The Wasp, 1918 · page 313 of 330
The Wasp — 1918 — page 313: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *The Wasp* contains narrative text rather than political cartoon commentary. It appears to be part of a serialized fiction story titled "THE WASP" (page 304), depicting a naval military scene from August 19th involving French and English ships, with Admiral Du Casse and Captain Walton meeting aboard the flagship *Breda*. The passage focuses on character description—Walton is portrayed as physically unprepossessing (small, broken-nosed, shambling gait) yet somehow commanding respect from Admiral Benbow. The narrative emphasizes the contrast between his appearance and his authority. Without seeing accompanying illustrations or political context, this reads as historical naval fiction rather than political satire. The specific historical references and character identities remain unclear from text alone.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
2 304 THE WASP 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 abroad on the blue, and the English were likewise widely scattered. Du Casse, it would seem, was in no hurry to fight and yet in no mind torun away. The wind was a mere hot — breath, now struggling to filla great sailandnow | fainting and falling utterly. ~~ ! The admiral signalled for his captains tocome —_~ aboard the flag-ship for consultation and in- structions.. The Ruby, a brig of twenty-four guns, was the nearest of the fleet to the Breda, and so Captain Walton was the first to come aboard. — |} He paced the quarter-deck with the admiral, the commander, the sailing-master, and the first ~ lieutenant. He was a small man with an ugly =| face, a broken nose, and dull eyes. His gait was ~ | shambling, his clothes were ill-set and none too new. In short, he was a most undistinguished looking sailor; and yet Benbow eyed him almost kindly. Sa _ The other captains arrived one by one, evident in no great haste to receive their instructions. Benbow welcomed them with glares and con- ~~ | tinued his talk with Walton. ee I