The Wasp — 1918 — page 24: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page continues a serialized nautical adventure story rather than presenting editorial cartoons or satirical commentary. The narrative depicts a merchant ship encountering a suspected pirate vessel at sea. **The Scene:** A trading ship's crew spots another schooner and prepares for potential combat—raising sails, clearing cannons, and distributing cutlasses. **The Characters:** Named crew members include Hobkirk (captain or mate), Mr. Boyle, Burnham, and others. The suspected threat is identified as a pirate, possibly "Major Deck" or "Duval, the Frenchman." **The Point:** Hobkirk's concluding complaint expresses a common 19th-century grievance: legitimate English merchants faced constant danger from pirates, making each voyage a desperate run for survival. This reflects real historical anxieties about maritime commerce and piracy rather than political satire per se, though it implicitly critiques the government's failure to suppress piracy and protect trade. The passage appears excerpted from a serialized adventure novel *The Wasp* was running.