Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Wednesday search challenge (6/13/12): The ship's name was...


While reading broadly the other day I ran across a most curious fact; an observation that I’ll pose to you as a question about a man most eldritch in character. 

Q:  Edgar Terry was transported from Fort Independence, MA to Fort Moultrie, SC.  What was the name of the ship that carried him to the fort in South Carolina? 

For extra credit:  His experiences at Fort Moultrie appeared in his later writings.  Can you find at least two of his writings that make use of his time there? 

43 comments:

  1. Brigantine Waltham

    Edgar A. Perry (aka Edgar Allan Poe) was stationed in Fort Independence as part of Battery H of the First Artillery. On October 31, 1827 Battery H was ordered to Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina. His battery sailed on the Brigantine Waltham, arriving for duty in Charleston on November 18th.

    Poe referred to South Carolina settings in several of his short stories such as The Balloon-Hoax and The Oblong Box, which trace their origins to his experiences on Sullivan’s Island. By far the most important of these works was The Gold Bug, originally published in 1843.

    http://www.nps.gov/fosu/planyourvisit/upload/Edgar_Allan_Poe.pdf

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  2. Ship was the the brigantine "Waltham". Poe referred to South Carolina settings in several of his short stories such as The Balloon-Hoax and The Oblong Box, which trace their origins to his experiences on Sullivan’s Island. IDed ship in about a minute. Stories a bit harder.

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  3. I have to assume you mean Edgar Perry, Edgar Allan Poe's pseudonym. He traveled from Fort Independence to Fort Moultrie on the Brigatine Waltham in 1827.

    Searched for from Fort Independence, MA to Fort Moultrie, SC

    Found a Park Service pamphlet about Poe ant Fort Moultrie and Edgar Perry.

    The same pamphlet mentions The Balloon-Hoaxand The Oblong Box, as being derived from his experience there.

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  4. Should it not be "Edgar Perry"?

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  5. Answer1: the Brig Waltham

    I found this by searching for Edgar Terry + "Fort Independence" + "Fort Moultrie" which took me to the Wikipedia page on Edgar Allan Poe. I learned there that EAP enlisted under the name Edgar Perry so I'm taking it that the Terry in your question is a typo.

    Answer 2: The Gold-Bug and The Balloon Hoax.

    Searched for Poe + Moultrie, this took me straight to the Wikipedia page on Moultrie which icites the titles above.

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  6. "... His battery sailed on the Brigantine Waltham, arriving for duty in Charleston on November 18th ..."

    source: http://www.nps.gov/fosu/planyourvisit/upload/Edgar_Allan_Poe.pdf

    time: 2 mins

    method: google ship Edgar "Fort Independence" "Fort Moultrie"
    5th link down

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  7. Edgar Allen Poe who enlisted as Edgar Perry not Terry. He traveled from Fort Independence to Fort Moultrie on the Brigantine Waltham. His experiences at Fort Moultrie were used in The Gold Bug and the Oblong Box.

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  8. Oh, it took me about 20 mintues to find this site: moultriehttp://www.nps.gov/fosu/planyourvisit/upload/Edgar_Allan_Poe.pdf. My initial google search was edgar + terry + fort + moultrie. Finally, I just searched for Fort Moultrie.

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  9. Answer: the Brigantine Waltham

    Extra Credit: "The Gold-Bug" and "The Balloon Hoax"

    Methodology:

    [ edgar terry ]
    This was a false lead. After reading the brief Wikipedia page for one "Wilson Edgar Terry," I changed my strategy.

    [ Fort Independence, MA Fort Moultrie, SC ]
    This led to a PDF document ( http://goo.gl/q00s6 ) about Edgar Allen Poe hosted on the National Park Service website. This document claimed that Edgar Allen Poe enlisted in the U.S. Army under the name "Edgar A. Perry" (not "Terry"). It goes on to state:

    "Poe was assigned to Battery H of the First Artillery at Fort Independence, Boston Harbor. On October 31, 1827 Battery H was ordered to Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina. His battery sailed on the Brigantine Waltham, arriving for duty in Charleston on November 18th."

    I found the same information on Poe's Wikipedia page ( http://goo.gl/vYl5 ).

    [ Edgar Allen Poe "Fort Moultrie" ]
    This led to the Wikipedia page ( http://goo.gl/GA7fw ) for Sullivan's Island, SC, which states that the island, which is home to Fort Moultrie, figured into Poe's "The Gold-Bug" and "The Balloon Hoax."

    Time: About 10 minutes to identify the ship and another 3-5 minutes to identify the two writings.

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  10. Very tricky!

    I believe the name in question is Edgar Perry (not Terry), the first pseudonym of Edgar Allan Poe. Early in his military career, he was stationed at Fort Independence and was later transferred to Fort Moultrie on the vessel Waltham on November 8, 1827.

    How did I get there?

    A search of Edgar Terry didn't really bring up much, either did Edgar Terry pseudonym.

    I then did a search for the two forts and saw that Edgar Allan Poe's name popped up a few times. Well, he was certainly eldritch in character, so I did a search for him and Edgar Terry, but still nothing.

    Next, I tried Poe and pseudonym and was able to come up with some hits about his first pen name being Edgar Perry. It started to add up, so I did some more searching on Poe and the two forts and was led to his Wiki page which details his military time in both MA and SC. In it, it mentions that he was transferred on the brig of the Waltham. A search for that ship and Poe confirmed the Wiki article.

    Extra credit:

    Two writings that feature Fort Moultrie are The Gold-Bug and The Balloon Hoax.

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  11. Edgar A Perry sailed on the Brigantine Waltham.
    His works 'The Balloon-Hoax' and 'The
    Oblong Box', which trace their origins to his
    experiences on Sullivan’s Island. Once I got past Terry vs Perry, about 5 minutes.

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  12. I began by searching for ["edgar terry"] and combinations including Fort Independence and Fort Moultrie. Came up with nada so I knew this was going to be a good challenge.

    Read that Fort Moultrie was on Sullivan's Island and [edgar terry "sullivan's island"] started to show results. Only thing is that somewhere along the line I was searching for ["edgar perry" "sullivans island"].

    Anyway, I got that Edgar Perry was really Edgar Allan Poe. Searching in Google Books for ["edgar allan poe" "fort sumter"] got me that he arrived on Brigantine Waltham.

    Everything Edgar Allan Poe Book: The Life, Times, and Work of a Tormented Genius By Shelley Costa Bloomfield, Shelly Bloomfield Costa
    http://books.google.com/books?id=hxRtLpHmEAYC&lpg=PA42&dq=%22edgar%20allan%20poe%22%20%22fort%20sumter%22&pg=PA41#v=onepage&q=%22edgar%20allan%20poe%22%20%22fort%20sumter%22&f=false

    I wanted to double check so searched for ["brigantine waltham"] to find a National Park Service PDF about Poe at Fort Moultrie.
    www.nps.gov/fosu/planyourvisit/upload/Edgar_Allan_Poe.pdf

    The pdf states 3 works related to his time there, The Gold Bug, The Balloon-Hoax and The Oblong Box.

    Time 30 minutes

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  13. The ship was the *Waltham*, but isn't it Edgar Perry? If I'm right, this was an alias for Edgar Allan Poe. Found the info in a National Park Service PDF about Ft. Moultrie by Googling Ft Moultrie and Ft Independence together.

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  14. He arrived on the Brigantine Waltham. We are talking about Edgar Allan Poe who had enlisted under a different name. His future works that include references to his time at Fort Moultrie include "The Gold Bug" and "Poems."

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  15. Edgar Allan Poe, or Edgar Perry, arrived at Fort Moultrie on the Brigantine Waltham. His later works that referenced his time at Fort Moultrie include "The Gold Bug" and a volume of poetry simply titled "Poems."

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  16. Do you mean by chance Edgar Perry, not Terry?

    The ship would be the Waltham, a brigantine. One story attributed to his time at Ft Independance by the Massachusetts Historical Society is the Cask of the Amontillado.

    Still looking for writings attributed to Ft. Moultrie.

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  17. Brigantine Waltham

    The Oblong Box and The Gold Bug

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  18. Ahh it was the Baloon Hoax and the Oblong Box I believe are the two stories you are referring to referenced in here...

    www.nps.gov/fosu/planyourvisit/upload/Edgar_Allan_Poe.pdf

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  19. The name of the ship is "Waltham".

    I am wondering if you meant to type "Edgar Perry". That was the pseudonym Edgar Allen Poe enlisted in the Army under because he was 18 but claimed to be 22. He was posted to Fort Independence and traveled to Fort Moultrie in 1827.

    Found via googling Fort Moultrie and Edgar Terry. This returned a lot or results with Poe mentioned. Read the Wikipeadia article on Poe and that mentions his enlistment under a fake name and the boat.

    The Gold Bug and The Balloon Hoax both mention Fort Moultrie/Sullivan's Island. From the Sullivan's Island wikipedia page found from googling poe and fort moultrie.

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  20. You of course mean 'Edgar Allan Poe". His short story "The Gold-Bug", and also "The Balloon Hoax" feature Sullivan's island, the location of Fort Moultrie. Also, he signed up to the army under the name 'Edgar Perry', not 'Terry'

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  21. The boats name was the Brigantine Waltham

    Extra Credit - The Gold Bug and The Balloon Hoax.

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  22. Brigantine Waltham
    - Balloon-Hoax
    - The Oblong Box

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  23. I love these!

    I got to the answer by finding the definition for "eldritch"
    Added that to "writer" and immediately though Poe.
    Googled for psuedonyms that Poe used, found Edgar Perry...easy after that.

    Time: About 3 minutes.
    Search that lead to answer: ["Edgar Perry" "Moultrie"]

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  24. during my searches, I suspect that you mean "Perry" not "Terry". That was a name that Edgar Allen Poe went by when he was stationed at Fort Independence.

    He traveled from Ft. Independence to South Carolina upboard the Brigantine Waltham.

    Fort Moultrie was used by Poe in "The Gold Bug".

    The search went particularly slow until I made the jump to Perry. Then only a few minutes.

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  25. The ship at the center of the lithograph is the New Ironsides, I believe.

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  26. Waltham was the ship, and his name was "Perry".

    “The Gold Bug,” “The Balloon Hoax” and “The Oblong Box" were three works that were written about the Fort Moultrie/Sullivans Island area.

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  27. Edgar PERRY not TERRY. He sailed on the Brigantine Waltham.

    Ship in photo is USS New ironsides.

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  28. I assume you meant Edgar Perry, not Terry. Edgar Allan Poe travelled to Fort Moultrie, SC, on the brig Waltham. His short story The Gold-Bug was set on Sullivan's Island and the weather balloon in The Balloon Hoax travelled from Great Britain to Sullivan's Island.

    First I searched for Fort Moultrie on Wikipedia. I didn't see anything there, so I searched for Fort Independence. In that entry I saw Edgar Allan Poe's name. I searched for Terry on Poe's page but came up empty, so I searched for "Edgar Allan Poe pseudonym" on Google and found Edgar A. Perry on Yahoo! Answers. I figured that was too much of a coincidence to be incorrect. If it is not, kudos on the misdirect.

    I then went back to Poe's Wikipedia entry and found that he travelled Waltham to SC. A Google search of Poe and Fort Moultrie lead me to Sullivan's Island's Wikipedia entry where the books were listed.

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  29. Edgar Allan Poe
    Waltham
    The Casuqe of Amontillado
    The Black Cat
    The Tell-Tale Heart

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  30. Edgar A. Perry, aka Edgar Allan Poe, but I already knew this as a librarian and a former resident of Charleston.

    A search on EAP's military history shows that he was a member of Company H, 1st Artillery Regiment at Fort Independence, MA. The unit was relocated to SC in 1827 to escape a malaria outbreak. A search of 'company h 1st artillery regiment' 1827 directed me to a website that featured a timeline for Fort Moultrie which showed that the regiment arrived in SC on the passenger-brig Waltham.

    Sullivan's Island (the location of Fort Moultrie) is featured in The Gold Bug and The Balloon Hoax.

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  31. Googled for Edgar Terry.
    Got wikipedia entry.
    Found Spanish-American war.
    Read about Edgar Allan Poe in the Italian version (i'm Italian).
    Found Waltham.
    The Casque of Amontillado, The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart follow easily

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  32. Well, knowing that you are in my old stamping grounds of Boston, I'm guessing that you're talking about one of the Hub's many literary products, Edgar Allan Poe. He enlisted in the US Army in 1827, serving at the fort on Castle Island. He later traveled to Fort Moultrie aboard the brigantine Waltham.

    This is another one where it is useful to use non-Internet knowledge. I know you are in Boston, a city that I basically grew up in.

    I started with a google search on "Edgar Terry Fort Independence Castle Island" to narrow down the time frame - after all, that part of Massachusetts has had a military presence since the 17th century. Lots of stuff came up referencing Edgar Allan Poe, but I filed it away mentally, just in case it was a red herring. As I read through the sites though, it was clear you were asking about Edger A. Perry, the pseudonym that Poe used when he enlisted. Then it was just a matter of checking the National Park Service pamphlet at [http://www.nps.gov/fosu/planyourvisit/upload/Edgar_Allan_Poe.pdf] to get the rest of the info:

    The Balloon Hoax, The Gold-Bug, and The Oblong Box all make mention of Sullivan's Island, the location of Ft. Moultrie.

    While you're in Boston, head over to the Red Hat on Bowdoin Street. Ask for Danielle.

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  33. Picture is wrong and misleading. First of all there never was a "bombardment" of Ft. Moultrie and certainly not in 1827. Ft. Sumter a few hundred yards away WAS bombarded almost continuously during the union blockade of Chalreston SC beginning 32 years later. Ironclads were first used in the war between the states, but Mr. Poe was long gone by then.

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  34. searched for "fort independence" "fort moultrie" and the first result was a pdf file called Edgar Allan Poe, hosted by the national park service, the preview in the search result was "at Fort Independence, Boston Harbor. On October. 31, 1827 Battery H was ordered to Fort Moultrie on. Sullivan's Island, South Carolina. His battery sailed ...", interesting enough to open, and voilá, every piece of information requested in this challenge was in it. Poe enlisted in the Army in May 1827 as Edgar A. Perry, he was assigned to Battery H of the 1st Artillery at Ft. Independence, Boston harbor. In October of the same year, he was ordered to Ft. Moultrie on Sullivan's Island, SC. His battery sailed on the Brigantine WALTHAM, arriving for duty on November 18th.

    His experience there appear in several short stories such as THE BALLOON-HOAX and THE OBLONG BOX, but none became as important as THE GOLD BUG.

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