Spontoon Island
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*  22 January 2009  *
**  Upload: 16 February 2009  **
***  Upload: 4 March 2009  ***
****  Upload: 11 March 2009  ****
 The Gunboat Wars
& The Pirate Raids of 1912
Articles, Essays, Excerpts, Reports, Maps, Art, & Links
about the small wars in the Pacific Ocean (& Spontoon Island) circa 1912
by diverse authors & editors


An edited excerpt from "A History of the Settlement of the Spontoon Islands"

"The Gunboat Wars came to Spontoon Island in 1912. These were a series of shifting alliances and powderkeg wars among the small states of the Pacific from 1905 through 1914. These clashes were sometimes nasty and sometimes farces, and were encouraged by the larger world powers. By 1912, mutual protection treaties (and an understanding that the large colonial powers may be the real threats) were starting to change how the small Pacific states looked at using warfare."

"In 1912, naval battles occured in the Spontoon Archepelago, most notably the cruiser battle with the 'Pirate Fleet' at what becomes known as Gunboat Island. Spontoon Island was the site of two sharp, small naval engagements and a troop landing. The (Spontoon Island Militia) civil defense forces were engaged, and one of the fights at Spontoon Island becomes one of the first demonstrations of naval air power.  The incidents surrounding the landings were very unpleasant and only reluctantly talked about later. Only lucky breaks, a fortunate alliance, and skilled diplomacy afterward, kept Spontoon Island as an semi-independent political entity. The political relationship with the Rain Island Anarchracy (formerly Vancouver Island, B.C. and surrounding regions) begins at this 'Pirate Invasion' and the Gunboat Island fight."

Histories & Tales of the Gunboat Wars
by Walter D. Reimer

"The Black Ship"
Upload: 3 December 2008

"Dies Irae"
Upload: 7 December 2008

"Echoes Loudly Waking"  *
Upload: 22 January 2009

**  Battle of Gunboat Atoll  **
Upload: 16 February 2009

****  Battle of Blefuscu Atoll  ****
Upload: 11 March 2009

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"Shriek, Memory"
by Eric O. Costello

(A full-length trial transcript of a Spontoon Island court case in 1937
regarding capital crimes committed in a pirate raid of 1912.)
(With a Coda in the form of notes by an attorney present at the trial.)
(This is indeed full-length, and the equivalent of an 87-page transcript.)
Upload 3 December 2008

***  "Invoking Cloture"  ***
a sequel to "Shriek, Memory"
by Walt Reimer & Eric Costello
Upload 4 March 2009

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A note from the website editor:
The scholars of Spontoon Island are reminded that the stories of the Gunboat Wars
reflect alternate points-of-view, alternate scholarship, and alternate realities.
The Gunboat Wars are history, reportage, myth, and fiction of alternate universes
within the Spontoon Island Archepelago. These are also works-in-progress.
"All the maps are true."

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