The Wasp, 1913 · page 176 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 176: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains narrative text—likely fiction or serialized story—rather than political cartoons. It describes the exploits of "Captain Trimmer," a ruthless pirate or brigand who attacks a merchant schooner with twenty armed men, cripples her with cannon fire, and plunders her cargo. Weeks later, Trimmer opportunistically joins a merchant ship's mutiny, boarding during combat when both sides are weakened. He brutally overpowers both factions and recruits survivors. The repeated name "Trimmer" may carry satirical weight—possibly referencing someone who opportunistically sides with the winning faction (political trimming). However, without additional context about *The Wasp*'s publication date or other pages, the specific real-world reference remains unclear. The text appears to be a adventure narrative using piracy as its vehicle, possibly to satirize ruthless opportunism or mercenary conduct.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE WASP | 171 Otherwise, why did they come armed and to the number of twenty? However that may be, Captain Trimmer’s fel- lows made short and bloody work of them. The schooner, left short-handed, attempted to escape at the first outcry of the conflict; but Trimmer had foreseen this, and had the brig’s three guns ready trained on the schooner’s spars behind a screen of empty casks. So the schooner’s wings were crip- pled; and later she was overhauled. Captain Trim- mer, and what remained of his villainous company, transferred themselves from the brig to the schooner, together with everything of value in the brig. A few weeks later Trimmer had been fortunate enough to encounter a large merchant ship at the moment of mutiny. He boarded and joined the fight when the victory was hanging in the balance and both sides were weak and exhausted. He over- powered both the contending parties with great slaughter, recruited from the pick of the survivors, Lu. Comichooks.com