The Wasp, 1918 · page 263 of 330
The Wasp — 1918 — page 263: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page appears to be prose fiction rather than a political cartoon—likely serialized narrative from *The Wasp*, a 19th-century American satirical magazine. The text describes a pirate plot involving characters named James, John Trimmer, Burnham, and others. James plans to recruit crew from the brig *Virtue* by exploiting the brutality of its captains (Smith and Winch), then sail a "tublike brig" to Trimmer's position posing as a merchant vessel to stage a surprise attack. **The satire's target appears to be:** maritime crime and piracy, depicting the scheme with darkly comic matter-of-factness. The narrative treats pirate recruitment and ship seizure as straightforward tactical problems, which likely satirizes both actual 19th-century piracy and perhaps contemporary anxieties about maritime lawlessness. Without seeing accompanying illustrations or knowing the publication date, the specific political context remains unclear, but the tone suggests critique of seafaring criminality through pseudo-serious tactical narration.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
254 THE WASP. he said, that a night attack on John Trimmer’s _ stronghold would fail. Perhaps John had wormed and blustered his way back into the confidence of the majority of his crew by this time. Even if this were not the case, the mischief might be done before he, James, had proyed his identity. One minute of ignorance on the part of Trimmer’s hundred might mean the extermination of Burnham’s eleven: He was willing to risk it, of course; but, first of all, he would like to lay a new oe before his comrades. There sailed the brig Vz ee ; and, unless she had changed her skipper and her mate since he and Henry Todd had been aboard her, there sailed a brig ripe and ready for their purpose. _ He was ready to stake his reputation on the assertion that, with Smith and Winch still bully- ing, starving, and overworking the crew, eighty per cent. of the men would be glad to become gentlemen of fortune. In that case it would be a small matter to get possession of the brig and a likely lot of recruits. Then they would sail the tublike brig down to within sight of John Trimmer’s lookouts, the very picture of a helpless merchantman. icomichooks:com 1