"When Mlle. Yo formed the Science Pirate Syndicate in 1875, the world little suspected that by the end of the decade, the
naval powers of the great empires would be challenged as never before." - Bentford & Gojira,
No Chains on the Waves: The Science Pirate Syndicate, 1870-1901 I think I have written elsewhere of Aunt Sekrit's theft of the steam jet ram,
Polyandrous (ex-USS Alarming) and the beginnings of the
SPS. With her rescue of the Rev. Ulrich Willmanarth of the Reformed Church of Hydra (Lovecraft's 'Deeper Ones') from his exile on Last Atlantis
1, and his subsequent assistance in the Spanish ironclad Numancia in 1873, she created the beginnings of a force that
would ultimately, if briefly, cow the mightiest fleet on Earth.
This was some years in the future, however, and the Science Pirate, as the New York Tribune dubbed her, struck first at South and Central American shipping interests, almost always seizing the ship and cargo, and either putting the crews ashore or in boats. While their relatively
bloodless successes endeared them to the common sailors of the world, near brushes with heavier French and British warships convinced Sekrit
that something heavier was required. And a lucky shot from the HMS Sultan wrecking the upper works of SPS Polyandrous off Bermuda in 1874
would give her a particular animus against the Royal Navy. It remains unclear who among Yo's colleagues first suggested raising the HMS Captain, though it was quickly embraced and acted upon, again with the invaluable assistance of a local colony of
Homo Piscis, and the reconfigured Numancia, rechristened the SPS Burkend Hare. Towed to the harbor at Last Atlantis, the Captain entered service as the SPS Revenant in 1875, as the first flagship of the Science Pirate Syndicate, having added the captains Bangor Herring, Oolong Olafsdotter,
Senor Gomez
2, and Juan Cero, the Spanish Difference Engine shortly after the raid on Havanna in late 1873.
(More back story as the build progresses. To start, this will be a full scratch build of something looking a bit like the ill-fated HMS Captain
of 1870. This is a 'let's see what happens' kind of build' - I went looking for one of my two old CSS Virginia/USS Monitor kits, found a template
I had cut for...some other project, and thought again about doing something with the HMS Captain design. This is where is stands right now -
I had gotten so wrapped up in cutting plastic I was working largely from memories, and really can't tell you what the scale is...[I do have references, I just looked at them after I got to this point...] All Sheet plastic and strip so far.)
DSCF0542 by
VileDr.Yo, on Flickr
I did the forecastle deck first to try and get the deck height about right-once everything is glued together solidly, I can sand the side supports
to a good vertical and add the upper hull walls, and then (shudder) start detailing.
DSCF0545 by
VileDr.Yo, on Flickr
1. Easternmost of Le Mystères, five 'sometimes' islands that could only be approached from a narrow avenue of reality west of Bermuda.
Last Atlantis, a perfect square 1.3 kilometers on a side, with the center 2/3rds a circular harbor entered from the Northern edge. Abandoned
during the exodus from the majority of the island's submergence, the majority of it's super-science and stockpiles of materials had remained
unplundered over the centuries, due on no small part to the bloodthirsty giant crabs that populated the shores.
2. Either a demonically possessed feline, or an uplifted super cat from the future, Senor Gomez was instrumental in the capture of the Numancia, posing as the ship's cat.