British Tars, towing the Danish fleet into harbour

“The Broad-bottom Leviathan trying to swamp Billy’s old-Boat, & the little Corsican tottering on the Clouds of Ambition” – three sailors rowing a small ship’s boat or dinghy, (the Billy Pitt) are going through rough water caused by Leviathan, a porpoise-like monster with three heads and a forked tail. The heads spout water at the boat, particularly at Canning. They are (r. to left.) Grenville, who spouts “Opposition Clamour”; Howick (whom Canning had replaced as Foreign Secretary), spouting “Detraction”; and St. Vincent, spouting “Envy”.

hand-coloured etching, Print made by James Gillray / Published in London, 1807  more detailed explanation

print study drawn by William Blake

Night VIII, page 3, ‘The Charm that chains us to the World, her Foe’. Illustration to Young’s ‘Night Thoughts’; scaly merman in papal tiara and carrying a crozier riding sea-monster, Leviathan. c.1795-7

(full size image)

CHERBOURG; Transatlantique Leviathan, posted August 1925 – on GreatShips (more)

LEVIATHAN Leaving New York City

She and Bismarck shared a novel design feature: the uptakes which led from her furnaces to her funnels were split and ran along the outside of the ship, rather than straight up the middle. This allowed for much bigger public rooms, undivided by funnel uptakes, than had been possible on earlier ships.  GreatShips (more photos and postcards)

Built by Blohm & Voss Hamburg as Vaterland
54,282 GRT – 948 x 100 feet
Quadruple screw, 24 knots, turbines
752 first class, 535 second class, 850 third class
1,772 passengers; 1,243 crew

April 4, 1917— Seized by US after crew had inflicted considerable damage to boilers and engines. She was repaired and transferred for Navy Transport service, September 6, 1917 renamed LEVIATHAN, reportedly by Woodrow Wilson himself. Laid up in New York and handed over to US Shipping Board in September, 1919.

Maritime Monday for January 30, 2012; This is Leviathan

“Destruction of Leviathan” an 1865 engraving by Gustave Doré for Paradise Lost

Leviathan is a mythical sea creature that appears in the Bible, emblematic of awesome strength. It’s described as the meanest and the biggest creature in the sea and a humbler of the Proud. Leviathan as a dragon who lives over the Sources of the Deep and who will be served up to the righteous at the end of time.

Maritime Monday for January 30, 2012; This is Leviathan

The Aspidochelone lures hapless mariners to land on its back

According to the tradition of the Physiologus and medieval bestiaries, the aspidochelone is a fabled sea creature, variously described as a large whale or sea turtle, that is as large as an island. The name aspidochelone appears to be a compound word combining Greek aspis (which means either “asp” or “shield”), and chelone, the turtle.

It rises to the surface from the depths of the sea, and entices unwitting sailors to make landfall on its huge shell. In the moralistic allegory of the Physiologus and bestiary tradition, the aspidochelone represents Satan, who deceives those whom he seeks to devour.

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blaaargh:

SS Normandie on fire in New York Harbour

The war found Normandie in New York. Soon the Queen Mary, later refitted as a troop ship, docked nearby. Then the RMS Queen Elizabeth joined the Queen Mary. For two weeks the three largest liners in the world floated side by side.

In 1940, after the Fall of France, the United States seized the Normandie under the right of angary. By 1941, the U.S. Navy decided to convert Normandie into a troopship, and renamed her USS Lafayette (AP-53), in honor both of Marquis de la Fayette the French general who fought on the Colonies’ behalf in the American Revolution and the alliance with France that made American independence possible.

Earlier proposals included turning the vessel into an aircraft carrier, but this was dropped in favor of immediate troop transport. The ship was moored at Manhattan’s Pier 88 for the conversion. On 9 February 1942 sparks from a welding torch ignited a stack of thousands of life vests filled with kapok, a highly flammable material, that had been stored in the first-class lounge. The woodwork had not yet been removed, and the fire spread rapidly. The ship had a very efficient fire protection system but it had been disconnected during the conversion and its internal pumping system was deactivated. The New York City fire department’s hoses also did not fit the ship’s French inlets. All on board fled the vessel.

As firefighters on shore and in fire boats poured water on the blaze, the ship developed a dangerous list to port due to water pumped into the seaward side by fireboats. About 2:45am on February 10, Lafayette capsized, nearly crushing a fire boat.

The ship’s designer Vladimir Yourkevitch arrived at the scene and offered expertise, but he was barred by harbor police. His suggestion was to enter the vessel and open the sea-cocks. This would flood the lower decks and make her settle the few feet to the bottom. With the ship stabilised, water could be pumped into burning areas without the risk of capsize. However, the suggestion was denied by port director Admiral Adolphus Andrews.

Enemy sabotage was widely suspected, but a federal investigation in the wake of the sinking concluded that the fire was completely accidental. It has later been alleged that it was indeed sabotage, organized by mobster Anthony Anastasio, who was a power in the local longshoreman’s union. The alleged purpose was to provide a pretext for the release from prison of mob boss Charles “Lucky” Luciano. Luciano’s end of the bargain would be that he would ensure that there would be no further “enemy” sabotage in the ports where the mob had strong influence with the unions.

The ship was stripped of superstructure and righted in 1943 in the world’s most expensive salvage operation. But the cost of restoring her was subsequently determined to be too great. After neither the US Navy nor French Line offered, Yourkevitch proposed to cut the ship down and restore her as a mid-sized liner. This plan also failed to draw backing and the hulk was sold for US$161,680 to Lipsett Inc., an American salvage company. She was scrapped in October 1946.

(via architecturalarbiter)

nationalgeographicscans:

detail of the silver cauldron of Gundestrup- one of the most striking and widely studied of Celtic relics. Scholars trace its origin to eastern Europe in the second century B.C. and believe it may have come to Denmark as war booty. [Lol.] The 27 inch wide bowl, buried in pieces as a votive offering, was not unearthed until 1891. The outside plates feature a gallery of deity heads, such as a fertility goddess and her attendants. Inside is a pageant of cult scenes. Scholars disagree on the meaning of the procession (lower image). Some suggest that amid fanfare a slain warrior is being submerged in a life-restoring cauldron. 

(via mudwerks)

100leaguesunderthesea:

Dancing Shrimp dress up by Michael Henke on Flickr.

100leaguesunderthesea:

Harlequin Shrimp by sbailliez on Flickr.

mudwerks:

(via Das Puppendorf - 50 Watts)

Illustrations by Hans Hoffmann for Das Puppendorf (Germany, 1906)

The whole book can be viewed at the Braunschweig Digital Library.

mudwerks:

(via Vintage Ads -)

mudwerks:

(via Au carrefour étrange: Chansons de salles de garde)

…Les illustrations savoureuses sont de Marcel Prangey…

msbehavoyeur:

Fantastic ~ Botticelli Horror via

mudwerks:

(via Saved From The Paper Drive: Vic Prezio’s Men’s Magazine Covers)

 Original art for MAN’S ESCAPE, June 1963