The Wasp, 1918 · page 164 of 330
The Wasp — 1918 — page 164: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page presents a **narrative passage** rather than a cartoon—it appears to be serialized fiction depicting a maritime scene of predation. The text describes a ship's captain spotting two disabled vessels ("lame ducks") at sea and planning to exploit them. The captain's excited dialogue ("reap the harvest") suggests piracy or opportunistic plunder of damaged ships. References to "Master Burnham," "Hellfire Hicks," and a "trader" indicate these are character names in an adventure or crime narrative. The phrase "like the good farmers we are" uses ironic pastoral language to mask criminal intent—harvesting disabled ships like crops. **Context**: *The Wasp* was a San Francisco satirical magazine (1876-1907). Without seeing illustrations or knowing the serialized story's full context, this appears to be **satirical fiction mocking maritime villainy** rather than political commentary. The satire likely critiqued actual piracy, smuggling, or cutthroat merchant practices of the era through dramatic storytelling. The exact target remains **unclear** without additional pages or publication date.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE WASP iss direction indicated and saw a something, a vague shape, in the gloom of sea and sky. “A schooner!” exclaimed the captain. © “And crippled, too! Beaten off, as I live! Then where’s the trader? There she lays; d’ye see her? Both crippled. And here are we, Master Burnham, to reap the harvest, like the good farmers we are. Blister me, it’s a case I’ve dreamed of, but never hoped to see! And who'll it be, now? Hellfire Hicks, d’ye think ? Pll tell ye in two or three minutes. The light grows fast.” He slapped Burnham on the back and hurried aft in high spirits. The light flooded swiftly out of the east, and James Burnham saw two vessels rocking on the little grey seas’ not half a mile away from the schooner and within two hundred yards of each other. One could see at a glance that they were lame ducks, although most of their spars were standing. One was a long, low schooner, the other a short, high brig. The schooner had lost. her maintop, the wreckage of which still cluttered her deck. She had a shafp list to larboard and seemed to be short-handed. The brig had lost a few yards and was down by the head comichooks.com