Book of Etiquette & Manual of Politeness

"A complete guide for a Gentleman's conduct in all his relations in Society". By Cecil B. Hartley ("from the best French, British and Ameircan Authorities") and published in 1873. This would seem to imply that there are American authorities on Etiquette...an intriguing concept indeed!

This book may be of particular usefulness for the traveller abroad for extended periods and returning to London having temporarily forgotton one's Ps and Qs.

Also highly recommended for those, ahem gentlemen, from Colonial regions of the Empire and whose ballroom behaviour may involve slightly more brandy, combustion and removal of trousers than is normally acceptable in more civilised company.

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AJF2379

Rebel Submarine Battery

Found this great page which has online archive of our collection of original Harper's Weekly newspapers (Harper's weekly was the most important source of news during the US Civil War)


"M. OLIVIER DE JALIN sends to the French Le Monde Illustre drawings of a submarine vessel which we reproduce on this page, abridging his description. There has just been finished, he says, at Mobile a very curious little vessel, designed by Mr. Anstilt, which seems capable of destroying any ship in the world.



It is of iron, 23 yards long. The interior is divided longitudinally by a partition into two portions: in the upper one are the machinery, armament, rudders, and reservoirs of compressed air; in the lower are chambers to hold air or water, as the case may demand, coal-bunkers, provision-lockers, and the like. On the deck, which is hermetically closed, are pipes for discharging air and steam, a smoke-stack, and a look-out, the upper part of which is of thick glass. The motive-power is a screw, worked either by steam or by electricity"

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1864/january/rebel-submarine.htm

As busy as Portsmouth harbour!

I must say that I have been rather stunned to have over 400 hits in less than a week.

I never realised that my humble little White Wine Sauce blog generated that much attention!

One feature of sitemeter allows you to see where your visiotrs are in the world. This week, not only have I had visits from expected nations such as US (including Hawaii, Guam and the Marshall Islands) and Great Britain and her colonies of Australia, New Zealand and Canada, but also farther afield from Ireland, Spain, Germany, France, Holland, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Malta, Japan, Iran, Egypt and Argentina (please excuse me if I missed your country- it only saves data from the last 100 visits).

So once again thank you for your patronage, and I'll endeavour to post the same amusing rubbish to keep you entertained. To celebrate I have given the 'ol White Wine Sauce a bit of a facelift - lemme know what you think.

Steampunk Forum

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One of the nifty features of the new Sitemeter, is that one can see which webpages refer your vistors to your web paqe. This naturally leads to further exploration and discovery of new VSF goodness, like the Steampunk Forum. Enjoy!

Link here:
http://www.brassgoggles.co.uk/bg-forum/index.php

Gents With Good Taste!

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I found these stout chaps this morning while out for a stroll:
http://vsf15mm.blogspot.com/

It would seem that these dapper gents may have dropped by this club on the odd occasion too, as our calling card is at their place of residence.

Most indebted, good Sirs!

The Kraken

Quickly following up their latest release, Vanvlak Industries has revealed the second model in their Heavy Dig Bomber line.

This dig complements the previous model by providing dedciated rearward gunnery - operate them in formations to provide a complete arc of fire from those pesky Interceptors!

This steroscopic image of the protype model, shows a crate from the German Langue of the Knights of Malta.

Well done again Mssr Betts!

Good Heavens... over a Hundred Visitors in only a few days

Thanks very much for the patronage chaps!

Vanvlak's patented Heavy Dig Bomber

Vanvlak Industries has done it again - this time with a Heavy Dig bomber for the discerning would-be Aero-Fleet Admiral!

"A high speed bomber dirigible which is unfortunately poorly manoeuverable (small tail, see?), and has has a quad gun turret added fore to prevent Aeronefs at higher altitudes from attacking the vulnerable fore top quarter. Unfortunately, this has reduced the design's speed drastically....

There are much smaller Maxim guns dotted around the hull.... but the forward area was particularly vulnerable to diving Nefs, something which has now been countered by the quads. Of course all the Nef has to do is attack from the rear. But here's the catch - the formation of dirigibles will protect each other, flying a box formation (are we sure these aren't B-17s we're talking about? ). As for the rear ship, ah, that's a special design which has rearward firing guns as well. "

Mssr Betts reliably informs me that he constructed this dig from an Aeroplane recce pod, and got the canvas look from "white undrcoat and the standard flesh wash over everything - this time heavily watered down to make it look like one big tea-stain. "

Great work again John!

Tripods!

Luis, a stout chap I know from the Club, sent me this great news:
Detailed models of those confounded Martian Contraptions!



"Retrokit are primarily known for their armor and artillery models. This model of H.G. Wells (in)famous Martian Tripod is their first science fictional offering. It's based on the illustrations of Alvim Correa in a 1906 French edition of the novel, drawings that Wells said were very close to his own vision of the fighting machines."
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/was/jl_retrokit.htm

More can be seen at the manufacturer's site here: http://www.retrokit.net/79.html

Smashing!

Name Sir?

Added a site counter to see how many chaps attned this Club and its premises
Chin-Chin!

MALTA: DEFENDING THE CROSSROADS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN

WHILST VISITING THE ISLAND OF MALTA ON A DIPLOMATIC MISSION AT THE BEHEST OF THE GOVERNMENT I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO MEET WITH MR. J. BETTS (ALSO KNOWN AS VANVLAK) TO DISCUSS MANY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FIELDS OF BOTH AERIAL AND SUBAQAUATIC CONVEYANCES. WE ALSO DISCUSSED AT LENGTH THE IMPENDING THREAT CAUSED BY THE BELLICOSE ATITUDE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SUBLIME PORTE. AFTER TAKING COFFEE AT ONE OF THE ISLANDS PREMIER EATERIES IT WAS RECOMMENDED TO MYSELF THAT PERHAPS A TOUR OF THE DEFENCES OF THE ISLAND WOULD SERVE TO ALLAY ANY FEARS HER MAJESTIES GOVERNMENT MAY HAVE. AFTER AN EXCHANGE OF GIFTS AND MUCH TECHNOLOGICAL INFORMATION CONCERNING CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES OF BOTH AERIAL AND SUBAQUATIC CONVEYANCES I PROCEEDED TO ACCEPT THIS VERY KIND AND IMPROMPTU INVITATION. SADLY, AFFAIRS OF STATE DID NOT PERMIT MR.BETTS TO ACCOMPANY MYSELF ON THIS TOUR WHICH WAS DEEPLY DISAPPOINTING AS HIS INFORMATIVE AND CHARMING MANNER WOULD HAVE BEEN MOST WELCOME.

IN THE COMPANY OF MY FAMILY AND A SMALL DETACHMENT OF THE ROYAL MALTA REGIMENT I PROCEEDED TO INSPECT A FEW OF THE MANY FORTIFICATIONS ON THE ISLAND - CONCENTRATING MAINLY ON THAT MOST STRATEGIC OF POSITIONS - THE GRAND HARBOUR. THE EQUIPMENT IS OF THE MOST MODERN VARIETY WITH A BEWILDERING ARRAY OF GUNS LARGE AND SMALL AS EVIDENCED IN THE ATTACHED DAGUERRETYPES. THE HARBOUR HAS A BATTERY OF 32 PDRS MANNED BY THE MEN THE ROYAL MALTESE ARTILLERY - A FINE, UPSTANDING REGIMENT OF MEN, RESPLENDENT IN THEIR SERVICE DRESS. THE COLOUR OF THEIR UNIFORMS INCIDENTLY, IS A PERFECT MATCH WITH THE LIMESTONE THAT IS THE ISLANDS PRINCIPLE BUILDING MATERIAL. DURING TIMES OF PEACE THIS BATTERY IS USED FOR A NOONDAY SALUTE AND SO FIRES EACH DAY AT THIS TIME. DUE TO CONSTRAINTS OF TIME WE WERE SADLY UNABLE TO VISIT FORT RINELLA WHERE THE BATTERY OF 100TON ARMSTRONG MECHANICAL CANNONS ARE LOCATED. THESE MONSTER GUNS ARE CAPABLE OF HURLING A 1 TON SHELL THE DISTANCE OF 8 MILES AND ABLE TO PENETRATE 21 INCHES OF STEEL ARMOUR! THE RATE OF FIRE OF THESE LEVIATHANS IS AN INCREDIBLE 1 ROUND EVERY 6 MINUTES! AS WELL AS THE GARRISON FORMED FROM COMPANIES OF THE ROYAL MALTA GARRISON ARTILLERY THERE ARE SEVERAL INDEPENDENT BATTERIES OF 8" HOWITZERS.

SHOULD THE TURK ATTEMPT TO ARRIVE BY SEA THEN HE WILL BE IN FOR A VERY HOT RECEPTION - THE MEN AND EQUIPMENT OF THE MALTESE FORCES, TOGETHER WITH THAT OF THE KNIGHTS OF ST.JOHN, FORM A FORMIDABLE COMBINATION, ABLE TO DEAL WITH THREATS FROM LAND, SEA AND SKY.

ALAS THE VISIT TO THE ISLAND WAS OVER ALL TOO QUICKLY BUT A FINAL SURPRISE CAME FROM THE CHARMING MR.BETTS HIMSELF. AN ABANDONED DESIGN FOR A SMALL AQUANEF ORIGINATING FROM THE RAYLEIGH FACTORIUM (DETAILS OF WHICH WERE PROVIDED AS A PART OF THE TECHNOLOGY EXCHANGE ALLUDED TO EARLIER IN THIS COLUMN) WAS AMENDED AND ENHANCED BY THIS INTREPID ENGINEER AND IS NOW PROVIDING A SUBMERSIBLE PATROL COVERING THE APPROACHES TO THE GRAND HARBOUR.

IT WAS A FIRST CLASS VISIT AND A VERY REWARDING ONE AND I AM QUITE SURE THAT WHATEVER THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR THIS GALLANT AND PLUCKY ISLAND THAT ANY AGGRESSORS WILL BE IN FOR A HOT RECEPTION.

J.TURK ESQ HAD BEST TAKE NOTE - 'ST.ELMOS PAY' WILL BE THE ONLY THING THEY BRING AWAY FROM THE ISLAND!!

Strange Aquanef sighted at Malta Conference

My agents have reported that secret bilateral discussions were held this week between the Knights of St John and a shadowy European envoy this week.

Meeting in an undisclosed location on the small Mediterranean Isle, nefarious agreements were no doubt made and undermining plots hatched. Rumours of Anarchist participation also persist. All that is known is that shortly afterwards, this never before seen submersible was seen close offshore. Despite attempts to the prevent it, the negatives were delivered to our representatives in Geneva yesterday.

What secret deals have been made? Have the Knights taken possession of some new technical marvel to help fight off the Turks? And if so, who built it and are there more?

Co-Modelled by Vanvlak and Ogrefencer - the guys had a get together this week in Valetta. Have your luck gents!

White Apes of Mars unleashed!

Martian naturalists have discovered, rather violently and bloody, the legendary White Apes of Mars on a recent expedition near Syrtis Minor!

You can these these beasts and some other rather wonderful VSFness here: http://www.agisn.de/html/victorian_sf.html

Aeronef Action at Fisticuffs

I found this photo from Fisticuffs 2004 at the PeterPig website. It looks very similar to the Wessex Games 'Nef demo game I attended at SALUTE 01, which I posted pics of here (last year some time) Who is that mystery man with the blue measuring device??? :-)

You can see the rest of the Peter Pig website here:
http://www.peterpig.co.uk/photoreports.htm

2mm Martian Infantry

Germy has been busy indeed..! He has produced these cephalopodic nightmares which you may recall from that terrible summer. He says:

"Following the description HG Wells gives I think they came out rather well :)Obviously they will need to get themselves in a fighting machine quick since there combat ability as lumbering hulks was never described!

So next up had to be a martian spread to the four winds. I thought people could build little dioramas of a fallen tripod and dead martian."

I know I'll be making up a diorama just like that!

You can see more of Germy's WOTW studd at his miniGerm website here: http://www.minigerm.co.uk/workmarinf.html