The Wasp, 1913 · page 244 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 244: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains narrative fiction rather than a political cartoon. It appears to be from a serialized story in *The Wasp* magazine about maritime adventure and piracy. The text describes Captain John Trimmer's discovery of a dead Canadian privateer and the captured French ship *Le Diable*. Trimmer believes this fortunate turn of events benefits him, but the narrator ironically notes "John was wrong"—foreshadowing trouble ahead. The "germ of ambition" planted in Trimmer's mind, combined with the nearly identical Canadian schooner, twenty prisoners of undetermined fate, and his overmanned crew, suggests Trimmer is contemplating some scheme—possibly assuming the captured ship's identity or engaging in further piracy. Without seeing illustrations on this page, the satirical intent remains unclear, though the tone suggests critique of opportunistic maritime adventurism during what appears to be a colonial-era conflict.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE WASP 239 met with successes off Newfoundland, off New England, off the Carolinas, the Bahamas, and Ber- muda. Off Antigua he had been chased by an Eng- lish sloop-of-war, but had managed to drop her, and now he lay dead on the deck. He had accom- plished very little for the glory of the king of France and even less for himself. A sudden death is apt to upset even the subtlest calculations and nullify the most amazing successes. But it would seem that the dead Canadian had done Captain John Trimmer a very good turn. John thought so, and felt a positive glow of gratitude; but John wag wrong. Captain Trimmer inspected Le Diable and her treasure, and was delighted with both. The Cana- dian schooner was as like the white schooner as a twin sister in all but the color of her graceful hull. It was this fact, together with the somewhat_over- manned condition of the white schooner, and the twenty new prisoners whose fate had not yet been determined, that set a germ of ambition in Trim- _ mer’s mind into full life and size. Comichooks.com