By Fire And Ice
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By Fire and Ice
The Chemical Weapons Convention is a recently signed treaty that requires the dismantling and destruction of the massive stockpiles that many countries (most notably the United States and Russia) have built over the years. However, no simple or agreed-upon means exist to accomplish this admirable goal of the removal of chemical weapons. National security experts assert that the country, and the world as a whole, will be better off if chemical weapons are eliminated, while environmental experts assert that there is no way to accomplish this ambitious plan while conforming to existing national and community health and safety standards. Koplow examines the forced merger between the national security and the environmental policy makers, recognizing the necessity but warning of potential and actual conflicts in missions. Environmentalism and arms control are two crucial sectors of American and international public life that have long existed in segregated "parallel universes." Now these groups must
Death by Fire and Ice
Author: Brian O'Connor
language: en
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Release Date: 2022-10-15
Death by Fire and Ice tells the little-known story of the sinking of the steamboat Lexington on Long Island Sound in January 1840. Built in 1835 by Cornelius Vanderbilt, the Lexington left Manhattan bound for Stonington, Connecticut, at four o’clock in the afternoon on a bitterly cold day carrying an estimated one hundred forty-seven passengers and crew and a cargo of, among other things, baled cotton. After making her way up an ice-encrusted East River and into Long Island Sound, she caught fire off Eaton’s Neck on Long Island’s north shore at approximately seven o’clock. The fire quickly ignited the cotton stowed on board. With the crew unable to extinguish the fire, the blaze burned through the ship’s wheel and tiller ropes, rendering the ship unmanageable. Soon after, the engine died, and the blazing ship drifted aimlessly in the Sound away from shore with the prevailing wind and current. As the night wore on, the temperature plummeted, reaching nineteen degrees below zero. With no hope of rescue on the dark horizon, the forlorn passengers and crew faced a dreadful decision: remain on board and perish in the searing flames or jump overboard and succumb within minutes to the Sound’s icy waters. By three o’clock in the morning the grisly ordeal was over for all but one passenger and three members of the crew—the only ones who survived. The tragedy remains the worst maritime disaster in the history of Long Island Sound. Within days, the New York City Coroner convened an inquest to determine the cause of the disaster. After two weeks of testimony, reported daily in the New York City press, the inquest jury concluded that the Lexington had been permitted to operate on the Sound “at the imminent risk of the lives and property” of its passengers, and that, had the crew acted appropriately, the fire could have been extinguished and a large portion, if not all, of the passengers saved. The public’s reaction to the verdict was scathing: the press charged that the members of the board of directors of the Transportation Company, which had purchased the Lexington from Commodore Vanderbilt in 1839, were guilty of murder and should be indicted. Calls were immediately made for Congress to enact legislation to improve passenger safety on steamboats. This book explores the ongoing debate in Congress during the nineteenth century over its power to regulate steamboat safety; and it examines the balance Congress struck between the need to insulate the nation’s shipping industry from ruinous liability for lost cargo, while at the same time greatly enhancing passenger safety on the nation’s steamboats.
Iron, Fire and Ice
Have you read everything George R.R. Martin has every written? Do you know what in Game of Thrones is based in real history? A young pretender raises an army to take the throne. Learning of his father’s death, the adolescent, dashing and charismatic and descended from the old kings of the North, vows to avenge him. He is supported in this war by his mother, who has spirited away her two younger sons to safety. Against them is the queen, passionate, proud, and strong-willed and with more of the masculine virtues of the time than most men. She too is battling for the inheritance of her young son, not yet fully grown but already a sadist who takes delight in watching executions. Sound familiar? It may read like the plot of Game of Thrones. Yet that was also the story of the bloodiest battle in British history, fought at the culmination of the War of the Roses. George RR Martin’s bestselling novels are rife with allusions, inspirations, and flat-out copies of real-life people, events, and places of medieval and Tudor England and Europe. The Red Wedding? Based on actual events in Scottish history. The poisoning of Joffrey Baratheon? Eerily similar to the death of William the Conqueror’s grandson. The Dothraki? Also known as Huns, Magyars, Turks, and Mongols. Join Ed West, as he explores all of Martin’s influences, from religion to war to powerful women. Discover the real history behind the phenomenon and see for yourself that truth is stranger than fiction.