Today is a day that will surely never be forgotten, while my crew and I boarded our gracious ship the USS Banshee this morning I thought that our team would surely complete the USS Banshees profound 10th trip through the Union Blockade. The union had never seen a ship quite as great as ours and although my beautiful ship was one of the first of the blockade runners I thought that our ship would never be deterred after completing an outstanding 9 successful trips. Yet with every triumph comes tragedy and that is what has occurred on this day(Jenkins).
Although the ships maiden voyage was nearly 2 years ago I can remember its first trips as if they had happened yesterday. In the year 1861 and the south suddenly with no warning realized that because of the Confederates invasion of fort summer Abraham Lincoln had blocked our ports in which our great cotton crops had been traded disallowing us to trade what had been our main source of income(Young).
When hearing about the news about the ports the Confederate Navy quickly came up with a brilliant idea. They had thought up an idea that if a ship could sneak past the blockade of Union ships we would still be able to trade overseas. Thus the blockade runners were born(Anderson). As soon as I heard about the brilliant plan I knew that I needed to give it a shot for my country. Before leaving my wife at the house I gave her a kiss and walked out the door while finishing my jam filled sandwich. She asked me if I wanted more jam and I took some more for the trip. I didn't want any jam yet I took some to not disappoint her even though I thought that saying I don't give a Jam might be a good closing scene in a civil war time movie. As I saw the ship for the first time I immediately knew that it was indeed one of a kind. The ship was more than 200 feet long and it could hold a mighty 533 tons(Jenkins). With its gray hull and non smoking smock stack I knew that the union would be disturbed to see it passing by and they sure were. In the next year my crew and I would sneak as quite as a mouse through the glooming sea. Being the cotton was so rare to trade upon at the time we had made profits for the crew overseas 5 or 10 times as much as we had made in the past but we became obsessed with the money and started to become greedy(Anderson).The money was so good each time we decided to go on another and another and another mission through the blockade. Most blockade runners made 4 trips yet I thought that since the ship had been so successful that we could try on for more(Jenkins).
And then it happened, today was just like any other day as the crew became silent to make yet another pass through the Unions great wall of ships. Then in the distance a great light appeared and I realized that we had sadly been found and I knew Union with no hesitation would soon capture our ship. Nothing in my entire life had disappointed me any more to see my ship taken away from under my feet yet with every mistake there is a lesson learned. I should not have become as greedy as I became and for that I must take the punishment. Let it be a lesson to you that even though things may be going strong you sometimes have to leave when you are up in the count. It is a lesson on this day that I have learned the hard way.
Bibliography
Anderson, Dale. The Civil War at Sea. Millwaukee: World Almanac Library, 2004.
Jenkins, Mark. "Iron Clads and Blockade Runners." 10 Janurary 2003. www.wowway.com. 29 March 2011
Young, Mathew. "Blockade Running In The Civil War." 18 November 2008. encyclopediaofalabama.org. 31 March 2011
The Real Story of It's a Wonderful Life
Today is a wonderful day, my brother has just gotten back from the war with the medal of honor and as soon as Uncle Billy deposits that $8,000 we will be able to start the party.
'' Hey everybody'' says Billy,'' I think I lost the money!''
You lost the money'' I say .
''Yes but I think Potter took the money''.
''Well lets find him.'' Hey Wilson come on the search with us''. ''I wonder how we get to his house'' I say.
''I think you just follow the Yellow brick road'' says Wilson.
What a great idea but wait, ''its infected with snakes''. ''I hate snakes, I hate snakes''.
'' I'll save you George, oww I have been bitten by the snakes!''
''No don't die Wilson, Wilson I'm sorry!'' We have to move on look, ''there is Potters house strait ahead!'' Potter there you are, did you take the money''.
''What do you want from me says potter''.
'' I want the truth''.
''You can't handle the truth''.
''Yes ah ah I cacacan''
''No you can't'', says Potter.
''Yes I can I have a voice''!
'' Well then fine you can have the money back!''
''Yes now we can save the business''. Thanks guys I could have never done it without you. The bell starts ringing back and forth and they all live happily ever after. The End. Roll Credits
He's doing what now?
Friday, May 06, 2011
10:36 AM
Ok now tell me that one of the coolest and most unpredictable people you have ever seen is Sir Richard Branson. Sir Richard Branson lives in the United Kingdom and became a billionaire when he ran numerous records companies in the 1970s. Once he became a billionaire his has committed his life to living in the moment. His life has been an inspiration to others so much so that he has even been knighted by the queen of England. Weather he was going to space, inventing jet packs or whatever, he is always doing something no one has ever dared to try before with his smile and Harvard like laugh like it is no big deal.
Recently I have started paying attention to Richards where abouts and even though he was not at the royal wedding there are still interesting things he has been doing. I don't know why he was at the wedding but if you asked him he would probably say something along the lines of ''Well you see I was training my monkey to fish using a shot gun. Har auw garw (Harvard Laugh)''. As I was reading some news articles this morning I noticed that he was again up to his interesting habits. I recently found that he has now bought an island to store a pack of lemurs on to prevent them from becoming extinct. Now who does not love lemurs. He will start by taking the first group of 30 lemurs from a group of zoos and then transfer them to the Caribbean to the island where they will become the only wild lemurs outside of Africa. I can only imagine being a lemur on that bumpy plane ride with Branson in the back seat yelling. ''Hey pilot how do you like this jet, I made it entirely out of poisoned African tree stems har auw garw''.
As crazy as Sir Richard Branson's life may be there are many things we could learn from him. If more people just lay back and enjoyed their lives as much as he does that world would be a much more relaxed place and much less populated place being people would probably be racing Ferrari's on the moon on a daily basis. So I am glad he is helping the lemurs there is nothing wrong with having a little fun and helping animals in the making. I just hope the lemurs don't find the jet packs.
Character scene
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
10:21 AM
Today is a very disappointing day. Today is the day that my crew has failed to capture the great treasure of the North Sea. Just a few days ago our wonderful crew began our mission to cross the sea in order to capture the great island treasure. The great island treasure is a wonderful array of gold coins, silver by the pound and gems as far as the eye can see. Although I knew it was a long shot to get to the island, once I heard how great the treasure was I could not resist temptation.
Our mission began when I ordered the crew to roar the ship full speed ahead in order to beat the mighty storm that looked to be approaching. I first noticed the storm when I woke up early that morning. I questioned whether we would be able to make it or not throughout the day yet I knew we had to give it a shot. As night approached the mission was not looking as if it was going to succeed. The storm had come and our gracious ship began to swerve from side to side standing no chance against the roaring sea. As I turned to look at my ship that was beginning to break down one of my crew members shouted to me that we must turn back but as he said that I just thought about the treasure and said to myself that I must move on. When the next day came the storm had left but it had left with part of our ship packed with it. I knew that even though our ship was in good enough shape to cross the rest of the sea. It was much too damaged to hold off a pirate attack. When going to bed that night I relaxed and just tried to hope for the best.
The next night I woke up to the sounds of gunfire, shouting and innocent lives being taken and realized that my nightmare had come true. I poked my head out the window and saw our ship being ripped to shreds by the enemies, towering vessel. I now sit here with a heavy heart on the little remainder of the ship that used to be mine utterly disappointed and still in shock as to what I have just seen.
