Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,753 
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
|
Post by Catsmate on Jan 12, 2024 19:31:45 GMT
A few notes from my file on an odd and interesting man, and his activities. Suitable for most Pulp-ish games as well as a Who scenario set in the 1930s.
McDonald’s Expedition.
The Enquirer & Evening News, "Machine Guns Used to Fight Off Sharks" [14FEB1930]
Lieutenant Commander Eugene McDonald was an officer in the US Naval Reserve and the millionaire owner of the Zenith Radio Company, based in Chicago, Illinois. The company was a pioneer in new developments in the fascinating new field of radio communications in the inter-war period.
McDonald was noted as a shrewd businessman and strategist in the radio field1.
- During the Great War McDonald was a US Navy officer, working for Naval Intelligence and specialising in the technical aspects of communications. Unless this was a cover for something else; Naval Intelligence was basically the only US foreign intelligence agency at the time.
On 03JAN1930, he embarked on a 5-week cruise of the East Pacific, starting in Miami, Florida, and travelling through the Panama Canal.
- McDonald2 was the owner and skipper of the Mizpah, a 56-metre luxury yacht built for $1.3 million in 1926, using components of a discarded US Navy destroyer. While nominally based on Lake Michigan in the Lincoln Park yacht harbour in Chicago, the vessel was seaworthy and was often stationed in Miami.
- During the Second World War the vessel served as an ASW patrol craft.
The Mizpah was a luxurious, fast, ship; it had a 27-man crew and sported eight fully equipped state rooms with real beds rather than the usual cramped maritime berths.
This was not McDonald's first exploratory expedition; during the 1920s he'd taken part in several. His most interesting and famous trip had been acting as second-in-command of the MacMillan Arctic Expedition of 1925. That trip had been financed heavily by McDonald (unless he was acting as a proxy for ONI of course) and included major figures in Arctic exploration, Richard Byrd and Donald MacMillan.
- The expedition was backed by the National Geographical Society, with resources provided the US Navy. They surveyed Baffin and Ellesmere Islands, the Greenland icecap, and several previously unexplored areas of the Arctic Sea.
Accompanying McDonald were:
- Dr. Baker Brownell, Professor of Contemporary Thought at Northwestern University in Chicago and archeologist and philosopher. Brownell was a polymath who taught his students to integrate different fields of studies.
- Reverend Dr. F. Fitzgerald; archeologist
- Dr. George Fox, curator of the Chamberlain Memorial Museum in Three Oaks, and archeologist. Fox’s speciality was prehistoric Native Americans. Fox was a field researcher who in 1929 had walked some 1,280 km alone through the Bahamas Islands on a 2-month expedition.
- Major Charles Hanna, an aviator and US Army Air Corps veteran. Also former mayor of Syracuse, New York.
- U.J. "Sport" Herrmann, a sportsman and manager of the Cort Theatre in Chicago. Hermann had once been appointed book censor at the Chicago Public Library where be publicly announced plans to burn "all seditious volumes found on the shelves", until the city stopped him.
- John Lock, a former businessman turned supporting comedy actor.
A curious bunch.
What exactly did the expedition get up to? Well that's not at all well documented I'm afraid. But there's plenty of room for speculation.
Before embarking on the voyage McDonald spoke to a reporter from The Tampa Morning Tribune (entitled "Explorer Sails from Miami on Secret Trip Aboard Armed Yacht") where McDonald said
“We have one chance in a thousand of accomplishing our objective, and I do not wish to discuss it before hand”.
heavy armament certainly indicated a supposed element of danger to the expedition.
- The ship was rather well armed, with two one pounder cannon mounted and a ship’s locker stocked with revolvers, pistols, rifles, Thompson submachine guns, Browning Automatic Rifles, Lewis and Browning machine guns and Winchester trench guns, plus boxes of grenades and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition, as well as dozens of cases of dynamite. There was also a portable 37mm cannon.
The newspapers called it a "secret mission". They may not have been far off.
The explorers never revealed their objective even after they returned on 12FEB1930, though there were rumours of explorations to find pirate treasures on Isla del Coco (off Costa Rica).
Though all those archaeologists don't seem to fit this.
One incident occurred when they stopped at the Galápagos Islands. McDonald gifted one of the rifles, with 1,500 rounds of ammunition, to the eccentric German dropout Dr. Friedrich Ritter.
- Ritter had been a dentist who dabbled in philosophy and had emigrated to Floreana, one of the Galápagos islands.
According to the Ritter's 'companion' Dorothea Strauch Körwin, McDonald and his companies explored the island.
- Curiously Körwin (who co-wrote a book, Satan Came to Eden, about her life on the island) didn't mention that Ritter had murdered two (at least) of the others on the island, or that she's poisoned Ritter herself.
Another oddity was McDonald 'divining rod', which he was supposed to have kept in his cabin.
- McDonald was a student of the paranormal and had been involved with Dr. Joseph Rhine, then a botanist who dabbled in Extrasensory Perception.
Game Use.
The perfect person to drop in to any Whovian oddity that happens in the 1930s, or indeed during the War or afterwards. A man with technical skills, an interest in things beyond the everyday, and ONI connections.
Perhaps the PCs arrive on the stereotyped tropical island to find McDonald already there, with plans to meddle in something. Using lots of dynamite....
Then again, perhaps he was an operative with LONGBOW.
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?
1. In 1947 he developed the first television encryption system, the forerunner of the scrambling systems in use for pay-to-view television today.
2. McDonald preferred to be referred to as "The Commander" by friends and employees.
|
|
|
|
Post by thewarchief on Jan 14, 2024 2:08:50 GMT
Considering McDonald's background, and those who accompanied him, how about...
McDonald picked up strange radio signals while doing his experiments, showed the results to Dr. Bronwell, and the pair realized that the language was similar to those of certain cultures native to the Galapagos. This would suggest the existence of a more advanced culture there that previous thought. Perhaps McDonald even made contact.
The expedition reached the island, and made contact with some "non-human" culture, but things went sour, and eventually the whole Galapagos Affair was covered up.
THe non-humans could be Sea Devils (apparently there is an old legend about the turtles of the islands being able to look into someone soul and curse them if the see evil), or even the "Atlanteans" from the Underwater Menace. Or even some new species.
BTW, Where did you see that the ship had a one pounder and a 37mm? I was stating up the Mizpah (Which means 'watchtower' which is interesting), and was wondering which guns she had. Wikipedia just shows the 3 inch guns and the M2s but that was probably after the Navy got her in 1942.
USS Mizpah
Armour: 9 (max) Hit Capacity: 43 Speed: S(ea) 2
Vickers Quick Firing 1-pdr Mark I (37mm “pom-pom”)
Damage: (only have Mk II Common Shell, explosive) 5/10/15, Blast Radius: 1/2/4 inter-spaced with tracers (+2 to hit)
Ammo: belt (150?)
Range: 175/350/1050
Recoil: -3
Notes: burst, automatic; gun weight 186 kg and is portable
I picked the "pom-pom" here as it was a 1-pounde, a 37mm gun, was portable, and could serve as an anti-aircraft gun, filling all the criteria listed above, and making them very flexible, justifying McDonald taking them for a variety of missions, which keeps the GMs options open for the adventure. Solid shot wasn't reliable for this weapon but did 5/11/16. A semi-AP round (-2 or -3 armour) was certainly possible, if the adventure requires. But two of these can mount a pretty formidable defense, for a civilian ship in 1930. Not all that bad by modern standards.
There are a few other 37mm and 1-pounders available though. Both the US Mk IX heavy (Short Hotchkiss) and C.O.W. 37mm had advantages
Arms Locker:
Submachineguns
M1921/28 Thompson SMG
Damage: 2/5/7 or 3/6/9
Ammo: 20 or 30 box, 50 or 100 drum
Machineguns
Browning Automatic Rifle
Damage: 3/7/10
Ammo: 20 box, (40 box available for AA)
Lewis Gun
Damage: 3/7/10
Ammo: 47 or 97 pan
Heavy Machineguns
Browning M2
Damage: 4/9/13
Ammo: 200 (Belt)
Recoil: -2
Range: 75/300/450
Shotguns
Winchester M 1897 (Trench Gun)
Damage: slug 3/7/10, shot 3/6/9 (+1 to hit)
Ammo: 5 tube
|
|
Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,753
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
|
Post by Catsmate on Jan 14, 2024 15:36:51 GMT
Considering McDonald's background, and those who accompanied him, how about... McDonald picked up strange radio signals while doing his experiments, showed the results to Dr. Bronwell, and the pair realized that the language was similar to those of certain cultures native to the Galapagos. This would suggest the existence of a more advanced culture there that previous thought. Perhaps McDonald even made contact. The expedition reached the island, and made contact with some "non-human" culture, but things went sour, and eventually the whole Galapagos Affair was covered up. THe non-humans could be Sea Devils (apparently there is an old legend about the turtles of the islands being able to look into someone soul and curse them if the see evil), or even the "Atlanteans" from the Underwater Menace. Or even some new species. BTW, Where did you see that the ship had a one pounder and a 37mm? I was stating up the Mizpah (Which means 'watchtower' which is interesting), and was wondering which guns she had. Wikipedia just shows the 3 inch guns and the M2s but that was probably after the Navy got her in 1942.
USS Mizpah Armour: 9 (max) Hit Capacity: 43 Speed: S(ea) 2
Wrt the Mizpah, it was covered in a book (of the paper kind) I have about the weird story of Friedrich Ritter and Dorothea Strauch Körwin and their attempt to settle the Galápagos island of Floreana. A truly odd story involving them abandoning their spouses, and losing their teeth (Ritter pulled his out intentionally, Körwin's apparently rotted rapidly: the pair shared a pair of stainless steel teeth), and quoting the philosophers Lao Tse and Nietzsche. Oh, and nudity.
This settlement would attract others, mainly German and Austrian, and lead to infighting and murder. Plus
lots of sex, contradictory memoirs and regular afternoon tea, with pastries.
Things were complicated by the arrival, in 1933, of "Baroness" Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn and her harem.
The book listed a number of mounted Browning machine guns, and portable Lewis guns and a 37mm gun (probably the M-1916 or M-1917). The ship's artillery was listed as "a pair of one-pounder guns", perhaps the same weapon or the old "pom pom". Both were used by the US Coast Guard during the Rum Wars.
The ship's complement were described as heavily armed, with rifles, trench guns, sidearms and BARs, plus hand grenades. Which strikes me as a little odd....
The island has an interesting earlier history, with Darwin visiting, Ecuador using the island as a penal colony (or sacrificing prisoners to something) and the island being used, in the sixteenth century, as a pirate base, with the caves on the island used to hide from the Spanish Armada. There might even be pirate treasure.
Personally I'd suggest for scenario purposes that someone in Europe knew there was something interesting on the island, perhaps old records from the Shadow Directory, Torchwood or Project Hermod. Assume the homesteading and tourist hotel is cover for exploring to find whatever is on the island.
And McDonald's ONI connections may have sent him along to investigate, hence the armament, based on rumours or notes in the old Secret Congress files (perhaps the island was explored by Americans during the period of the Guano Islands Act.
- I have an idea for a scenario, inspired by The Beach set on an island in the Malaysia/Thailand area occupied by a group of occultists with Shadow Directory connection who've found something there that grants them immortality, at the price of regular human sacrifices.
|
|
|
|
Post by thewarchief on Jan 14, 2024 16:31:35 GMT
Deuterocanonically there was a Silurian colony under the Galapagos islands, it appeared in Bloodtide, so there is support for Sea Devils, perhaps degenerate Reptilians whose stasis pod malfunctioned. What if the pods malfunctioned some time ago, leading to native inhbitents being aware of the Siliuans for years. That would explain the archaeologists specialized in native cultures. You got a handful of Silurians living in secret on the island, watching over their sleeping brethren. What if an earthquake damaged the power generators which would force the Silurians to waken thier comrades, unless the generator can be repaired? I'm somewhat familar with the story, including the people who went missing, yet left most their valuables behind. I was curious as to the weaponry, especially as thre was so much of it. Personally I'd prefer the pom-poms, they are lighter, faster, probably more reliable, and all three guns fire the same 37mmx94R round. I'll still do up the stats for the other two, though. More than a little. They are armed for bear, or worse. Yeah the seas weren't as safe back then, but even so, and ex-navy patrol ship, armed with two cannon and lots of small arms. They really don't have to worry about anything smaller than an actual Naval vessel. This whole story reads like something from Call of Cthulhu. Or an alien artifact that fell into pirate hands. What is some bit of Silurian tech was lost to pirates long ago. Either McDonald is going out looking for the McGuffin, and/or the Silurians want it back. Sounds good, although I think McDonald must of confirmed something via radio. Either he picked up someones transmissions or made contact with them. [/quote][/quote][/font][/quote] Cool. I was thinking, since Major Charles Hanna, is an ex US Air Corps, perhaps they arranged for a seaplane to meet them on site. They were used by several militarys for maritime reconnaissance. Interestingly the Mizpah carried Lewis Guns, which were common machineguns on British, including most of thier seaplanes. And the US used a converted Fellowstone flying boat. The Aeromarine 75 was a civilian conversion of the Felixstowe F5L , which had been recently retired from US service. Civilian ones could accomodate up to 10 passengers, with the 1928 conversion being able to carry 25 passengers. Plus the F5L could carry bombs. It's got a range of over 1300 km, so it could scout a large area, fetch needed supplies, or explain why some people disappeared. It could even be used to drop bombs down a volcano to stop the Silurians.
Felixstowe F5LArmour: 5 Hit Capacity: 18 Speed: L(ow) 6 Armament: Two Machineguns (Lewis Guns, Damage: 3/7/10), with possibly two more. Can carry up to 417kg of bombs. Bomb: 12.5kg Damage: 9/19/28, Blast Radius: 7/18/37m Bomb: 25kg Damage: 9/19/28, Blast Radius: 9/23/46m Bomb: 50kg Damage: 10/20/30, Blast Radius: 12/29/58m The Short 166 was a foldable plane that could have been carried in the Mizpah. It had a crew of 2, and endurance of 4 hours, and it could carry three 112 lb (50 kg) bombs. Short Type 166 F5LArmour: 4 Hit Capacity: 13 Speed: L(ow) 4 |
|
Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,753
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
|
Post by Catsmate on Jan 14, 2024 18:24:10 GMT
Deuterocanonically there was a Silurian colony under the Galapagos islands, it appeared in Bloodtide, so there is support for Sea Devils, perhaps degenerate Reptilians whose stasis pod malfunctioned. What if the pods malfunctioned some time ago, leading to native inhbitents being aware of the Siliuans for years. That would explain the archaeologists specialized in native cultures. You got a handful of Silurians living in secret on the island, watching over their sleeping brethren. What if an earthquake damaged the power generators which would force the Silurians to waken thier comrades, unless the generator can be repaired? I'm somewhat familar with the story, including the people who went missing, yet left most their valuables behind. I was curious as to the weaponry, especially as thre was so much of it. Personally I'd prefer the pom-poms, they are lighter, faster, probably more reliable, and all three guns fire the same 37mmx94R round. I'll still do up the stats for the other two, though. More than a little. They are armed for bear, or worse. Yeah the seas weren't as safe back then, but even so, and ex-navy patrol ship, armed with two cannon and lots of small arms. They really don't have to worry about anything smaller than an actual Naval vessel. This whole story reads like something from Call of Cthulhu. Or an alien artifact that fell into pirate hands. What is some bit of Silurian tech was lost to pirates long ago. Either McDonald is going out looking for the McGuffin, and/or the Silurians want it back. Sounds good, although I think McDonald must of confirmed something via radio. Either he picked up someones transmissions or made contact with them. I was thinking, since Major Charles Hanna, is an ex US Air Corps, perhaps they arranged for a seaplane to meet them on site. They were used by several militarys for maritime reconnaissance. Interestingly the Mizpah carried Lewis Guns, which were common machineguns on British, including most of thier seaplanes. And the US used a converted Fellowstone flying boat. The Aeromarine 75 was a civilian conversion of the Felixstowe F5L , which had been recently retired from US service. Civilian ones could accomodate up to 10 passengers, with the 1928 conversion being able to carry 25 passengers. Plus the F5L could carry bombs. It's got a range of over 1300 km, so it could scout a large area, fetch needed supplies, or explain why some people disappeared. It could even be used to drop bombs down a volcano to stop the Silurians.
Felixstowe F5LArmour: 5 Hit Capacity: 18 Speed: L(ow) 6 Armament: Two Machineguns (Lewis Guns, Damage: 3/7/10), with possibly two more. Can carry up to 417kg of bombs. Bomb: 12.5kg Damage: 9/19/28, Blast Radius: 7/18/37m Bomb: 25kg Damage: 9/19/28, Blast Radius: 9/23/46m Bomb: 50kg Damage: 10/20/30, Blast Radius: 12/29/58m The Short 166 was a foldable plane that could have been carried in the Mizpah. It had a crew of 2, and endurance of 4 hours, and it could carry three 112 lb (50 kg) bombs. Short Type 166 F5LArmour: 4 Hit Capacity: 13 Speed: L(ow) 4
You make me wonder if Biggles couldn't be dropped in, working for the UK?
|
|
|
|
Post by thewarchief on Jan 14, 2024 19:14:01 GMT
Perhaps some of the Sea Devils are damaged by their faulty hibernation? And they may have lost their technology base, needing top negotiate with humans perhaps? Yeah, that's what I was thinking. THe idea was to give them a reason to work with the humans. If they were desparate some of them might work with McDonald, while perhaps some others want to put the apes back into their place. Yeah, it seemed rather excessive. It is unless you were expecting trouble of some kind. Either from the Silurians or maybe from a rival power that wants Silurian tech? ]The M-1916 was used by the US Marines as a support weapon, carried by four men with others carrying the rest of the gear. I'll stat it up. Yes, it'd be ideally suited to CoC/ToC. And the area wasn't that prone to piracy, that was closer to the Chinese coast in general. Well at the time the South American countries had significant navies, too. So it looks like McDonald was preparing for some sort of trouble. From Silurians (maybe with a pet dinosaur), or from other humans is the question. A link to Sin Ji-Hun perhaps? Possibly. Just something that people would find valuable. Probably something that could alter the balance of power. JUst imagine what something like a Light Laser Cannon 3/6/9, starship scale could have done for a country in WW II. Hmm, perhaps he detected a strange signal, and triangulated to the Galapagos islands? Possibly. Anothe rpossiblity might be gleamed from the story of George Warren Shufelt, who claimed that Lizard People had lived beneath the US West Coast. He supposed detected thier tunnels using something he called a “radio X-ray machine”. Maybe McDonald is scanning the area to try and locate the lair. This could even be as part of the first contact rescue mission idea. THey'd have to know where to dig. Yeah, it's one I'm working on. Ties to the upsurge in occultism after the Bourbon Restoration. A small group occupied the island, which was fairly close to French colonial possessions, and used it for a couple of centuries. Then the newest members screwed thing up.... Don'cha just hate when that happens?  Of course we'd lose a lot of good Doctor Who episodes without those people. Excellent!!
You make me wonder if Biggles couldn't be dropped in, working for the UK?
[/quote]
"The Vandal" (closest to a Viking IV)
Armour: 4 Hit Capacity: 14 Speed: L(ow) 8
Oddly enough, most illustrations of the "Vandal" are of a Supermarine Walrus or Sea Otter, neither of which were out in the 1920s. Normally I write that off as artistic licence, but "wibbely-wobbley timey-whimey" so
Supermarine Walrus (Seagull) c. 1933
Armour: 5 Hit Capacity: 15 Speed: L(ow) 9
Armament: Two Vickers K .303 MGs (3/7/10, +1 attack-linked), six 45kg kg bombs or two 110kg bombs or two 110 kg depth charges.
Supermarine Sea Otter (Seagull) c. 1939
Armour: 5 Hit Capacity: 17 Speed: L(ow) 11
Armament: One Vickers K .303 MG (3/7/10), four 110 kg bombs BTW, vehicles and weapon stats are easy. I got a spreadsheet set up to do that. |
|
