Chapter 1
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| Broad bottomed bottle |
Captain Aubrey and his friend Captain Dundas are heading home after long voyages. They are drinking port from a broad bottomed bottle somewhere between Ushant and the Scilly Isles and are on the point of parting company. Dundas is heading for Portsmouth, Aubrey for Shelmerston and Dr. Maturin is headed for London.
Dundas confesses he is almost certainly going to arrested for debt once he lands at Portsmouth, and asks Aubrey if he could loan him 1,000 guineas. Aubrey, flush with loot from a very successful voyage, readily agrees as he has several hundred pounds of gold and silver on board.
So how much does 1,000 guineas of gold wiegh? Back in 1800 a Guinea was another term for an English pound sterling, one pound was worth $4.44 American and one ounce of gold was worth $20.
One thousand guineas would be worth $4,440, divide that $20 per ounce and we have 222 ounces. Divide that by 16 ounces per pound and we have 13 and 7/8 pounds, which is just shy of one stone (14 pounds). So it's something a man can carry, but you are going to notice the weight.
Given that gold is now somewhere around $2,000 an ounce, one stone of gold would be worth just shy of half a million dollars.
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| Ushant, the Scilly Isles & The English Channel |
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| Key to Above Map |
Just the first few places mentioned in Chapter 1. No matter how many islands I learn about, there is always a new one popping up. I've come across Ushant before (probably in another one of Patrick O'Brian's novels), but I never realized it was an island.
Ushant is also known as Ile de Ouessant. I´ve landed my Piper PA28 there about 30 years ago when it still only had grass runways. There was a great little restaurant at the harbour where officers from the French naval base at Brest would come over in a small boat for lunch, it was so good. Sadly gone now.
ReplyDelete12 miles from the coast, 30 miles from Brest, for lunch. Well, it sort of makes sense for navy guys, they are familiar with boats.
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