Infinite Wisdom

"I never found a naval man at a loss. Tell them to do anything that is not impossible, and depend upon it, they will do it."

La Triviata

• Taking flight from London in 1688, Princess Anne (later Queen Anne), was escorted into Oxford on December 15^th by a regiment of horse (later the
  1^st Dragoon Guards), and a company of gentleman volunteers commanded by the Bishop of London, “in a purple cloak, martial habit, pistols before him, and a drawn sword in his hand.”
• Until at least the late Nineteenth Century, among India’s Rajput warriors, donning a saffron robe was a sign that no quarter would be given.
• Preparing to retire as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1834, Sir James Graham was asked if he was going to give his brother an important command before stepping down, to which the admiral replied, “He is the last captain in the navy to whom I would give a ship . . . .”
• One day the great Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, co-victor of Waterloo, chanced to spot a young urchin climbing on the pedestal that supported a statue of himself, whereupon the old field marshal told the lad, “Get down, my fine fellow; you see that there is hardly room enough up there for myself.”
• On the North Atlantic run during World War II SC or “slow convoys”, able to make no more than 8 knots, were twice as vulnerable to submarine attack as “fast” or “HX” convoys, which could make 10 knots.
• At the Battle of Landen/Neerwinden (July 29, 1693), King William III of England was struck by three musket balls; one of which passed through his wig, making him deaf for a short while, the second pierced the sleeve of his coat without striking him, and the third tore through the knot on his scarf, leaving a slight bruise.
• Early in 1942, the U.S. survey ship Sumner (AGS-5) attempted to enter Port of Refuge habor in Tonga without identifying herself, and, not responding to signals from shore, was greeted by two rounds across her bows from the Tonga Defence Force, which brought her to quick stop.
• In 1684, King Ramathibodi III of Siam, having allied himself with Louis XIV, appointed a new Grand Admiral of his Navy and General-in-Chief of his army, one Claude Forbin, whom he also made Governor of Bangkok, and who served for about four years before returning to France to serve with distinction for many years in the navy.

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