Son of a Gun!

A fairly lazy day. Historian Marie Conte-Helms described Captain Cook's voyages. I didn't know how extensive they were! Cultural anthropologist Tobias Sperlich enlightened us about ancient and modern Polynesian sports. Alas, clouds frustrated the attempts by astonomer Parkins to show us the Southern Cross!

The best event was music by a very animated violinist Roy Theaker. He was formerly Concert Master of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He gets more sound out of his violin than anybody except Margaret Batjer!

Nautical term: Son of a Gun. When in port, and with the crew restricted for an extended period of time, wives and ladies of easy virtue were often allowed to live on board along with the crew. Infrequently, but not uncommonly, children were born on the ship and a convenient place for the birth was between the guns on the gun deck. If the child's father was unknown, they were entered in the ship's log as a "son of a gun."Read more