The Wasp, 1918 · page 220 of 330
The Wasp — 1918 — page 220: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page appears to be from a serialized fictional narrative rather than a political cartoon—likely from "The Wasp," a San Francisco satirical magazine. The text describes a piracy agreement between Captain Trimmer, Burnham, and others, detailing how they'll operate two vessels to attack merchant ships and divide plunder. The passage satirizes criminal enterprise through mock-serious legal language ("agreement," "clauses," "oaths"), treating piracy like a business partnership. References to "Major Deck and Duval" as rival threats, "secret havens," and the ironic mention of oaths bringing "withering fire from heaven upon their ungodly heads" emphasize the audacity of these criminals conducting organized lawbreaking. The satire likely comments on actual 19th-century piracy or privateering, or possibly critiques corrupt business practices by comparing them to outright criminality. The excluded "Canadian prisoners" and "Wells" suggest a broader narrative context now lost.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE WASP. 211 prize. They had wines and rum up from the lazaretto and sat around the cabin-table until dawn arranging the details of management of the expanded business. The two vessels were to work separately and ‘as far apart as they might see fit; but once in each period of three months the new schooner was to put in at one or more of Trimmer’s three secret havens and leave a report and her plunder. Trimmer was to have the lion’s share of the winnings of the new vessel, as well as of the old. Both were to keep a sharp lookout for Major Deck and Duval, and attack either of these rivals if they saw fair-chances of success. In a year’s time they were to meet in the most secluded of their three retreats and, if advisable at the time, make a final division of all spoils, and then scatter. __ There were twelve other minor clauses in the agreement. Trimmer, Burnham, and the other leaders swore to.abide by the terms of agreement with oaths that might well have brought withering fire from heaven upon their ungodly heads. In the morning the plan was roughly explained to all the men, save those who were with Wells and the Canadian prisoners aboard the prize. The hardy ruffians cheered. Captain Trimmer comichbooks.com