Q2 Post9

After several months at sea in the Pacific, and searching for a land that is supposed to be south of the Polynesian islands, they finally find a large speck of land that turns out to be New Zealand. Over the next month or so, the Endeavour and her crew sail around the islands looking for new species of plants, animals, and any natives that may dwell on the island. The crew spots several fires and smoke, but most of it is too far inland and none of the natives come out to see the ship. After circumnavigating the islands of New Zealand, Endeavour heads north for what they think could be Australia. A week later, they spot land to the north which they do not realize is Australia. Seeing that the land mass is not in any of their charts (although it had already been discovered by a little known explorer), Mr. Banks claims te land for England and gives it a different name which is never given any credit throughout history. Nich so far has rather been enjoying the trip.

Q2 Post8

By the time Endeavour and her crew leave the island of Tahiti, they have been living mostly on a bread that the natives had been eating for a very long time; breadfruit. Most of them, including Nich, are entirely sick of it by now. When they are about to leave, Nich is really sad that he has to say good-bye to Tarhito, but also finds out some good news. The captain is taking a guide who knows a good amount of the pacific islands well enough through oral tradition. He is allowed to bring one helper and guess who he picks, Tarhito. Now, Endeavour must make a long journey to the other side of the pacific with almost no chance of being able to replenish supplies on the way to the East Indies. It is a long and boring travel and most of the crew comes down with scurvy and Nich and the ship's doctors and surgeon have a hard time getting vitamin C back into those men's systems. Even Tarhito and his companion from Tahiti get scurvy, although they both recover in due time.

Q2 Post7

Now the Endeavour and her crew have reached their important destination, an island the natives called Tahiti but the crew names it King George's Land. They need to set up a makeshift fort so they can take the readings of Venus which is why they are on this journey. While he is on the island, Nich meets a newa friend whose name is Tarhito, they have a lot of fun on the island together since Nich isn't that useful setting up all the astronomical equipment and doing all the skilled labor that only a few of the crew members have. The crew ends up staying on the island for several months due to the fact that they were a little early on their arrival to Tahiti. Since Tahiti is in the Pacific, their are very few maps about the layout of the ocean and so most of the crew has no idea where in the world they are. Kind of pitiful if you ask me. Especially since this is around the American Revolution time era.

Q2 Post6

After their disappointing visit to Rio de Janeiro, the Endeavour and her crew head south for Cape Horn (mind you this is 1768) where they will then turn north again and head directly for Tahiti, their final destination. It is said in the book that when you approach the Cape, you start getting blisters due to all the hard work necessary to keep the ship afloat. Therefore, you end up with a ton of blisters. Nich finds this idea very true and pays for not listening to the rest of his fellow crewmen's warnings. So far, Nich's journey is one that is filled with incredible luck and also been very lax. Once he leaves Tahiti however, many challenges will arise for the entire crew of Endeavour that will test them almost to all of their deaths.

Q2 Post5

By the time Endeavour reaches Rio de Janeiro to restock and put Nich off, problems between Portugal, Spain, and England have already reached South America. The Viceroy of Rio de Janeiro agrees to hear a statement that was prepared by the captain of Endeavour to "ask" for permission to buy supplies from Rio shops and stores. However, the Viceroy refuses to allow anyone but the captain and the Master on shore, and even they require an armed escort everywhere they go onshore. Guards are placed around the ship to prevent anyone from attempting to disembark to shore. This means that Endeavour will have to sail further south to resupply their food. Nich also cannot leave the ship, so this means that the crew of Endeavour will have to accept him until their return to England in the next few years. This is definitely a lucky break for Nich and also, a surprising assett to the entire crew since he is one of the few that safely makes it back to England in the end.

Q2 Post4

Nich and I are similar in some ways and also very different in other ways that define us individually. One similarity that we have is that we do not enjoy violence or harm done to us. One example from Nich are the beatings that he received during his time with the butcher. An example from my life would be getting my mouth washed out with soap or being smacked across the face if I did something really bad. One difference is that Nich runs away from his school after he gets scared from the Reverend of the school and refuses under all circumstances to learn the latin language. I don't like school all that much but I sure don't run away from the school during the middle of the day or refuse to take certain languages; I just try my best to reorganize my schedule to the my best liking. Another difference (and somewhat of a similarity) is that Nich runs away from home. I have done that before, but I was really young and I came home a few hours later. Nich stows himself aboard a ship in the British Navy and finds that he will be gone from England for about 3 years. That is a long time to be away from home.

Q2 Book Post3

Nich has revealed himself to the captain and has been subject to be put off in Rio de Janeiro. However, until then, Nich must be an active crew member helping with random chores that need doing and assissting officers or masters of the ship. On their way to Rio, they cross the equator, and the crew seems to know of a tradition where the rest of the crew puts one member (including animals that aren't used as a source of food) on a swing and dunks them into the ocean. Every crew member that has never been over the equator before is forced to do this (except for the officers that buy their way out with rum). Since Nicholas hasn't been over the equator, he goes in for a dunk and finds that it is quite refreshing instead of terrifying like the crew makes it sound. Soon however, Nich finds his place aboard Endeavour and finds that the crew accepts him with gratitude rather than the scorn he had been expecting. One man, an officer named Mr. Bootie, takes a great distaste to Nich and tries very hard to ruin Nich's life aboard Endeavour.

Q2 Book Post2

Nicholas has been onboard the HMS Endeavour for a few weeksnow and finds out that they are going to put to sea soon on an important mission in the year 1768. Turns out, this ship is on a mission to circumnavigate the globe and arrive at an island called Tahiti, which is called Clipperton Island today. The purpose of getting to this island is to measure astronomical readings from the planet Mars. Nich is surprised that he stowed away on such an important boat. In the book, they are to be the first people to completely sail around the world with the captain named James Cook (the book is historical fiction and only some the elements are true). Nich plans with his hiders to come out after they have been at sea for a few weeks after leaving the Azore Islands. He will then have to hope that he will not be put off in Rio de Janeiro.

Quarter2 Book Post1

The book that I am reading now is Stowaway by Karen Hesse. It is about a young 14-year old boy named Nicholas Young who leaves his father after refusing to learn his latin as is customary for boys his age growing up in 18th century England. After running away from his boarding school twice (and his teacher beats his own kids to assert his athority over the students), his father (he has no mother) sends him to work as a butcher's apprentice. The butcher is not a nice person either and beats Nicholas on more than one occasion. Nicholas eventually steals from the butcher and runs away from him as well. Since he has no home to go to, for his father would just ship him right back to the butcher who might very well kill him upon his return. Instead, he uses the money that he stole from the butcher to have three sailors hide him on board the ship HMS Endeavour. His life is very messed up and wishes he could just get away from his family and the butcher.

Book Posting 9

Richardson and his crew go into the Bungo Starit one last time after a few months and have a boring patrol, except listening to a Tokyo radio station, until the end of their patrol. They come upon a convoy that consisted of 3 tankers, 4 cruisers, and 3 destroyers. Lots of ships for one sub to handle, but they decide to attack the convoy even though Bungo Pete is in the convoy. So, in order to do the most damage in as little time as possible, Richardson has his crew get the .5 inch gun and the .50 caliber machine guns set up on the deck (this is also including torpedoes in the bow and aft rooms). When they get out of the fire-fight by diving, they have sunk 2 tankers, all of the cruisers, and 2 of the destroyers, not sinking Bungo Pete. After they return to Pearl Harbor, they find out from military intelligence that Bungo Pete had thought there were more than 1 submarine attacking them, which makes the entire crew of the Walrus laugh. Richardson was injured during the attack though and is reassigned to a tech team to find out why some of the torpedoes are defective and dont detonate or hit the target sometimes. His first mate takes command of the Walrus and gets assigned to Australia to attack bases in the islands in the southern Pacific.

Book Posting 8

On his first patrol, the Walrus has an uneventful patrol until near the end of their patrol, they spot a convoy of ships; 2 supply ships, 2 frigates, and 1 destroyer. Richardson decides to attck them head on going for the tankers first and then for the destroyer. When Richardson gets to he destroyer however, he finds that he misjudged his distance and has to dive deep to miss hitting the ship. When he comes back from a silent run (silent run means 0-2 knots of movement to avoid being heard), he finds the destroyer right on top of them and ready to depth-charge them. The Walrus receives a lethal dose of depth-charging and almost hitting the destroyer but pulls through with only a few exterior problems. They now must head back to Midway and then back to Pearl Harbor to restock provisions and restock torpedoes since they fired the rest at the convoy. Richardson later finds out that the destroyer is a submarine-hunter called Bungo-Pete and they were the ones who destroyed Richardson's last sub, the Octopus.

Heroes in a Box

Congressional Medal of Honor
CARLTON W. BARRETT
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, 18th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. Place and date: Near St. Laurent-sur-Mer, France, 6 June 1944. Entered service at: Albany, New York. Born: Fulton, New York. G.O. No.: 78, 2 October 1944.
On the morning of D-Day Pvt. Barrett, landing in the face of extremely heavy enemy fire, was forced to wade ashore through neck-deep water. Disregarding the personal danger, he returned to the surf again and again to assist his floundering comrades and save them from drowning.
Refusing to remain pinned down by the intense barrage of small-arms and mortar fire poured at the landing points, Pvt. Barrett, working with fierce determination, saved many lives by carrying casualties to an evacuation boat lying offshore.
In addition to his assigned mission as guide, he carried dispatches the length of the fire-swept beach; he assisted the wounded; he calmed the shocked; he arose as a leader in the stress of the occasion. His coolness and his dauntless daring courage while constantly risking his life during a period of many hours had an inestimable effect on his comrades and is in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army.

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
Winston Churchill (speaking about the Royal Air Force)

Book Posting 7

On his way to Pearl Harbor, Richardson and his crew in their new sub, the Walrus, encounter a german sub on patrol in the Carribean and barely manage to evade their foe to make it to the Panama canal. There, they practice manuveurs and learn that the damage at Pearl Harbor is terrible and that the US is trying to salvage ships for the upcoming battle at Miday Island. When Richardson and his crew arrive at Pearl Harbor, the devestation stuns them. Turns out, the US was able to cripple the Japanese offensive at Midway and the USS Enterprise is the last major aircraft carrier in the US pacific fleet (thought to be out of commission due to severe damage at Midway) and is now the symbol of the navy. Richardson gets a slight upgrade to add a bit of stealth and a better surface radar for night fighting. He receives his orders to patrol the Bungo strait off of Japan and heads for Midway.

Book Posting 6

Another book I am reading is Run Silent Run Deep by Edward L. Beach. The book begins with a captain who has just gotten promoted from a ship called the Octopus, which he served as Lieutenant to the captain, is given his officers and a crew and another, old, World War I U-boat named S-18 that was scrapped because of engine problems. Their job is to fix her up and get her in working condition again. World War II has started by now but Pearl Harbor hasn’t happened yet. After Richardson (the captain) and his crew finish up on S-18, they find out they were just fixing it up for the Polish to use it in their fleet against the Nazis. This disappoints them. Until they find out they are going to war in a newer sub named the Walrus since its past 1942 and the US is now completely involved in WWII. They now sail for Pearl Harbor.

Book Posting 5

As Roran and the rest of his company move south towards Surda, they come across a town with a huge legion (almost 5 times the amount of soldiers the Varden had at the time) barricaded in it. Roran’s commander charges in with his men and loses more than half of them to crossbow fire before they reach the enemy soldiers. Roran, however, stations his archers on top of buildings for cover and range while he and his foot soldiers attack the Empires soldiers from behind a barricade so that only a few enemy soldiers could get to them at a time. Roran ends up killing almost 200 soldiers by himself and doesn’t lose any of his company in the process. His commander is very angry (and wounded) that Roran did not follow him the way he was supposed to and loses his command for the time being which almost causes a rebellion from the other soldiers against Roran’s commander. As a result, the men obey and Roran gets flogged for insubordination against the will of all the other commanders.

Book Posting 4

Another part of the book Brisingr is Roran’s story after the Battle of the Burning Plains. Roran is Eragon’s cousin who has grown up with him since before they could remember. In the beginning, Roran is with Eragon and is trying to locate his fiancé Katrina, who is being held captive at the Ra’Zac’s lair of Helgrind. He helps Earagon defeat the Ra’Zac and rescues Katrina. After they get back to the Varden, he is given a post as a second-in-command position so that he can prove that he can lead soldiers. He then sets off on a series of caravan raids which turn out less successful due to the fact that some of the soldiers are oblivious to pain due to magic. His commander is injured in action and Roran is assigned to another commander who is very brash and values honor above life. On their way to help reinforce the Surdan countryside, they come across some trouble however.

Book Posting 3

I am almost done with Brisingr, but this will not be my last post. It continues with Eragon seeing a true memory of his father and learns why he didn’t want to reveal himself to Eragon. Surprisingly enough, the memory is from Saphira (although she isn’t his father, he gave the memory to her for safekeeping). So Saphira has known who his real father was for quite some time. After meeting with his teachers, Eragon goes to see the bladesmith for the Riders back before the Forsworn took over. She has taken an oath that she would never forge another sword for a Rider. However, she agrees to help Eragon forge his own sword, but lacks a special material she calls brightsteel which comes from meteorites that have landed in Du Weldenvarden. Eragon then pays a visit to the Minoan Tree which was said to have a weapon for him but has never yielded any results. Eragon is able to convince the Minoan Tree to reveal some brightsteel that he can use to forge his own sword. The bladesmith agrees to help Earagon forge his sword within the boundries of her oath, otherwise, she would die. It usually takes several days to forge but they did it in one night so that Eragon could leave the next day. Plus, when Eragon names his sword, he discovers its true name, Brisingr.

Book Post 2

Brisingr continues with Eragon getting attacked in the dwarf’s city of Tronjheim by assassins of a dwarf clan that is sworn to hate the Riders for eternity. This causes a turn of events in the speed of the election process for the new dwarf king. Orik does his best to win the other clans votes so that he may become king. Orik is the nephew of the last king of the dwarves and is also leader of his clan. After another day, Orik is chosen as the new king of the dwarves. After the coronation, Saphira (Eragon’s Dragon), repairs the dwarves most valuable, and biggest, jewel called the star rose. Following their visit to Tronjheim, Eragon and Saphira head north to Du Weldenvarden, the home of the elves. By now, the Varden are attacking the empire from the south while the elves are attacking from the north. After Eragon reaches his teachers home, he learns a great secret. For those of you who have read Eldest, you learned that Morzan of the Forsworn was Eragon’s father. He isn’t. Although I will not tell you, some of you might be able to guess who it is.

Book Posting #1

The book that I am reading is Brisingr by Christopher Paolini. It is the third book in the Inheritance series which includes Eragon and Eldest which are also written by Christopher Paolini. For those who know the book, it starts off at Helgrind, a large, needle-like mountain near a large lake called Leona Lake. Eragon, the main character, and his cousin Roran are looking to slay the tyrant Galbotorix’s servants, the Ra’zac, bird-like creatures that are fast, cunning, and very devious. The book centers on Eragon who is supposedly the last free Dragon Rider who has a high social and military standing. In his quests, he learns from an ancient Rider who has stayed hidden to teach the next generation of Riders since he and his Dragon are crippled. Eragon also becomes an elf-like human when the dragons perform a ritual to increase his strength, stamina, and magical power. During this book, he returns to the domain of the dwarves to hasten their elections for a new king and succeeds in supporting a new king that is very friendly to the group of people he serves called the Varden. This is a very interesting book and I would recommend that anyone should read the series. You should start with book one however, Eragon.

Character Comparison

Two characters that are nice to compare are Homero and Cosima. There are many adjectives that describe both of them together. One would be that they are both very solitary. Homero has lived alone ever since Hallie left for college and even before that, he was never that social with Codi or Hallie. Codi, although she has been with Carlo for quite some time, has really never felt like she has belonged anywhere. Now, when she is teaching in Grace, she lives alone in her high school friend, Emelina Domingos, guest house next door to Emelina. Another desciptive adjective about them would be that they are very caring. However, they show their care in very different ways. They both care very much for Codi’s sister Hallie, who is down in Nicaragua. Codi is not afraid to show her emotios because she has broken down in front of the class and spazzed at them so badly that they probably didn’t want to come to class the next day. She also starts calling the Nicaraguan Department of Agriculture quite a lot. Homero, however, is much more quiet and does nothing but wait until he hears more news about Hallie getting captured. An adjective that would describe Homero, but not Codi, is descriptive. He likes to notice every detail and it shows by how specific he is when he does his photography. An adjective that would describe Codi is curious. She likes to know a lot of Grace’s history as well as her dim past. She also would like to know a bit more about Loyd’s past as being part of multiple Indian tribes.

"Run Silent Run Deep"

A good book I have read recently is Run Silent Run Deep by Edward L. Beach. It is about a submarine captain named Edward Richardson from World War II who starts off in the training yards of New London, Pennsylvania (just outside of Philadelphia) and works his way to become a veteran captain with more than 30 sunk ships on his belt by 1944. Along with him is his friend and lieutenant, Jim Bledsoe who Richardson commands. With the rest of the crew of their sub, the Walrus, they go into Japanese waters to face a deadly destroyer named Bungo Pete who is very well-known for his accurate depth-charging. Richardson also has a grudge against Bungo Pete because his previous sub that he served as lieutenant on, the Octopus was sunk by Bungo Pete. While in Japanese waters just off the island of Osaka, the crew of the Walrus surprises a large convoy of 2 supply ships, 3 cruisers, and not surprisingly, Bungo Pete himself. All of these ships except Bung are sunk and Walrus gets away. The book shows the bravery of all the crew members of the Walrus and Edward does a great job of showing this by explaining terrifying moments when the whole crew was depending (sometimes without even knowing) on one or two men on the topside who happened to notice something wrong just before they would dive beneath the waves. I really enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys good war stories.

Adjective

A descriptive adjective of me would be that I am very athletic. One reason I am athletic is because I play football and the coaches work us hard. Another reason I am an athletic person is because I swim a lot. I have my own pool that I swim in regularly and I am also on the school swim team. A few more reasons why I am athletic is that I do fencing, I play baseball, and I do archery. To conclude, these are excellent reasons as to why I am an athletic person.