Just re-read the war of the worlds, and felt like laying out the sacrifice of the HMS Thunder Child... cobbled together from HG Wells' War of the Worlds novel and Jeff Wayne's musical album and live show interpretation... which is narrated by richard burton.
There were ships of shapes and sizes Scattered out along the bay And I thought I heard her calling As the steamer pulled away The Invaders must have seen them As across the coast they filed Standing firm between them There lay Thunder Child
The THUNDER CHILD fired no gun, but simply drove full speed towards
them. It was probably her not firing that enabled her to get
so near the enemy as she did. They did not know what to
make of her. One shell, and they would have sent her to
the bottom forthwith with the Heat-Ray.
Suddenly the foremost Martian lowered his tube and
discharged a canister of the black gas at the ironclad. It hit
her larboard side and glanced off in an inky jet that rolled
away to seaward, an unfolding torrent of Black Smoke,
from which the ironclad drove clear.
They saw the gaunt figures separating and rising out of
the water as they retreated shoreward, and one of them
raised the camera-like generator of the Heat-Ray. He held
it pointing obliquely downward, and a bank of steam
sprang from the water at its touch. It must have driven
through the iron of the ships side like a white-hot iron
rod through paper.
A flicker of flame went up through the rising steam,
and then the Martian reeled and staggered. In another
moment he was cut down, and a great body of water and
steam shot high in the air. The guns of the THUNDER
CHILD sounded through the reek, going off one after the
other....
surging out beyond the white tumult, drove
something long and black, the flames streaming from its
middle parts, its ventilators and funnels spouting fire.
She was alive still
She headed straight for a second Martian and
was within a hundred yards of him
when the Heat-Ray came to bear.
Instantly, the others raised their Heat Rays and melted the Thunder Child's valiant heart.
Then with a violent thud, a blinding flash, her decks,
her funnels, leaped upward.
The Martian staggered with the violence of her
explosion, and in another moment the flaming wreckage,
still driving forward with the impetus of its pace, had
struck him and crumpled him up like a thing of cardboard.
My brother shouted involuntarily. A boiling tumult of
steam hid everything again.
Lashing ropes and smashing timbers Flashing Heat Rays pierced the deck Dashing hopes for our deliverance As we watched the sinking wreck With the smoke of battle clearing Over graves in waves defiled Slowly disappearing Farewell Thunder Child!
There were ships of shapes and sizes Scattered out along the bay And I thought I heard her calling As the steamer pulled away The Invaders must have seen them As across the coast they filed Standing firm between them There lay Thunder Child
The THUNDER CHILD fired no gun, but simply drove full speed towards
them. It was probably her not firing that enabled her to get
so near the enemy as she did. They did not know what to
make of her. One shell, and they would have sent her to
the bottom forthwith with the Heat-Ray.
Suddenly the foremost Martian lowered his tube and
discharged a canister of the black gas at the ironclad. It hit
her larboard side and glanced off in an inky jet that rolled
away to seaward, an unfolding torrent of Black Smoke,
from which the ironclad drove clear.
They saw the gaunt figures separating and rising out of
the water as they retreated shoreward, and one of them
raised the camera-like generator of the Heat-Ray. He held
it pointing obliquely downward, and a bank of steam
sprang from the water at its touch. It must have driven
through the iron of the ships side like a white-hot iron
rod through paper.
A flicker of flame went up through the rising steam,
and then the Martian reeled and staggered. In another
moment he was cut down, and a great body of water and
steam shot high in the air. The guns of the THUNDER
CHILD sounded through the reek, going off one after the
other....
surging out beyond the white tumult, drove
something long and black, the flames streaming from its
middle parts, its ventilators and funnels spouting fire.
She was alive still
She headed straight for a second Martian and
was within a hundred yards of him
when the Heat-Ray came to bear.
Instantly, the others raised their Heat Rays and melted the Thunder Child's valiant heart.
Then with a violent thud, a blinding flash, her decks,
her funnels, leaped upward.
The Martian staggered with the violence of her
explosion, and in another moment the flaming wreckage,
still driving forward with the impetus of its pace, had
struck him and crumpled him up like a thing of cardboard.
My brother shouted involuntarily. A boiling tumult of
steam hid everything again.
Lashing ropes and smashing timbers Flashing Heat Rays pierced the deck Dashing hopes for our deliverance As we watched the sinking wreck With the smoke of battle clearing Over graves in waves defiled Slowly disappearing Farewell Thunder Child!
cunninglinquist:
great concept and pic
cunninglinquist:
the tom cruise movie was not very good, the original radio recordings were awesome, heard them a few years ago