#hms barham

[ltwilliammowett]

Ship's pet or better Ship's cat in hammock aboard HMS Barham, 1915

#naval history #naval artifacts #ship's cat sunday #kitty cat #ship's cat #hms barham #early 20th century #age of steam

[radiantbastard]

Seeing a battleship magazine explosion will never not fuck me up. Just the sheer magnitude of ordinance.

#battleship #battleships #navy #hms barham #maritime history #maritime #wwii #ww2 #ww2 history #world war 2 #world war ii #british navy

[alanmalcherhistorian]

HMS Barham 1941.

HMS Barham was one of five Queen Elizabeth-class Battleships built for the Royal Navy during the early 1910s. Completed in 1915, she was often used as a flagship and participated in the Battle of Jutland during the First World War as part of the Grand Fleet and saw action during the Second World War. On 25 November 1941 Barham was sunk by U Boat U331 with the loss of 859 men. Turn up the volume…

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#Alan Malcher Military Historian #HMS Barham

[captain-price-unofficially]

HMS Barham begins to capsize and then explodes off the Egyptian coast after being torpedoed by German submarine U-331, with the loss of 862 crewmen, approximately two thirds of her crew. 25 Nov 1941

#wwii #combat footage #naval #battle of the mediterranean #mediterranean theater #november

[scotianostra]

Victoria Helen McCrae Duncan was born on November 25th 1897 in Callander.

Known as Helen Duncan, in 1944, she became last person in the UK to be tried, convicted and imprisoned under the 1735 Witchcraft Act.

Hellish Nell, as she became known, was actually a medium, and by all accounts not a very good one, the way she earned her living was to hold seances and charge plenty for her services, but she was rumbled several times as a fraud.

Nor was she the last person convicted under the 1753 Act – now repealed and replaced with the Fraudulent Mediums Act of 1951 – because in fact three other people were on trial alongside her and one of them was sent to prison, too. Yet somehow the “last witch” nickname has stuck, though records clearly show that some months after her trial and imprisonment in September 1944, one Jane York, 72, from Forest Gate, East London, was charged under the same act with seven counts of pretending to conjure up spirits of the dead. Incredibly, York was simply bound over for the sum of £5 to be of good behaviour for three years.

Ah, but that happened after D-Day, and there is no question when you examine the evidence that the authorities wanted to make an example of Helen Duncan and put her away for the summer of 1944.

From an early age her own family saw her as fey, and her mother was mortified when the child’s behaviour became impossible – she would predict doom and destruction for all sorts of people and was given to outbursts of hysteria.

Her early life was otherwise normal. She moved to Dundee and worked at the Royal Infirmary where she met Henry Edward Duncan, a wounded war veteran and a cabinet maker. They were married in 1916, and Duncan would eventually have six children by Henry who saw a great way of making money from his wife’s talents in clairvoyance – she read tea leaves and made predictions and earned a few shillings for doing so.

By 1926 she had become a fully-fledged medium giving seances during a time when spiritualism was all the rage. Moving to Edinburgh, her seances were soon the talk of the town – even the ghost of that local man turned Sherlock Holmes creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a great believer in spiritualism, was said to have materialised at sittings.

A prominent feature of her seances was her apparent ability to produce “ectoplasm” from her mouth during her trances when she was transformed into her spirit partners Albert or Peggy, a young girl whose voices “spoke” through Duncan. She had grown quite obese and the contrast between this 20-stone woman and the childish voices was part of the reason why people believed in her.

It was at a seance in January 1933 that Peggy emerged in the seance room and a sitter named Esson Maule grabbed her. The lights were turned on and the spirit was revealed to be made of a cloth undervest which used as evidence that led to Duncan’s conviction on the Scottish offence of fraud at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in May 1933.

The conviction does not seem to have harmed her career. Duncan was by then making a good living by conducting seances throughout Britain at which “the spirits of the dead were alleged to have appeared, sometimes talking to and even touching their relatives”.

Duncan began to get more famous but also began to be more scrutinized. Director Harry Price of the National Laboratory of Psychical Research examined her. He deemed her ‘ectoplasms’ to be made of cheese and eggs which she would regurgitate up. Price was less than impressed by what he felt was a show woman, exploiting people for money.

“Could anything be more infantile than a group of grown-up men wasting time, money, and energy on the antics of a fat female crook.”

During World War Two, Duncan lived in Portsmouth, the home of the Royal Navy. In 1941, the spirit of a sailor reportedly appeared at one of her seancés announcing that he had just gone down on a vessel called the Barham. HMS 'Barham' was not officially declared lost until several months later, its sinking having been kept secret to mislead the enemy and protect morale.

Unsurprisingly, Duncan's activities attracted the attention of the authorities and on 19 January 1944, one of her séances was interrupted by a police raid during which she and three members of her audience were arrested.

Duncan was remanded in custody by Portsmouth magistrates. She was originally charged under section 4 of the Vagrancy Act (1824), under which most charges relating to fortune-telling, astrology and spiritualism were prosecuted by magistrates in the 20th century. This was considered a relatively petty charge and usually resulted in a fine if proved. She was eventually tried by jury at the Old Bailey for contravening section 4 of the Witchcraft Act of 1735, which carried the heavier potential penalty of a prison sentence.

In particular, the medium and her three sitters were accused of pretending 'to exercise or use human conjuration that through the agency of Helen Duncan spirits of deceased persons should appear to be present'. Duncan was also charged with offences under the Larceny Act for taking money 'by falsely pretending that she was in a position to bring about the appearances of the spirits of deceased persons'.

The trial caused a media sensation and was extensively covered in the newspapers, many of which revelled in printing cartoons of witches on broomsticks. At one stage, the defence announced that Duncan was prepared to demonstrate her abilities in the witness box. This amounted to conducting a séance in the court while in a state of trance and the offer was refused.

Duncan was found guilty as charged under the Witchcraft Act and sentenced to nine months in Holloway Prison, London, but she was cleared of the other offences. She was the last person in Britain to be jailed under the act, which was repealed in 1951 and replaced with the Fraudulent Mediums Act following a campaign by spiritualist and member of parliament Thomas Brooks.

There are two common misconceptions about Duncan's conviction. The first is that she was the last person in Britain to be convicted of being a witch. In fact, the Witchcraft Act was originally formulated to eradicate the belief in witches and its introduction meant that from 1735 onwards an individual could no longer be tried as a witch in England or Scotland. However, they could be fined or imprisoned for purporting to have the powers of a witch.

The second misconception is that she was the last person to be convicted under the Witchcraft Act. Again this is incorrect. Records show that the last person to be convicted under the Witchcraft Act was Jane Rebecca Yorke in late 1944. Due to her age (she was in her seventies) she received a comparatively lenient sentence and was fined.

Additionally, it has often been suggested that the reason for Duncan's imprisonment was the authorities' fear that details of the imminent D-Day landings might be revealed, and given the revelation about the Barham it is clear to see why the medium might be considered a potential risk. Nonetheless, then prime minister Winston Churchill wrote to the home secretary branding the charge 'obsolete tomfoolery'.

Helen Duncan was released from prison on the 22 September 1944 and seems to have avoided further trouble until November 1956, when the police raided a private séance in Nottingham on suspicion of fraudulent activity. No charges were brought and shortly afterwards, on 6 December in the same year, the woman who is sometimes remembered as the 'last witch' died.

A campaign by her descendents to clear her name continues to this day.

The first pic is a bust f Helrn, which was presnted to the town of Callander, but such is the atitudes towards her it was rejected, it i nowon display at the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum.

#scotland #scottish #history #spiritualist

[ginandoldlace]

HMS Barham during the fleet Regatta on 22nd November 1936 in Malta.

[usafphantom2]

November 1942. Fairey Albacores from 820 Naval Air Squadron on HMS Formidable, operating in support of the TORCH landings in North Africa. On 17th November, an aircraft from 820 sank U-331, the submarine which had destroyed the battleship HMS Barham the previous year.

#NavalHistory

📷©️IWM TR 287, TR 296

@JamieMctrusty via X

[philibetexcerpts]

“On the night of 28 March 1941, as darkness fell off the coast of Cape Matapan, at the southernmost point of the Peloponnese, Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, Commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, in his flagship, HMS Warspite, was leading his battleships – including HMS Valiant and HMS Barham – towards three Italian cruisers. ‘My orders,’ Prince Philip noted in his log, ‘were that if any ship illuminated a target I was to switch on and illuminate it for the rest of the fleet, so when this ship was lit up by a rather dim light from what I thought was the flagship I switched on our midship light which picked out the enemy cruiser and lit her up as if it were broad daylight.’ Then the fun started: ‘She was only seen complete in the light for a few seconds as the flagship had already opened fire, and as her first broadside landed and hit she was blotted out from just abaft the bridge to right astern. We fired our first broadside about seven seconds after the flagship with very much the same effect … By now all the secondary armament of both ships had opened fire and the noise was considerable. The Captain and the Gunnery Officer now began shouting from the bridge for the searchlights to train left. The idea that there might have been another ship, with the one we were firing at, never entered my head, so it was some few moments before I was persuaded to relinquish the blazing target and search for another one I had no reason to believe was there. However, training to the left, the light picked up another cruiser, ahead of the first one by some 3 or 4 cables. As the enemy was so close the light did not illuminate the whole ship but only about ¾ of it, so I trained left over the whole ship until the bridge structure was in the centre of the beam … she was illuminated in an undamaged condition for the period of about 5 seconds when our second broadside left the ship, and almost at once she was completely blotted out from stern to stern.’

It was at this point that ‘all hell broke loose, as all our eight 15-inch guns, plus those of the flagship and Barham’s started firing at the stationary cruiser’. Through the noise and the pounding – ‘the glasses were rammed into my eyes … flash almost blinding me’ – Philip kept his searchlight on target. ‘More than 70% of the shells must have hit,’ he recorded, with justifiable satisfaction. ‘When the enemy had completely vanished in clouds of smoke and steam we ceased firing and switched the light off.’”

Philip: The Final Portrait by Gyles Brandreth

#philip did THAT #he was awarded with the greek war cross and mentioned in dispatches bc of it #prince philip #battle of cape matapan #hms valiant #anecdote

[scienza-magia]

L'ultimo processo per stregoneria in Europa

Helen Duncan, l’ultima “strega”. Fu condannata a Londra il 31 marzo del 1944, esattamente 80 anni fa, in base al Witchcraft Act, una legge contro le persone accusate di stregoneria che risaliva al 1735 e che poco dopo venne abrogata. Il 31 marzo del 1944, esattamente 80 anni fa, a Londra una giuria dichiarò Helen Duncan colpevole in base al Witchcraft Act, una legge contro le persone accusate di stregoneria che risaliva al 1735, che non veniva applicata da più di un secolo e che poco dopo venne abrogata. Quello di Helen Duncan, che venne incarcerata per nove mesi, viene raccontato come l’ultimo processo per stregoneria che si tenne in Europa e che l’allora primo ministro britannico Winston Churchill definì «una sciocchezza obsoleta».

Helen Duncan (Wikipedia) L’evento che portò alla condanna di Duncan avvenne durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, nel novembre del 1941, quando la donna era già una medium molto popolare. Sopra a una farmacia alla periferia di Portsmouth, porto e base navale sulla costa meridionale dell’Inghilterra, una coppia invitò Duncan a tenere una seduta spiritica. Gli ospiti, dopo aver pagato la somma di 12 scellini, vennero fatti accomodare in una piccola stanza illuminata solo da qualche lampadina rossa che la coppia, appassionata di spiritismo, aveva scelto di chiamare “The Master Temple”. Helen Duncan si sedette di fronte al pubblico, accanto a una tenda scura, e diede inizio alla sua performance. Mentre un grammofono suonava, sembrò entrare in uno stato di trance e dopo pochi istanti una massa di ectoplasma biancastro e viscoso uscì dalla sua bocca rendendo in qualche modo visibile quello che disse essere lo spirito di un marinaio che aveva evocato e che annunciò ai presenti una terribile notizia: la nave da guerra HMS Barham della Royal Navy britannica era stata affondata. L’informazione era vera, ma non era ancora stata resa pubblica: il 25 novembre del 1941 alle 16:25, mentre navigava per coprire un attacco contro un convoglio italiano, la HMS Barham venne infatti colpita da tre siluri lanciati da un sottomarino tedesco e affondò rapidamente perdendo circa due terzi del suo equipaggio, più di 860 marinai.

L’affondamento della HMS Barham (Wikipedia) L’Ammiragliato, allora responsabile del comando della Royal Navy, apprese che l’Alto Comando Tedesco non sapeva nulla dell’affondamento e presentandosi l’opportunità di ingannare i tedeschi e di proteggere il morale degli inglesi censurò tutte le notizie riguardanti l’affondamento. Dopo un ritardo di parecchie settimane decise infine di informare i parenti prossimi dei morti chiedendo però di non divulgare la notizia per non farla arrivare al nemico. Dopo la seduta di Duncan, la Royal Navy si allarmò sospettando che quella donna potesse essere una spia o comunque un pericolo per la sicurezza. A quel tempo Helen Duncan aveva 44 anni. Soprannominata fin da piccola “Hellish Nell” (Nell, diminutivo di Hellen, l’infernale), era nata con il nome di Victoria Helen MacFarlane a Callander, in Scozia, il 25 novembre del 1897. Era una bambina piuttosto strana, irrequieta che si diceva avesse la “seconda vista”, cioè la capacità di avere visioni sul futuro e percezioni extrasensoriali poiché sosteneva di avvertire le persone di alcuni pericoli che in seguito si sarebbero verificati. Dopo aver lasciato la scuola e lavorato in un ospedale, nel 1916 sposò Henry Duncan, un ebanista e veterano di guerra che sosteneva i presunti talenti paranormali della moglie. «Era uno spiritista, membro di un movimento che era cresciuto a partire dalla metà del XIX secolo», racconta Malcolm Gaskill, autore di Hellish Nell: Last of Britain’s Witches: «Fu lui a spiegarle che, senza che se ne rendesse conto, stava comunicando con gli spiriti». I due ebbero dodici figli di cui solo sei sopravvissero all’infanzia. Nel 1926 Helen Duncan cominciò a praticare con regolarità delle sedute spiritiche in cui affermava di essere in grado di fare da mediatrice tra il mondo dei morti e quello dei vivi: evocava gli spiriti delle persone defunte che si “materializzavano” e si rendevano visibili al pubblico pagante attraverso l’ectoplasma che usciva dalla sua bocca. Gli incontri si svolgevano sempre in stanze molto buie, Duncan sedeva sempre vicino a una tenda molto scura e si sentivano altre voci oltre la sua. A poco a poco la sua popolarità crebbe. Negli anni Trenta la London Spiritualist Alliance, fondata a fine Ottocento, cominciò a occuparsi di lei sospettando che producesse gli ectoplasmi ingerendo vari materiali e poi rigurgitandoli. Duncan fu dunque osservata, spogliata, perquisita e fotografata per quasi due anni.

Helen Duncan, nel 1928 durante una seduta, fotografata da Harvey Metcalfe (Wikipedia) Nelle indagini venne coinvolto anche il ricercatore Harry Price che pagò Duncan per assistere a una serie di sedute durante le quali riuscì a ottenere e ad analizzare un campione del suo ectoplasma: si scoprì che era fatto di garza e albume d’uovo mescolati tra loro. Altre analisi su altri campioni rivelarono che la sostanza era a volte composta di strati di carta igienica, altre ancora di mussola o garza imbevute in fluidi resinosi. Prima di una seduta Duncan venne anche convinta dalla London Spiritualist Alliance a ingoiare una compressa che avrebbe colorato il materiale eventualmente rigurgitato e, in quell’occasione, non apparve alcun ectoplasma. Duncan venne smascherata anche una seconda volta il 6 gennaio del 1933, quando a Edimburgo una persona presente alla seduta tentò di afferrare lo spirito di una bambina: si trattava di una sottoveste bianca. Le luci vennero accese, fu chiamata la polizia e Duncan fu multata di dieci sterline. Nonostante questo la donna proseguì con la propria attività facendo leva, in tempo di guerra, sul dolore delle persone, sulla loro vulnerabilità e sul fatto che le informazioni dal fronte fossero poche e incerte. Le sedute spiritiche divennero in quel momento una forma di intrattenimento molto popolare. Mogli, padri e madri volevano sapere se i loro cari fossero ancora vivi o volevano sapere quando sarebbe avvenuto il prossimo bombardamento aereo. Dopo la seduta durante la quale Duncan rivelò che la HMS Barham era affondata la Royal Navy iniziò a interessarsi alle sue attività, ma fu solo nel 1944, durante i preparativi per lo sbarco in Normandia, che tale interesse si concretizzò. Il 14 gennaio del 1944 Helen Duncan organizzò una seduta alla quale, a sua insaputa, erano presenti due ufficiali della Marina. La medium evocò lo spirito della sorella di uno di loro, che però era ancora viva. I due stettero al gioco e il 19 gennaio, durante un’altra seduta, Duncan venne arrestata in base al Vagrancy Act del 1824 che puniva il vagabondaggio. Così la sua pena si sarebbe limitata a una multa, mentre i giudici volevano per lei una condanna esemplare temendo che la donna potesse continuare a rivelare informazioni riservate, qualunque fosse la sua fonte.

Immagine dal libro del 1945 The trial of Mrs. Duncan Durante il processo venne dunque invocato il Witchcraft Act che negava l’esistenza dei poteri sovrannaturali prima attribuiti alle streghe e puniva con il carcere chi millantava di possederli traendone profitto. Dopo sette giorni di processo, durante i quali vennero ascoltate in aula decine di testimonianze che i giornali seguirono con grande interesse, Duncan venne giudicata colpevole e incarcerata per nove mesi. Del caso si interessò anche il primo ministro Winston Churchill lamentandosi dell’uso improprio delle risorse del tribunale per seguire una vicenda farsesca basata sul Witchcraft Act e su un capo di imputazione obsoleto. Al suo rilascio, nel 1945, Duncan promise di smettere con le sedute spiritiche, ma non lo fece. Fu arrestata una seconda volta nel 1956 e morì nella sua casa di Edimburgo poco tempo dopo. Il processo a Duncan contribuì all’abrogazione, nel 1951, del Witchcraft Act. Read the full article

#HelenDuncan #HMSBarham #LondonSpiritualistAlliance #RoyalNavy #stregoneria #WitchcraftAct

[whitewatermedia]

───── H ───── 25 November 1941 Sailors jump from the hull of HMS Barham as she capsizes and her magazines explode.

#video #history

[ltwilliammowett]

Sailor's straw hat, HMS Barham, early 20th century

#naval artifacts #sailor's hat #early 20th century #age of steam

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 12.12

627 – Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II's Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh. 1388 – Maria of Enghien sells the lordship of Argos and Nauplia to the Republic of Venice. 1787 – Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the US Constitution. 1862 – American Civil War: USS Cairo sinks on the Yazoo River. 1866 – Oaks explosion: The worst mining disaster in England kills 361 miners and rescuers. 1870 – Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the second black U.S. congressman. 1901 – Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal (the letter "S" [•••] in Morse Code), at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland. 1915 – Yuan Shikai declares the establishment of the Empire of China and proclaims himself Emperor. 1917 – Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town as a farm village for wayward boys. 1935 – The Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction program, is founded by Heinrich Himmler. 1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: USS Panay incident: Japanese aircraft bomb and sink U.S. gunboat USS Panay on the Yangtze river in China. 1939 – HMS Duchess sinks after a collision with HMS Barham off the coast of Scotland with the loss of 124 men. 1939 – Winter War: The Battle of Tolvajärvi, also known as the first major Finnish victory in the Winter War, begins. 1941 – World War II: Fifty-four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesús Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; César Basa is killed. 1941 – The Holocaust: Adolf Hitler declares the imminent extermination of the Jews at a meeting in the Reich Chancellery. 1945 – The People's Republic of Korea is outlawed in the South, by order of the United States Army Military Government in Korea. 1946 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 13 relating to acceptance of Siam (now Thailand) to the United Nations is adopted. 1956 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 121 relating to acceptance of Japan to the United Nations is adopted. 1963 – Kenya declares independence from Great Britain. 1969 – The Piazza Fontana bombing; a bomb explodes at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura (the National Agricultural Bank) in Piazza Fontana in Milan, Italy, killing 17 people and wounding 88. The same afternoon, three more bombs are detonated in Rome and Milan, and another is found unexploded. 1979 – The 8.2 Mw  Tumaco earthquake shakes Colombia and Ecuador with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 300–600, and generating a large tsunami. 1979 – Coup d'état of December Twelfth occurs in South Korea. 1985 – Arrow Air Flight 1285R, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 256 people on board, including 236 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division. 1988 – The Clapham Junction rail crash kills thirty-five and injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains—one of the worst train crashes in the United Kingdom. 1999 – A magnitude 7.3 earthquake hits the Philippines's main island of Luzon, killing six people, injuring 40, and causing power outages that affected the capital Manila. 2000 – The United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore. 2001 – Prime Minister of Vietnam Phan Văn Khải announces the decision on upgrading the Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng nature reserve to a national park, providing information on projects for the conservation and development of the park and revised maps. 2012 – North Korea successfully launches its first satellite, Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2. 2015 – The Paris Agreement relating to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is adopted. 2021 – Dutch Formula One racing driver Max Verstappen wins the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, beating seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton to become the first Formula One World Champion to come from the Netherlands.

#Events

[coeursetcolores]

Therion, The Thief: Chapter 2

WARNING! Spoilers ahead for Chapter 2 of Therion’s story in Octopath Traveler!

And here we begin our life of involuntary indentured servitude.

Hooray.

Lousy rich folk...

And now we’re in a town full of them. Great.

At least we get to beat one up.

Noblecourt’s a pretty nice-looking place. The trees give a cozy framing to the city, but they don’t clash with the brickwork or the fancier homes. The fountain’s also a nice touch, simple way to show opulence The beat-up condition of Barham’s home does show what’s going on underneath the surface, though. The person at the entrance says that the town’s fallen on hard times...that’ll be interesting to explore later.

And wow! That was convenient! Thanks for telling me everything about my target and their location, first two people in town!

Aaaaaaand, we can’t just fight our way into the target’s house. Or grift. Dang. If only we were in a different genre, we could just climb in. Guess we go back to info gathering (without Cyrus or Alfyn, for some reason).

To the tavern!

Now we wait...

Oh! Thanks second group at the bar! That additional information will surely help my efforts.

And we’re on a fetch quest. But this one is free. I love stealing! But man, everyone just takes advantage of Therion. Learn to be your own thief!

Is this karma? 

Oh well. At least we got a benefit out of it.

And another partnership serves as a foil to Therion’s solitude. Barham may have been a crotchety jerk, but he’s clearly hurting. It’s hard to watch your friend fall victim to obsession and be powerless to stop it.

I get the feeling Barham’s story about Orlick and him might be a parallel to whatever went down with Darius. What was he thinking about at the end of that flashback? I don’t feel good about it.

Onto the heist...

Orlick’s manse...definitely belongs to someone going mad. Dim lights, excessive use of green (nothing’s wrong with green, it’s just a common color to symbolize negativity (envy, in over your head, judgment, etc.)) paired with gold (money), emptiness...

And a storage room full of valuables pushed off to the side except for one. That we of course got caught in. Say, “Hi” to Orlick, everyone!

The paranoid researcher who’s clearly crossed the line into obsession. And that led to an inflated perception of himself, which led to irrational distrust of everyone around him. Seen it. That does get me curious about the stone, though...

Despite his paranoia, he brought help. Of course. So much for only relying on yourself.

Wait, do I have to go all the way to Bolderfall? Oh, good, it’s just a cutscene.

Cordelia, you have got to wake up to the world. I don’t want your thanks, and I will ditch you the second this band is off my arm. And Therion is a clearly traumatized loner with a fringe, what part of him looks trustworthy? Yes, I have pride, I am a great thief! And you are blackmailing me, we are not going to be friends. Listen to Heathcote, who I am beginning to suspect has a background of walking on the wild side.

Lonely? ...He probably is. These two chapters are hinting at something, Theri.

At least you have company now.

Tressa: Hm. A nice exploration of the differences between their trades. A merchant gets to know the people around them and learns town to town, a thief observes everyone and learns through collected experience.

Olberic: Ooh! Strategic Olberic! I mean, you probably could beat up all the guards, but alright. Aww, he wants to see Therion work! Thanks, Team Dad!

Primrose: Kind of thought she’d talk more about being back in her hometown, instead of wanting to dance. Nothing wrong with that, but missed opportunity.

H’aanit: THANK YOU! I was at my limit with all the thief judgement! You may have triggered Theri, though...

Alfyn: Wait, retirement fund?! Where?! I thought Therion was homeless, where is he keeping it?! And come on! Give Alfyn a chance! He just wants to be your friend! Sigh...

Cyrus: Okay! Do not insult someone’s profession to their face! ...Unless they’re a politician. Thought the guy whose job gets judged by society as a whole would be a little less judgmental.

Ophilia: Theri! Don’t tease her! Be nicer to your companions! ...And maybe be wary about the possible magic in the stone!

What is so special about these stones? 

What happened to Darius?

And what did it do to Therion?

Maybe we’ll get some answers in Wellspring.

#Octopath Rambler #Therion (Octopath Traveler) #Chapter 2 #Review #Octopath Traveler

[captain-price-unofficially]

HMS Barham in the Mediterranean with her Neutrality Stripes. She's taking water over the forecastle so A turret is swung around about as far as possible to port.

#naval #interwar period

[scotianostra]

On November 25th 1897, Helen Duncan, the noted Scottish medium, was born in Callander.

Dubbed a witch, Helen was a spiritualist, medium and the last person in Britain to be tried and sentenced under the 1735 Witchcraft Act.

Victoria Helen McCrae Duncan (née MacFarlane was the daughter of a cabinet-maker, or a slater, depending on the source you look at, her was an Isabella Rattray.

At school, she alarmed her fellow pupils with her dire prophecies and hysterical behaviour, to the distress of her mother (a member of the Presbyterian church). After leaving school, she worked at Dundee Royal Infirmary, and in 1916 she married Henry Duncan, a cabinet maker a(which possibly clears up the confusion of her parents occupation?)  and wounded war veteran, who was supportive of her supposed paranormal talents. A mother of six, she also worked part-time in a bleach factory.

Helen Duncan was a show woman who travelled throughout Britain, holding regular séances during which she would produce the form of dead people by emitting a cloud-like substance – ectoplasm – from her mouth. These spirits were said to appear, talking and actually touching their relatives.

It was during the years of the Second World War that Duncan’s activities attracted the attention of the Establishment.

In 1941, she spoke with a deceased sailor from HMS Barham and revealed that the ship had been sunk in the Mediterranean, although the War Office did not officially release this fact until several months later. The wartime government had been trying to hush up the loss of 861 British seamen when the German U-boat U331 torpedoed the ship.

On the night of 19th January 1944, one of Helen’s séances was raided by police, in her then hometown of Portsmouth where the Royal Navy’s Home Fleet was based. Officers attempted to stop the ectoplasm issuing from Helen’s mouth, but failed. After some order had been restored, Helen was formally arrested.

It has been alleged that the real reason for the raid was due to the official paranoia surrounding the forthcoming D-Day Normandy landings and the fear that she may reveal the date, location and other details.

In one of the most sensational episodes in wartime Britain, Duncan was eventually brought to trial at the Old Bailey in London and became the last person to be prosecuted under the Witchcraft Act of 1735, which had not been used for more than a century. After a seven-day trial, she was sentenced to nine months in London’s Holloway Prison. She was even denied the right to appeal to the House of Lords.

As a result of the case, the Witchcraft Acts were finally repealed in 1951. A formal Act of Parliament three years later officially recognised spiritualism as a religion.

Helen Duncan was released from prison on the 22nd September 1944. However, the harassment she faced appears to have continued right up to her death. In November 1956 the police raided a private séance in Nottingham in an attempt to prove fraud. Once again the investigators failed in their objectives. Five weeks later, the woman who will always be remembered as the last witch, died.

A bronze bust of Helen Duncan, as seen in the pics, presented to the town of Callander, gives rise to controversy even today, as those with strong religious views object to its public display. As a consequence the sculpture is currently on display at the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum.

#Scotland #scottish #spiritualism #clairvoyant #medium #witchcraft act #history

[sgmnaval]

🇪🇸: Royal Navy en acción.

La fuerza central Británica en Movimiento en 1934. Lidera el HMS Nelson, seguido por su gemelo HMS Rodney, HMS Barham, HMS Warspite, HMS Valiant, y cerrando la fila los Cruceros de Batalla HMS Hood y HMS Renown.

🇬🇧: Royal Navy in action.

The British central force on the move in 1934. Leading HMS Nelson, followed by her sister ship HMS Rodney, HMS Barham, HMS Warspite, HMS Valiant, and closing the line are the Battlecruisers HMS Hood and HMS Renown.

#battleship #SGM #GuerraMundial #DKM #regiamarina #MarineNationale #Marine #IJN #JapaneseNavy #segundaguerramundial #guerra #wwii #Historia #Story #Marines #RoyalNavy #USNavy #worldwar2 #Navy #worldwar #warship #kriegsmarine #history #carrier #aircraftcarrier #destroyer