Friday, February 27, 2009

Interesting but utterly useless fact

Yesterday in HIST 3031: History Theory and Practice, the professor was showing us some of the Norfolk port records that she worked with.

And true to form, I found an interesting, though utterly useless fact (or datum) on the sheets that I was examining.

On the "Return of Inward Entries" on 26 January 1786, there was the following:

Ship: Rising Sun
Master: Wm. Westcott
Owner: Virginia
From Whence: Martinique
Tons: 80
Cargo: 27 hogshead rum

Of course, it is only interesting to me because of my interest in a certain Order. To anyone else, it would have just been another piece of trival data not worth noticing. Funny how the Order has warped my brain, isn't it?

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