Prosper Thomson’s 1947 in Trove…

by ⋅ 3 Comments

I enjoyed Pete Bowes’ most recent “bloodhound” post, but I was pretty sure I’d seen many, many more ads placed by Prosper McTaggart Thomson than he listed there. So I thought I’d have a go at compiling my own list. So… here are all the small ads I found for 1947 (including a single one from 1946).

Note that I assume we can tie all these addresses:

  • 200 Hindley St
  • 7 Main St, Henley Beach
  • “Robinvale”, Altamira Crescent, Belair
  • 90a Moseley St, Glenelg

…and all the various P.O. Boxes to Prosper Thomson. Do you agree?

Dec 1946

[18 Dec] HOUSE, will purchase for cash to £ 1,500, prefer hills district, vacant possession, can trade 1939 Ford V 8 sedan, as new, if reg., NSPR £310 Apply P. M. Thomson, G.P.O., Adelaide.

Jan 1947

[4 Jan] WANTED car, tourer, sedan. or rdst., reasonable order. £50 to £200, by ex-serviceman for business: consider buckboard. Full particulars as condition and price. Will inspect 50 mile radius Adelaide. Thomson, 7 Main st.. Henley Beach, after 1 pm, or Sunday.

[8 Jan] MODERN house, suit couple. Adelaide or hills, will exchange 1939 Ford V8 sedan. as new. NSPR £306. with extras, if required. Thomson, 7 Main st. Henley Bch.

[22 Jan] CAMERA Hertie F.4.5 lens, 5 speed shutter, takes 16 pictures on 127 film, small compact job, carrying case, films, exchange for crystal water set and fruit set. Thomson, 7 Main st., Henley Beach.

[22 Jan] UTILITY Bedford coupe front. 10 h p., 1939. NSPR £210, appearance as new, exchange for 8 to 14 h.p. car. 1938 or later. Thomson. 7 Main st.. Henley Beach.

[25 Jan] WANTED 10 to 14 h.p. car or utility, urgent, pay your price, cash, or take over terms. Home week-end, or inspect anywhere. Thomson. 7 Main st., Henley Beach.

[27 Jan] WANTED 10 to 14 h.p. car or utility, urgent, pay your price, cash or take over terms. Home week-end or inspect anywhere. Thomson, 7 Main St., Henley Beach.

Feb 1947

[1 Feb] MORRIS 10-h.p. 1940 saloon, series M, similar, as now being sold as 1947 models, for £635, previously owned by Melbourne doctor, exceptionally well kept. Just driven overland by me, averaged 38 m.p.gal., performed perfectly, NSPR £288 Exchange for larger sedan and cash diff. Thomson, 7 Main st., Henley Beach.

[12 Feb] WANTED urgently, car, suit city traveller, 8 to 14 h.p. preferred, consider larger car, utility, pay good price. Clinic Distributors. Box 1009J. G.P.O., Adelaide.

[12 Feb] CHEV. wanted. 1941 sedan, consider 1940. or similar car for taxi, pay your price for good job. Thomson. 7 Main st Henley Beach. Inspect anywhere.

[12 Feb] CAMERA. Foth 120, folding, f4.5, double anastigmat lens, 5 speed shutter, extra good, little used. £12/10/- cash. Thomson, 7 Main st, Henley

[15 Feb] WANTED, 1928 to 1932 American sedan, tourer or roadster, pay good price. Thomson, 7 Main st., Henley Beach, week-end.

[15 Feb] MANTEL 5-valve Mickey Mouse, good interstate performance, perfect order, modern plastic cabinet, cost £19/19/-. accept £14 cash. Thomson. 7 Main st, Henley.

[19 Feb] WANTED, 1928 to 1932 sedan tourer or roadster, good order, pay cash or take over terms. Thomson, 200 Hindley St.. Adelaide. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

[22 Feb] CAMERA, Kodak, folding. No. 2A, double lens, as new; sell or exchange for auto. .22 rifle. Thomson. 7 Main st, Henley Beach.

Mar 1947

[1 Mar] MORRIS 10 h.p. saloon. Series M. 1940. same cars now selling as 1947 models for £635. This car has Just been rebored, crankshaft ground, all bearings renewed, brakes relined. king pins replaced, and is definitely equal to new car and represents rare opportunity to acquire most popular sedan . Doing approx. 40 m.p. gal of petrol. We require large sedan or coupe, like Chev., Dodge or similar, suitable country traveller, on exchange basis. NSPR of Morris £298. genuine NSPR deal. See Mr. Thomson. Clinic Distributors. 200 Hindley st, business hours.

[1 Mar] WANTED, house or flat, furn, or unfurn., in hills or Blackwood d’st., business people. Thomson. Box 1009J. G.P.O., Adelaide.

[5 Mar] DODGE 1923 single seater, very good order mechanically, tyres as new, reg. 6 months.,NSPR £110, accept £85, ready drive anywhere. Thomson. 200 Hindley street.

[6 Mar] MORRIS 10 h.p. sedan. 1941, NSPR £309. Just rebored, overhauled, extent. £65. now as new. exchange for 8 to 14 h-p. utility or large car, suitable country traveller. Clinic Distributors. 200 Hindley St.

[8 Mar] WANTED, American tourer, rdstr, or sedan. Whippet. Rugby. Chev, similar. Consider utility. Pay cash. Inspect anywhere. Clinic Distributors, 200 Hindley

[8 Mar] ELECTRIC copper or washing machine. Inspect anywhere, pay cash. Thomson. Box 1009J, G.P.O.

[8 Mar] WANTED, car, any make or model, buckboard would do. £50 to £175 cash. Urgent, by discharged A.I.F. man. Thomson, Box 1009J, G.P.O.

[12 Mar] RIFLE. .22. auto, or repeater, pay cash or exchange Healing cycle, as new. Thomson, 200 Hindley st.

[13 Mar] RIFLE. .22 repeater or auto, in good order. Will inspect. Thomson. Box 1009J. G.P.O.

[14 Mar] GENT’S Healing cycle, cond. as new, tyres new, Eadie coaster new, price £18/18/-, accept £9/10/-. Thomson, 200 Hindley St.

[15 Mar] PARTNER for used car business, active or silent, good returns assured. £500 to £1,000, money under own control. I have city premises and 10 years experience in motor trade, stocks assured. Thomson. Box 1009J, G.P.O.

[15 Mar] RIFLE. .22 repeater or auto. In good order. Will inspect. Thomson. Box 1009J. G.P.O.

[19 Mar] MORRIS 10 h.p. saloon. 1941. extra good mechanically. NSPR £311, exchange tourer or utility. 1936. 8 to 14 b.p. Clinic Distributors 200 Hindley st.

[22 Mar] WANTED Morris 8/40 or similar, or utility, to 10 h.p.: pay your price, cash Thomson, ‘Robinvale,’ Altamira Crescent Belair. near Methodist Church.

[22 Mar] MAN to clean block and gardening. Thomson, Alta Mira Crescent, Belair, 2 doors from Methodist Church.

[26 Mar] WANTED urgently, tourer or roadster, by ex-serviceman, commencing business, utility will do, cash £75 to £150. Will inspect. McTaggart, Box 1009J. G.P.O.

[26 Mar] WANTED. Morris. Standard. Vaux, 8 to 14 h.p, car or prefer utility. Thomson. Alta Mira crescent. Belair. Inspect anywhere.

[29 Mar] WANTED urgently by ex-serviceman about commence business, car or buckboard, £50 to £150. Will call, pay cash. McTaggart, Box 953H. G.P.O. Adelaide.

[29 Mar] WANTED Bedford utility or similar make 8 10 14 h.p, 1937 to 1940; cash to £300. Thomson. Alta Mira cres, Belair. 2 doors from Methodist Church or letter to P.O. Belair.

[29 Mar] RIFLE, automatic. .22. as new; Healing gent’s cycle, unmarked, cost £16/10 accept £16 the lot. Thomson. Alta Mira crescent. Belair. 2 doors from Methodist Church.

Apr 1947

[5 Apr] WANTED, car or buckboard, cash, £50 to£200. Thomson, Alta Mira cres., Belair

[5 Apr] WOMAN for washing, cleaning, no children. Mrs Thomson, Robinvale, Alta Mira Cres., Belair

[5 Apr] STANDARD 10 h.p. 1938 tourer, new 3 tyres, hood, curtains, recently overhauled. NSPR £170. make clean swop for utility, 6 to 14 h.p. Thomson. Alta Mira crescent. Belair. 2 doors past Methodist Church.

[12 Apr] WANTED urgently by ex-serviceman, car, any make or model, reliable utility would do, cash, about £100 to £150. McTaggart. Box 953H. G.P.O., Adelaide.

[12 Apr] FORD A utility, factory built steel body, just reconditioned to extent of £65. new tyres. 6 wheel equip, NSPR £85. exchange outright or take car part payment. Thomson. Alta Mira cres, Belair. 2nd house from Methodist Church.

[19 Apr] WANTED car or buckboard, reas. order, any make suit traveller, cash £75 to £150. McTaggart. Box 953H. G.P.O.

[19 Apr] BEAN tourer, 14 h.p., 1928-30 series, sound mechanically, well shod, good hood, complete tools, instruct, book, rgd.; NSPR £179, accep: £135 cash. Thomson. Alta Mira Cres, Belair, 2nd house past Methodist Church. Sat. only.

[26 Apr] WANTED—Woman to do washing, cleaning, one day a week, no family. Mrs. Thomson, Alta Mira Crescent, Belair.

[26 Apr] MORRIS 8/40 utility, 1940, used privately. as new. NSPR £205. Exchange for car. 1938 or later on NSPR basis. Thomson. Alta Mira Crescent. Belair. 2nd house from Methodist Church.

[30 Apr] WANTED, building, suitable for garage business, city or suburbs. ex-AIF man, good references. Rent in advance. Thomson. Box 953H. G.P.O.

[30 Apr] WANTED urgently, any type or make car, going order, £75 to £150. Buckboard would do. I will inspect anywhere if give full details. Thomson. Box 953H, G.P.O., Adelaide.

May 1947

[7 May] GENTLEMAN, ex -2nd A.I.F., with 1940 Austin car. exper. traveller, collector, had own garage, business 5 years, good refs., any kind employment, perm, or casual, required urgent. Thomson, Box 953H, G.P.O.

[8 May] VACANT possession, all electric, jarrah 4 rooms, large louvred glass sleepout, modern kitchen and bathroom, large block, nicely laid out garden, definitely best position in Belair, 7 miles from G.P.O., 2 minutes Belair rly. Stn., built 1939. Require sedan car, 1938-46 model, suitable taxi, balance cash. Write Box 953H, G.P.O. for appoint.

[10 May] GENTLEMAN, ex-2nd A.I.F., with 1940 Austin car, exper. traveller, collector, had own garage, business 5 years, good refs, any kind employment, perm, or casual, required urgent. Thomson, Box 953H, G.P.O.

[17 May] VACANT pos., all-electric 5-roomed jarrah bungalow, condition as new, 2 minutes Belair rly. stn., 7 miles from city; car taken as part payment if desired. Write Box 953H. for appoint.

[24 May] WANTED urgently, car, any type, reasonable condition, utility would do, £75 to £150, inspect anywhere if full particulars given, spot cash. Thomson. Box 953H. G.P.O, Adelaide.

[28 May] WANTED desperately by ex-A.I.F. man, car, any type, for business, utility will do, can pay cash £75 to £200. Will inspect anywhere city or country, if full particulars given. Thomson. Box 953H, G.P.O., Adelaide.

[28 May] GENTLEMAN. ex-2nd A.I.F.. experienced traveller and collector, recently sold own business, have 1940 Austin car, seeks employment any kind, perm, or casual, good rels., sound financial position. Thomson. Box 953H. G.P.O., Adelaide

[31 May] WANTED, building, suit garage, workshop, city or subs.; pay ingoing or buy plant; urgent. Thomson. Box 953H. G.P.O., Adel.

[31 May] WANTED any make car. reasonable order, utility would do, cash to £150 or take over terms. Inspect anywhere. Full particulars to Thomson, Box 953H. G.P.O., Adelaide.

Jun 1947

[28 Jun] WANTED flat, or anything self-contained, will purchase contents if necessary or take short term basis, req. by 1/8/47 or sooner Thomson, Box 953H, G.P.O.

Jul 1947

[5 Jul] YOUNG man, ex-2nd A.I.F., experienced traveller, also experienced all sections of motor trade, recently disposed of garage business, own car, seeks position. Consider any type employment. Have good references. P. Thomson, Box 953H, G.P.O. Adelaide.

[22 Jul] FORD 10 h.p. sedan, 1937, new car appearance, 35 miles gallon, good tyres NSPR £155, exchange for car suitable taxi, adjust diff. cash. Thomson, Alta-Mira Cres., Belair, 2 doors from Methodist Church.

[26 Jul] FORD 10 h.p. Prefect, 1937-38 mid, 4-door sedan, camp seat, roomy luggage compartment, in new car condition. NSPR £155. exchange for car suitable taxi and pay cash diff. Thomson, “Robinvale,” Alta-Mira cres, Belair. 2 doors from Methodist Church.

Aug 1947

Sep 1947

Oct 1947

[18 Oct] WANTED 1946 or 1947 sedan, by ex-A.I.F. man for taxi, have permit, urgent. Thomson. 90a Moseley st. Glenelg. Phone X 3239.

Nov 1947

Dec 1947

Charles de la Ronciere’s thoughts on Le Flibustier Mysterieux…

by ⋅ 8 Comments

While searching Gallica just now to try to see if Charles de la Ronciere had donated his personal papers to the Bibliotheque Nationale (TL;DR: I didn’t find anything, but maybe something is there), I noticed that it had a digital copy of (what was almost certainly) de la Ronciere’s last book, (1941) “Explorateurs et pionniers français“. I had a quick look: and was both surprised and delighted to find that it included (on pages 26-27) a section discussing his previous book.

Here’s my translation of these two interesting pages, followed by the original French (which doesn’t seem to be anywhere on the Internet). Enjoy!

My (free and easy) translation

The mysterious pirate: story of a hidden treasure in the Seychelles Islands.

“I would like to see a copy of The Clavicles of Solomon, to use its magical characters to help decipher a cryptogram left by a pirate.” This was the request made to the Bibliotheque Nationale by a reader from a distant region of Africa. She explained to me that, on a certain island in the Indian Ocean, in the Seychelles, one could see sculptures and rock engravings emerging from the waves during high tides, or from the ground when large trees fell, which corresponded to the signs in the cryptogram. Thus, a shape in the form of a monster’s eye appeared in this document; this same shape also appeared on M[auritius]. Near there, three bodies had been found, two of them with a gold ring on the left ear, pirate-style; the third was buried as if he had been stoned for having murdered his companions.

– “What language is the cryptogram in? I asked.

– It can be read in French.

– Do you have any idea of the name of the pirate who wrote it?

– None. Could you open an investigation into this?” asked the reader.

And so my investigation began. Was it plausible that a bandit would use a cryptogram? And was it admissible that he used a desert island as a ‘safe deposit box’? No doubt about it. In 1690, on his way to the Indian Ocean, a sea captain called Duquesne-Guitton on Ascension Island left inside a bottle – like a sort of Post Office – a list, in columns, of pounds, shillings and pence for one of his stashes (e.g. gold, 310 pounds, 10 shillings, 6 d): see the New French Dictionary of Father Charles Payot, on page 310, 10th line, 6th word.

It was also the habit of bandits to bury their loot in desert islands. The Golden Scarab by Edgar Poe is merely a fictionalized version, with a skull in a tree as a landmark, of the discovery made, in 1699, of the treasures buried on Gardiner Island by the pirate William Kidd, comprising bars of money, bags of gold and precious stones. Pirates buried their loot ten feet underground so that probes by spears and pertuisanes [?] could not detect it. Gold and precious stones were hidden by the sea; the money and what feared humidity were buried between two calabashes inside the desert island, in a very dry place. Remember this duality of the deposit. It will soon have considerable importance.

The history of French pirates in the Indian Ocean was far from banal!

A Provençal rogue by the name of Misson gained a singular fortune in the Comoros Islands. Wearing a gold-embroidered red coat of the royal princes, and a jewel-encrusted dagger on his belt, he had married the daughter of the Queen of Anjouan, with nails dyed red, eyebrows and eyelashes dyed blue. And with the help of the Anjouanese, he founded a republic of pirates. In the north of Madagascar, there is a deep bay to which a narrow neck gives access. On both sides of the Diégo-Suarez strait arose, under the direction of Misson, the strange city of Libertalia, where all the races formed one people, the Liberi. “Hsis High Excellence the conservative” is the title that Misson gave himself, as he directed its destinies, with the assistance of a Parliament, presided over by the defrocked Neapolitan priest Caraccioli. In this parliament, each group of voters, French, Portuguese, English, Dutch, Negroes or Arabs from the Comoros, appointed a delegate. The ships and sloops of the Libertalian Republic, commanded by the Englishman Thomas Tew, were armed half with blacks, half with whites. In 1705 and 1706, they stoked up trouble for our settlers on Bourbon Island (now known as Reunion). But this Babel of races shared the same the fate as the original Tower of Babel. The ships perished in a typhoon. Then, invading Libertalia at night, the Malagasy massacred the population. The republic of the bandits perished without leaving a trace.

The problem of the pirate who buried a fortune in the Seychelles Islands remained unsolved.

The small island of Sainte-Marie, just off the coast of Madagascar, was another pirate den. The virtuoso of the genre was a Calaisian, Olivier Le Vasseur, nicknamed La Buse. Among the ships he kidnapped was a Portuguese ship, coming from Goa, loaded with millions, which was bringing back to Portugal the viceroy of India and the archbishop of Goa. Diamonds were in abundance there, so much so that each of the bandits, of whom there were hundreds, received forty-two diamonds for their share. One thug, having received only one magnificent diamond, crushed it to have the same number of jewels as the others. This whole event took place in 1724. La Buse later dared to ask the governor of Bourbon Island (Reunion) for an amnesty, by returning some of the Archbishop of Goa’s sacred vases. His request was denied. Had he not kidnapped a ship from the Compagnie des Indes, to which Bourbon Island belonged? And in 1730 he atoned. Having been captured by a captain of the Compagnie, he was brought to Bourbon, then tried and hanged. Legend has it that when he went up to the gallows, he held out the cryptogram, saying: “To him who finds it.” La Buse, living on Sainte-Marie, no longer had the fruits of his plunders: he had therefore hidden them somewhere. And from 1724 to 1730, he had plenty of time to act. Back then, the Seychelles Islands were deserted: it was only in 1742 that Mahé de La Bourdonnais took possession of them.

Anyway, now listen to the rest of the story. My own investigation had led to my writing a book: “The Mysterious Filibuster: Story of a Hidden Treasure“. My friend Lenotre from the French Academy gave an excellent account of it in Le Temps, which by chance ended up being read in Cameroon by an islander from the Seychelles. The islander then sent his mother to me.

– “Could it have been that the treasure was found on our land? asked Mrs. D[…] She owns Silhouette Island in the Seychelles.

– No, Madam.

– I had, monsieur, another property on M[auritius], in Coëtivy. One day, a ship dropped anchor in the nearby cove…

– Anse des Forbans, I interrupted.

– The next day, it had disappeared. But instead of a sort of big pole-shaped rock, there was a big hole….

– Nine to ten feet deep.

– We could see at the bottom the traces left by two urns.

– Two water gourds, I interrupted again. And the bottom was very dry?

– Very dry.

– Well, madame, it was [probably] a pirate’s hiding place that was emptied, the kind of one that contained objects sensitive to humidity, such as silver or cashmeres, but what do I know?”

But then a conclusion was necessary. The habit of the bandits was to make two separate kinds of hiding places, where the gold and the precious stones would be buried close to the water’s edge: sculptures and rock engravings would be points of reference, although the coast has subsided since then and may well have buried these caches itself. May Madame S[avy] now detect their location, courtesy of the radiological dowsing of Abbot Mermet!

The original text

Le flibustier mystérieux : histoire d’un trésor caché aux îles Seychelles.

« Je voudrais voir les Clavicules de Salomon pour achever de déchiffrer, au moyen de ses caractères magiques, le cryptogramme laissé par un forban. » Telle était la demande formulée à la Bibliothèque Nationale par une lectrice venue d’une région lointaine de l’Afrique. Elle m’expliqua que, dans certaine île de l’Océan Indien, aux Seychelles, on voyait surgir du sein des flots, lors des grandes marées, ou du sol, lors de la chute de grands arbres, des sculptures at des gravures rupestres, qui correspondaient aux indications du cryptogramme. Ainsi, un œil du monstre était spécifié dans ce document ; et il existait dans l’île M… Près de là, on avait trouvé trois corps, deux d’entre eux ornés d’un anneau d’or à l’oreille gauche, selon l’habitude des forbans ; le dernier, enfoui, comme s’il avait été lapidé pour avoir assassiné ses compagnons.

« En quelle langue est le cryptogramme ? demandai-je.

                – Il se lit en français.

                – Avez-vous quelque idée du nom du forban qui l’a écrit ?

                – Aucune. Pourriez-vous ouvrir une enquête là-dessus ? » me demanda la lectrice.

                Et mon enquête commença. Était-il plausible qu’un forban usât d’un cryptogramme ? Et il était admissible qu’il prît pour coffre-fort une île déserte ? Aucun doute là-dessus. Dans le ventre d’une bouteille – qualifiée Bureau de la Poste – à l’île de l’Ascension, un capitaine de vaisseau, Duquesne-Guitton, en route pour l’océan Indien, laissait, en 1690, une liste, en colonnes, de livres sterling, de shillings et de pence à destination d’une de ses conserves. Or, 310 l. 10 s. 6 d. par exemple, devaient se lire ainsi : prenez le Dictionnaire nouveau français de Père Charles Payot, à la page 310, 10e ligne, 6e mot.

                C’était également l’habitude de forbans d’ensevelir leur butin dans des îles désertes. Le Scarabée d’or d’Edgar Poe n’est que l’histoire romancée, avec crâne dans un arbre comme repère, de la découverte faite, en 1699, des trésors enterrés dans l’île Gardiner par le pirate William Kidd, barres d’argent, sacs d’or et de pierreries. Les forbans ensevelissaient leur butin à 10 pieds du sol, afin que la sonde avec les lances et pertuisanes ne pût le déceler. L’or et les pierres précieuses étaient cachés au bord de la mer ; l’argent et ce qui craignait l’humidité étaient inhumés entre deux calebasses à l’intérieur de l’île déserte, dans un endroit très sec. Retenez bien cette dualité du dépôt. Elle aura tout à l’heure une importance considérable.

                L’histoire des forbans français de l’océan Indien n’avait rien de banal.

                Un forban provençal du nom de Misson avait eu, aux îles Comores, une singulière fortune. En habit rouge brodé d’or des princes royaux, le poignard incrusté des pierreries à la ceinture, il avait épousé la fille de la reine d’Anjouan, aux ongles teints en rouge, aux sourcils et aux cils teints de bleu. Et avec l’aide des Anjouanais, il avait fondé une république de forbans. Au nord de Madagascar, il est une baie profonde à laquelle donne accès un étroit goulet. Des deux côtés du goulet de Diégo-Suarez s’éleva, sous la direction de Misson, l’étrange cité de Libertalia, où toutes les races no formaient qu’un peuple, les Liberi. « Su Haute Excellent le conservateur », c’est le titre que se donnait Misson, en dirigeait les destinées, avec le concours d’un Parlement, présidé par le prêtre napolitain défroqué Caraccioli. Au Parlement, chaque décurie d’électeurs, Français, portugais, Anglais, Hollandais, Nègres ou Arabes des Comores, nommait un délégué. Vaisseaux et sloops de la république des Liberi, commandés par l’Anglais Thomas Tew, étaient armés moitié do Noirs, moitié de Blancs. Ils causèrent de l’iniquiétude, en 1705 et 1706, à nos colons de l’île Bourbon, l’île actuelle de la Réunion. Mais cette Babel de races eut le sort de la tour de Babel. Les vaisseaux périrent dans un typhon. Envahissant de nuit Libertalia, les Malgaches en massacrèrent la population, La république des forbans avait vécu sans laisser de traces.

                Le problème du flibustier qui aurait enseveli une fortune aux îles Seychelles, restait entier.

                La petite île Sainte-Marie, sur la côte de Madagascar, était un autre repaire de forbans. Le virtuose du genre tait un Calaisien, Olivier Le Vasseur, surnommé La Buse. Parmi les navires qu’il enleva se trouvait un vaisseau portugais, venant de Goa, chargé à millions, qui ramenait en Portugal de vice-roi de l’Indes et l’archevêque de Goa. Les diamants y étaient à foison, si bien que chacun des forbans, qui étaient des centaines, reçu quarante-deux diamants pour sa part. Une brute, n’en ayant touché qu’un, un diamant magnifique, le broya pour avoir le même nombre de joyaux que les autres. Le fait se passait en 1724. La Buse osa demander au gouverneur de l’île Bourbon (la Réunion) l’amnistie, en restituant quelques vases sacrés de l’archevêque de Goa. Il fut évincé. N’avait-il pas enlevé un navire de la Compagnie des Indes, dont relevait l’île Bourbon. Et en 1730, il expia. Cpturé par un capitaine de la Compagnie, il fut amené à Bourbon, jugé et pendu. Le légende veut qu’en montant au gibet, il aurait tendu le cryptogramme, en disant : « A celui qui trouvera. » la Buse, à Sainte-Marie, n’avait plus le fruit de ses rapines : il les avait donc cachées quelque part. Et de 1724 à 1730, il avait eu tout le temps d’agir. Les îles Seychelles étaient alors désertes. Ce n’est qu’en 1742 que Mahé de La Bourdonnais en prit possession.

                Écoutez la suite. De l’enquête à laquelle je m’étais livré, j’avais tiré un volume : le Flibustier mystérieux : histoire d’un trésor caché. Mon ami Lenotre, de l’Académie française, en fit, dans le Temps, un excellent compte rendu, qui tomba par hasard, au Cameroun, sous les yeux d’un insulaire des Seychelles. L’insulaire me dépêcha sa mère.

                – « Serait-ce chez nous que se trouve le trésor ? me demanda Mme D… Je possède, aux Seychelles, l’île Silhouette.

                – Non, madame.

                – J’avais, monsieur, une autre propriété dans l’île M…, à Coëtivy. Un jour, un navire jeta l’ancre dans l’anse voisine…

                – L’anse des Forbans, interrompis-je.

                – Le lendemain, il avait disparu. Mais à la place d’une sorte de grande perche, il y avait un grand trou….

                – De neuf à dix pieds de profondeur.

                – On voyait au fond la trace laissées par deux urnes.

                – Deux calebasses, interrompis-je encore. Et l’endroit était très sec ?

                – Très sec.

                – Eh bien, madame, c’est une cachette de forban qui a été vidée, celle qui contenait des objets craignent l’humidité, argent, cachemires, que sais-je ? »

                Mais alors s’imposait une conclusion, L’habitude des forbans étant de faire deux cachettes, l’or et les pierreries seraient biens ensevelis au bord de la mer : sculptures et gravures rupestres seraient bien des points de repère, encore que la côte se soit affaissée depuis lors et les ait souvent elles-mêmes ensevelies. Puisse madame S… déceler le gîte, grâce a la radiesthésie de l’abbé Mermet !

On the trail of Dorothy Robertson…

by ⋅ 1,003 Comments

Here’s a guest post by Cipher Mysteries commenter Pat, who has been hot on the trail of Dorothy Jean Robertson in Trove. There are, of course, many different Dorothy Robertsons out there, but Pat thinks these refer to the Dorothy Jean Robertson who married Carl Webb (the Somerton Man).

So… here we go!

Yet Another Treasure Trove

A while ago I posted some Trove links of a Dorothy Robertson student at Mildura Central school. What follows is the evidence that she is our Dorothy. (I have capitalised the important names)

17 AUGUST 1927 (SUNRAYISIA DAILY, MILDURA) – GIRL GUIDES

GIRL GUIDES
An enrolment of Brownies of the First Mildura Pack (Church of England) took place at St. Margaret’s Parish hall last, Saturday week, Rev. Canon Horner opening the proceedings with prayer. Miss McWilliams 1 District Commissioner performed the enrolment ceremony, and Miss Gcocissor. (Drov.11 Ov.-ii and the First Meri.eii! Brownies were present.
Mirs Jr.hr.s’.on (Brown Owll and Mirs . Currey ‘Tav.-uy Qv;lk wove emrcVie-tl before- tho children. Tho children linishfu with fairy rings and grand r.alutc. The following children were carolled: Esther Nichols, Doreen Sarah, Eetiv litimmertGn, Irene Ijciich. Doreen Leach, Morle Dowlin, Enid Norman, Wilntit Halpin. Joan Halpia. Vaida Woods, Trixie Robertson and DOROTHY ROBERTSON.

10 DEC 1932 (SUNRAYISIA DAILY, MILDURA) – MILDURA CENTRAL

During the year, swimming certificates were gained as follow:—Senior swimming: Irvine Corbould, Allan Eagle, John Magnusson. Junior swimming, boys: Graeme Baker, Max Baker, John Carson, Ronald Carter, Irvine Corbould, Alan Blackwood, Robert Davidson, Allan Eagle, Harry Heme, Roy Hunter, John Magnusson, Ray Magnusson, Joseph McGinty, Douglas Noyce, Charles Scarff, Robert Styles, Ronald Stephens, George Risbey, Max Wilson, Keith Wood, Rowland Woodhead. Girls: Ivy Fleming, Ilma Jones, Mary Malloch, Lorna Thomson, Thelma Thornton, DOROTHY ROBERTSON.

15 DEC 1934 (SUNRAYISIA DAILY, MILDURA) – MILDURA CENTRAL

Grade 8 have satisfactorily completed the year’s work. At the merit certificate examination they were very successful, gaining 13 merits out of a possible 14, and one pupil still pending in mental arithmetic.

The following pupils were successful: Girls: Heather Carter, Mavis Feuton, DOROTHY ROBERTSON, Sylvia Surgey, Gladys Thomson. Boys: Kenneth Adamson, Edward Heaner, Ronald Simmonds, Edward Surgey, Colin Williams, John Young, Keith Dunn, Robert Chamberlain. A penny concert in aid of Junior Red Cross will be held on Monday afternoon.

21 DEC 1934 (SUNRAYISIA DAILY, MILDURA) – CENTRAL SCHOOL YEAR ENDS

SWIMMING CERTIFICATES
At the conclusion of the penny concert Mrs. Segnit, president of the Mothers’ Club, presented to the boys and girls the Merit Certificates obtained at the recent examination, and also the certificates for Education Department tests in swimming efficiency. Merit certificates.—Girls: Mavis Fenton. Heather Carter, Sylvia Surgey, DOROTHY ROBERTSON, Gladys Thomson.

4 JAN 1939 (SUNRAYISIA DAILY, MILDURA) – SOCIAL JOTTINGS

Miss DOROTHY ROBERTSON, of Melbourne, is the guest of Mrs. F. Hall, of Orange Avenue.

[Mrs. F. Hall is Florence Olivia Hall (nee Stratford), sister of Alice Robertson (nee Stratford), both daughters of Louisa Wilhelmina Stratford (nee Reither). Florence Olivia’s husband Ernest Clarence Hall died in 1917, hence Mrs. F. Hall.]

31 MARCH 1936 – FAMILY NOTICES

Births, Marriages, and Deaths
IN MEMORIAM.
STRATFORD — In loving memory of our dear mother, Louisa W. Stratford, who passed away on March 31, 1935. Sadly missed.
—Inserted by her loving family.
STRATFORD — ln sad and loving memory of our darling grandma, who passed away on March 31, 1935. Dearly loved and sadly missed.
—Inserted by her loving grandchildren. Trix. Pat and Dig. Hall

[Trix (Floris Jean), Pat (Patricia Doreen) and Dig (Clarence Charles) were the children of Florence Olivia Hall (nee Stratford) and Ernest Clarence Hall]

12 OCTOBER 1938 (SUNRAYISIA DAILY, MILDURA) – ENGAGEMENT

Engagement
The engagement is announced of Patricia Doreen, youngest daughter of Mrs. F. O. Hall, of Orange Avenue, and the late Mr. E. C. Hall, of St. Arnaud, to John Squire, youngest son of Mr. S. Johnson and the late Mrs. Johnson, of Ballarat.

4 JANUARY 1939 (SUNRAYSIA DAILY, MILDURA) NEW YEAR’S EVE DANCES

SERGEANTS’ MESS DANCE

Miss D. ROBERTSON
(Melbourne), white georgette

22 MARCH 1939 (SUNRAYSIA DAILY, MILDURA) – WOMEN’S AIMS & INTERESTS

The St. Patrick’s dance at Casa Loma was very enjoyable. I met MISS ROBERTSON there, who looked striking with the Romany tan make-up. She may be interviewed at Ramsay’s chemist’s shop, and will put you on the right track for making the most of your personal appearance.

19 APRIL 1939 (SUNRAYSIA DAILY, MILDURA) – DOUBLE WEDDING

Johnson—Hall
There was a floral setting in St. Margaret’s Church of England for the marriage of Patricia Dawn, youngest daughter of Mrs. F. O. Hall, of Orange Avenue, and the late Mr. E. E. Hall, of St. Arnaud, to John Squire, youngest son of Mr. S. Johnson and the late Mrs. Johnson, of Raglan Street, Ballarat.
Canon Horner officiated, and Mrs. A. G. Horner, who presided at the organ, played the “Bridal March” as the bride entered the church with her brother, Mr. Clarence Hall, who gave her away. During the signing of the register, MRS. J. C. ROBERTSON, of Melbourne (aunt of the bride), sang “Mate o’ Mine.”
The gown of French crepe, embroidered in silver, worn by the bride, moulded her slim figure and merged into a semi-train. The draped bodice was caught on the shoulders with silver knots, the long sleeves forming points over the hands. Over a filmy cloud of tulle billowed her exquisitely embroidered veil, which was hold by a halo of orange blossoms. She wore white satin and silver shoes, and carried a bouquet of carnations, gladioli, azaleas, and fern, tied with satin ribbon.
The bridesmades. Miss Trixie Hall (sister of the bride) and Miss Jean Dixon, carried bouquets of charm dahlias and carnations, the toning being reproduced in their frocks in two shades of cyclamen and mauve chiffon, making a delightful foil to the bride’s toilette. Picture hats in the same tonings and silver kid shoes completed their ensembles.
The best man was Mr. Alex. Grant, of Melbourne, and the groomsman Mr. Alex. Johnson, of Ballarat (brother of the bridegroom).
At the reception at the Grand Hotel the bride’s mother received the guests in a smart frock of vintage wool georgette, with gold accessories, and hat en suite. She carried a bouquet of autumn-tinted dahlias and maidenhair fern. Canon Homer presided. The usual toasts were musically honored, and many telegrams read. The honeymoon was spent at Lorne, the bride travelling in an imported frock of teal blue woollen, with small toque of prune felt, and prune accessories. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, who will make their home in Ballarat, were the recipients of many gifts.

{Mrs. J. C. Robertson, nee Alice Stratford)

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/268806209

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/268787718

13 APRIL 1940 (THE AGE, MELBOURNE) – ADVERTISING [this may or may not be her]

MISSING FRIENDS
MISS DOROTHY ROBERTSON, please call at 23 Union-st, Brunswick; Important news

15 MAY 1940 (SUNRAYISIA DAILY, MILDURA) – SOCIAL NOTES

Mrs. F. O. Hall, or Madden Avenue, left, this week for BALLARAT, where she will be the guest of Mr. and Mrs. J. Johnson.

8 DECEMBER 1920 (SUNRAYISIA DAILY, MILDURA) – BERRI IMPROVEMENTS

RAMSAY’S CHEMIST

Rumour says that the corner of Wilson Street and Vaughan Terrace will shortly be occupied by two handsome rows of shops. This block has lately changed hands.
Mr. A. M. RAMSAY, CHEMIST, will have possession of his double fronted shop in Vaughan Terrace by Christmas, and is considering extensions.

4 SEPTEMBER 1929 (SUNRAYISIA DAILY, MILDURA)

SAMPLE TINS OF PHOSPHATINE FOOD FREE TO MOTHERS
The following Chemists will be glad to hand you a sample tin of Phosphatine for your Baby:—MILDURA: A. J. Jenkins, H. P. Blackett, P. T. Stone W. It. Weir, A. RAMSEY, J. H. Smith. RED CLIFFS: J. M. Couve, E. J. Dean MERBEIN: G. H. Kendall, S. H. L. Harris. FAILlERES’ PHOSPHATINE Wholesale Agents: Joubert & Joubert Pty. Ltd., Melbourne

5 APRIL 1933 (SUNRAYISIA DAILY, MILDURA) – ADVERTISING

HOT Water Bags.—Moulded rubber, just arrived. Barnet Glass or Dunlop. Price 3/ each.—RAMSEY, CHEMIST, Eighth Street.

Ships called “Indus”, 1783-1798…

by ⋅ 5 Comments

Given the solid dating of Jean-Marie Justin Nageon de l’Estang’s birth to 1776, I decided to revisit the issue of whether the “richesses de l’Indus” refers to an actual ship. We’ve already seen a brig called “Indus” captured by the French in 1782 (though full of rice rather than treasure). Additionally, Jean-Marie Justin’s reported death date of 1798 would appear to give us a latest possible date. So let’s look for ships called “Indus“, 1783-1798…

Indus (1792-1792) – Calcutta

According to Hackman (2001) [which I can’t currently buy a copy of, bah], this Indus was a ‘country ship’ (i.e. only allowed to sail the Indian Ocean as far as the Cape of Good Hope). It was built in Calcutta in 1792, and lost in the same year.

According to Lloyd’s List No. 2417 (10th July 1792) p.1, “The Indus, a country ship from Bengal, loaded with rice, is supposed to be lost“. So even though we have two similar lost ships called Indus, both were reportedly stuffed with rice rather than treasure. (That joke’s not going to get old for a good while yet, sorry.)

Indus (1789-1794) – Amsterdam

This Indus was built in Amsterdam for the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Nederlandsche Geoctroyeerde Oostindische Compagnie, helpfully abbreviated as “VOC”) and launched in 1789. It was rated at 1150 tons.

In the VOC archives, we can see various sailors and carpenters (such as Samuel Steenveld, Pieter Lohee, Samuel Erhard Frenckler, and Johan Friedrich Schmidt) on this Indus, leaving Amsterdam on 27 Aug 1790, arriving at the Cape of Good Hope on 05 Jan 1791, leaving there on 01 Feb 1790, arriving in Batavia on 20 May 1791.

The end of this Indus was when it burnt and sank in Batavia Roads in 1794. Frenckler is marked as “deceased” on 15 Sep 1794, and Lohee as “missing” on 23 Sep 1794, so I think it’s fairly likely that this Indus caught fire on 15 Sep 1794.

Industan (1796), Captain Lewis – Philadelphia

I first posted about this ship back in 2016: Auguste Toussaint mentioned it in his (1967) “La route des Iles: contribution à l’histoire maritime des Mascareignes”.

  • (p.306) 4th March 1796, the ‘navire’ “Industan” (Captain Louis) arrived from Philadelphia.
  • (p.262) 22nd August 1796, the American ‘vaisseau’ “Industan” (Captain Lewis) arrived from Pondicherry.

Annoyingly, newspapers.com only returns useful results if you search for “Indoftan” (rather than “Indostan”). The earliest mention there of “the Indiaman Indoftan” is from 9 May 1794 (with Captain Mackintofh, *sigh*). On 11 June 1796, the Captain of the brig Rose reports having seen the Indostan at Ile de France a couple of months earlier. The Indostan later arrived at Newport (Rhode Island) on 14 Jan 1797, having taken 96 days to get back from Ile de France, “and 55 days to the coast”. So this all seems to tie up nicely with Toussaint.

As I noted in 2016, we can see Captain Jacob Lewis’ ship selling its goods from March 1797 to May 1797, so this doesn’t really seem likely to be the “Indus” we’re looking for:

In 1805, we can see the Indostan, 22 guns, Capt. Lewis, still going strong as part of Ogden’s fleet, so it doesn’t seem to have been lost along the way. Incidentally, the USA received a stiff letter from France in 1805 complaining that:

Considering that it is notorious that the America of 32 guns, the Connecticut of 22, the Indostan of 14, and several other American vessels of that description, are not only engaged in that execrable commerce, but actually transport the arms and ammunition of Dessalines’ army from one port to another, thereby becoming the auxiliaries of the black rebels against France.

I’m guessing that this was the same Indostan, but it’s hard to be 100% sure.

Indostan privateer (-1797)

The Philadelphia Inquirer of 07 Oct 1797 p.3 included a colourful extract from the logbook of the brig Alexander, which had been boarded by the Mayflower privateer on 12 Sep 1797:

The captain of the privateer informed Captain Whelan [of the Alexander] that the Indostan privateer of 15 guns was run ashore in the gulf of Bahamia and totally lost ; crew and officers saved. The sloop of war that chased the privateer was from Cape Francois, and had on board Santhonax, who made his escape from the Cape. Santhonax arrived at the Havanna the 5th September and saluted the ships and town with 21 guns. It was reported he had brought with him one million of dollars. The cause of his retreat from the Cape was not made public ; but it was thought he made his escape from Toussaint.

The snow Cleopatra, captain Christie, picked up part, or the whole of the Indostan’s crew. The Cleopatra was from Cape Francois bound to the Havanna.

Note that the same page has an extract from Lloyd’s List of August 4-11, noting that the other Indostan (Captain Lewis) had arrived at Hamburg from Philadelphia: so this would seem to be an entirely different ship.

The Philadelphia Inquirer of 20 Nov 1797 p.3 mentions that “The Nassau (late Indostan), Merchant, of this port, was ready to sail for Batavia, under Danish colours“. This name then seems to have changed back to Indostan by the next year: The North American of 13 Sep 1798 p.1 mentions: “Died at Batavia, 20th April, capt. Merchant of the ship Indostan of Philadelphia“. A diary of a ship’s lad (Charles Francis Waldo) has been preserved in Salem: in 1802, he sailed from Boston in the ship “Indus” for Canton and Batavia. This was mentioned in “The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem“, pp. 327-329: perhaps this was the same Indostan, it’s hard to say.

Any progress here, Nick?

Pfffft, not really, it has to be said. I don’t really buy into either of the 1782 or 1792 Indus prize ships, both full of rice rather than treasure; the Dutch Indus seems to have caught fire in the safe Dutch port of Batavia; I don’t see how it could have been Captain Jacob Lewis’ Indostan; and the privateer Indostan was in the wrong ocean completely.

I’m now wondering whether all the ‘action’ might have taken place after 1800. Is there any primary evidence that Jean-Marie Justin Nageon de l’Estang died on 09 May 1798? There’s an entry claiming this on ancestry.com (mentioned here), but my subscription has run out so cannot check it. 🙁

Darrell Huff, Voynich theories, and “How to Lie [to yourself] with Statistics”…

by ⋅ 50 Comments

Darrell Huff’s (1954) “How to Lie With Statistics” is a twentieth century classic that’s well worth reading (I have a well-thumbed copy on my bookshelf that I bought back in the 1980s). It’s basically a breezy introduction to statistics, that concentrates largely on how people get things wrong in order to get across the general idea of how you might (possibly, hopefully) try to get things right in your own work.

A journalist rather than an academic statistician, Huff’s book ended up selling more than 1.5 million copies. You can hear echoes of his reversed-expectations presentation in numerous other book titles, such as Bill Hartston’s “How to Cheat at Chess”.

Sadly, The Truth Is Much, Much Worse

When later I did statistics modules at University, the awful truth slowly dawned on me: even though tools (such as Excel) make it easy to perform statistical procedures, stats really isn’t just a matter of “running the numbers”, cranking out an answer, and drawing some persuasive-looking graphs.

Even just conceiving a statistical experiment (e.g. something that’s based on good data, and that stands a chance of yielding meaningful results) is extraordinarily hard. Designing statistical experiments (e.g. understanding the sampling biases that are inevitably embedded in the data, and then working out how to work around them) is also hugely tricky. Executing them is no mean feat either: and then – finally – interpreting them is fraught with difficulty.

In general, my own experience of statistical experiments is that at least half are fatally misconceived; of the remainder, half are horribly misdesigned; of the remainder of that, at least half are sadly misexecuted; and of the remainder of that, at last half of the results are tragically misinterpreted. Note that the overall success rate (<5%) is for people who broadly know what they’re doing, never mind idiots playing with Excel.

A Story About Stats

Back when I was doing my MBA, one of the final marked pieces was for the statistics module. When I took a look at the data, it quickly became clear that while most of the columns were real, one in particular had been faked up. And so I wrote up my answer saying – in a meta kind of way – that because that (fake) column was basically synthetic, you couldn’t draw reliable conclusions from it. And so the best you could do in practice was to draw conclusions from the other non-synthetic columns.

I failed the module.

So, I made an appointment with the lecturer who marked it, who also happened to be the Dean of the Business School.

  • I said: Why did you fail this piece?
  • He said: Because you didn’t get the right answer.
  • I said: But the column for the ‘right’ answer is fake.
  • He said: I don’t think so.
  • I said: Well, look at this [and showed him exactly how it had been faked]
  • He said: Oh… OK. I didn’t know that. But… it doesn’t matter.
  • I said: errrm… sorry?
  • He said: you’ve got a Distinction anyway, so there’s no point me changing this mark

And so I still failed the statistics module.

The Voynich Manuscript and Stats

If you think Voynich Manuscript researchers who run statistical tests on Voynichese are somehow immune to these fundamental hazards, I don’t really think you’re paying enough attention.

Until you accept that the core problems inherent in Voynichese transcriptions – there are many, and they run deep – will inevitably permeate all your analyses, you really are just running the numbers for fun.

The main things that bother me (though doubtless there are others that I can’t think of right now):

  • Transcription assumptions
  • Transcription error rates
  • Running tests on the whole Voynich Manuscript, rather than on sections (e.g. Q13, Q20, Herbal-A)
  • How Voynichese should be parsed into tokens (this has bugged me for 20 years!)
  • Copying errors and Voynichese “weirdoes”
  • The bifolios being out of order
  • Whether there is a uniform ‘system’ underlying both Currier A and Currier B
  • The problems with top-line text
  • The problems with line-initial letters
  • The problems with line-final letters
  • etc

With so many parallel things to consider, I honestly think it should be no surprise that most attempts at Voynich analysis fail to achieve anything of value.

Voynich Theories

I have no doubt that researchers do their best to be rational and sensible, but many Voynich theories – or, perhaps more accurately, Voynich ‘approaches’ – are built upon a fundamentally flawed statistical ‘take’, e.g. that Voynichese is just a simple (but highly obscure) text.

Unpopularly, this seems to be true of just about all ‘Baxian’ Voynich linguistic analyses. Statistically, nothing supports the basic assumption of a ‘flat’ (but obscure) language. In fact, Voynichese is full of confounding, arbitrary, difficult, unlanguagelike behaviours (see the incomplete list above), all of which you have to compensate for to get your data to a point where you even begin to have something remotely language-like to work with. But hardly anybody ever does that, because it’s too tricky, and they’re not genuinely invested enough to do the ‘hard yards’.

It’s also true of Gordon Rugg’s table ‘take’; and of just about all simple ciphers; and – also unpopularly – of hoax theories (why should meaningless text be so confounded?) And so forth.

The sad reality is that most researchers seem to approach Voynichese with a pre-existing emotional answer in mind, which they then true to justify using imperfect statistical experiments. More broadly, this is how a lot of flawed statistical studies also work, particularly in economics.

In fact, statistics has become a tool that a lot of people use to try to support the lies they tell themselves, as well as the lies their paymasters want to be told. This is every bit as true of Big Oil and alt.right politics as of Voynichology. Perhaps it’s time for an even more ironic 21st century update to Darrell Huff’s book – “How To Lie To Yourself With Statistics”?

Indian Ocean ships 1747-1748 and French marine archives…

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

As the many journaux de bord listed in my previous post attest, the Marine JJ series of documents is where lots of good stuff is to be found. An appendix in a 974-page historical slavery report I found online includes a handy list of such journaux from this period at CARAN in Paris.

4 JJ

4 JJ is described as “nombreux journaux de bord (ou extraits) de la Compagnie des Indes ou voyages dans l’océan Indien en général”, a sentence which helpfully auto-translates itself. The ones listed for 1747 to early 1748 are:

  • 4 JJ 77 38 – 1747 Journal du vaisseau le Triton commandant du Tertre de Saint-Malo aux iles de France et Bourbon retour à Lorient
  • 4 JJ 77 39 – 1747 Journal du Vaisseau le Fulvy commandant de la Palisade de Lorient aux iles de France et Bourbon retour à Brest
  • 4 JJ 77 40 – 1747 Journal du Vaisseau l’Argonaute commandant de la Londe de l’île de France à Lorient
  • 4 JJ 77 41 – 1747 Journal du Vaisseau le Content commandant Joannisse de Lorient à l’île de France
  • 4 JJ 77 42 – 1748 Journal de la frégate l’Anglesea commandant de Selle de Brest à l’île de France, Bourbon et retour
  • 4 JJ 77 43 – 1748 Journal du Vaisseau l’Auguste commandant de Saint-Médard de l’île de France à Lorient

Similarly, 2 JJ 58 contains documents that relate to “voyages à Madagascar et à l’Île de France (1709-1753)”.

Pierre David

I also wondered whether there might be any archival sources for the Mascareignes Governor Pierre David: and so was pleased to see that archive COL C4‐5 for the years 1746‐1748 contains “Correspondances générales M. David, Gouverneur”. The specific letters listed for the period I’m interested in are:

  • 1747 Affaire de M. Meygnier, chirurgien‐major, propriétaire d’un marais à sel à l’Isle de France
    • Lettre au Conseil Supérieur de l’Île de France
  • Emploi des noirs, formés à faire le sel et à cultiver la saline
  • 1748 M. de Rostaing, commandant la Frégate La Favorite
    • Lettre du 25 Mars 1748 au Conseil
  • corvées des noirs pour les fortifications de l’Île et dédommagement

There’s also an article “Pierre David et la Compagnie des Indes, de 1729 à 1752” by Pierre Margry in in Revue maritime et coloniale, tome XVIII, 71e livraison, Octobre 1866, which includes a transcription of Pierre David’s own memoirs, “Réflexions sur l’Ile-de-France” (which I am about to read).

In search of a January 1748 French prize ship…

by ⋅ 5 Comments

Andre Bernardin Nageon de l’Estang claimed to have been shipwrecked (very probably in Mauritius), which surely means that he was a crew member on board a French-controlled ship. Since my last post, I’ve changed my mind about the type of source for the “richesses de l’Indus” (in Bernardin’s testament).

Specifically, I’m now wondering if this was this a prize ship (probably, though not necessarily, called the Indus) captured by a French ship in the Indian Ocean, sent back to Mauritius with a skeleton crew, but which was then shipwrecked on Mauritius by the hurricane of January 1748.

However, any prize ship captured around that time of year would have wanted (with the start of monsoon season) to depart immediately for Mauritius. Hence I suspect that this means any such capture would have to have happened in the narrow window between early December 1747 and early January 1748.

So, this post attempts to work out the historical context for this one-month window, and hopefully tries to draw up a list of French ships that were close by during December 1747. It also tries to see what historical sources might be available for pursuing this search further (in future posts).

The First Carnatic War (1740-1748)

Notwithstanding its origins in the War of Austrian Succession, the First Carnatic War largely played out as a protracted fight between Britain and France for control over the (hugely lucrative) Indian coastal trading ports of Madras, Pondicherry, and Cuddalore.

By the end of 1747, however, France was (literally) in retreat. Previously, La Bourdonnais had sailed back from Madras (where things had got too, errrm, hot for him) to France, which all ended very badly for him. In India, this left the Compagnie des Indes traders under Dupleix with no maritime support.

Georges Lacour-Gayet’s “La marine militaire de France sous le règne de Louis XVI” (1910, 2nd edition) covers much of this in his chapter 13, though the precise period we’re interested in starts on p.215.

Precis-ing at speed: La Bourdonnais’ successor was former Antarctic explorer Bouvet de Lozier (discoverer of the unbelievably remote Bouvet Island), who reached Mauritius on 12 October 1848 with the Lys and four other ships. What had happened in the intervening period is that a new British admiral (Admiral Griffin) had gained almost complete control of the Coromandel Coast. Dupleix, faced with the possibility of losing control of Madras and ending up under siege in Pondicherry, sent a message to Port-Louis (then the capital of Mauritius), asking for help. Capitaine d’Ordelin reached Port Louis with Dupleix’s message in December 1747.

The governor of Mauritius (Pierre David) was already aware of a problem: he had heard that the British Admiral Boscawen was preparing a squadron of ships heading for the Indies (Boscawen’s squadron left on 28 November 1747). In response, Pierre David had armed all the suitable ships in Port-Louis, and ordered them to rendezvous at Foule Pointe in Madagascar (between Tamatave and Sainte-Marie). Yet despite all the governor’s activity, Bouvet de Lozier only actually left Foule Pointe on 23rd May 1748 with seven vessels – the Lys, the Apollon, the Anglesey, the Mars, the Brillant, the Centaure, and the Cybèle. (Capitaine de Kersaint’s Alcide wouldn’t reach Ile de France until June 1748.)

Jean-Marie Chelin’s “Histoire Maritime de l‘Ile Maurice”

As I previously reported, when the hurricane of 21 Jan 1748 struck Mauritius, the Brillant, the Renommée, and the Mars all ended up beached in Port-Louis harbour, while three other (unnamed) boats were lost. Daniel Krieg very kindly gave me updated information on the same time period from a more recent book, Jean-Marie Chelin’s “Histoire Maritime de l’Ile Maurice” (Volume 1):

  • 16 Feb 1747: death of Pierre Boideau, a volontaire on the Phenix
  • 02 Mar 1747: announcement of the death of Jean Tardivel, pilot of the Argonaute
  • 14 Jun 1747: death of Etienne Laterre, second captain of the frigate Anglesey (720 tonnes, 48 cannons)
  • 12 Oct 1747: arrival of Jean Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier on the Lys (64 cannons).
  • Dec 1747: arrival from Pondicherry of a squadron under the command of d’Ordelin, comprising the Centaure, the Brillant, the Mars and the Saint-Louis. All four were in a pitiful state, and took several months to repair.
  • 20 Dec 1747: the departure of the Apollon (Capitaine Baudran de la Metterie) and the Anglesey (Capitaine Gervais de la Mabonnays) for a cruise to the Cape of Good Hope.
  • 22 Jan 1748: Jean Francois Fortier (volontaire on the Centaure) died, aged 21
  • 3 Feb 1748: the Aimable, Capitaine de Surville, arrived from Foule Point having lost a cargo of 350 cows and “140 milliers” of rice in the hurricane at sea. He also had to throw his cannons overboard and cut down his masts to survive.
  • 11 Feb 1748: arrival of the Princesse Amelie, an English prize from Pondicherry, commanded by Capitaine Julien Louis Litoust de La Berteche.
  • 25 Feb 1748: the Lyon, Capitaine Rouille, arrived in a terrible state, having spent six months at sea: he advised that the rest of the squadron coming from France that his ship had been part of (under the Chevalier de Saint-Georges) had been lost.
  • 28 Feb 1748: the departure of the Apollon (under Capitaine de La Porte Barre) and the Anglesey for another cruise to the Cape of Good Hope.
  • 20 Mar 1748: death of Thomas Durant, first lieutenant on the Apollon.
  • 21 Apr 1748: Governor David sent a squadron to the Indies, led by Bouvert de Lozier, made up of the Lys, the Apollon, and the Anglesey (all French Navy ships), plus the Centaure, the Moras, the Brillant, the Cybele, and the Princess Amelie (all Compagnie des Indes ships)

Memoires de Hommes

You can get a lot of information about Compagnie des Indes ships from this period by searching the Compagnie des Indes section of the Memoires des Hommes website. So what has this got to say about the ships named above?

  • LYS – 1747-1749 – vessel, 850 tonnes, 64 cannons
    • Captain: Jean-Baptiste-Charles de Lozier Bouvet
    • Crew list
    • Journal de bord: 4JJ 102-98 and 4JJ 102-98 bis (in A.N.Mar)
    • 1747:
      • arrivée 12/10/1747 – île de France
      • départ 03/05/1748 – île Bourbon
    • See: Estienne 1423, 1445, 1580 ; Demerliac XV 2303 ; Roche I p. 290
  • APOLLON – 1748-1750 – vessel, 44 cannons
    • Captain: Thomas-Herbert de La Porte Barré
    • Crew list
    • Journal de bord: 4JJ 144B-4 (extract)
    • 1748:
      • armement 28/02/1748 – île de France
      • départ vers le 29/04/1748 – île de France
    • See: Estienne 1497, 1594 ; Demerliac XV 2313 ; Roche I p. 44
  • ANGLESEY / ANGLESEA – 1747-1749 – frigate, 720 tonnes, 48 cannons
    • Captain: Marc-Antoine Selle
    • Crew List
    • Journaux de bord: 4JJ 77-42, 4JJ 77-46, 4JJ 144B-4 (in A.N.Mar.)
    • 1747:
      • armement 28/02/1748 – île de France
    • See: Estienne 1496, 1576 ; Demerliac XV 2314 ; Roche I p. 42
  • MARS – 1746-1751 – vessel, 700 tonnes, 32 cannons
    • Captain: Joseph-Jean-Baptiste Gardin Du Brossay
    • Crew list
    • 1747:
      • départ vers le 30/09/1747 – Mahé, Inde
      • arrivée avant 01/02/1748 – île de France
    • See: Estienne 1367, 1523, 1639 ; Demerliac XV 1852
  • BRILLANT – 1746-1750 – vessel, 550 tonnes, 34 cannons
    • Captain: Jean-Théophile de Boisquesnay
    • Crew list
    • Journaux de bord are 4JJ 102-98 (“journal de l’escadre”), 4JJ 117-63, 4JJ 144B-4, 4JJ 144C-8
    • See: Estienne 1365, 1612 ; Demerliac XV 1855
    • Also: Estienne 1502 ; Demerliac XV 2316
    • Note: there was also a British ship “Brillant” captured close to Madras in 1746, that was subsequently recaptured back from the French in February 1747.
  • CENTAURE – 1746-1750 – vessel, 1200 tonnes, 76 cannons
    • Captain: Alain Dordelin (deceased), and then Guillaume de La Butte Frérot
    • Crew list
    • 1747:
      • départ vers le 10/04/1747 – Mahé, Inde
      • /05/1747 – Mourmougon, Inde
      • /06/1747 – Goa, Inde
      • départ vers le 28/09/1747 – Mahé, Inde
      • /12/1747 – île de France
      • armement 20/04/1748 – île de France
    • See: Estienne 1366, 1505, 1528, 1589 ; Demerliac XV 1772
  • CYBÈLE – 1747-1749 – frigate, 170 tonnes, 22 cannons
    • Captain: Thomas Rapion de La Placelière
    • Crew list
    • Journaux de bord are in 4JJ 102-99 and 4JJ 144B-4 (in A.N.Mar.)
    • 1P 302-60.6 (in S.H.D.L.) is “Cahier des expéditions des vaisseaux de 1746 à 1747”
    • See: Estienne 1426, 1566 ; Demerliac XV 2121
  • SAINT-LOUIS – 1745-1748 – 600 tonnes, 32 cannons
    • Captain: Thomas Prigent de Penlan
    • Crew list
    • Journaux de bord: 4JJ 92-22, 4JJ 144B-4 (extract)
    • Estienne 1333, 1344, 1517 ; Demerliac XV 1861
  • PHOENIX – 1745-1747 – vessel, 790 tonnes, 44 cannons
    • Captain: Jean-Jacques de La Chaise
    • Crew list
    • Condemned 15 Jan 1747
    • See: Estienne 1332, 1343, 1420 ; Demerliac XV 1838
  • ARGONAUTE – 1746-1748 – vessel, 600 tonnes, 30 cannons
    • Captain: François Le Fol de La Londe
    • Crew list
    • Journaux de bord: 4JJ 71-38 (1747), 4JJ 77-40, 4JJ 102-98, 4JJ 144B-4
    • Estienne 1363, 1395, 1530 ; Demerliac XV 1847
  • RENOMMEE – 1741-1748 – frigate, 400 tonnes, 40 cannons
    • Captain: Charles Gravé de Coligny
    • Crew list
    • Arrived at Ile de France, 12/1746 (having been disarmed on 28/03/1742?)
    • See: Estienne 1139, 1188 ; Demerliac XV 2028
  • MORAS (not known) (there was a later Moras 1756-1761)
  • AIMABLE – 1747-1750 – vessel, 550 tonnes, 30 cannons
    • Captain: René-Louis de Surville
    • Crew list
    • See: Estienne 1435, 1506, 1633 ; Demerliac XV 1854

The archives have many other incidental documents associated with these ships: one such document lists all the people from Ile de Bourbon (modern-day Reunion) boarding Bouvet de Lozier’s squadron in 1748: these were largely stone masons from Portuguese Malabar (the southwestern coast of modern India) going to Pondicherry. Also: B4 62 f°314 contains letters from Bouvet de Lozier about the state of the vessels in his squadron (in 1748), which sounds interesting.

However, the obvious first place to look for specific detail is in the journaux de bord.

Conclusions

I suspect we can disregard the Centaure, Mars, Brillant and Saint-Louis (because all were being repaired during December 1747 to January 1748). The Renommee too was in Port-Louis harbour (but disarmed and docked), so that seems unlikely too: and there’s no sign the Lys left the island at all (though its journal de l’escadre might well turn out to be an interesting read for this period.)

The most likely prize-takers would therefore seem to be the Apollon and the Anglesey, who both went on a cruise to the Cape of Good Hope in December 1747 (in exactly the time window I’m interested in). Both have journaux de bord in the archives (though the Anglesey‘s seems more substantial than the Apollon‘s).

As an aside, arguably the most historically interesting ship mentioned above is the Princesse Amelie, a British prize sent from Pondicherry. It turns out that there is an entire chapter (pp.126-184) in Louis Mannory’s “Plaidoyers Et Mémoires: Contenant Des questions intéressantes” about how the Princesse Amelie was taken “by ruse” from Madras harbour at the start of March 1747 (with a hugely valuable cargo), and all the legal to-ings and fro-ings associated with that whole incident. But that’s a story for another day!

PS: there’s a very long list of lost East India Company ships here, that mentions (as well as the Princess Amelia):

  • Anson (479 tons) – Captured off Bombay on 2 Sep 1747 by French frigates Apollo and Anglesea.
  • Heathcote (498 tons, 29 cannons) – Lost 7 June 1747, in the Strait of Bab el Mandeb.

Daniel Krieg on the (1782) “Indus”…

by ⋅ 5 Comments

I’ve recently had some interesting back-and-forth email correspondence about the Nageon de l’Estang treasure documents with independent Swiss researcher Daniel Krieg. In recent years, Daniel has made his own fresh attack on this long-standing historical mystery, and his particular interpretation of many key aspects of those documents has led him to draw his own conclusions.

Even though I (personally) think these conclusions are probably wrong, I thought it would be good to work through some of his argument’s component pieces, because – whether he’s right or wrong – they all cast an interesting light on the whole subject, as well as available historical sources for the period.

So today let’s look at Daniel’s (1782) “Indus”…

The “Indus”

In the first of the three “Butin” treasure documents, we read (in Loys Masson’s version, but the other variants aren’t too far off) the following part-sentence:

LM:                        j’ai naufragé dans une crique près des Vaquois et
LM: j’ai remonté une rivière et déposé  dans un caveau   les richesses de l'Indus
LM: et marqué B.N. mon nom.

Because of this text, Daniel Krieg has spent (as many other researchers have done) a lot of time looking for the specific ship called the Indus from which B.N.’s “richesses” came. Crucially, he thinks that this was in fact the British ship Indus that was captured by the French frigates Bellone and Fine on 24th July 1782.

It would seem to be a historically-grounded claim, but does the evidence actually support it? Let’s have a look…

Suffren’s journal de bord

The Bellone and Fine were French frigates in the Bailli de Suffren’s squadron: this had been sent to control the Indian coastline during the Anglo-Dutch War in India that had started in December 1780. A brief description of the Bellone returning on 26th July 1782 appeared in Suffren’s journal de bord:

Dans la matinée, la Bellone a mouillé et a rendu compte que la Fine avait pris un brick, parti de Madras il y avait près de deux mois, portant le colonel Horn à Négapatnam, destiné à commander l’armée du Sud. Le capitaine du brick appelé l’Indou ayant eu ordre de gagner Négapatnam par le large pour nous éviter, n’avait jamais pu remonter.

In the morning, the Bellone anchored and reported that the Fine had captured a brig, which had left Madras nearly two months previously to try to carry Colonel Horn to Negapatam for him to take command of the Army of the South. Even though the captain of the brig (called the Indou) had received orders to reach Negapatam by sea to avoid us [Suffren’s fleet], he had never been able to get [past the sea blockade] to its destination.

In Suffren’s journal de bord entry for the following day (27th July 1782), we then see the Fine itself turn up with the aforementioned brig:

La Fine a rallié l’escadre avec la prise l’Indou.

The Fine rejoined the squadron with the prize ship Indou.

There is no further direct mention of the Indou in the journal de bord, which is – I presume – why Daniel thinks that this could have been the Indus of the letter. However, reading the next few entries forward from there, what happens next is that Suffren’s entire squadron sails away on 1st August 1782:

Au jour, signal de désaffourcher. Nous laissons au mouillage la Fortitude, qui doit aller au Pégou, et deux prises pour être vendues. A 11 heures, toute l’escadre a mis sous voile.

At daylight, signal to weigh anchor and leave. We leave behind at anchor the Fortitude, which must go onwards to Pégou [Bago in modern Myanmar], plus two prize ships to be sold. At 11 o’clock the whole squadron was under sail.

Obviously, I’m going to point out that I don’t think a prize brig would have sailed onwards with Suffren’s mighty French squadron: and also that I don’t think it would sailed onwards to the Ile de France.

Charles Cunat’s account

On p.192 of Charles Cunat’s (1852) book on the Bailli de Suffren, we read a couple of additional details (Cunat had access to many more maritime sources than merely de Suffren’s journal de bord):

En même temps, la Fine ralliait l’escadre avec un brick anglais, chargé de riz pour Négapatnam, qui avait à bord le colonel Horn, nommé au commandement de l’armée de Tanjaour, […]

At the same time, the Fine joined the squadron with an English brig, loaded with rice for Negapatam, which had on board Colonel Horn, appointed to take command of the army of Tanjaour, […]

The most important feature to note here is that, somewhat like a Spanish pepper, the brig Indou was stuffed not with treasure but with rice.

I should also perhaps add here that the capture of the brig Indou wasn’t a significant enough naval action to warrant a mention in H. C. M. Austen’s “Sea Fights and Corsairs of the Indian Ocean”.

But… was the Indus even British?

I suppose the biggest problem I have with this is the whole presumption that the Indus was some kind of British East India Company treasure ship. The letter writer tells us right at the start:

j’ai naufragé dans une crique près des Vaquois

That is, the writer himself was saying that he “was shipwrecked in a creek near to Vacoas” – he didn’t find a shipwreck, he was himself shipwrecked.

Given that the (so-called) Golden Age of Piracy had fizzled out nearly twenty years previously, it is an uncomfortably long hop, step and jump forward from “j’ai naufragé” to conclude that the (French) letter writer can only have been a pirate who had taken control of a British treasure ship, which had then been shipwrecked on the (presumably Mauritian) coast.

From my perspective, it is therefore vastly more likely that the ship to which the letter writer refers was actually a French ship upon which the letter writer was working: more specifically, it was (given its name) probably from the Compagnie des Indes heading back from the East Indies towards Lorient.

In fact, I’d suggest that the right place to be looking for the real Indus / Indou would be in the Compagnie des Indes archives in Lorient, for ships that were expected back from the East around February 1748 (but that were instead lost in Indian Ocean during the Mauritian hurricane of January 1748).

[Update: I think I was too hasty in dismissing the idea of a prize brig. 1748 was just before the end of the 1st Carnatic War, and news of the peace didn’t reach the Indian Ocean until very late in that year. So an English ship could very easily have been captured by French warships just before the Mauritian hurricane of January 1748, a research lead I’ll explore in my next post on the subject.]

On inserts and Google search…

by ⋅ 8 Comments

In the last few days, looking at the whole Isaac / Chad ‘alien alphabet’ mystery has made me think more broadly about cipher mysteries. What I’m trying to do is to work out what the relationship between the different pieces of evidence are – but not just in terms of “A preceded B”.

Inserts

Generally, the practical problem with cipher mysteries is that the relationship between “layers” isn’t just ‘archaeological’, i.e. they aren’t just laid down one on top of the other. Very often we find ourselves looking at annoying evidence where one layer pretends (or, more charitably, ends up appearing) to be out of order. The term I typically use for this is “insert” (but please let me know if there’s a better word or phrase!), to denote something that someone has attempted to insert into the timeline.

In the case of Isaac / Chad, I can’t help but wonder if Isaac saw the strange diagrammatic detailing on the large cropped image released by Ty B and built his entire account out backwards from there, to try to insert his own (fake) account into the pre-drone-sighting timeline?

Remember, Isaac wrote (having disclaimed any connection with the drone observation people):

More importantly though, I’m very familiar with the “language” on their undersides seen clearly in photos by Chad and Rajman, and in another form in the Big Basin photos.

Yet Isaac also wrote:

It’s no surprise that these sightings are all taking place in California, and especially the Saratoga/South Bay area. Not far from Saratoga is Mountain View/Sunnyvale, home to Moffett Field and the NASA Ames Research center.

As far as I know, Saratoga was only properly identified as the location for some of the photos a long time after Isaac wrote this, so this section does conversely suggest that there was cooperation / coordination. It’s hard to read how these things all fit together.

Missing evidence, Google problems?

The presence of the higher-resolution dragonfly drone image in the Project Avalon set suggests to me that I’m in fact dealing with scaled-down versions of larger images, but where the EXIF data has been preserved across the scaling-down. And so I’m now hungry to find even earlier (and larger, and unscaled-down) versions of all these images.

However, I have to flag that I’m a bit concerned about Google. In the past, I’d be really confident that Google Images would find a whole load of images: but now it feels as though this whole part of Google’s search engine has been gamed by Pinterest and others (Japanese blogs seem to be good at this, oddly). Basically, I’m not even getting 10% of the results I used to get, and the quality of the results I do get has dropped right down too.

I’ve had similar experiences with Google’s main text search recently, where queries that I have previously used to find things now don’t work at all. Whereas I used to save query strings in my notes to help me find groups of related things, that strategy seems to be working less and less well over time. More generally, I’m finding it harder and harder to find things online, and for the kind of research I do, that feels like it is growing into a huge problem.

People may post endlessly about the death-spiral that Elmo’s Twitter has apparently entered, but I can’t help but wonder whether Google too is now entering some kind of mysterious end-of-life phase? Perhaps you’ve noticed this too.

Before Isaac, there was Chad (etc)…

by ⋅ 4 Comments

When “Isaac” posted his alien alphabet / antigravity stuff in June 2007, it was (he claimed) in response to recent reports of strange ‘dragonfly’-shaped drones, some of which had the same ‘alien’ writing on them:

  • 10 May 2007, Bakersfield, California – “Chad” (April 2007 + 06 May 2007)
  • 12 May 2007, Lake Tahoe, Nevada – “Deborah McKinley” (05 May 2007)
  • 20 May 2007, Capitola, California – “Raj / Rajman / Rajinder Satyanarayana” (16 May 2007)
  • 06 Jun 2007, Big Basin, California – “Stephen” (05 Jun 2007)
  • 11 Jun 2007, Big Basin, California – “Ty Branigan” (05 Jun 2007)

Those sightings are well documented in a “One Year Later” article in MUFON Ufo Journal April 2008 (pp. 3-11): the TL;DR version of that is simply that none of the claimed witnesses is credible, sorry. [If you don’t know about MUFON, it describes itself as an independent follow-on to Project Blue Book, and that it always starts by assessing the credibility of witnesses.]

Regardless, I decided (as I did with Isaac’s JPEGs) to take a digital forensic look at the various drone images, to see if there was anything interesting there: and I began with “Chad”.

Chad’s drone images

Chad’s drone story first appeared on Coast to Coast AM, and starts as follows:

Last month (April 2007), my wife and I were on a walk when we noticed a very large, very strange “craft” in the sky. My wife took a picture with her cell phone camera (second photo). A few days later a friend (and neighbor) lent me his camera and came with me to take photos of this “craft”. We found it and took a number of very clear photos. Picture #1 is taken from right below this thing and I must give my friend credit as I was not brave enough to get close enough to take this picture myself!

I started by downloading numerous variations of Chad’s images, but (viewed through a JPEGsnoop microscope) none of them seemed to me to be an original image. However, once I found Chad’s images from the Coast to Coast AM website itself, JPEGsnoop had an absolute field day.

The first image I looked at in depth was “Craft050607b.jpg”:

There’s an absolute riot of EXIF metadata going on here. For a start, we can see that the image creator used Adobe Photoshop Elements, which is sold as a cut-down version of Adobe Photoshop:

[Software                            ] = "Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0"
[DateTime                            ] = "2007:05:06 17:20:08"

We can also see that it was saved out in Adobe Photoshop with quality setting 5:

  8BIM: [0x0406] Name="" Len=[0x0007] DefinedName="JPEG quality"
    Photoshop Save As Quality                          = 5 
    Photoshop Save Format                              = "Standard"
    Photoshop Save Progressive Scans                   = "3 Scans"

Similarly, the creator used Adobe Digital Negative (DNG) Converter, which is typically used to import raw (unprocessed) photo data from (generally high-end) digital cameras:

 SW :[Adobe DNG Converter      ]                                [                ]                  
 SW :[Adobe Photoshop          ]                                [Save As 05      ]

Oddly, though, there was a slice name that seems to imply that this was from a scanned image:

      Name of group of slices                            = "ScannedImage-2"
      Number of slices                                   = 1

UUIDs and Melissa

Finally: also embedded in many of the file metadata is a version 1 format UUID. Historically amusingly, its strategy for constructing a universally unique id is by combining a device’s six-byte MAC address with the number of 100-nanosecond ‘ticks’ since midnight 15 October 1582 UTC, which was (as I’m sure you’ll all recall) the precise date when the Gregorian calendar was first adopted.

Decoding Chad’s UUIDs using an online UUID Decoder gives us:

  • “Craft050607a.jpg” has UUID 013dfdd9-fc30-11db-b305-b8a28f50b702
    • MAC address b8:a2:8f:50:b7:02, generated on 2007-05-07 00:15:04.703125.7 UTC
  • “Craft050607b.jpg” has UUID 013dfdd9-fc30-11db-b305-b8a28f50b702
    • MAC address b8:a2:8f:50:b7:02, generated on 2007-05-07 00:15:04.703125.9 UTC
  • “Craft050607c.jpg” has UUID c822a9ca-fc30-11db-b305-b8a28f50b702
    • MAC address b8:a2:8f:50:b7:02, generated on 2007-05-07 00:20:38.390625.0 UTC.
  • “Craft050607e.jpg” has no embedded UUID
  • “Craft050607x1.jpg” has UUID 8e3de69f-fd14-11db-a9e5-8988b4fa457e
    • MAC address 89:88:b4:fa:45:7e, generated on 2007-05-08 03:31:06.515625.5 UTC
  • “Craft050607x2.jpg” has UUID 8e3de6a2-fd14-11db-a9e5-8988b4fa457e
    • MAC address 89:88:b4:fa:45:7e, generated on 2007-05-08 03:31:06.515625.8 UTC
    • This didn’t seem to use Adobe DNG).
  • “Craft050607x5.jpg” has UUID 74fb1a10-fd17-11db-a9e5-8988b4fa457e
    • MAC address 89:88:b4:fa:45:7e, generated on 2007-05-08 03:51:52.625000.0 UTC
    • This too didn’t seem to use Adobe DNG.

At first glance, it might seem we have identified Chad’s two PCs! Except… we haven’t: the OUIs (the top three bytes) of the two MAC addresses are not recognised, so it is almost certain that Adobe’s software picked a random MAC address at the start of each of the two sessions. This is almost certainly because of privacy concerns: what famously happened in 1999 was that the creator of the Melissa computer virus was tracked down via his MAC address embedded in a UUID embedded inside his virus. And so people started randomising the MAC address portion of UUIDs, which eventually led to UUID format v4 and v5.

Hence: unless “Chad” happened to write out any other JPEGs during those two specific sessions, I think we are unlikely to be able to use the MAC address portion of Adobe UUIDs generated in 2007 (and afterwards) to track down anything else linked to this person, alas.

Finally: note that each of these JPEG files contains two UUIDs formed from timestamps that differ by:

  • Craft050607a – 200 nsec
  • Craft050607b – 900 nsec
  • Craft050607c – 333 msec
  • Craft050607x1 – 200 nsec
  • Craft050607x2 – 200 nsec
  • Craft050607x5 – 2.95 sec – this seems to be because the base UUID is that of Craft050607x2 (it was apparently cropped from that image and saved three seconds later)

I don’t really know what this means, but I thought I’d include it anyway.

Lake Tahoe images

I also found copies of the Lake Tahoe images on a (very helpful) Avalon Library page. The two files were called “7013_submitter_file1__070505_02.jpg” and “7013_submitter_file2__070505_03.jpg” (which I presume are partly MUFON case file references).

7013_submitter_file1__070505_02.jpg included some interesting metadata. Overall, JPEGsnoop’s assessment was this:

SW :[Apple ImageIO.framework ] [075 (High) ]

The sensor was annotated as “MSM6500” (which I presume is the Qualcomm chip), and there’s Adobe Photoshop XMP metadata in there too. For once, the EXIF data is consistent with a digital camera:

[ExposureTime                        ] = 1/21 s
[ExifVersion                         ] = 02.20
[DateTimeOriginal                    ] = "2007:05:05 18:52:11"
[DateTimeDigitized                   ] = "2007:05:05 18:52:11"
[ComponentsConfiguration             ] = [Y Cb Cr .]
[Flash                               ] = Flash did not fire
[FlashPixVersion                     ] = 01.00
[ColorSpace                          ] = sRGB
[ExifImageWidth                      ] = 0x[00000200] / 512
[ExifImageHeight                     ] = 0x[00000180] / 384
[CustomRendered                      ] = Normal process
[ExposureMode                        ] = Auto exposure
[WhiteBalance                        ] = Auto white balance
[DigitalZoomRatio                    ] = 2/1
[SceneCaptureType                    ] = Standard
[SubjectDistanceRange                ] = 0

The second image was captured five seconds later (also without flash):

[DateTimeOriginal                    ] = "2007:05:05 18:52:16"

Stephen images

Here, the EXIF data (in “IMG_1060”) is definitive about the camera used (the Rebel XT is a good camera, I have one myself):

[Make                                ] = "Canon"
[Model                               ] = "Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT"

The other camera EXIF data is very much what you’d expect for a daytime shot:

[ExposureTime                        ] = 1/4000 s
[FNumber                             ] = F5.6
[ExposureProgram                     ] = Aperture priority
[ISOSpeedRatings                     ] = 1600
[ExifVersion                         ] = 02.21
[DateTimeOriginal                    ] = "2007:06:05 13:12:49"
[DateTimeDigitized                   ] = "2007:06:05 13:12:49"
[ComponentsConfiguration             ] = [Y Cb Cr .]
[ShutterSpeedValue                   ] = 7694/643
[ApertureValue                       ] = 7163/1441
[ExposureBiasValue                   ] = 0.00 eV
[MeteringMode                        ] = Pattern
[Flash                               ] = Flash did not fire
[FocalLength                         ] = 50 mm
[FlashPixVersion                     ] = 01.00
[ColorSpace                          ] = sRGB
[ExifImageWidth                      ] = 0x[000009C0] / 2496
[ExifImageHeight                     ] = 0x[00000680] / 1664
[ExposureMode                        ] = Auto exposure
[WhiteBalance                        ] = Auto white balance
[SceneCaptureType                    ] = Standard

This too had an Adobe XAP block, but without any UUIDs.

IMG_1061 was taken two seconds later (properly focusing on the distance):

[DateTime                            ] = "2007:06:05 13:12:51"

IMG_1062 was taken four seconds later again:

[DateTime                            ] = "2007:06:05 13:12:55"

The Ty photos

Interestingly (and this wasn’t lost on forum commenters at the time), these photos were handled by Adobe Photoshop CS2 (“Creative Suite” version 2) Macintosh, as is abundantly clear from the metadata. These annotate an image being loaded (at 22:32:53 on 2007-06-16), modified, and then saved out 5.5 minutes later (at 22:38:20). The time zone was -06:00.

      |         <xap:CreatorTool>Adobe Photoshop CS2 Macintosh</xap:CreatorTool>
      |         <xap:CreateDate>2007-06-16T22:32:53-06:00</xap:CreateDate>
      |         <xap:ModifyDate>2007-06-16T22:38:20-06:00</xap:ModifyDate>
      |         <xap:MetadataDate>2007-06-16T22:38:20-06:00</xap:MetadataDate>

The first image I looked at (DroneBigBasinTy060507aa.jpg) had a UUID of 22702A38-1DB6-11DC-8078-C1028E507E7C, which decodes to:

  • Date/time = 2007-06-18 16:08:21.330181.6 UTC
  • MAC address = c1:02:8e:50:7e:7c (which, once again, is almost certainly randomised per session)

i.e. 2 days after the CS2 date. JPEGsnoop’s overall verdict:

EXIF Software: OK [Adobe Photoshop CS2 Macintosh]
 SW :[Adobe DNG Converter      ]                                 [                ]                  
 SW :[Adobe Photoshop          ]                                 [Save As 05      ]

60507bb.jpg had XMP but no UUID:

      |         <xmp:CreateDate>2007-06-16T22:45:28</xmp:CreateDate>
      |         <xmp:CreatorTool>Adobe Photoshop CS2 Macintosh</xmp:CreatorTool>
      |         <xmp:ModifyDate>2007-06-16T22:47:47</xmp:ModifyDate>

60507cc.jpg had both:

      |         <xap:CreateDate>2007-06-16T22:50:49-06:00</xap:CreateDate>
      |         <xap:ModifyDate>2007-06-16T22:52:33-06:00</xap:ModifyDate>
      |         <xap:MetadataDate>2007-06-16T22:52:33-06:00</xap:MetadataDate>
  • 5BADA44A-1DEE-11DC-8078-C1028E507E7C
    • Date/time = 2007-06-18 22:50:49.180065.0 UTC
    • MAC Address = c1:02:8e:50:7e:7c 

60507ee.jpg had only XMP:

      |         <xmp:CreateDate>2007-06-16T22:41:33</xmp:CreateDate>
      |         <xmp:CreatorTool>Adobe Photoshop CS2 Macintosh</xmp:CreatorTool>
      |         <xmp:ModifyDate>2007-06-16T22:43:14</xmp:ModifyDate>

60507ff.jpg had only XMP:
          |         <xmp:CreateDate>2007-06-16T22:53:02</xmp:CreateDate> 
          |         <xmp:CreatorTool>Adobe Photoshop CS2 Macintosh</xmp:CreatorTool> 
          |         <xmp:ModifyDate>2007-06-16T22:54:34</xmp:ModifyDate> 

60507gg.jpg had only XMP
          |         <xmp:CreateDate>2007-06-16T22:38:36</xmp:CreateDate>
          |         <xmp:CreatorTool>Adobe Photoshop CS2 Macintosh</xmp:CreatorTool>
          |         <xmp:ModifyDate>2007-06-16T22:40:57</xmp:ModifyDate>

60507hh.jpg had only XMP:

      |         <xmp:CreateDate>2007-06-16T22:43:29</xmp:CreateDate>
      |         <xmp:CreatorTool>Adobe Photoshop CS2 Macintosh</xmp:CreatorTool>
      |         <xmp:ModifyDate>2007-06-16T22:44:44</xmp:ModifyDate>

60507ii.jpg had only XMP:

      |         <xmp:CreateDate>2007-06-16T23:03:21</xmp:CreateDate>
      |         <xmp:CreatorTool>Adobe Photoshop CS2 Macintosh</xmp:CreatorTool>
      |         <xmp:ModifyDate>2007-06-16T23:05:26</xmp:ModifyDate>

60507jj.jpg had both:

      |         <xap:CreateDate>2007-06-16T23:01:06-06:00</xap:CreateDate>
      |         <xap:ModifyDate>2007-06-16T23:03-06:00</xap:ModifyDate>
      |         <xap:MetadataDate>2007-06-16T23:03-06:00</xap:MetadataDate>
  • UUID 668A3FCB-1DEF-11DC-8078-C1028E507E7C
    • Date/time = 2007-06-18 22:58:16.899783.5 UTC
    • MAC address = c1:02:8e:50:7e:7c

60507kk.jpg had both:

      |         <xap:CreateDate>2007-06-16T22:58:42-06:00</xap:CreateDate>
      |         <xap:ModifyDate>2007-06-16T23:00:30-06:00</xap:ModifyDate>
      |         <xap:MetadataDate>2007-06-16T23:00:30-06:00</xap:MetadataDate>
  • UUID = 668A3FC7-1DEF-11DC-8078-C1028E507E7C
    • Date/time = 2007-06-18 22:58:16.899783.1 UTC
    • MAC address = c1:02:8e:50:7e:7c

Finally, 60507ll.jpg had both:

      |         <xap:CreateDate>2007-06-16T22:55:22-06:00</xap:CreateDate>
      |         <xap:ModifyDate>2007-06-16T22:58:17-06:00</xap:ModifyDate>
      |         <xap:MetadataDate>2007-06-16T22:58:17-06:00</xap:MetadataDate>
  • UUID = 5BADA452-1DEE-11DC-8078-C1028E507E7C
    • Date/time = 2007-06-18 22:50:49.180065.8 UTC
    • MAC Address = c1:02:8e:50:7e:7c 

From this, it seems as though these images were initially processed on 2007-06-16 between 22:32 and 23:03, before being saved out two days later (as a batch?) between around 22:50 and 22:58.

The Drone Research Team Forum

According to MUFON, Raj’s 12 drone pictures were sent to Linda Moulton Howe who scanned them in and posted them. So any digital forensic analysis of these should only lead back to her, not to him.

In terms of content analysis, I should note that one group of 2007-drone researchers (the now-defunct Drone Research Team, though their pages live on in the Wayback Machine) believed that they had identified the precise telegraph pole in Capitola, CA that appeared in Raj’s pictures. They even printed out 400 flyers and posted them to all the pole’s neighbours to see if anybody had seen anything. (I believe the answer was a resounding no.)

Incidentally, the Drone Research Team’s main members were (according to this site):

  • Tomi01uk (UK)
  • Onthefence (Canada)
  • 10538 (USA)
  • Nemo492 (France)
  • Raska (France)
  • Elevenaugust (France)

To identify the site, they hired private investigators Frankie Dixon and T.K. Davis, but also asked them to try to identify the other drone sites. (A story covering their search ended up in the Los Angeles Times in 2008.) Here’s an animation created by arkhangels overlaying one 2007 drone image with an image taken by the private investigators:

Even though “Chad” claimed to have taken his photos in Bakersfield, it turned out that the actual location was a little distance away. Similarly, the “Stephen” drone picture turned out to be not Big Basin State Park, but (thanks to Pacific Gas and Electric meter reader Tom) Bohlman Road Ridge in Saratoga.