Casks and Quivers

Welcome to Casks and Quivers! I started this site/blog to discuss issues associated with two of my favorite activities: Brewing and Archery.  As a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, I have interest in how these activities occurred in the Middle Ages as well as in more modern times. I am particularly interested in finding modern scientific support for Medieval practices.  Recently, I developed an interest in researching the history of the WWII destroyer, USS Patterson, U.S. submarine war patrol reports, and poetry written in January 1 deck logs of ships during WWII. If you would like to know more about me “mundanely” and my SCA persona click on the about tab in the menu.  If you have any questions, feel free to email me or use this contact form.

     NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT!

The Midwatch in Verse Project is pleased to announce the forthcoming publicationof The Watch Stands as Written: Voices from the Midwatch. The book, published by WildBlue Press, provides insight into the thoughts, fears, and hopes of naval officers as they navigate the social and political milieu of the Cold War. It is currently available for pre-order ebook at Amazon.

Most nights the deck log counts the miles, the course, the wind, and sea— But once a year, by Navy style, it counts in poetry.

 

No poet laureate stood that watch, perhaps an ensign, pen in hand, Yet what they left us, line and notch, outlasts the ship, the sand.

 

Johnson, Guinn, and Keith have sought the verses archives hidden, proving what those sailors wrote. Read on: The Watch Stands as Written.

 

— Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret.), 16th Supreme Allied Commander, NATO and author of “The Turning Tide”

 

My friend, Gary Guinn, teamed up with me to author a book about the US Navy tradition of writing the first deck log entry of the New Year in verse. The book is now available order from McFarland Books. See the Midwatch in Verse page here.

“A unique and original telling of the story of the US Navy in World War II. A humane and delightful look at young officers in wartime called on to perform the most incongruous of duties—to write a poem in the place of a deck log. Midwatch in Verse informs, delights, and reveals a side of the US Navy known only to the few. Highly recommended.”

 

Admiral James Stavridis, author of “To Risk It All: Nine Conflicts and the Crucible of Decision” and “2034: A Novel of the Next World War.” Sixteenth Supreme Allied Commander at NATO – 2009-2013.

We also developed a new website for the Midwatch in Verse tradition.

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