SMITH HUBBARD & TICHENOR

GOLDENGATE’S

for March 10, 2013

SHORT-SHEETED

MIDSHIPMAN SPENCER’S MYSTERIOUS “SHEET-ANCHOR” of GREEK CODE

-- IS THERE a CODE WITHIN the CODE? But first…. !!!

From the desk of ….

PLAYERS! SH&T AHOY!! And WOWEE!!! Welcome BACK !!! To the very special SHORT-SHEETED Issue of S.Y.M.-Zonia™ !!! which is our special follow-up to last week’s unique, amazing SEQUESTERED issue !!! And, PLAYERSs, need I say it? No? Well……

All right then !!!! I won’t!!! However, COULD you but see what I see, and know what it is that I, Michael C. Goldengate, Your Esteemed Editor here in S.Y.M.-Zonia™ know… well then, Players: you’d be already saying it for me: “Woweee!!!” -- that is!!!! Yes, indeed. Yes, yes Yes…Say it again: _______________!!! Let me hear you!

___________ !!??? OKAY: well, just READ ON in This Week’s S.Y.M.-Zonia™ and you’ll soon see what I mean!! Or log on to http://www.sym-zonia.com --where you’ll see that indeed, It’s All About the Code!

PLAYERS -- following the acclaim which met the release of the SHIPWRECK! Issue, I can say it, viz: that so successful have been our recent and overt “Can You Crack the Code?” Series of S.Y.M.-Zonia’s, that we’re back again This Week with yet another “code-centered” Special Issue on the remarkable historical cryptogram which was instrumental – or said to be – in the MUTINY [So-called !!! -- Ed.] of the U.S.S. Somers – a sample of which appears below !!!

YES, Players: it is indeed, quite a simple “code” – really nothing more than plain and straightforward English sentences, with the letters of the Roman alphabet transliterated directly -- letter by letter -- into corresponding letters of the Greek alphabet !!! Or, at least, nearly so….

Because of course, there are a handful of letters in the

English alphabet, that don’t have direct analogs [So to speak!! – Ed.] in Greek: like our letter “W” for example. That’s a double “u” – uu! So, should that be represented by two upsilons in sequence, like this -- υυ – or otherwise? Or the English letter “H” – the sound of which is represented in Greek, not by an actual full-fledged letter, but with a small “diacritical mark” – a hanging comma, like this: ’ . How should that be handled? PLAYERS: these are just a couple of matters that Midshipman Spencer addressed in devising his “sheet anchor of Greek code” that you’ve all heard so much about.

But, PLAYERS: Was there also another code? Was there a second code WITHIN the Code? That’s the question of this SHORT-SHEETED issue!!

All of that – and much, much more -- BELOW!!!

But first …. !!!

The “LAST LOG” of the DESDEMONA : CAN YOU CRACK …. the CODE ?

The Desdemona Light was erected in 1901 near the western end of Desdemona Sands … to remind Columbia River pilots of the humiliating reputation that forever attached itself to to this navigational obstacle, thanks to Capt. Williams of the bark Desdemona.

PLAYERS – did you get it yet? Did you solve or decrypt the strange passages in the so-called “LAST LOG” of the bark DESDEMONA - [See, The “Last Log” of the Desdemona – Can You Crack … the Code? (Feb. 17, 2013) – Ed.] ?? Remember? The 13 word passage, with the TWO pairs of repeated words [Making for eleven words, (not nine, as I earlier mis-stated) (Oops!!) that require decoding !!– Ed. ] on the last page of the next-to-the-next-to-the last shipmaster’s journal of etc., etc., etc.? [ Did you solve it? – Ed.] I hope so, because that SHIPWRECK! S.Y.M.-Zonia™ -- like all of them – is TIME-SENSITIVE!!! This one especially so!

PLAYERS!! The tide is shifting !! Hurry: we must cast off!!! YES QUICKLY!! -- We must push-off from the poignant, desolate strand, Desdemona Sands, in the middle of the Columbia River, off Astoria (Oregon) – lest we run ourselves permanently aground here. This is no place I want to spend a lot of time ..

What? You say that you haven’t quite solved for those thirteen little words?? Eleven, really… ? After three weeks, and numerous, even multiple hints and helps? After the extended exercise of “mounting up” on the encrypted passages of the journal of the captain of the Eagle Wings? You’re kidding – right?? Well – you’ll have to get out… Yes: that’s what I said: I said, get out. Get Out. Out of the boat. Yes: you. You can stay here, and work on it with the help of that nice man up there – the light-housekeeper. He has highly-honed observational skills, and extreme powers of concentration, yoked to great patience, all borne of his long months of isolation at Desdemona Light. These aptitudes he has developed – let’s call them, collectively, focus -- are real pre-requisites to good code-breaking. You’ll be fine…

And now … for the rest of you …

WHAT’S the REAL “LEGEND” of “The LEGEND of SLEEPY HOLLOW”? And … WHERE’S the REAL SLEEPY HOLLOW (New York) ITSELF, for THAT MATTER?

Excerpt: USGS Tarrytown Quad (1893) Excerpt: USGS Tarrytown Quad (1892)

PLAYERS!!!

Well…. it looks like I may have put my foot in it this time.

Eeeeoooow …

RIGHT: I mean with Last Week’s S.Y.M.-Zonia™ -- the SEQUESTERED Issue, in which – in order to score political points, I naively, arrogantly, attempted to LOCK HORNS with established LEGEND of such institutionalized FICTIONS as are recounted in Washington Irving’s tale, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and … NOT ONLY THAT… but took issue with the accepted FANCY or SUPPOSITION regarding the actual location of “the place” so-called: viz… the well-established locale of so-called “Sleepy Hollow,” (New York) itself!!! Suggesting as I did, and even boldly arguing, that The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was not the REAL legend of …. “the place.” And intimating that there was … ANOTHER STORY!!! A story that was SEQUESTERED -- upstream in time !! Perhaps even associated with ANOTHER PLACE – the REAL “Sleepy Hollow”!

Yes: that’s what I said. Sort of. It was a blockbuster hypothesis, of course; but I at once turned to execute it – without a moment’s hesitation, without so much as missing a beat, etc. Players!!! How could I do such a thing? You all watched, aghast: astonished at the sheer hubris of the deed, knowing that -- like Samson in Dagon’s temple among the Philistines -- I was undoubtedly about to collapse the entire edifice of S.Y.M.-Zonia™ down upon myself – ruining it everlastingly, for good, and raining down death and destruction on myself as well, while pulverizing into a single, indistinguishable pulpy mass, the entire Membership …of Stephanie’s Youngster Membership [The acronymical S.Y.M.-- Ed.]

PLAYERS: It maybe wasn’t my best-ever idea!! I really looked upon it as an act of Public Service: to liberate the citizenry of “Sleepy Hollow” so-called from the torpor of the their collective delusion, that they lived in “Sleepy Hollow” [Formerly known as North Tarrytown – Ed.] and that The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was related to the real world!!! Not only do the “Hollow Men” labor under this misconception, but many of us throughout the Nation do so, as well!!!

It’s a FICTION!!! But -- more on this below …

See?

Part I

WHAT’S the REAL “LEGEND” of “THE LEGEND of SLEEPY HOLLOW”?

£ PLAYERS!!!! It sounds like a trick question -- but it’s not: it has to be asked, and the so-called “Legend” confronted. What I mean is, is that a “legend” by definition is presumptively a tall tale, or a fabrication, or a “delectable fiction” as Washington Irving worded it – and lacking in direct relationship to provable historical fact….

… Which, if this is the operative definition, implies that whatever is presented as a Legend is offered in its character as being of dubious relation to historically provable reality. This in turn suggests that the story of Ichabod Crane and his plug, “Gunpowder,” [NHRN – Ed.] the obstreperous merry-making of Bram Bones, and even …. The Headless Horseman himself are not, despite the pretensions of Diedrich Ichabocker, draw from the annals of history – whether oral or written … “Sleepy Hollow”?? NO!!! It’s all made up!!!!! It’s a cover, for another story, which is SEQUESTERED somewhere behind the “Legend” !!! Remember the WHITEWASH Issue?

[Why Were There (Almost) No Narratives Told by the Yankee Survivors of the Battle of Hungry Hill (Oregon)?” (December 9, 2012) – Ed.]

There, we learned that the U.S. Army regulars and Oregon volunteers were so ASHAMED to have been defeated by the SQUAW Sally Lane of the Rogue Indians, during that famous Battle of Hungry Hill (Oregon) (1855) – that the Army soldiers pulled a tricky “WHITE PRIDE” move, probably to maintain morale, until the war was over!! And thus --whether by actual pact, or united by some implicit understanding -- acting as one, they NEVER SPOKE of their humiliating conquest at the hands Sally Lane of the Rogues….never breathed a word of it – not to ANYONE! Not even their wives! And, inasmuch as the Rogue Indians did not at the time have a large-circulation newspaper, it took S.Y.M.-Zonia ™ to hose down the WHITEWASH -- and to break the story – almost 200 years later!!! Wowee!!

Well ……

PLAYERS!! Mark my words: I’ll wager there’s another story of that sort, that has similarly been SEQUESTERED perhaps somewhere in the vicinity of “Sleepy Hollow”, and maybe behind “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” itself! Somehow!!! Really!!! I think so. That’s what I meant by saying “SEQUESTERED”: Irving’s hiding something.

Meanwhile, there is ANOTHER Legend about Sleepy Hollow, that is truly THE Legend -- from Wolfert’s Roost --

That’s another story by Washington Irving. The real Legend goes like this:

“It’s origin, in truth, dates far back in that remote region commonly called the fabulous age, in which vulgar fact becomes mystified, and tinted up with delectable fiction.

The eastern shore of the Tappan Sea was inhabited in those days by an unsophisticated race, existing in all the simplicity of nature; that is to say, they lived by hunting and fishing, and recreated themselves occasionally with a little tomahawking and scalping.

Each stream that flows down from the hills into the Hudson, had its petty sachem, who ruled over a hand’s breadth of forest on either side, and had his seat of government at its mouth. The chieftain who ruled at the Roost, was not merely a great warrior, but a medicine-man, or prophet, or conjurer, for they all mean the same thing, in Indian parlance. Of his fighting propensities, evidences still remain, in various arrowheads of flint, and stone battle-axes, occasionally digged up about the Roost: of his wizard powers, we have a token in a spring which wells up at the foot of the bank, on the , on the very margin of the river …

This last mentioned stream, or rather the valley through which it flows, was the most difficult of all his acquisitions. It lay half way to the strong-hold of the redoubtable sachem of Sing-Sing, [ Near the top of the map – Ed. ] and it was claimed by him as an integral part of his domains. Many were the sharp conflicts between the rival chieftains for the sovereignty of this valley, and many the ambuscades, surprisals, and deadly onslaughts that took place among its fastnesses, of which it grieves me much that I cannot furnish the details for the gratification of those gentle but bloody-minded readers of both sexes, who delight in the romance of tomahawk and scalping knife. Suffice it to say that the wizard chieftain was at length victorious, though his victory is attributed in Indian tradition to a great medicine or charm by which he laid the sachem of Sing-Sing and his warriors asleep among the rocks and recesses of the valley, where they remain asleep among the rocks and recesses of the valley, where they remain asleep to the present day with their bows and war-clubs beside them.

This was the origin of that potent and drowsy spell which still prevails over the valley of the Pocantico, and which has gained it the well-merited appellation of Sleepy Hollow. Often, in secluded and quiet parts of the valley, where the stream is overhung by dark woods and rocks, the ploughman on some clam and sunny day as he shouts to his oxen, is surprised at hearing faint shouts from the hill-sides in reply; being, it is said, the spell- bound warriors, who half start from their rocky couches and grasp their weapons, but sink to sleep again.

Map of the Hudson River for the Tourists – (1830) SIC [Now that’s a legend! – Ed.]

Part II

WHERE’S the REAL SLEEPY HOLLOW (New York) ITSELF,

for THAT MATTER?

So -- PLAYERS – Last Week, I presented nearly identical excerpts of two closely-related U.S.G.S. “Tarrytown” quadrangle maps, the one released in 1892, the other released in 1893. The earlier one the 1892 Tarrytown quad shown here – has a seemingly erroneous label “Sleepy Hollow” floating over the terrain a few miles east of Tarrytown, in the vicinity of an otherwise un-named gap, or Nameless Notch, near a seeming settlement called “East View.”

The Nameless Notch leads onward into a sort of … sequestered hollow, or “lap of land” appearing as a shallow depression, or oblong bowl, rimmed around on all other sides, and having something of the character of a … HOLLOW, for its being a hollow in the landscape; and from within which a spring appears to rise, feeding a small but nameless brook, which meanders on through lap of the “hollow” out through the Nameless Notch, into the Saw Mill River – now known as the Neperan River. [Players: Say “Neparan riparian” five times fast !!! – Ed.]

Of course, in turn, the rather narrow wooded canyon – the shallow ravine, to the North of Tarrytown [As it appears on these maps – Ed.] through which flows the Pocantico River, as it wends its way to Tarrytown and makes tributary to the Hudson River [ Run-on adjectival phrase – Ed.] – that ravine – which should, as we all know, be marked as the real “Sleepy Hollow,” is not, in fact, so marked [As “Sleepy Hollow” – Ed.] but is rather .. UNMARKED. But WHY ? [That is, as “[ ]” where Sleepy Hollow should be – Ed.] A simple error, is the probable answer.

Indeed, for on the second map in this “Tarrytown” quad series, from the next year, 1893, over here appears precisely as any half-educated-or-better American would expect : with the correct label of “Sleepy Hollow” running up the valley of the Pocantico River – in a geography which only narrowly meets the definition of a “hollow” – I guess, but – contrary to my arguments Last Week, actually matches Irving’s descriptor of a sequestered glen !!! Yes, I looked it up this time… I was WRONG!!! It’s a glen. But mine still looks more like a hollow. At least, on the map. Okay …

Eats it.

SO!! What have we here then, Players? A mess! That’s what!!! Just an error on one isolated USGS Map !!! PLAYERS!! For .. Just as one swallow does not make summer… so a Single Error does not create a meaningful pattern …

BUT WAIT !!!! Two swallows do make a breeding pair!! From which you could … hatch out an IDEA!!! …

“East Tarrytown”?

From, Atlas of the Metropolitan District and adjacent country comprising the counties of New York, Kings, Richmond, Westchester and part of Queens in the state of New York, the county of Hudson and parts of the counties of Bergen, Passaic, Essex and Union in the state of New Jersey ... From original surveys by J.R. Bien and C.C. Vermeule, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Geological Survey of New Jersey. Published by Julius Bien & Co. New York. 1891. Plate X. Courtesy, yet another insignificant & completely unknown mapping website – the name of which escapes me.

And you KNOW what that could mean!!! So, with this second map apparently showing the same error, in labeling this otherwise un-named sequestered glen as “Sleepy Hollow” … well, it may also mean something. Players: what’s with “East Tarrytown” on this 1891 map?! Meanwhile, North Tarrytown, at this date, was still the [Seemingly – Ed.] humdrum North Tarrytown (New York) – as it was, before it was renamed “Sleepy Hollow” (New York) in 1997 – [The Village, not the geography!! – Ed.] -- after the GM Plant closed.

PLAYERS!! Those in the know at Sleepy Hollow (New York) , have remarked to the effect, that the place-names of that region are … mobile!…. even tending to be perpetually ambulatory. No less an authority that the Sleepy Hollow Village Historian himself, once pointed out, sagely, that:

“I prefer to believe that place names do not die, they merely fall from fashion—somewhere amid a tangle of modern highways lies Youngs’ Corners, a place frozen in history where ancient, now invisible roads meet. There Loyalist troops sought out their rebellious Whig enemies, engaged them in deadly combat, and there they lie entombed in peace together.

Place names can demonstrate a remarkable wanderlust. Few realize that the name Westchester was adopted from a town which stood in what is today the Bronx (then the county seat of Westchester County). The upstate New York names of Utica, Rome, Ithaca, and Syracuse are obvious examples of place names on-the-move.” http://henrysteiner.com/DIRsteiner/historian.htm

And, Players!! We here in S.Y.M.-Zonia™ share in this view, especially after the hard work we’ve all invested trying to locate Hungry Hill (Oregon), or finding the real Shit River (Oregon) – once thought to be … merely mythological!!

Wowee!!! So, it may be that the next time North Tarrytown (New York)[Shown above – Ed.] is renamed, it should be called … “Slippy Hollow,” since the name seems to be slipping around a lot. Players: I wonder, do you think the name “Slippy Hollow East” … should be slipped over to “East Tarrytown”? Certainly, if you were to drain the Tarrytown Reservoir now, you would restore a seriously “Slippy Hollow”!!! Bank on it !!! Players ----

Where is the Real “Sleepy Hollow” (New York) Itself, for that Matter?

BUT WAIT!!! – DON’T REALLY GO THERE!! JUST POINT TO IT. Because ….

YOU ARE NOW ENTERING

THE SOMERS MUTINY – and MIDSHIPMAN’S SPENCER’S YSTERIOUS “SHEET-ANCHOR of GREEK CODE” -- IS THERE a CODE WITHIN the CODE?

PLAYERS!!! Shown above are just a handful of the numerous books published, on the matter of the display of MUTINY!!! [Or “mutinous spirits” – Ed. ] which took place aboard the U.S. brig-of-war Somers, in the summer of 1843. Among these hard-copies, your Editor at S.Y.M.-Zonia™ recommends “The Somers Mutiny Affair : A Book of Primary Sources,” by Harrison Hayford -- if you can find a copy. Better yet, some early, almost “original” sources compiled by Hayford are actually available in .pdf format through Gargle books!! Best to search for the contemporary reports, compiled as the N.Y. Tribune pamphlet, “Proceedings of the Court of Inquiry Appointed to Inquire into the Intended Mutiny on Board the United States Brig of War Somers on the High Seas, etc. etc. ” Or for “Proceedings of the Naval Court Martial in the Case of Alexander Slidell McKenzie” for starters… AND !!! At this date, you can also download a fine .pdf copy of James Fenimore Cooper’s highly informative polemic, “The Cruise of the Somers: Illustrative of the Despotism of the Quarterdeck; and the Unmanly Conduct of Commander Mackenzie.” Worth spending the summer with, I’d say…. !!!

The events of the Somers mutiny were once notorious among the American public, and they touched the lives of so many citizens personally – or, rather, the events were felt personally, as the United States was then still a strapping young “eastern seaboard” nation: maritime in commerce and character, and entirely self- identified with its over-mastering naval strength – demonstrated in the War of 1812. Many naval veterans of the War of 1812 held prominent positions in government, business and society in 1843, and so the Somers mutiny drew them into the whirlpool of it’s controversy – and with them, the entire country. Not only James Fenimore Cooper was affected personally, but the new literary star Herman Melville, as well -- whose cousin, Lt. Guert Gansevoort, was an officer on the training vessel Somers during the voyage, and who was implicated in the outrageous miscarrirage of military discipline that resulted in the deaths of three young men. While Gansevoort was not court-martialed for his role in the tragedy, he was brought up on charges before a grand jury , which declined to issue an indictment. See, United States vs. MacKenzie and Gansevoort , 1 N.Y. Leg. Obs, 227 F. Cas 1118 (1843) – charges dropped. From his close association with Gansevoort, Melville’s unique insights into the Somers mutiny led him eventually to write this masterpiece novella: the posthumously published tale Billy Budd, sometimes titled Billy Budd, Sailor, sometimes titled Billy Budd, Foretopman …

Sometimes titled SparkNotes: Billy Budd, etc.

The story has been made into a fine Hollywood movie, or two, and rendered as the subject of a libretto [Q.v. – Ed.] by no less a figure than E.M. Forster, with a [Rather … contratonal [?] – Ed.] operatic score by the celebrated British composer Benjamin Britten. Who has done mmmmm …. better work … [ It’s on Youtube -- Ed.]

PLAYERS!!! Enough already, of the introductions. The story of the Somers mutiny itself, is basic in outline, though quite convoluted – and almost impenetrable -- in its details. In fact, virtually everything about the Somers mutiny is mysterious. However, in short: it involves a purported plan, laid by one young officer, Midshipman Phillip Spencer, to commandeer the U.S.S. Somers through conspiring to recruit from its crew of in-training apprentice seamen [Yes: you heard right !! – Cadets!!! U.S. Navy cadets !! – Ed.] to a plan for mutiny, which plan – at its core – involved an intent to commit murder of a fellow apprentice seaman, and then, during the anticipated confusion that would surely ensue, to seize control of the ship!!!! WOWEE!! Brilliant plan.

Mids. Spencer was the mastermind of this plan, and so the ringleader of that mutinous gang which he himself recruited – man by man – to accomplish his nefarious design. There’s plenty more details – but .. Oh yes!!! Midshipman Spencer’s father, John Canfield Spencer, was, at the time of the supposed mutiny, the Secretary of War under President Tyler…

At right is a fine pen and ink watercolor of the U. S. brig-of-war Somers under sail, as drawn by a contemporary…

PLAYERS: That brings us pretty well up to the minute. So, let’ go do this!! Yes: this is S.Y.M.-Zonia™ -- and it’s the special SHORT-SHEETED ISSUE. So, PLAYERS!!! As you work through this issue.. .. well, ask yourselves. PLAYERS!!! Did Midshipman Spencer, and his so-called co-conspirators, Cromwell and Small, themselves get ….. SHORT-SHEETED?

Midshipman Spencer’s “Sheet-Anchor” of Greek Code – is there a Code Within it?

One of the fascinating features of the Somers mutiny story is the simple but effective play-cipher that Midshipman Spencer used to record the development of his mutinous plans, as they progressed, and one by one he gained new co-conspriators. The small scrap(s) of paper on which Spencer encrypted the names of the middies and sailors on board, was said to be kept in his razor case, or – if you don’t like that story – alternatively, some said it was kept in a fold in his neckerchief. … Somewhere, anyway …

This SHORT SHEET is sometimes called his “sheet-anchor of Greek code,” because it serves as an infallible key – a sort of Rosetta Stone -- to decoding the plot of Midshipman Spencer and his cronies, and identifying their accomplices. The text of this “sheet-anchor” is printed in more than a few texts, and transcribed and “translated” in the “INQUIRY” pamphlet, at p. 4, under the caption “SPENCER’S PROGRAMME,” [And a very curious translation, it is, too – Ed.] ] it also appears elsewhere therein, @ p. 31 for instance, and as I said, in other publications, as well, etc. HOWEVER, Players: there is no known original of this “sheet-anchor” -- no authoritative text, or “first generation” copy.

Meanwhile, basically, the “sheet-anchor” simply lists a score or two of the Somers’ apprentice seamen, but transliterates their names out of English/Roman alphabet characters, into Greek letter characters so, for instance, “McKinley” reads M’Xενλυ; “Green” is rendered Γρεεν, and “Spencer” himself is Sπενcερ … and so on. Spencer had matriculated at Geneva College (New York) before joining the Navy, and had had at least first year Greek, it would seem.

However, Mids. Spencer’s Greek rendering of the sailors’ names are not always direct transliterations, but sometimes phonetic renderings – that is, as sounded ; or else, they are mis-renderings of the sailors names. For instance, the Purser’s steward, Mr. “Wales” becomes U’αλες – with a modern style “U” instead of the anticipated Greek letter Upsilon (Υ) which would make Yαλες [PLAYERS!! There is no direct equivalent of “w” in Greek!]

But, with this transliteration, Mr. Wale’s name also picks up a trailing aspirant mark -- the floating comma -- indicating an aspirated sound, corresponding to English “h”. is to be sound, and calling for the pronunciation of and reading of “whales”. Wales to Whales? That’s an easy joke among the middies!!!!

But this is MUTINY!! !!

PLAYERS: Come to think of it, Spencer never uses a capital Upsilon Υ, Sigma, Σ, etc. and uses a Chi X, in place of Kappa K. There are lots of such irregularities … Maybe Spencer just didn’t do that well, in his Greek class at Geneva College…

Or … is there a code … within the code?

And then again, when breaking the men up into categories of those whom he deems Sερlαιν [“Certain” -- Ed.] and Δουlφυλ [“Doubtful”—Ed.] participants in his new mutiny, Spencer entirely drops the “b” out of “Doubtful” suggesting (to me) something other than ordinary transliteration – but, again, more like an aural -- or poetic? -- rendering of the (unsounded) “b”. Or, PLAYERS!! Was this midshipman son of the U.S. Secretary of War, just a real bad speller?

As a result, the word “Doubtful” -- which should look like Δουβτφυλ -- looks more like thus: Δουlφυλ. Δουlφυλ – ?

Hmmm. Players: Let’s do a double-take: IN FACT, upon a closer review, there are no tau’s -- τ -- in this code!

WOWEE!!! For some reason, Spencer has avoided Greek “tau” τ – completely. Indeed, while he generally “transliterates” directly, and, e.g., uses the Greek letter lambda, λ , to represent the English letter “l”, he breaks the pattern entirely and opts for a roman letter “l” -- italicized -- to represent the English letter “t”, where the Greek letter “tau” τ , would have been expected !!! Got it? But … Why??? And so, integrating these two irregularities, the word “Certain” [Which applies to those whom Spencer trusts to aid in the execution of his plot -- Ed.] ought to be written with a “tau” τ as Sερταιν, but appears instead as Sερlαιν !!! “Serlain”? WHY??? It’s Quite strange… or else, bad spelling again. MEANWHILE, the word “Doubtful” [Meaning those whom Spencer cannot rely upon during the mutiny!!!– Ed.] which should be spelled correctly, with a “b” which then gets transliterated to beta “β” ; and also with the English “t’ in place, which changes to another tau (τ ) to give Δουβτφυλ, appears instead as Δουlφυλ. PLAYERS!

It’s quite odd… A midshipman had to be able to read and write with proficiency.

At this point, one might be tempted to .. jump out a window!! Instead, PLAYERS: doublecheck the names on the list for other inconsistencies … and you might notice that among sailors and middies included, none of them has the letter “t” in his name. That is, none except Smith, whose “th” will answer to Greek theta, θ. Sμιθ. And Van Brunt? Or is it Van Brunel? But there is no Tom, no Timothy, no Terry, no Ted; Walter, no Bart; No Milton, Hampton, Weston, or Walton. No one else has a “t” in his name. Henry Wiltham and Richard Hamilton – both with “t” in their names -- were arrested when the Somers docked ( see p. 6 of the INQUIRY) but they appear nowhere on Spencer’s list – whether of the Sερlαιν “certain” or the Δουlφυλ “doubtful”. Why not? I ask you!!!

PLAYERS: very deliberately, nowhere does Spencer use the Greek letter tau -- T or τ -- in his code. Which forces the question, was the code selected to cipher the names of the men; or, rather, were the “mutineers” selected on board the receiving vessel, U.S.S North Carolina, so that the code could be deployed … but its real encryption go undetected? Were they chosen in part because they had no “t”’s in their names? Wow: that would be different. CONSIDER:

This text translates as:

Those doubtful, marked + will probably be induced to Join, before the project is carried into execution.

The remainder of the Doubtful, will probably Join when the Thing is done; if not, they must be forced.

If any not marked down, wish to Join after it is done, we will pick out the best and dispose of the rest.

[Scary stuff !!– Ed.]

So … Players, lets recap:

“Spencer” used Greek “lambda”, λ, L for English l “L”. But he used italic Roman “l” – never capitalized -- for English “t”. Why would he do that? Players: this uncalled-for irregularity may indicate a secondary intention is at work, perhaps in creating a different function for the “code”: i.e., a different code is enfolded within the obvious “code,” – and this enfolded code, is dependent on letter forms: which forms Mids. Spencer wanted to hide or reveal, only in certain Greek words!!! Spencer [Presumably !! – Ed.] designed the code to enable it to “morph” certain words from their literal Greek transliteration, into some similar or “neighboring:” word: a word with comparable letter structure – or “spelling” – in English …

Players!! Letter-form codes are all around us! They’re often used to deceive Optical Character Recognition (O.C.R.) software “bots” that would exploit websites, to access content ..

So, for instance, using what may be a letter-form code enfolded within the Sheet-Anchor of Greek Code, the word “doubtful” is made to morph into the word “doulphul” -- δουlφυλ – which looks similar to, and sounds identical to, English “doleful” – meaning sorrowful. PLAYERS!!! Here’s another: the word “steerage” – σlεεραγε -- looks too close to “sleepage” meaning “berth deck” to be merely accidental. Players -- that’s what I think …

What do you think? Was Midshipman Spencer’s “sheet-anchor” code actually devised to “encrypt” by way of a secondary or enfolded letter-form code? If so, why?

OR –was it even Midshipman Spencer’s code? Or, was he, along with his companions …

SHORT-SHEETED?

A BONUS CODE !

Players – There’s yet one more code! I guess it’s easy to overlook, because it doesn’t appear to have ever been noticed by any among the many authors on the topic. It’s on the poster for The Somers Mutiny MOVIE though!! It’s just one word beginning with a letter shaped like an “S” – but its another, completely unique alphabet: not Greek, and certainly not English. The cryptogram reminds me of the script that appeared in our DEAD LETTERS Issue… Q.v..

TARRYTOWN TRIVIA

Finally, just a note under this heading:

The commander of the U.S.S. Somers, Capt. Alexander Slidell MacKenzie was an author of some note, who published a number of acclaimed books during the 1830’s and 1840’s, including three important naval biographies…

After the disruption of his court-martial for the hanging of Spencer, Cromwell & Small, Capt. MacKenzie moved to Tarrytown (New York), where he settled in a small cottage, not far from the residence of Commodore Matthew Galbraith Perry – who opened Japan to the west.

Capt. MacKenzie had a close friend and correspondent in Tarrytown (New York), in the famous writer, Washington Irving. Irving was the author of such notable historical works, as Astoria, and a six volume biography Life of George Washington .. to name just two. Irving also authored some small pieces of local fiction… These two men – MacKenzie and Irving -- had been childhood friends, and remained close throughout their lives. Also in the neighborhood, was Lt. James K. Paulding, another childhood friend of Washington Irving, and co-editor with him, of the small, satirical magazine, the Salamagundi Papers.

Yet ANOTHER neighbor in Tarrytown was Judge Ogden Hoffman, who had grown up with Washington Irving: their prominent families were friendly, one to the other. As a young man, Irving had fallen in love with, and later married Hoffman’s younger sister, Matilda.

In a funny coincidence, Judge Ogden Hoffman was later to serve as the Judge Advocate General who acted as the prosecutor at the 1843 court martial of Capt. MacKenzie, for his pre-emptory hanging of the three mutineers onboard the U.S.S. Somers… Wow!!!

SMALL WORLD!!!!

With SUCH an amazing group of close-knit friends, representing such a concentration of highly-developed literary talent, legal acumen, and naval expertise, its unfortunate these gifted men never got together : you know -- to collaborate on some Magnificent Work or … or design of fiction…

Because, had they done so, Players: the result would certainly have been …. Historical.

YOU ARE NOW LEAVING

POP. 0