#Matapan

[uss-edsall]

[philibetexcerpts]

“On the night of 28 March 1941, as darkness fell off the coast of Cape Matapan, at the southernmost point of the Peloponnese, Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, Commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, in his flagship, HMS Warspite, was leading his battleships – including HMS Valiant and HMS Barham – towards three Italian cruisers. ‘My orders,’ Prince Philip noted in his log, ‘were that if any ship illuminated a target I was to switch on and illuminate it for the rest of the fleet, so when this ship was lit up by a rather dim light from what I thought was the flagship I switched on our midship light which picked out the enemy cruiser and lit her up as if it were broad daylight.’ Then the fun started: ‘She was only seen complete in the light for a few seconds as the flagship had already opened fire, and as her first broadside landed and hit she was blotted out from just abaft the bridge to right astern. We fired our first broadside about seven seconds after the flagship with very much the same effect … By now all the secondary armament of both ships had opened fire and the noise was considerable. The Captain and the Gunnery Officer now began shouting from the bridge for the searchlights to train left. The idea that there might have been another ship, with the one we were firing at, never entered my head, so it was some few moments before I was persuaded to relinquish the blazing target and search for another one I had no reason to believe was there. However, training to the left, the light picked up another cruiser, ahead of the first one by some 3 or 4 cables. As the enemy was so close the light did not illuminate the whole ship but only about ¾ of it, so I trained left over the whole ship until the bridge structure was in the centre of the beam … she was illuminated in an undamaged condition for the period of about 5 seconds when our second broadside left the ship, and almost at once she was completely blotted out from stern to stern.’

It was at this point that ‘all hell broke loose, as all our eight 15-inch guns, plus those of the flagship and Barham’s started firing at the stationary cruiser’. Through the noise and the pounding – ‘the glasses were rammed into my eyes … flash almost blinding me’ – Philip kept his searchlight on target. ‘More than 70% of the shells must have hit,’ he recorded, with justifiable satisfaction. ‘When the enemy had completely vanished in clouds of smoke and steam we ceased firing and switched the light off.’”

Philip: The Final Portrait by Gyles Brandreth

[admiralnelsoniii]

Was just reading a bit about Battle of Cape Matapan, between the Royal Navy and the Italian Navy in WWII. Damn, when the THREE Queen Elizabeth class battleships creeped up on the crippled Pola, then just unloaded at point blank range!? It's truly unimaginable what being on the receiving end of that onslaught was like! Reports describe main gun turrets flying through the air and ships literally shredded! 15 inch, 6 inch, probably, I'm sure, the 3 inch AA, and any machine guns were all just pouring fire into the enemy. And the Italians didn't even consider night time actions, so none of their guns were ready for a fight!

[libreriamilitareblog]

Incontri in Libreria e digitali - Massimo Alfano presenta “Matapan. Il caso e la colpa”

La Libreria Militare è lieta di invitarviGiovedì 20 Giugno 2024 – alle ore 18.30 IN LIBRERIA MILITARE (Via Morigi 15, 20123 Milano) e su Facebook all’incontro con Massimo Alfano, che presenterà il volume “Matapan. Il caso e la colpa. Dalla grande Marina alla vera Marina” (Pathos). La serata sarà trasmessa in diretta Facebook sulla pagina della Libreria Militare. Il volume La Battaglia di…

[thethirdromana]

The Log of the Demeter, illustrated

On 6 July we finished taking in cargo, silver sand and boxes of earth. At noon set sail [from Varna]. East wind, fresh. Crew, five hands ... two mates, cook, and myself (captain).

(Varna, c. 1877)

On 11 July at dawn entered Bosphorus. Boarded by Turkish Customs officers. Backsheesh. All correct. Under way at 4 p. m.

(The Bosphorus as seen from Tarabya, c. 1890)

On 12 July through Dardanelles. More Customs officers and flagboat of guarding squadron. Backsheesh again. Work of officers thorough, but quick. Want us off soon. At dark passed into Archipelago.

(The Dardanelles, c. 1890)

On 13 July passed Cape Matapan. Crew dissatisfied about something. Seemed scared, but would not speak out.

(Cape Matapan lighthouse, built 1882)

No further locations are given in this extract.

[thegoatsongs]

On 13 July passed Cape Matapan. Crew dissatisfied about something. Seemed scared, but would not speak out.

On July 13th, the crew of the Demeter gets their very first dark premonition while passing Cape Matapan. The next day the first incident among them happens, followed by the first disappearance.

Cape Matapan, aka Cape Tainaron, is the southernmost place in continental Greece, and gateway to Hades.

There was a sanctuary of Poseidon there (ancient captains sailing past the Cape would stop to ask for a smooth sail), and a Nekromanteion (death oracle) or a Psychopompeion, because the Cape was a threshold to the Underworld.

Greek sailors have been traditionally using the phrase "Stay forty miles away [meaning as far as possible] from Cape Matapan" ("Από τον Κάβο Ματαπά σαράντα μίλια μακρυά"), likely due to it once being a pirate hideout, as it's associated with bad luck.

[vickyvicarious]

The captain doesn't specifically note the crew seeming anxious/dissatisfied until July 13. And this is him writing in hindsight, too, so it isn't a case of it being notable but not having seemed worthy of mention until something happened. Even when he's writing with the context of the crew's distress having become major enough that he searched the ship for a stowaway to appease them, even with the context that a member of the crew has gone missing... even then, he doesn't recall significant distress until a week into their journey.

Which is the same day they passed Cape Matapan. They're fully into their trip and no longer travelling regularly through narrow straits or having to pass customs. It's only then that Dracula starts to act. He's being cautious in the beginning to make sure that he doesn't cause issues with the journey itself. His attack here, and his later attacks, are not just aimless hunger let loose.

[dracula-dictionary]

Dracula Dictionary, July 18th

Varna: a large city in Bulgaria, on the coast of the Black Sea

Whitby: a seaside town in the north of England

silver sand: a fine white sand used in gardening

Bosphorus: The Bosporus Strait, cuts through Istanbul to connect the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara

Backsheesh: a tip, or a bribe paid to expedite services

Dardanelles: a strait that connects the Sea of Marmara to the Mediteranean Sea

Cape Matapan: the southernmost point of Greece

larboard: the left side of a ship

eight bells: referencing the ship's bell that is rung to time watches, with eight strikes per four hour watch. likely meaning 8pm here

deck-house: a cabin on top of a ship's deck

companion-way: a stairway or ladder that leads from one deck to another

bows: the frontmost point of a ship

hatchway: an opening in the deck

allay: calm, put to rest

stem: the most forward part of the bow

stern: the backmost part of the ship

handspike: a wooden bar, typically used in a capstan to raise the anchor

helm: the ship's wheel for steering

abreast: side by side

[serial-serializednovelreader]

Nova’s Notes - Dracula Daily - July 18

We’re out of the Droughtula! And onto the voyage of the Demeter….

“If Mr. Stoker has a problem with this he is cordially invited to rise from his mouldering grave and take it up with me personally.”

Truly, an iconic editor’s note! Matt is not playing around and, selfishly, I would love to actually see this showdown occur.

“Written 18 July, things so strange happening, that I shall keep accurate note henceforth till we land.”

Basically the Captain:

For real though, you know what this reminds me of? Jonathan Harker on his first day he noticed strange things occurring at the castle. Here’s what he said then:

“I began to fear as I wrote in this book that I was getting too diffuse; but now I am glad that I went into detail from the first, for there is something so strange about this place and all in it that I cannot but feel uneasy…”

Thanks to wanting to record his trip for Mina, he had already started taking detailed notes for the trip. These notes served him well in his time at castle Dracula.

Unfortunately, the captain of the Demeter was not taking detailed logs beforehand, but it’s telling that he begins to as soon as he notices something strange! Just a neat parallel I thought I would point out.

“On 6 July we finished taking in cargo, silver sand and boxes of earth. At noon set sail. East wind, fresh. Crew, five hands ... two mates, cook, and myself (captain).”

To note here, it has been twelve days since they set sail and it has taken twelve days to reach the point of someone logging the incidents. I suppose that’s a record above Dracula’s previous time with Jonathan, which was *three* days (really, more like two).

Also, sorry to put the answer to your post in here, @mermaid-above-water, but I figured it would be best! To answer your question of how many crew hands are on the Demeter….I’ll be real with you, I was going to take the captain’s number of “5” at face value, but @dramaticpandabear summed it up best with evidence: it’s 9. I’m going to be using their post as reference for the future when I make my notes You can get this number by adding 5 (hands) + 2 (mates) + 1 (cook) + 1 (captain). I definitely understand the confusion — like I said, I was confused too! No wonder the captain says he needs to take more accurate notes…

“On 11 July at dawn entered Bosphorus. Boarded by Turkish Customs officers. Backsheesh. All correct. Under way at 4 p. m.”

Everything seems fine here! Only thing to note is that I believe when he refers to “backsheesh”, he means the practice of bribing customs officers, sooo that’s fun. /s

“On 12 July through Dardanelles. More Customs officers and flagboat of guarding squadron. Backsheesh again. Work of officers thorough, but quick. Want us off soon. At dark passed into Archipelago.”

So it looks like this time they got less of a warm welcome, with more customs officers investigating their cargo. More backsheesh, and they had to leave the port much more quickly. Notice how they’re not finding anything strange in their cargo, say a “human”….hm….

“On 13 July passed Cape Matapan. Crew dissatisfied about something. Seemed scared, but would not speak out.”

At this point, they’ve just passed Greece. That’s not very far into their journey! Yet already, something strange is afoot — the crew seem scared. But about what? If I had to guess, Dracula is starting to give them strange dreams and because sailors are usually inclined to believe in the supernatural/superstition, they probably see it as a bad omen (especially if more than one of them had a bad dream). They probably don’t want to tell the captain though, either due to him not seeming to believe in the supernatural or not wanting to worry him (or because of one of the mates, who is a skeptic).

“On 14 July was somewhat anxious about crew. Men all steady fellows, who sailed with me before. Mate could not make out what was wrong; they only told him there was something, and crossed themselves. Mate lost temper with one of them that day and struck him. Expected fierce quarrel, but all was quiet.”

Yikes, I already don’t like this mate. He comes across like a massive jerk. The rest of the crew reminds me a lot of the villagers of Transylvania — steady, but scared. Crossing themselves and refusing to speak further on the matter….very much like the innkeeper and his wife when asked about Dracula. Perhaps they’ve seen other signs of his presence at this point as well (a mist appearance, perhaps?). It’s telling that the crew remains uncharacteristically quiet, rather than starting a fight after the mate hits one of them: this tells me they’re trying not to attract attention. But from what?

“On 16 July mate reported in the morning that one of crew, Petrofsky, was missing. Could not account for it. Took larboard watch eight bells last night; was relieved by Abramoff, but did not go to bunk. Men more downcast than ever. All said they expected something of the kind, but would not say more than there was somethingaboard. Mate getting very impatient with them; feared some trouble ahead.”

The first very strange thing has happened: a crew member — Petrofsky — has gone missing. That leaves them with 4 hands now, down to eight on the ship total. This is obviously affecting the captain negatively as he did not rest even after a watch. As for the “larboard watch eight bells” phrase, larboard was an archaic word for port (the left side of a ship), so he must have been assigned to watch that side, and as for eight bells, eight bells is the common signal on board a ship that a watch has ended.

We are also given a new name of one of the crew members: Abramoff. I’m going to imagine he’s one of the four remaining hands (it seems it was common practice to not have the cook stand watch at night, so I don’t think it’s the cook), since the captain keeps referring to his mates as just “mates”, though this could be proven wrong with time.

Again, the crew is much like the Transylvanian villagers: scared, yet resigned. They know already something like this was going to happen. However, one of the mates seems to be getting more and more impatient with them…

“On 17 July, yesterday, one of the men, Olgaren, came to my cabin, and in an awestruck way confided to me that he thought there was a strange man aboard the ship. He said that in his watch he had been sheltering behind the deck-house, as there was a rain-storm, when he saw a tall, thin man, who was not like any of the crew, come up the companion-way, and go along the deck forward, and disappear. He followed cautiously, but when he got to bows found no one, and the hatchways were all closed. He was in a panic of superstitious fear, and I am afraid the panic may spread. To allay it, I shall to-day search entire ship carefully from stem to stern.”

We get the name of another crew member: Olgaren. If he is another hand (and I feel like the captain would’ve specified if he wasn’t) we now know 3/5 names of the crew hands. We also get more information on a new mysterious incident — this time they have actually spotted a strange man aboard the ship, though he turned to mist (what I think happened) before Olgaren could find him). Finally, the captain has decided to take some action to allay the crew’s fears. Good!!

“Later in the day I got together the whole crew, and told them, as they evidently thought there was some one in the ship, we would search from stem to stern. First mate angry; said it was folly, and to yield to such foolish ideas would demoralise the men; said he would engage to keep them out of trouble with a handspike. I let him take the helm, while the rest began thorough search, all keeping abreast, with lanterns: we left no corner unsearched. As there were only the big wooden boxes, there were no odd corners where a man could hide. Men much relieved when search over, and went back to work cheerfully. First mate scowled, but said nothing.”

I like the captain’s delegation with giving the first mate the helm here. No use making the man search when he was obviously going to be complaining and degrading their worries the whole time. We also get it specified that this was the first mate: I choose to believe it was the first mate who’s been complaining this whole time and the captain just wasn’t taking accurate notes about it, though I could be proven wrong.

As for the boxes having nothing to hide….oh boy. That’s funny. Not in a haha way. But it is funny. Because they truly have no idea what lies in one of those boxes, but alas, the creature who resides in there is currently mist (if I’m not mistaken) and they cannot see the truth.

Of course, they don’t find anything and go cheerfully back to work. Good for morale, not good for the long-term.

That’s it for this Demeter’s log. Can’t wait for the next one!

[icedfairy]

During the battle of Cape Matapan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8I2HavEEPE HMS Formidable approached the stalled Italian destroyers in the battle line.  It seems her deck gunners fired several salvos before Warspite realized she was there, and told her to stop fooling around and pull out of line.

A commission that little factoid has had in my mind for some time put together by the fine https://twitter.com/OrangeDactyl

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Dracula Daily: Demeter log entry - July 13th

Log of the Demeter

Varna to Whitby

(Backdated) On 13 July passed Cape Matapan. Crew dissatisfied about something. Seemed scared, but would not speak out.

[captain-price-unofficially]

Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto in Taranto, June 1941, undergoing repairs following the Battle of Matapan

[ninadove]

Nina reads Dracula 🦇

July 18th

New characters let’s go!!!

On 13 July passed Cape Matapan. Crew dissatisfied about something. Seemed scared, but would not speak out.

You know what this novel wasn’t scary enough. We needed to add THE FUCKING OCEAN

[Get In The Water from EPIC starts playing]

On 14 July was somewhat anxious about crew. Men all steady fellows, who sailed with me before. Mate could not make out what was wrong; they only told him there was something, and crossed themselves. Mate lost temper with one of them that day and struck him. Expected fierce quarrel, but all was quiet.

Uh oh.

On 16 July mate reported in the morning that one of crew, Petrofsky, was missing. Could not account for it. Took larboard watch eight bells last night; was relieved by Abramoff, but did not go to bunk. Men more downcast than ever. All said they expected something of the kind, but would not say more than there was something aboard. Mate getting very impatient with them; feared some trouble ahead.

Uh oh again.

Later in the day I got together the whole crew, and told them, as they evidently thought there was some one in the ship, we would search from stem to stern. First mate angry; said it was folly, and to yield to such foolish ideas would demoralise the men; said he would engage to keep them out of trouble with a handspike. I let him take the helm, while the rest began thorough search, all keeping abreast, with lanterns: we left no corner unsearched. As there were only the big wooden boxes, there were no odd corners where a man could hide. Men much relieved when search over, and went back to work cheerfully. First mate scowled, but said nothing.

🌊 This is fine 🌊

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[brookstonalmanac]

Events 3.28 (after 1940)

1941 – World War II: First day of the Battle of Cape Matapan in Greece between the navies of the United Kingdom and Australia, and the Royal Italian navy. 1942 – World War II: A British combined force permanently disables the Louis Joubert Lock in Saint-Nazaire in order to keep the German battleship Tirpitz away from the mid-ocean convoy lanes. 1946 – Cold War: The United States Department of State releases the Acheson–Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power. 1959 – The State Council of the People's Republic of China dissolves the government of Tibet. 1961 – ČSA Flight 511 crashes in Igensdorf, Germany, killing 52. 1965 – An Mw  7.4 earthquake in Chile sets off a series of tailings dam failures, burying the town of El Cobre and killing at least 500 people. 1968 – Brazilian high school student Edson Luís de Lima Souto is killed by military police at a student protest. 1969 – Greek poet and Nobel Prize laureate Giorgos Seferis makes a famous statement on the BBC World Service opposing the junta in Greece. 1970 – An earthquake strikes western Turkey at about 23:05 local time, killing 1,086 and injuring at least 1,200. 1978 – The US Supreme Court hands down 5–3 decision in Stump v. Sparkman, a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity. 1979 – A coolant leak at the Three Mile Island's Unit 2 nuclear reactor outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania leads to the core overheating and a partial meltdown. 1979 – The British House of Commons passes a vote of no confidence against James Callaghan's government by one vote, precipitating a general election. 1990 – United States President George H. W. Bush posthumously awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal. 1994 – In South Africa, African National Congress security guards kill dozens of Inkatha Freedom Party protesters. 1999 – Kosovo War: Serb paramilitary and military forces kill at least 130 Kosovo Albanians in Izbica. 2001 – Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos begins operation. 2003 – In a friendly fire incident, two American A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft attack British tanks participating in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, killing one soldier. 2005 – An earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a magnitude of 8.6 and killing over 1000 people. 2006 – At least one million union members, students and unemployed take to the streets in France in protest at the government's proposed First Employment Contract law.

[libidomechanica]

“For term of life, you like a question … oh, do not curse, high Muses”

Take me rue it. Hiss—the little as they each other’s     wish, and when mine Eyes. Of ladies do not much admired or less: the only the     daisies kiss on bliss, who dead, scatter’d race, or that I dared to peep in at a holy     day, both crowns the hills? A single dragon. Tis not a mistress? Bosom try what poor groom     that, from thy rich ore: nor can hopes of

honour, and meet against the memory of your     eye’s tail up as I shook their though in me. Floats scumlike uproar past and you hearest     Endymion started back dismay’d, upon a cros, our should say: be hypocrite? Woman labours     ripened, a youthful pleasures of touch, and dreams and as long numb place. For term of life,     you like a question … oh, do not curse,

high Muses! The forms of men darkens afternoon,     the whitest skin that any laud there are things deem’d. Say thy verge to run, and, whether aiming     at this large eyes; my doubt, where twere pity, sir, find our devotion, pays. The truth in     excess of heroines was free from off a crystal and song a little hour that I     wanted the Lip of Youth as the face

I see these! The Lady Carolines and set     himself might do the savage dares, where I sleep one ever half English beer, good compare,     with choral step and vows. In mirror are one. By winds the wide home of that thy fear’d trident     shrapnel scythe to be the maids and carriage from hidden Mystery. Of him be shown,     let us type them in the flocks from

coverts innermost and even children nursed me     the Bosom of the Nightmare where all things beating where I am! Some rumour also     of something of some wantons with its eerie ping sounds the night a suddenly a warbles,     and still, my dearest beauty and how sholde any changed Death may die, but for bandages     and this, and bite the rush and was

at my spinnin’ wheel?—I wish it could not dead; but     those two magic ladies, past with delighted, for thy cold starlight lay! Thus piteously     to quench my breasts; and have traded life akin, came up, and lawyers, priest thou ready, o     mount and many a time. Once upon my brow, on the shape of beast, by Aurora’s peering     men there is a weeded rock this

wander’d till on a day, shall be hurl’d with virgin     knowing, artful, secret. Wept Blood—Search every sound of mine. And then he things it be supprest.     Hold sphery session: forgetting the dove was a bachelor, which though hated fire     according space and ease? To save his flute would not: therefore the rivers lost, displaies vertue service     and faults lived on. That throw, i’ve all

keeps change his own breast and feeble, all unconsciousness     will show to move, come airs, and still would name, they resist not, trod no means can move; twere     gone as sorrowful: thy cheeks, crimson satin, border’d, that passion catch a Meaning of     antipathy, as t were, between us at our neighbours call longueurs’ we’ve not know     who reach? My passions to all ourselves.

That increasing fuell of such substance all this joyous     task. A land of the rosy morning came back to you: the only hope of sea and     set ten poets and they blow. And next, because it’s easy. Like a red, red rose, and if     between sea and see thy love no longer than centaurs afternoons he would make our visit.     Under that does not thy visions

of the years in food, quick to perish’d? Heaped on my     knees, from birthplace to fill you sung the waves of mild silver-footed message left behind:     troy owes to Hoyle: they say, Yong fooles take up the child, thought, disposed of off Cape Matapan,     amongst the summit, and left his sovereign buffoons, to do with my tongue, and proceeded     from the wet field so stand alone,

and in themselves to wile the long-wish’d-for end, full     to these the glass. Evergreen forest root; and, be shed over my turf, and fasted, ere     in one deem’d, being sad, or were all scruples hence remove? Against that he had none, but     when she doth take away the eye so, lovers, child of night or Morning our day by day.     Of sound of soothing to think of Rhyme,

but I will, they feel that hour, been on our summer     draws near a sight inviolate’s the fashion all; that but not till days are twinkles in     their place, On Suli’s rock, and one’s own image of the sight and worth it, have told the world:     so fared she gazing fed; and meant for some kindness now, to move, then bleak air. That, in purpos’d     to be read her love, nor their fount,

she now kept him from heaven being a sort of     heaven, by those Gothic times nine. Were liftedst up thine eyes; he had nursed of office, or     with backward glance and quiet, to the human kindness now—Who, in all the phantasies     of sober sorceress, while thou a flowr, thanne hadde it no stoon; whan the bought a finger     light in all her home or name, and the

crown a happy hair, hath she not for loss of reasons     why this moment when the sons of the sky with the villains! No doome the Border? Afloat,     and my lute unstrung; else it were better part purchased, but heau’nly beames in which     think in stumbling voyce obtained at first begun. Your lips ill hung with jealous of itself     so quiet place bends all his restless

wondered out my hand I look for worships it. When     at my should I weep my outcast state and trust in Heaven are closed tight, close on the hungry     hugeness, yet with charm of beer and all the Stranger fresh struck the crimson lurks in     the leaders sped; but now, sun, at our entreaty stay! All that his guessing t is not     long loving you what you wake and the

earth am rotten; from her second suit thy picture     of blisse; in tombe of life, and when all the day the questions thou when thou yields. In relieved     that smiling Beauty, thy fair face looks familiar care where their native unto the     womb sucked on looks as lilies do the different the shrunk shuddering pale blue; their Zeale     growes weary, to the sway; my altars

did not your questioner, fill’d with this great bridals,     chaste woman’s cause it doth wake, then must bid fare: gay the waterfall. And sexes, of     force, when you can’t do other pride of me. White towers, eyes, and round there fame you bastard     be unfathom’d brine, until they decked her Am I your first were. That light reach; and thy     cheek,—who sat her drop? But is the fair.

In that bears the silent rows, poor Cynthia! And     I keep dancing, midst other that will with all they read: till she who burns with a marriage.     In whom our pretty please; and fann’d away, for painture near each other that, shatter of     important captures rude in ponderous stone, the fire the voice can reach me, lay quite sunder;     and thunder’s sorrow and knew it.

[julianworker]

Areopoli and Gythio

Extending south between the Messinian and Laconian Gulfs, the Mani Peninsula ends at Cape Matapan, the southernmost point of continental Greece. There was a naval battle off Matapan between the British and Australian navies on one side and the Italian navy on the other, between 27th and 29th March 1941. It was a remarkable, one-sided encounter. The Italians lost three cruisers, two destroyers,…