Today's quiz, in honor of Capt. R.C. Tipper, USN (Ret.), who just spent an uncomfortable week on a sofabed in our living room, takes a nautical theme.
The following is the epitaph from a tombstone:
The celebrated Navigator
who first transplanted the Bread Fruit Tree
From Otaheite to the West Indies
bravely fought the battles of his country,
and died beloved respected and lamented
"In caelo quies"
Who is buried in this grave?
First correct answer posted to comments wins a bootleg tape of Russel Crowe's band 30-Odd Foot of Grunts performing their cult-favorite skiffle version of "Blow the Man Down," later used as the love theme in Master and Commander. No Googling. No Froogling. And no canoodling! One guess per comment, please, but comment as often as you like.
Posted by BT at November 21, 2003 09:36 AMWilliam Bligh.
Posted by: Rory on November 21, 2003 09:41 AMOr (the teensiest doubtling having entered my mind) James Cook.
But one of those two.
Posted by: Rory on November 21, 2003 09:42 AMYes! Always go with your first instincts.
Posted by: Rory on November 21, 2003 09:43 AMI think that's a new Wombat File slam dunk speed record.
What, do you have some sort of advanced degree in the politics and history of the Pacific Islands?
Indeed, the famous commander of the Bounty -- the man who made Fletcher Christian paraphrase Milton's Satan ("I am in hell, sir, in hell!") -- wanted to be remembered as the collector of Tahitian breadfruit (the Bounty's mission).
Consider yourself responsible for entertaining us for the rest of the day...
Posted by: BT on November 21, 2003 09:45 AMWell, it just so happens I have a previously prepared question right h...
Oh. Sorry. 'Fraid I've got to run, flight to catch, places to go, haha! (Not the Pacific Islands, unfortunately.)
Posted by: Rory on November 21, 2003 09:52 AMWow, Rory, you won the best prize ever!
BT, that's some funny stuff. We saw M&C last night, and I near strained my eyeballs looking for homoerotic subtext. I had to just keep consoling myself with the idea that it was fiction.
Posted by: Scott on November 21, 2003 09:58 AMI really do have a flight to catch, but here's a Bligh-related question which I leave it to Bill to adjudicate:
Although he was most famous for the aforementioned mutiny on the Bounty, that wasn't the last time William Bligh was involved in a significant historical uprising. What was his position the second time? What was the name given to that uprising? And, for bonus argue-for-days-in-the-Wombat-File-comments points, what year was it?
Posted by: Rory on November 21, 2003 09:59 AMHowzabout the Rum Rebellion?
Posted by: bootsy on November 21, 2003 10:33 AMOr to pull an anti-Rory, I'll go with my second instincts: the Spanish Armada?
Bon Voyage, Sri Sri WunderChamp!
Posted by: bootsy on November 21, 2003 10:36 AMLead gift-wrapper in the Boxing Day Disquiet of 1762, in which the workers pined aloud for the invention of tape.
"A mucilage upon you, sir. A mucilage!"
Posted by: Jonathan on November 21, 2003 11:00 AMBligh played second tambourine on Bob Marley's "Uprising."
Posted by: Scott on November 21, 2003 11:11 AMDid he get pulled into that Cromwell kerfuffle?
Posted by: Gavin on November 21, 2003 11:23 AMBligh, Bligh. Musta had sumpin to do w/ Nelly. Tis revolting indeed, mateys.
Posted by: bootsy on November 21, 2003 12:46 PMSo if it wasn't the Boston Tea Pary, could it have been a coffee-related affair?... the Java War, mayhap?
Posted by: bootsy on November 21, 2003 12:51 PMSorry to have been asleep at the helm, mateys -- indeed, Admiral Bootsy damned the torpedoes and went full steam ahead to the right answer to Rory's follow-up. In 1808, the Rum Rebellion forced Bligh from his office as governor of New South Wales. As we all know, Bligh was replaced in office by the dashing Captain Morgan, whose program of liberally spicing the colonists rum proved so popular that his motto "Get Spicey" became a byword among the fashionable.
Posted by: BT on November 21, 2003 01:14 PM