The Wasp, 1913 · page 243 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 243: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page appears to be from a serialized fictional story rather than a political cartoon. The text describes "Captain Trimmer," a pirate operating off Trinidad's coast who has built a crew of 120 ruthless men through capturing merchant vessels. The narrative then introduces a Canadian-owned schooner called *Le Diable*, whose deceased master was a French-sympathizing Canadian privateer operating during a period when Canada's "mother country was at war with England"—likely referencing the Napoleonic Wars era. Rather than satire, this reads as adventure fiction typical of *The Wasp* magazine's content. The satire may lie in the romanticized portrayal of piracy and privateering, or in depicting a Canadian nobleman as a profit-motivated "adventurer" serving France while enriching himself—though without seeing illustrations or additional context, the specific satirical target remains unclear.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
238 THE WASP Captain Trimmer had recovered his old mastery over his uncertain and whimsical gentlemen of for- tune by a series of splendid captures, murders, rob- beries, and scuttlings off the coast of Trinidad. Every gentleman of his company was now well along on the road to wealth. By discreet but con- stant recruiting from the crews of his prizes, he had built up his company to a selected force of one hun- dred and twenty of the hardest and most reckless rascals unhanged. Trimmer’s affairs were in this prosperous condi- tion when he boarded the schooner Le Diable on a misty night and took her, with no damage to either of the vessels, but with much loss of life on the part of Le Diable’s crew. The master and owner of the schooner, who had died suddenly and violently, had been a Canadian of noble blood and a craving for profitable adven- ture. As his mother country was at war with Eng- land, he had built and manned Le Diable on the St. Lawrence, and had set out to serve France with one hand and fill his pockets with the other. He had Comichbooks.com