Thursday, December 07, 2006

HIATUS WEEK FOUR

HIATUS WEEK FOUR: December 7th, 2006

Bonus Section 1:

The Black Rock

This week’s special edition of The Lost Alternative Newsletter concerns the sea-trading frigate The Black Rock. But first, an epic poem concerning the fate of this slave ship turned trader…


The Black Rock Sea Trader
(To the tune of “[The Wreck of the] Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot.)

Which e’er way the wind turns
My son, first you must learn
Of that dangerous realm called the sea…

The seven seas they’re unkind
And they’ll leave you behind
That’s the future that fate kept for me…

‘Twas said Magnus alone
Could’ve killed Davy Jones
With a steely look or a frown…

Four score odd the crew,
Filled with gold it is true,
To Portsmouth forever now bound…

At the New World quay
Twenty-three vacant each day
‘Cept for grieving wives, sons and daughters…

No one’s ever claimed
Or were found the remains
Nor precious metals to fill up the coffers…

O’er ancient whale roads
That entwine the whole globe
And along the trade winds of wrath…

The ocean, it’s said,
Never speaks of the dead
When the cold winds of winter tack back…

The first mate made rounds
And the rigging odd sounds
As great waves broke o’er the railing…
And every man knew,
As Magnus did, too,
That the hull of The Black Rock was failing…

When the storm came a stealing
With every man reeling
Came the wreck of the ship The Black Rock…
Then the gales came a slashing
And the lightening flashing
Never again to find New World dock…
Where lies this man brave
Lost in some watery grave
As the mariners all know so well…

That a ship filled with gold
Or slaves ever so bold
Is destined to run ‘ground in hell…

Their fate remains lost
Their lives an uncommon cost
And the widow’s pine, wasting their prime…
In Portsmouth they prayed
Over every bare grave
And the church bells chimed forty odd times…

Now here is the mystery
That’s hidden from history
The ship found a tropical land…

A mysterious place
That rose out of the waves
A place touched by the Almighty’s hand…

Which e’er way the wind turns
My son, first you must learn
Of a dangerous realm called the sea…

The seven seas they’re unkind
And they’ll leave you behind
That’s the future that fate kept for me…

WHRIII
The Alternative One

The Black Rock

History

The Black Rock was owned and operated by the British trading group the New World Sea Traders and was one of three slave ships the company employed. The institution of slavery had been banned in August 1834 by the “Abolition of Slavery Act” in Great Britain, suggesting that the New World Sea Traders operated for over 50 years in the black market slave trade. At the time, the reputation as a slaver was the equivalent to piracy, one of the more unpopular enterprises of the day.

Magnus Hanso, grandfather of Alvar and a former ship’s captain who became a shipping industry entrepreneur, owned and controlled The New World Sea Traders. While no direct ownership has ever been verified, it is known that The Black Rock sailed out of slip 23 in Portsmouth docks and was scheduled to return there. Hanso's trading group managed slips 18 though 27. It is possible that the Hanso Foundation may have been seeded with money made from the proceeds gained through the slave trade by the New World Sea Traders.

The Black Rock disappeared in 1881, on a return voyage from gold mining operations in the South Indian Ocean. According to traders on Papua New Guinea, the ship sailed away from port in an easterly direction, rather than west to Africa, where it would exchange gold from the mines in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea for more slaves. According to a mysteriously discovered ship’s manifest, The Black Rock initially sailed from Portsmouth, England. A crew of approximately 40 men, along with an uncounted number of slaves, was presumably lost at sea. Magnus Hanso was known to retain a hands-on passion for the sea and insisted on captaining several voyages every year. It is thought that he was captaining The Black Rock himself, or on board, when the ship disappeared (based on the note on the Blast Door Map.)

The sale of the company in 1882 to the East Ocean Trade Group saw the remainder of the New World Sea Traders slavery and military vessels converted to legitimate trading ships.

(This webpage contains addition information concerning The Black Rock: The New World Traders)

Arrival

From what has been revealed to date, it seems that the ship may have reached the Island on its way back from Papua New Guinea. Its mission was to reach Africa, where it was to exchange gold for more slaves. However, since the ship ended up to the east of Papua New Guinea it would have been traveling the wrong direction and it was stated by traders that the ship set sail east instead of west. One possible explanation of this discrepancy may lie in the composition of the island itself. The magnetism here is disorderly and may have caused the ship’s compasses to give incorrect readings. A good sextant, however, would have told them that they were sailing in the incorrect direction. The ship’s final resting place is a great distance inland, a phenomenon that has yet to be explained. Some believe that like the great continent of Mu, the island rose out of the ocean and trapped the ship well inland. This is, of course, only a theory.

On the Island

The Black Rock was a British slave ship turned trader found far inland on the Lost Island by Danielle Rousseau, the location of which she later shared with survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 (episode “Exodus, Part 1” [123]). The reason for its inland resting place and most of its history are a mystery. Portions of its story and accounts were revealed through The Lost Experience alternative reality game during the summer of 2006. Rousseau, Jack, Kate, Locke, Hurley, and Arzt explored the ship looking for dynamite to blow open the Swan Station hatch so that they would have a place to hide from The Others. The Dark Territory, so named by Rousseau, is where the Black Rock is located and is the “primary nexus of Cerberus-related activity” according to the Blast Door Map.

After Rousseau left, Locke, Kate and Jack entered the ship through a very large hole in the hull of the vessel. Outside, Arzt and Hurley conversed about their situations. Inside the ship, skeletons were found shackled together, supposedly the remains of the slaves. Old mining equipment was also found, including the dynamite. At least two cases were located inside the ship's hold. According to Locke the ship “must have been in route to a mining colony, probably set off from the eastern coast of Africa, Mozambique.” The Survivors removed one of the cases from the ship. While handling an unstable stick of dynamite, the unfortunate Arzt was killed when the dynamite ignited. After Arzt exploded the remaining survivors left the ship with a number of sticks of dynamite and have never returned to the site. The hole in the side of the ship may indicate that it crashed up on rocks but does not explain how it got so far inland. The skeletons also pose a problem, as they do not resemble the normal method in which slaves are shipped. However, as a black marketeer this inconsistency may be overlooked.

When The Black Rock was revealed as a slave ship this past summer it raised several interesting questions. In which era did it originate? The ship appears to be a multi-mast steamer from the late 19th or early 20th Century when ships used a combination of sails and coal-fed engines as power. It also looks too modern to be from the conventional period of African slave trade, which took place, for the most part, on the west coast of Africa and had been banned by most countries by the early 19th century. According to John Locke it was probably headed from the East Coast of Africa to a mining colony. Also, if the ship is truly over 100 years old, how did a wood and steel vessel survive the heat and humidity of the jungle for so long?

The survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 discovered the Black Rock about 45 days after the crash. However, its existence was established much earlier in the series. The Black Rock was first mentioned in Danielle Rousseau’s radio distress signal, though Shannon did not translate this at that time.

The ship had been discovered long before the arrival of the survivors of Flight 815. Both Rousseau, a survivor of a separate shipwreck 16 years earlier, and Radzinsky or Kelvin Inman, previous “occupants” of The Swan station, located the ship independently of each other. Radzinky or Kelvin mapped The Black Rock and recorded it on the hidden map on the inside of the blast door. The note reads, “KNOWN FINAL RESTING PLACE OF MAGNUS HANSO/BLACK ROCK”. This appears to indicate that Magnus Hanso was captaining, or at least on board, the ship when it disappeared and is buried in or near the wrecked vessel.

Rousseau mentioned The Black Rock to the captured Sayid in the episode “Solitary” [109]. Also, a section of her map, stolen by Sayid after his escape, was labeled “Back Rock” Rousseau later claimed that there was a Radio Tower near The Black Rock, from where she broadcast her long-running distress signal.

The Black Rock Theories

The Black Rock is found so far inland because the Island, like the lost continent of Mu, has the ability to raise itself up out of the ocean, thus capturing nearby vessels.

The Black Rock was wrecked on the island because of the mysterious magnetic field ability that the island has that enables it to attract boats and aircraft. While the Black Rock does not appear to be a metal ship, the magnetism could have affected the ship's instruments. The island may have the power to attract other vessels as well, including Desmond's race-around-the-world sailboat, Henry Gale's hot air balloon, and the Nigerian Drug Smugglers' Plane.

It is possible that The Black Rock could have landed there through a tidal wave or tsunami. It could have simply carried the ship there and dumped it in far into the island. Such a huge Tsunami could have also wiped out any indigenous population at that time, and would also explain why the rest of the Four-Toed Statue is missing.

Some or all of the Others could have descended from the crew of The Black Rock.
Adam and Eve could have been survivors of The Black Rock’s crash.

“The Black Rock” could refer to the black stone found with Adam and Eve. This could mean Adam was Magnus Hanso.

The ship may have suffered a mutiny and sailed east for refuge in the south Pacific islands rather than return to England.

The note on the Blast Door Map could have dual or misunderstood meanings. While most think that the note, which reads, “Known final resting place of Magnus Hanso/Black Rock” means that Magnus is buried there it may mean the final resting place of Magnus Hano’s Black Rock. The slash between “Magnus Hanso” and “Black Rock,” indicates an uncertainty and is rather vague as to its true meaning.

It could have crashed on the shore originally, and the strange tides of the island shifted to reveal more land. In season one, the survivors mentioned the beach washing away with the tide, covering some of the wreckage of the plane. Perhaps this area used to be a beach, but the islands shape has changed dramatically.

The Black Rock is depicted in the mural of the Swan station.

Bonus Section 2:

Magnus Hanso

Magnus Hanso is the grandfather of Alvar Hanso. A 19th century sea captain and shipping merchant, he commanded the Black Rock. The Blast Door Map suggests he is buried near the site of the ship wreckage.

In The Lost Experience

A page from the rare book New World Sea Traders was posted on Rachel Blake's website (see link above). It revealed Magnus Hanso to be the owner of the New World Sea Traders, a company prominent in the 1880s, with connections to the slave trade.

Hanso sold the company to the East Ocean Trade Group, which was bought in the 1950’s by the Hanso Group and renamed Allied Copenhagen Marine Merchants.

After acquiring the New World Sea Traders' fifteen ships (including two sloops and a frigate), East Ocean Trade Group converted them into legitimate trading vessels.

The article also mentions that Hanso continued to captain several voyages each year, which explains how he could have been aboard the ship when it “wrecked.”

Meanings of the Name and References

The name “Magnus Hanso” is equal to “The Great Hanso”, or “Hanso the Great”.

“Magnus” is a Latin word for “great”, “large”, “big”, “very”, “very much” or “important”, etc.

Magnus is the Latin form of the Dutch surname “de Groot” (both meaning "The Great"). Karen and Harold de Groot created the DHARMA Initiative.

Albertus Magnus was a German philosopher and theologian.

Magnus was one of the greatest alchemists of all time, and was also the discoverer of the legendary "Philosopher's Stone" (which may have been the progemnator to the Life Extension Project.)

Additional reading:

“Lo!”, “The Book of the Damned”, “New Lands”, & “Wild Talents” by Charles Fort
(Charles Fort )

“The Illuminatus! Trilogy” by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
(The Illuminatus! Trilogy)

“Foucault’s Pendulum” by Umberto Eco
(Umberto Eco)

“The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown

“The Voynich Manuscript” Wilfrid M. Voynich
(Voynich)

“Fortean Times” Magazine
(Fortean Times)

“Stonehenge Complete” by Christopher Chippendale

“Centuries of Darkness” by Peter James
(Centuries of Darkness )

“The Study of Yōkai” by Inoue Enryo
( Inoue Enryo)

“Science Frontiers” & “Handbook of Unusual Natural Phenomena: Eyewitness

“Accounts of Nature's Greatest Mysteries “by William R. Corliss

“Alternative Realities” By Leonard George
(Leonard George)

“The Anomalist” edited by Patrick Huyghe and Dennis Stacey
( The Anomalist)

“The Rough Guide to Unexplained Phenomena” by Bob Rickard and John Mitchell

“Borderlands: The Ultimate Exploration of the Unknown” by Mike Dash

“Remote Viewing Secrets” by Joseph McMoneagle

“The Conscious Universe” by Dean Radin

“Mr. Wilson's Cabinet Of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology” by Lawrence Weschler

“Philosophy of Science and the Occult” Patrick Grim, ed.

“The Engines of God” by Jack McDevitt
(Jack McDevitt/)

“The Egypt Code” by Robert Bauval
(The Egypt Code)

The Alternative One
Kenosha, Wisconsin
December 7th, 2006

P.S. I am looking for suggestions on what to include in next weeks Bonus Section. If anyone has any ideas or subjects you’d like me to discuss please feel free to e-mail me.



4 8 15 16 23 42

The Alternative One – dharmapoet@wi.rr.com

HIATUS WEEK THREE

HIATUS WEEK THREE: November 30th, 2006

Hacking away at a story!

For your amusement and entertainment!

This week’s issue of the newsletter is not your standard fair of Lost related ephemera. I apologize in advance to anyone who was looking forward to the normal exposé concerning some detail of the world found on that tiny island called Lost. As Douglas Adams is fond of saying, “Don’t panic!” I certainly intend to continue producing the newsletter each week. However, at the risk of self-promotion (and those who know me know that I rarely do so) I’d like to introduce you to a new fiction that I and another fan, Amelia Crater, have been pursuing over the past few weeks.

I have always imagined myself a writer, of sorts. It is something that has quite consumed me for a very long time. While poetry has always been my main interest the short story and the novel have also been very appealing to me. Writing this newsletter and receiving your compliments and encouragement (you know who you are) has giving me the confidence to stretch my literary legs a bit, so to speak.

Amelia and I have created a story that takes place in the world of the Lost Experience and also contains threads of the weekly series, as well. It is called “The Apocalypse Equation” and we have already finished a number of chapters and have posted them to a new blog site.

The story concerns a hack writer named Iben Powned who is dragged into the world of Alvar Hanso and Thomas Mittlewerk simply because he wanted to write for a TV program. He has been a writer for such famous weekly programs as “Frankenfreaks”, “Deathwatch”, “The Lost Barbarian”, “After Night Falls” and “The Opened Eye.” Iben moves from exploit to adventure (sometimes in the same chapter) bumbling his way and unraveling some of the questions posed during the Lost Experience (NOT!). We’ve attempted to create a character that is humorous, unwitting, and unhurried yet smart enough to know that he has entered a world that is well beyond his limits to comprehend.

The address to our site is:
http://theapocalypseequation.blogspot.com/
We encourage you to visit, read, and respond by e-mailing us or leaving a comment (be nice please.) Let us know what you think. Let us know if you have ideas that could be incorporated into the story. But in any event… let us know!

We now return you to your normal programming!

The Alternative One
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Date November 30th, 2006

P.S. I won’t bother to detail who wrote what concerning the story (in reality it really doesn’t matter) but ask that you, our closest Lost friends, critique and inform us of your opinions concerning our creation. Remember we are doing this for fun and for our own amusement. We’d like to invite you to enter our fictionalized world today. And hey… after reading the story, if you think you’d like to write a chapter or two then let me know, send it to me, and we’ll do what we always do… edit the living daylights out of it.

P.S.S. The famous weekly programs that Iben wrote for are fictional and exist only in the minds of the writers.

P.S.S.S. I am looking for suggestions on what to include in next weeks Bonus Section. If anyone has any ideas or subjects you’d like me to discuss please feel free to e-mail me.



4 8 15 16 23 42

The Alternative One – dharmapoet@wi.rr.com