As each ship became wrecked or abandoned, the crew's pay stopped and the men were left to find their own way home with few supplies and no money. No unemployment, FEMA, or corporate responsibility!
On Aug. 31, 1871, the day before the Awashonks was trapped, Charles wrote in his journal, "Fourteen years today since I started to sea." After this incident, he never went out again.
Many of the ships were later broken up and sold for scrap, but some sunk. In recent years there have been archaeologic expeditions to the Alaska coastline where they have found remains of the ships along with many artifacts.
Clues:
Title: Bad Omens = This comes from a chapter heading in an article about the incident:
www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/1871-whaling-disaster-33-ships-crushed-arctic-ice/
1-1 Named for the murdered Mr. Bahuaud = JULIAN, Nebraska, named after Julian Bahuaud
1-2 Empire from 27BC = The ROMAN Empire
1-3 The Wonder Horse = CHAMPION
2-1 Actor Mitzi, died 1972 (state) = Mitzi the Dolphin from "Flipper", buried in FLORIDA
2-2 October 13, 1775 with only two = Birth date of the Continental NAVY
2-3 Match(n.) or oppose(v.) = CONTEST, a match is a contest, and to contest is to oppose
3-1 The boy who will be king = Prince William's son, GEORGE, will one day be king of England
(A lot of first guesses were ARTHUR, but the key words here were WILL...BE)
3-2 Executed at Fotheringhay Castle = MARY, Queen of Scots was executed there in 1587
3-3 A commonwealth = The four US commonwealths are KY, MA, PA and VA, and only MASSACHUSETTS fits in the spaces.
Entering these answers into the spaces, you get:
1. Julian, Roman Champion.
2. Florida Navy Contest.
3. George & Mary, Massachusetts.
The arrangement of these words and the punctuation are misdirections with no relevance to the puzzle (The hint I was going to post at 2pm was in reference to the unnecessary punctuation).
The Julian, Roman, Champion, Florida, Navy, Contest, George, Mary, and Massachusetts are nine of the thirty-three Whaling ships that became locked in ice and crushed or abandoned in September of 1871. If you google all nine of these names together, the 1871 Whaling Disaster will come up.
Plus 24 in LA, MD, DE = The remaining 24 ships that I did not list. LA =18th state, MD =7th state, DE=1st state, so this means 18-7-1, or 'in 1871'
The background is a map of the NW coast of Alaska where the ships became trapped.
__________________________________________________________________________________
As an aside, my great-great grandfather Charles was a boat steerer on one of these ships, the Awashonks. They set sail from New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1870 on a 3-year voyage, but they were only out one year when disaster struck.
Here are a few entries from his journal as the disaster unfolded:
Fri, Sept. 1, 1871: "snowed hard and [we] came down on ice and jammed in solid, so nothing of account going on today."
Sun. Sept. 3: "...reports the Roman and the Brig. Comet a total loss being stoved in while at anchor."
Mon. Sept. 4: "...the Reindeer is leaking."
Wed. Sept. 6: "...reports three boats from the northern fleet were stove in."
After a week of enduring sea ice crashing against the ship, Charles wrote in his journal on Fri. Sept. 8, "Breakfast at seven and at eight a cake of ice came through the port quarter and all hands went to work... and so ends the old Awashonks."
He drew a picture in his journal of the ship, pushed up onto the ice with the masts broken off. In paintings of the event, you can see the Awashonks, looking just likes drawing. It's the one tilted up on the ice with broken masts. You can see an image here:
westerndigs.org/wrecks-of-long-lost-19th-century-whaling-fleet-discovered-off-alaska-coast/
Ariel Norton, the unpopular captain of the Awashonks, abandoned his ship and crew to stay aboard the Minerva. On Tues. Sept. 12, the captain stopped by the Awashonks to collect some supplies and then Charles wrote, "He left without as much as a grunt, and joy go with him." Norton then rowed himself and his family out through the ice in a whaleboat, leaving his crew camped on the ice pack to fend for themselves.
On Thurs. Sept. 14, Charles and the rest of the Awashonks crew loaded the remaining whaleboats with supplies and rowed out to open water where they were rescued by the whaleship Midas. The Midas and six other ships escaped the ice and dumped their loads and equipment to make room for the 1200 stranded sailors.
The Midas sailed to Honolulu, Hawaii where the rescued sailors disembarked. Charles spent a month waiting for space on another ship. He was finally able to find passage aboard the Moses Taylor to San Francisco. From there, he took a train to New York, passing through Chicago a month after the Great Chigago Fire. Finally, he caught another boat home to New Bedford MA, arriving home just in time for Christmas, on Dec. 24, 1871.
As each ship became wrecked or abandoned, the crew's pay stopped and the men were left to find their own way home with few supplies and no money. No unemployment, FEMA, or corporate responsibility!
On Aug. 31, 1871, the day before the Awashonks was trapped, Charles wrote in his journal, "Fourteen years today since I started to sea." After this incident, he never went out again.
Many of the ships were later broken up and sold for scrap, but some sunk. In recent years there have been archaeologic expeditions to the Alaska coastline where they have found remains of the ships along with many artifacts.
