Following immediately on the heels of the "sleeper" SEQUESTERED Issue from Last Week,, this SHORT-SHEETED issue was the Big Kahuna of 2013 ! Never before and never since has the United States Navy suffered a mutiny on one of its ships, much less on a TRAINING VESSEL!!! The Somers Mutiny Affiair stands alone in the annals of U.S history as the darkest day ever for naval discipline. But was the sentence meted out to midshipman Philip Spencer et al, a just one? The truth of the matter is, that his "Sheet anchor of Greek Code" hbas been misunderstood as a simplistic transliteration of English into Greek .. but on this LEVIATHAN of a Puzzler, Goldengate takes the laurels as he lays out the case for 'A CODE WITHIN THE CODE" !!!!
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SYM-Zonia -- SHORT-SHEETED
1. SMITH HUBBARD & TICHENOR
GOLDENGATEâS
for March 10, 2013
SHORT-SHEETED
MIDSHIPMAN SPENCERâS MYSTERIOUS
âSHEET-ANCHORâ of GREEK CODE
-- IS THERE a CODE WITHIN the CODE?
But firstâŠ. !!!
2. From the desk of âŠ.
PLAYERS! SH&T AHOY!! And WOWEE!!!
Welcome BACK !!! To the very special SHORT-SHEETEDïš
Issue of S.Y.M.-Zoniaâą !!! which is our special follow-up to last
weekâs unique, amazing SEQUESTERED issue !!! And, PLAYERSs,
need I say it? No? WellâŠâŠ
All right then !!!! I wonât!!! However, COULD you but see what I
see, and know what it is that I, Michael C. Goldengate, Your Esteemed
Editor here in S.Y.M.-Zoniaâą know⊠well then, Players: youâd be
already saying it for me: âWoweee!!!â -- that is!!!! Yes, indeed.
Yes, yes YesâŠSay it again: _______________!!! Let me hear you!
___________ !!??? OKAY: well, just READ ON in This Weekâs
S.Y.M.-Zoniaâą and youâll soon see what I mean!! Or log on to
http://www.sym-zonia.com --where youâll see that indeed, Itâs All
About the Code!
PLAYERS -- following the acclaim which met the release of the
SHIPWRECK! Issue, I can say it, viz: that so successful have been our recent and overt âCan You Crack the Code?â
Series of S.Y.M.-Zoniaâs, that weâre back again This Week with yet another âcode-centeredâ Special Issue on the
remarkable historical cryptogram which was instrumental â or said to be â in the MUTINY [So-called !!! -- Ed.] of the
U.S.S. Somers â a sample of which appears below ïȘ !!!
YES, Players: it is indeed,
quite a simple âcodeâ â
really nothing more than
plain and straightforward
English sentences, with the
letters of the Roman
alphabet transliterated
directly -- letter by letter --
into corresponding letters
of the Greek alphabet !!!
Or, at least, nearly soâŠ.
Because of course, there
are a handful of letters in the
English alphabet, that donât have direct analogs [So to speak!! â Ed.] in Greek: like our
letter âWâ for example. Thatâs a double âuâ â uu! So, should that be represented by two
upsilons in sequence, like this -- Ï Ï â or otherwise? Or the English letter âHâ â the
sound of which is represented in Greek, not by an actual full-fledged letter, but with a
small âdiacritical markâ â a hanging comma, like this: â . How should that be handled?
PLAYERS: these are just a couple of matters that Midshipman Spencer addressed in
devising his âsheet anchor of Greek codeâ that youâve all heard so much about.
But, PLAYERS: Was there also another code? Was there a second code
WITHIN the Code? Thatâs the question of this SHORT-SHEETED issue!!
All of that â and much, much more -- BELOW!!!
But first âŠ. !!!
3. The âLAST LOGâ of the DESDEMONA : CAN YOU CRACK âŠ. the CODE ?
The Desdemona Light was erected in 1901 near the western end of Desdemona Sands âŠ
to remind Columbia River pilots of the humiliating reputation that forever attached itself to to
this navigational obstacle, thanks to Capt. Williams of the bark Desdemona.
PLAYERS â did you get it yet? Did you solve or decrypt the strange passages in
the so-called âLAST LOGâ of the bark DESDEMONA - [See, The âLast Logâ of
the Desdemona â Can You Crack ⊠the Code? (Feb. 17, 2013) â Ed.] ??
Remember? The 13 word passage, with the TWO pairs of repeated words [Making
for eleven words, (not nine, as I earlier mis-stated) (Oops!!) that require decoding !!â
Ed. ] on the last page of the next-to-the-next-to-the last shipmasterâs journal of etc.,
etc., etc.? [ Did you solve it? â Ed.] I hope so, because that SHIPWRECK! S.Y.M.-
Zoniaâą -- like all of them â is TIME-SENSITIVE!!! This one especially so!
PLAYERS!! The tide is shifting !! Hurry: we must cast off!!! YES QUICKLY!! --
We must push-off from the poignant, desolate strand, Desdemona Sands, in the middle of the Columbia River, off Astoria
(Oregon) â lest we run ourselves permanently aground here. This is no place I want to spend a lot of time ..
What? You say that you havenât quite solved for those thirteen little words?? Eleven, really⊠? After three weeks,
and numerous, even multiple hints and helps? After the extended exercise of âmounting upâ on the encrypted passages
of the journal of the captain of the Eagle Wings? Youâre kidding â right?? Well â youâll have to get out⊠Yes:
thatâs what I said: I said, get out. Get Out. Out of the boat. Yes: you. You can stay here, and work on it with the
help of that nice man up there â the light-housekeeper. He has highly-honed observational skills, and extreme powers of
concentration, yoked to great patience, all borne of his long months of isolation at Desdemona Light. These aptitudes
he has developed â letâs call them, collectively, focus -- are real pre-requisites to good code-breaking. Youâll be fineâŠ
And now ⊠for the rest of you âŠ
4. WHATâS the REAL âLEGENDâ of âThe LEGEND of SLEEPY HOLLOWâ? And âŠ
WHEREâS the REAL SLEEPY HOLLOW (New York) ITSELF, for THAT MATTER?
Excerpt: USGS Tarrytown Quad (1893) Excerpt: USGS Tarrytown Quad (1892)
PLAYERS!!!
WellâŠ. it looks like I may have put my foot in it this time.
Eeeeoooow âŠ
RIGHT: I mean with Last Weekâs S.Y.M.-Zoniaâą -- the SEQUESTERED ïš
Issue, in which â in order to score political points, I naively, arrogantly, attempted
to LOCK HORNS with established LEGEND of such institutionalized
FICTIONS as are recounted in Washington Irvingâs tale, The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow, and ⊠NOT ONLY THAT⊠but took issue with the accepted FANCY
or SUPPOSITION regarding the actual location of âthe placeâ so-called: vizâŠ
the well-established locale of so-called âSleepy Hollow,â (New York) itself!!!
Suggesting as I did, and even boldly arguing, that The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
was not the REAL legend of âŠ. âthe place.â And intimating that there was âŠ
ANOTHER STORY!!! A story that was SEQUESTERED -- upstream in time !!
Perhaps even associated with ANOTHER PLACE â the REAL âSleepy Hollowâ!
Yes: thatâs what I said. Sort of. It was a blockbuster hypothesis, of course; but I
at once turned to execute it â without a momentâs hesitation, without so much as
missing a beat, etc. Players!!! How could I do such a thing? You all watched, aghast: astonished at the sheer hubris of
the deed, knowing that -- like Samson in Dagonâs temple among the Philistines -- I was undoubtedly about to collapse
the entire edifice of S.Y.M.-Zoniaâą down upon myself â ruining it everlastingly, for good, and raining down death and
destruction on myself as well, while pulverizing into a single, indistinguishable pulpy mass, the entire Membership âŠof
Stephanieâs Youngster Membership [The acronymical S.Y.M.-- Ed.]
PLAYERS: It maybe wasnât my best-ever idea!! I really looked upon it as an act of Public Service: to liberate the
citizenry of âSleepy Hollowâ so-called from the torpor of the their collective delusion, that they lived in âSleepy Hollowâ
[Formerly known as North Tarrytown â Ed.] and that The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was related to the real world!!! Not
only do the âHollow Menâ labor under this misconception, but many of us throughout the Nation do so, as well!!!
Itâs a FICTION!!! But -- more on this below âŠ
5. See?
Part I
WHATâS the REAL âLEGENDâ
of âTHE LEGEND of SLEEPY HOLLOWâ?
ïÂŁï
PLAYERS!!!! It sounds like a trick question -- but itâs not: it has to be asked, and the so-called âLegendâ confronted.
What I mean is, is that a âlegendâ by definition is presumptively a tall tale, or a fabrication, or a âdelectable fictionâ as
Washington Irving worded it â and lacking in direct relationship to provable historical factâŠ.
⊠Which, if this is the operative definition, implies that whatever is presented as a Legend is offered in its character as
being of dubious relation to historically provable reality. This in turn suggests that the story of Ichabod Crane and his
plug, âGunpowder,â [NHRN â Ed.] the obstreperous merry-making of Bram Bones, and even âŠ. The Headless
Horseman himself are not, despite the pretensions of Diedrich Ichabocker, draw from the annals of history â whether oral
or written ⊠âSleepy Hollowâ?? NO!!! Itâs all made up!!!!! Itâs a cover, for another story, which is SEQUESTERED
somewhere behind the âLegendâ !!! Remember the ïȘ WHITEWASH Issue?
[Why Were There (Almost) No Narratives Told by the Yankee Survivors of the Battle of Hungry Hill (Oregon)?â
(December 9, 2012) â Ed.]
There, we learned that the U.S. Army regulars and Oregon volunteers were so ASHAMED to have been defeated by the
SQUAW Sally Lane of the Rogue Indians, during that famous Battle of Hungry Hill (Oregon) (1855) â that the
Army soldiers pulled a tricky âWHITE PRIDEâ move, probably to maintain morale, until the war was over!! And thus
--whether by actual pact, or united by some implicit understanding -- acting as one, they NEVER SPOKE of their
humiliating conquest at the hands Sally Lane of the RoguesâŠ.never breathed a word of it â not to ANYONE! Not even
their wives! And, inasmuch as the Rogue Indians did not at the time have a large-circulation newspaper, it took
S.Y.M.-Zonia âą to hose down the WHITEWASH -- and to break the story â almost 200 years later!!! Wowee!!
Well âŠâŠ
PLAYERS!! Mark my words: Iâll wager thereâs another story of that sort, that has similarly been SEQUESTERED
perhaps somewhere in the vicinity of âSleepy Hollowâ, and maybe behind âThe Legend of Sleepy Hollowâ itself!
Somehow!!! Really!!! I think so. Thatâs what I meant by saying âSEQUESTEREDâ: Irvingâs hiding something.
10. ï§ The story has been made into a fine Hollywood
movie, or two, and rendered as the subject of a libretto
[Q.v. â Ed.] by no less a figure than E.M. Forster, with a
[Rather ⊠contratonal [?] â Ed.] operatic score by the
celebrated British composer Benjamin Britten. Who
has done mmmmm âŠ. better work ⊠[ Itâs on Youtube --
Ed.]
PLAYERS!!! Enough already, of the introductions.
The story of the Somers mutiny itself, is basic in outline,
though quite convoluted â and almost impenetrable -- in
its details. In fact, virtually everything about the Somers
mutiny is mysterious. However, in short: it involves a
purported plan, laid by one young officer, Midshipman
Phillip Spencer, to commandeer the U.S.S. Somers
through conspiring to recruit from its crew of in-training
apprentice seamen [Yes: you heard right !! â Cadets!!!
U.S. Navy cadets !! â Ed.] to a plan for mutiny, which
plan â at its core â involved an intent to commit murder
of a fellow apprentice seaman, and then, during the
anticipated confusion that would surely ensue, to seize
control of the ship!!!! WOWEE!! Brilliant plan.
Mids. Spencer was the mastermind of
this plan, and so the ringleader of that
mutinous gang which he himself
recruited â man by man â to accomplish
his nefarious design. Thereâs plenty
more details â but .. Oh yes!!!
Midshipman Spencerâs father, John
Canfield Spencer, was, at the time of
the supposed mutiny, the Secretary of
War under President TylerâŠ
At right is a fine pen and ink watercolor
of the U. S. brig-of-war Somers ïš
under sail, as drawn by a
contemporaryâŠ
PLAYERS: That brings us pretty well
up to the minute. So, letâ go do this!! Yes: this is S.Y.M.-Zoniaâą -- and itâs the special SHORT-SHEETED ISSUE.
So, PLAYERS!!! As you work through this issue.. .. well, ask yourselves. PLAYERS!!! Did Midshipman Spencer, and
his so-called co-conspirators, Cromwell and Small, themselves get âŠ.. SHORT-SHEETED?
Midshipman Spencerâs âSheet-Anchorâ of Greek Code â is there a Code Within it?
One of the fascinating features of the Somers mutiny story is the simple but effective play-cipher that Midshipman
Spencer used to record the development of his mutinous plans, as they progressed, and one by one he gained new co-
conspriators. The small scrap(s) of paper on which Spencer encrypted the names of the middies and sailors on board,
was said to be kept in his razor case, or â if you donât like that story â alternatively, some said it was kept in a fold in
his neckerchief. ⊠Somewhere, anyway âŠ
11. This SHORT SHEET is sometimes called his âsheet-anchor of Greek code,â because
it serves as an infallible key â a sort of Rosetta Stone -- to decoding the plot of Midshipman
Spencer and his cronies, and identifying their accomplices. The text of this âsheet-anchorâ
is printed in more than a few texts, and transcribed and âtranslatedâ in the âINQUIRYâïš
pamphlet, at p. 4, under the caption âSPENCERâS PROGRAMME,â [And a very curious
translation, it is, too â Ed.] ] it also appears elsewhere therein, @ p. 31 for instance, and
as I said, in other publications, as well, etc. HOWEVER, Players: there is no known
original of this âsheet-anchorâ -- no authoritative text, or âfirst generationâ copy.
Meanwhile, basically, the âsheet-anchorâ simply lists a score or two of the Somersâ
apprentice seamen, but transliterates their names out of English/Roman alphabet
characters, into Greek letter characters so, for instance, âMcKinleyâ reads MâXÎ”ÎœÎ»Ï ;
âGreenâ is rendered ÎÏΔΔΜ, and âSpencerâ himself is SÏΔΜcÎ”Ï âŠ and so on. Spencer had
matriculated at Geneva College (New York) before joining the Navy, and had had at least
first year Greek, it would seem.
However, Mids. Spencerâs Greek rendering of
the sailorsâ names are not always direct
transliterations, but sometimes phonetic
renderings â that is, as sounded ; or else, they
are mis-renderings of the sailors names. For
instance, the Purserâs steward, Mr. âWalesâ
becomes UâÎ±Î»Î”Ï â with a modern style âUâ
instead of the anticipated Greek letter Upsilon
(΄) which would make YÎ±Î»Î”Ï [PLAYERS!!
There is no direct equivalent of âwâ in Greek!]
But, with this transliteration, Mr. Waleâs name
also picks up a trailing aspirant mark -- the
floating comma -- indicating an aspirated
sound, corresponding to English âhâ. is to be
sound, and calling for the pronunciation of and
reading of âwhalesâ. Wales to Whales?
Thatâs an easy joke among the middies!!!!
But this is MUTINY!! !!
PLAYERS: Come to think of it, Spencer never
uses a capital Upsilon ΄, Sigma, Σ, etc. and
uses a Chi X, in place of Kappa K. There are
lots of such irregularities ⊠Maybe Spencer
just didnât do that well, in his Greek class at
Geneva CollegeâŠ
Or ⊠is there a code ⊠within the code?
And then again, when breaking the men up into
categories of those whom he deems SΔÏlαÎčÎœ
[âCertainâ -- Ed.] and ÎÎżÏ lÏÏ Î» [âDoubtfulââ
Ed.] participants in his new mutiny, Spencer
entirely drops the âbâ out of âDoubtfulâ
suggesting (to me) something other than
ordinary transliteration â but, again, more like
an aural -- or poetic? -- rendering of the
(unsounded) âbâ. Or, PLAYERS!! Was this
midshipman son of the U.S. Secretary of
War, just a real bad speller?
12. As a result, the word âDoubtfulâ -- which should look like ÎÎżÏ ÎČÏÏÏ Î» -- looks more like thus: ÎÎżÏ lÏÏ Î». ÎÎżÏ lÏÏ Î» â ?
Hmmm. Players: Letâs do a double-take: IN FACT, upon a closer review, there are no tauâs -- Ï -- in this code!
WOWEE!!! For some reason, Spencer has avoided Greek âtauâ Ï â completely. Indeed, while he generally
âtransliteratesâ directly, and, e.g., uses the Greek letter lambda, λ , to represent the English letter âlâ, he breaks the
pattern entirely and opts for a roman letter âlâ -- italicized -- to represent the English letter âtâ, where the Greek letter
âtauâ Ï , would have been expected !!! Got it? But ⊠Why??? And so, integrating these two irregularities, the word
âCertainâ [Which applies to those whom Spencer trusts to aid in the execution of his plot -- Ed.] ought to be written
with a âtauâ Ï as SΔÏÏαÎčÎœ, but appears instead as SΔÏlαÎčÎœ !!! âSerlainâ? WHY??? Itâs Quite strange⊠or else, bad
spelling again. MEANWHILE, the word âDoubtfulâ [Meaning those whom Spencer cannot rely upon during the
mutiny!!!â Ed.] which should be spelled correctly, with a âbâ which then gets transliterated to beta âÎČâ ; and also with
the English âtâ in place, which changes to another tau (Ï ) to give ÎÎżÏ ÎČÏÏÏ Î», appears instead as ÎÎżÏ lÏÏ Î». PLAYERS!
Itâs quite odd⊠A midshipman had to be able to read and write with proficiency.
At this point, one might be tempted to .. jump out a window!! Instead, PLAYERS: doublecheck the names on the list
for other inconsistencies ⊠and you might notice that among sailors and middies included, none of them has the letter
âtâ in his name. That is, none except Smith, whose âthâ will answer to Greek theta, Ξ. SÎŒÎčΞ. And Van Brunt? Or is it
Van Brunel? But there is no Tom, no Timothy, no Terry, no Ted; Walter, no Bart; No Milton, Hampton, Weston, or
Walton. No one else has a âtâ in his name. Henry Wiltham and Richard Hamilton â both with âtâ in their names --
were arrested when the Somers docked ( see p. 6 of the INQUIRY) but they appear nowhere on Spencerâs list â
whether of the SΔÏlαÎčÎœ âcertainâ or the ÎÎżÏ lÏÏ Î» âdoubtfulâ. Why not? I ask you!!!
PLAYERS: very deliberately, nowhere does Spencer use the Greek letter tau -- T or Ï -- in his code. Which forces
the question, was the code selected to cipher the names of the men; or, rather, were the âmutineersâ selected on board the
receiving vessel, U.S.S North Carolina, so that the code could be deployed ⊠but its real encryption go undetected?
Were they chosen in part because they had no âtââs in their names? Wow: that would be different. CONSIDER:
This text translates as:
Those doubtful, marked + will probably be induced
to Join, before the project is carried into execution.
The remainder of the Doubtful, will probably Join
when the Thing is done; if not, they must be forced.
If any not marked down, wish to Join after it is done,
we will pick out the best and dispose of the rest.
[Scary stuff !!â Ed.]
So ⊠Players, lets recap:
âSpencerâ used Greek âlambdaâ, λ, L for English l âLâ. But he used italic Roman âlâ â never capitalized -- for
English âtâ. Why would he do that? Players: this uncalled-for irregularity may indicate a secondary intention is at
work, perhaps in creating a different function for the âcodeâ: i.e., a different code is enfolded within the obvious
âcode,â â and this enfolded code, is dependent on letter forms: which forms Mids. Spencer wanted to hide or reveal,
only in certain Greek words!!! Spencer [Presumably !! â Ed.] designed the code to enable it to âmorphâ certain words
from their literal Greek transliteration, into some similar or âneighboring:â word: a word with comparable letter
structure â or âspellingâ â in English âŠ
Players!! Letter-form codes are all around us!
Theyâre often used to deceive Optical Character
Recognition (O.C.R.) software âbotsâ that would
exploit websites, to access content .. ïš ïš
14. ïTARRYTOWN TRIVIA ï
Finally, just a note under this heading:
The commander of the U.S.S. Somers, Capt. Alexander Slidell
MacKenzie was an author of some note, who published a number of
acclaimed books during the 1830âs and 1840âs, including three
important naval biographiesâŠ
After the disruption of his court-martial for the hanging of Spencer,
Cromwell & Small, Capt. MacKenzie moved to Tarrytown (New
York), where he settled in a small cottage, not far from the residence
of Commodore Matthew Galbraith Perry â who opened Japan to the
west.
Capt. MacKenzie had a close friend and correspondent in Tarrytown
(New York), in the famous writer, Washington Irving. Irving was
the author of such notable historical works, as Astoria, and a six
volume biography Life of George Washington .. to name just two.
Irving also authored some small pieces of local fiction⊠These two
men â MacKenzie and Irving -- had been childhood friends, and
remained close throughout their lives. Also in the neighborhood, was
Lt. James K. Paulding, another childhood friend of Washington
Irving, and co-editor with him, of the small, satirical magazine, the
Salamagundi Papers.
Yet ANOTHER neighbor in Tarrytown was Judge Ogden Hoffman,
who had grown up with Washington Irving: their prominent
families were friendly, one to the other. As a young man, Irving had
fallen in love with, and later married Hoffmanâs younger sister,
Matilda.
In a funny coincidence, Judge Ogden Hoffman was later to serve as
the Judge Advocate General who acted as the prosecutor at the
1843 court martial of Capt. MacKenzie, for his pre-emptory
hanging of the three mutineers onboard the U.S.S. Somers⊠Wow!!!
SMALL WORLD!!!!
With SUCH an amazing group of close-knit friends, representing such a concentration of highly-developed literary
talent, legal acumen, and naval expertise, its unfortunate these gifted men never got together : you know -- to collaborate
on some Magnificent Work or ⊠or design of fictionâŠ
Because, had they done so, Players: the result would certainly have been âŠ. Historical.
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