Friday 13th

<Thanks all for your wishes. George, you have too much time on your hands!>

Friday 13th is unlucky in Slovakia due to August 13 1848, when Slovak batallion was annihilated in the bloody battle of Villagos. Virtually everyone present died. To this day 'Villagos' equals a bloody defeat or a beating in Slovak slang. (to get a villagos = to be beaten up).

Dag, you're going away this weekend, yes? When do you leave?

A birthday?

Happy birthday!!!!

manana, 2:30pm (flight is at 5). i'll call you if i get into the office early enough and will have some time for lunch or tea. mebby broadway market?

Re the alleged "HMS Friday":

Well, I have. The definitive 2-volume listing of RN vessels (which covers the 15th century to 1987, and includes not merely ships of the line but everything from tugs and cutters upwards, and not merely regular Navy vessels but vessels hired or leased by the Navy, plus those of the East India Company) knows of no HMS Friday. And it would be impossible for any such ship to be wiped from the records: the Admiralty's and the dockyards' records for the last 200 years are remarkably complete. If she had ever been built, there would be a full record and financial accounting for her building: if she had been put into commission - even for a single day - this would have to appear in the Admiralty's records.

Similarly, there are annual Navy Lists going back to 1700 giving the name and rank of every officer in the Navy and the ship he was serving in. Thus it is quite straightforward to track the career of any officer. If "Captain Jim Friday" ever existed, don't you think somebody would have found him in the lists by now, and produced a resume of his career, and a precise year for his disappearance?

Well wouldnt you know it!!A battle on my birthday(Aug 13th)!!!

I thought it was bad coz Jesus was put on the cross on a Friday and as previously stated there were 13 people in his group including JC and he was betrayed by Judas who was considered to be the 13th disciple.(or something like that)

Impressive research, syntinen. How did you come across this?

My husband owns a copy! Unfortunately he only owns a few 19th century Navy Lists, not a whole run, or I'd be able to tell you for definite if there had ever been an RN officer called Friday. (Mind you, I'd have to read all 300 volumes which would take quite a while.) But there wasn't anyone of that name in 1849, 1861 or 1885, which - given that you'd have to have been an officer for at least a decade to be given command of a ship - rules out a fair slice of the 19th century.

I'm impressed!

Hello, syntinen!

Great work syntinen - BTW, would you have title and publication info for that "definitive 2-volume listing of RN vessels"? Sounds like something I'd like to add to my library. I know I prolly could google it up easily, but I'm lazy enough to wait awhile to see if somebody hands me the info

http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Naval.html

may help

(I think we've looked some of this up before)

Fabulous website, ehBeth, thanks for the link. Not quite what I was after, but a great resource none the less.

I'll see what I've got at home, timber. As I said, we've looked at this before, and I may have saved some other links that are closer to the precise matter you're interested in.

Appreciate the effort - no need to go to any special trouble, but I'm an info addict - I'll take whatever I can get. I know you're familiar with the malady - Set's right there with me in that regard

It's called Ships of the Royal Navy by J J Colledge, 2nd (revised & expanded) edition published by Greenhill Books, London, 1987. ISBN # 0-947898-75-1.

Thaks a lot, syntinen ... gonna chase that down.