The Wasp, 1913 · page 348 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 348: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This appears to be prose fiction rather than a cartoon—a narrative excerpt from a serialized story about naval warfare. The text describes a character named James (likely a naval officer) preparing his gun crews for battle against a French fleet, sighted on August 19 off Santa Marta. The passage portrays James as a harsh but competent commander—a slave-driver of men, yet generous with payment. He's motivated by pride and duty rather than ambition, expecting imminent combat with the French under Du Casse. **Historical context**: This likely references actual 18th-century Caribbean naval conflicts between British and French forces, possibly the War of Spanish Succession era. Without seeing illustrations or additional pages, the satirical point remains unclear—whether *The Wasp* was mocking British naval practices, specific historical figures, or something else entirely. The magazine appears to blend fiction with satire typical of American periodicals of this era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE WASP 341 beyond the battle which was sure to take place as soon as the French fleet was found. Life held noth- ing for him, he knew, but one more fight—and death. He was done with ambition, lust, and anx- iety ; but he was proud of his efficiency. So he de- voted himself to the task of bringing up the stand- ard of his ten new guns and their crews to that of the five guns and crews which had been his from the first. The guns and their tackles were thor- oughly overhauled, and the men were drilled until the weaklings dropped. Superior to fatigue himself, and hardened to the sweltering sun and listless airs, James sweated his men like a slave-driver. Purely as a matter of _ pride he was determined that the glaring admiral should not regret having promoted him. His men found him a bitter, hard master, but generous with his silver. On the morning of August 19 the enemy was sighted off Santa Marta. The French ships were all aboard on the blue, and the English were like- wise widely scattered. Du Casse, it would seem, was in no hurry to fight and yet in no mind to run Comichooks.com