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USS Alliance (1778)

The first Alliance of the United States Navy (which served as part of the Continental Navy) was a 36-gun sailing frigate of the American Revolutionary War.

Originally named Hancock, she was laid down in 1777 on the Merrimack River at Amesbury, Massachusetts, by the partners and cousins, William and James K. Hackett, launched on 28 April 1778, and renamed Alliance on 29 May 1778 by resolution of the Continental Congress. Her first commanding officer was Capt. Pierre Landais, a former officer of the French Navy who had come to the New World hoping to become a naval counterpart of Lafayette. The frigate's first captain was widely accepted as such in America. Massachusetts made him an honorary citizen and the Continental Congress gave him command of Alliance, thought to be the finest warship built to that date on the western side of the Atlantic.

1779
The new frigate's first assignment was to carry Lafayette back to France to petition the French Court for increased support in the American struggle for independence. Manned by a crew composed largely of British and Irish sailors, Alliance departed Boston on 14 January 1779 bound for Brest, France. During the crossing, a plot to seize the ship, involving 38 members of the crew, was uncovered on 2 February before the mutiny could begin. The disloyal sailors were put in irons, and the remainder of the voyage, in which the frigate captured two prizes, was peaceful. The ship reached Brest safely on the 6th.

After the marquis and his suite had disembarked, Benjamin Franklin, one of the American commissioners in Paris, ordered her to remain in France despite the fact that Landais's original instructions had called for him to load the frigate with munitions and then to sail promptly for America. Instead, Franklin assigned the frigate to a squadron to be commanded by Captain John Paul Jones.

The squadron departed Groix Roads, near Lorient, France, on 19 June to escort a convoy of merchantmen to Bordeaux and other French ports. During a storm that night, Alliance collided with Jones' flagship, USS Bonhomme Richard (1765), damaging the rigging of both vessels. Nevertheless, each was able to continue, and the squadron successfully completed its mission before returning to L'Orient where the two damaged warships were repaired.

The French planned an invasion of southern England that summer, and asked Jones to carry out a diversionary raid in the northern British Isles. His flotilla sortied from Groix Roads on 14 August and headed for the southwestern corner of Ireland to begin a clockwise circumnavigation of the British Isles.

Not many days passed before Landais – who in Jones' opinion had been the real culprit in the collision two months before – began to show his disinclination toward obeying orders. On the 23rd, he was enraged when the commodore refused to allow him to chase a ship into shallow and unknown waters "... when there was not sufficient wind to govern a ship." The next day, Jones later reported, Alliance's unruly captain came on board the flagship and addressed the commodore "... in the most gross and insulting terms." From that point on, Landais seemed to ignore orders entirely and operated Alliance according to his own whims.

Thus, the only really American warship in Jones' squadron belied her name by refusing to cooperate with the French vessels. She left her consorts during a squall on the night of 26 and 27 August and did not rejoin the squadron until 1 September. Betsy, a letter-of-marque ship she had just taken then accompanied the frigate. About this time, Bonhomme Richard captured a similar ship named Union off Cape Wrath at the northwestern corner of Scotland, and Jones allowed Landais to man both vessels. The latter again showed his complete contempt for the commodore by sending the captured ships (which would become known as the Bergen Prizes) to Bergen, Norway, where the Danish Government turned the ships over to the British consul, depriving their captors of the satisfaction of having hurt the enemy and of any hope of being rewarded for their efforts.

In the next few days, Alliance took two more small ships prompting Jones to signal Landais to board Bonhomme Richard for a conference. The American frigate's commander refused to obey, but instead again sailed off on his own.

For more than two weeks thereafter, Alliance worked her way south independently along the eastern shore of Great Britain while the remainder of the squadron followed a similar course from out of sight. A bit before midnight on 22 September, a lookout in Bonhomme Richard reported seeing two ships. Jones hoisted recognition signals which were unanswered. Landais was continuing to ignore the flagship's efforts to communicate. Nevertheless, at dawn, Jones was able to recognize Alliance and Pallas, a frigate of his squadron which had recently parted from the flagship with the commodore's permission to hunt prizes.

About mid-afternoon on 23 September, the squadron, off Bridlington, sighted ships rounding Flamborough Head to the north. The oncoming vessels were part of a convoy of over 40 British merchantmen which had sailed from the Baltic Sea under the escort of the 44-gun frigate HMS Serapis (1779) and the 22-gun hired armed ship Countess of Scarborough. The convoy had been warned about the American squadron and turned back northward towards Scarborough, the two escort vessels placing themselves between the merchant ships and the approaching threat.

As the gap closed, Jones signaled his ships to form a line of battle, but Landais ignored the order and sailed off to one side, forcing Countess of Scarborough to do likewise. In the ensuing four-hour Battle of Flamborough Head off England's Yorkshire coast, Landais, after briefly engaging the Countess took little part in the action. On the way to check up on the duel which developed between the Countess and the Pallas, Landais fired a broadside at Serapis, which was by then immobile, and lashed firmly alongside Bonhomme Richard- as a result both ships were damaged. Some time later, with Bonhomme Richard losing its duel, Alliance returned to the main battle, and Jones happily "... thought the battle was at an end ...." But, to his "... utter astonishment", Landais' ship "... discharged a broadside full into the stern of the Bonhomme Richard." Jones and his crew "... called to him [Landais] for God's sake to forbear firing into the Bonhomme Richard, yet he passed along off the side of the ship and continued firing." This, however, was just more collateral damage, resulting from Landais' policy of keeping well out of the line of the guns on the free side of Serapis. Unable to move his ship (either to escape or to aim a broadside at Alliance) Captain Pearson of Serapis surrendered within a short time.

Following the surrender, Alliance stood by during a desperate struggle to save the shattered, burning, leaking hulks. On the evening of the day after the battle, Jones realized that, while his flagship was doomed, her conquered opponent would probably survive. He, therefore, transferred his crew from Bonhomme Richard to Serapis and, the next morning, sadly watched the former sink. All this time, the squadron was simply drifting away from the British coast, but by 29 September, untiring labor had enabled Serapis to get underway, and, following French orders which were somewhat contrary to Jones's wishes, they headed for the coast of the Netherlands. Alliance sighted land on the evening of 2 October and, the following morning, she anchored in Texel Roads, Amsterdam's deep-water harbor, with the rest of the squadron.

When word of the battle reached London, the Admiralty ordered its nearby men-of-war to search for Jones' flotilla; the Royal Navy proceeded to look in all of the wrong places. By the time a merchantman informed London that Jones was at Texel Roads, the victorious allies and their prizes had been safe at anchor there for a week. The Royal Navy then set up a tight blockade off the Dutch port to check any seaward movement that the American squadron might attempt. Meanwhile, the British ambassador pressed the government of the Dutch Republic to return both Serapis and Countess of Scarborough to England. Failing that he demanded that Jones' squadron be expelled from Texel and thus forced to engage with the Royal Navy's blockading squadron.

Indeed, on 12 November, the Netherlands Navy had moved a squadron of ships of the line to Texel, and its commanding officer had ordered Jones to sail with the first favorable wind. Nevertheless, the adroit commodore managed to stall his departure for over six weeks. By that time, he had managed to restore Alliance to top trim and to ready her for sea. Since the other ships in his squadron had by this time, for complex diplomatic and legalistic reasons, shifted to flying French colors Jones decided to leave them behind when he left Holland in Alliance. He had long since relieved Landais in command of that frigate, pending an official inquiry into his conduct during the cruise.

On the morning of 27 December, after foul weather had forced the British blockaders off their stations, an easterly wind sprang up and enabled Alliance to stand out to sea. She dropped the pilot an hour before noon and headed southwest along the Netherlands coast. Less than a day later the frigate transited Dover Strait and entered the English Channel. On the night of 31 December, she was off Ushant, an island off the westernmost tip of Brittany, when 1779 gave way to 1780.

1780
For just over a fortnight thereafter, she cruised to the south looking for British shipping; but, with the exception of one small English brig which she took, the ship encountered only friendly or neutral vessels. On 16 January 1780, Jones decided to visit Corunna, Spain, for provisions and maintenance which entailed shortening the frigate's main yard and scraping her bottom.

On the 27th, she got underway in company with the French frigate Le Sensible. Want of winter clothing then prevented Jones from beginning an extended cruise in quest of prizes; and, instead, the ship struggled across the Bay of Biscay against head winds along a roughly northeasterly course toward L'Orient. En route, she recaptured a wine-laden French barque – a prize which had been taken by an English privateer – and saved the foundering vessel's cargo before the barque sank. She also chanced upon Livingston and escorted that tobacco-laden American merchantman to the French coast.

Alliance anchored in Groix Roads on 10 February and moved into L'Orient harbor on the 19th. That day, Benjamin Franklin suggested that Jones take on a cargo of arms and uniform cloth for the American Army and promptly get underway for home.

Jones agreed with Franklin's suggestion, but was kept in France for many months thereafter, attending to military, diplomatic, and social matters which he felt to be important to his country, to his crew, and to himself. Most of this time, he was away from his ship in Paris.

Meanwhile, the deposed Landais had arrived at L'Orient seeking passage to America where he hoped to be vindicated in a trial by court-martial. There, he met Arthur Lee, a disaffected fellow commissioner of Franklin, who also wanted to return home. Lee – who also hated Jones – persuaded Alliance's former captain that neither Jones nor Franklin had had the authority to relieve him of command since Landais had held a Continental commission. Convinced that he had been wronged, Landais went on board the frigate and assumed command on 12 or 13 June.

Jones arrived at L'Orient, where he heard of this coup. He journeyed to Paris and obtained support from Franklin and Antoine de Sartine, the French Minister of Marine. When Jones returned to L'Orient on 20 June, he found that Alliance had already weighed anchor and moved to Port-Louis, Morbihan, where a recently emplaced boom blocked her path. The batteries that guarded the port, as well as three French warships, had received orders to fire on the frigate if she attempted to stand out to sea.

Surprisingly, Jones then interceded with the French authorities asking them to allow the ship to pass. He justified this action as springing from a desire to avoid wasting lives, losing the fine frigate, and straining Franco-American friendship by having French forces attack an American warship.

The hero of Flamborough may have been rationalizing to conceal less lofty motives. Samuel Eliot Morison strongly endorsed this hypothesis: "The conclusion is inescapable, that Jones was not particularly eager to regain command of Alliance. He had to pretend that he was, of course, but actually he felt well rid of her, and of Landais too".

Alliance was allowed to leave France unmolested. Her homeward voyage proved to be anything but routine. Landais quarreled with his officers, abused his men, and made life miserable for his passengers. The ship had hardly lost sight of land when he locked up Capt. Matthew Parke because the commanding officer of the embarked Marine Corps contingent refused to swear unconditional obedience under all possible circumstances. Any seamen who had joined the frigate after Bonhomme Richard had sunk were suspected of disloyalty, many were shackled and imprisoned in the ship's rat-infested hold. Even Arthur Lee, who had urged the Frenchman to take command, came close to being stabbed with a carving knife for taking the first slice of roast pig at dinner. In operating and navigating the ship Landais gave orders which violated the rules of safe and sensible seamanship.

The fearful and exasperated officers and passengers finally agreed that the commanding officer must be insane, and they forcibly relieved him of command on 11 August. Alliance continued on to America in a happier and more orderly fashion under the command of Lt. James A. Degge. She arrived at Boston on 19 August 1780.

The Navy Board at that port promptly gathered information on the events of the voyage and sent a hasty report to Philadelphia where the Board of Admiralty immediately ordered a thorough investigation of the whole affair. At the same time it appointed Capt. John Barry to take command of the ship and make her ready for sea with great dispatch.

Barry arrived at Boston on 19 September with orders stripping Landais of all claim to command of the frigate. By that point the recalcitrant Landais had shut himself up in the captain's cabin and refused to leave, and he was now forcibly carried off the ship by a party of marines led by his first adversary of the voyage, Capt. Parke. Trials of Landais and Degge resulted in the ousting of both men from the service.

1781
Meanwhile, efforts to restore Alliance to fighting trim progressed slowly – when they moved at all – because of a dearth of both men and money. Funds for the necessary yard work and for provisioning and manning the ship were slow in reaching Boston until Col. John Laurens – a former aide-de-camp to General George Washington, a successful battlefield commander, and an exchanged prisoner of war – appeared there on 25 January 1781. Congress had appointed Laurens as its envoy extraordinary to France because his military experience seemed to fit him to become a convincing spokesman for Washington's needy army. It had also selected Alliance as the speediest and safest ship to carry the dashing young officer to Europe. The urgency of Alliance's new mission made the funds and crew available so that the ship was ready to sail by the end of the first week of February. A favorable wind came up on the 11th enabling her to depart Nantasket Roads and stand out to sea.

Five days later, she entered crowded ice fields and suffered "considerable damage" as she forced her way through. Her crew contained many British sailors, a group of whom plotted to take over the frigate and to kill all her officers but one who would be spared to navigate the vessel to an English port. However, Barry took careful precautions to prevent the mutiny from erupting.

While she sailed eastward Barry followed the orders of the Naval Committee to not pursue any shipping which would delay his progress. Yet, on 4 March, the frigate encountered a ship and a British cruiser. . One shot brought both vessels to. The cruiser proved to be the English privateer Alert and her consort was Buono Campagnia, a prize which the Britisher had recently taken. Barry took Alert as a prize, but released the merchantman. Five days later, on 9 March, the frigate anchored in Groix Roads and disembarked her important passenger and his three companions: Thomas Paine, whose writings had exerted great influence in persuading the colonies to seek independence, Major William Jackson, a Continental Army officer from South Carolina, and the vicomte de Noailles, a cousin of Lafayette.

After almost three weeks in port, Alliance headed home on the afternoon of 29 March, escorting Marquis De Lafayette, an old, French East Indiaman which an American agent had chartered to carry a valuable cargo of arms and uniforms for the Continental Army. Before the month was out, Barry discovered and investigated a mutiny plot and punished the conspirators.

At dawn on 2 April a lookout sighted two ships to the northwest, Barry headed toward the strangers and ordered the Indiaman to follow. Undaunted, the distant vessels – which proved to be two British brigs – continued to approach the little American convoy and fired a broadside at the frigate as they passed abreast. Two answering salvoes from Alliance robbed the larger of the two English vessels of her rigging and forced her to strike her colors. Barry ordered Marquis De Lafayette to attend to the captured foe while he pursued and took the second brig. The first prize, a new and fast privateer from Guernsey named Mars though badly damaged, was repaired and sent to Philadelphia under an American crew. Marquis De Lafayette provided the prize crew for the smaller vessel, a Jersey privateer named Minerva. Barry ordered the prizemaster of this vessel to head for Philadelphia but Marquis De Lafayette's captain had secretly ordered him to head for France if he had a chance to slip away. On the night of 17 April, foul weather separated Mars from the convoy. Nevertheless, that prize dutifully continued on toward the Delaware capes. Minerva slipped away during the next night and apparently set course for the Bay of Biscay. Marquis De Lafayette dropped out of sight during a fierce storm on the night of the 25th.

After spending two days looking for her lost charge, Alliance continued on toward America alone. On 2 May, she took two sugar-laden Jamaicamen. Off Newfoundland Banks later that day, Alliance sighted but escaped the attention of a large convoy from Jamaica and its Royal Navy escorts. Ironically, a few days before, the missing Marquis De Lafayette and her treacherous master had fallen prey to this same British force.

Almost continuous bad weather plagued Barry's little force in the days that followed until Alliance permanently lost sight of her two prizes on 12 May. During a tempest on the 17th, lightning shattered the frigate's main topmast and carried away her main yard while damaging her foremast and injuring almost a score of men.

Jury-rigged repairs had been completed when Barry observed two vessels approaching him from windward 10 days later but his ship was still far from her best fighting trim. The two strangers kept pace with Alliance roughly a league off her starboard beam. At first dawn, the unknown ships hoisted British colors and prepared for battle. Although all three ships were almost completely becalmed, the American drifted within hailing distance of the largest British vessel about an hour before noon; Barry learned that it was the sloop of war HMS Atalanta (1775). Her smaller consort proved to be HMS Trepassey (1779), also a sloop of war. The American captain then identified his own vessel and invited Atalanta's commanding officer to surrender. A few moments later, Barry opened the inevitable battle with a broadside. The sloops immediately pulled out of field of fire of the frigate's broadsides and took positions aft of their foe where their guns could pound her with near impunity in the motionless air, Alliance – too large to be propelled by sweeps – was powerless to maneuver.

A grapeshot hit Barry's left shoulder, seriously wounding him, but he continued to direct the fighting until loss of blood almost robbed him of consciousness. Lieutenant Hoystead Hacker, the frigate's executive officer, took command as Barry was carried to the cockpit for treatment. Hacker fought the ship with valor and determination until her inability to maneuver out of her relatively defenseless position prompted him to seek Barry's permission to surrender. Indignantly, Barry refused to allow this and asked to be brought back on deck to resume command.

Inspired by Barry's zeal, Hacker returned to the fray. Then a wind sprang up and restored Alliance's steerage way, enabling her to bring her battery back into action. Two devastating broadsides knocked Trepassey out of the fight. Another broadside forced Atalanta to strike, ending the bloody affair. The next day, while carpenters labored to repair all three ships, Barry transferred all of his prisoners to Trepassey which – as a cartel ship – would carry them to St. John's, Newfoundland, to be exchanged for American prisoners. HMS Charlestown recaptured Atalanta in June and sent her into Halifax.

Temporary repairs to Atalanta ended on the last day of May, and the prize got underway for Boston. After more patching her battered hull and rigging, Alliance set out the next day and reached Boston on 6 June. While Barry recuperated, her repairs were again delayed by want of funds. Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown, ending the war's last major action on land, but not the war, well before she was ready for sea. As had happened before, her restoration to service was hastened by decision to use the frigate to carry an important person to France. Lafayette – who had completed his work in America with a major role in the Yorktown campaign – arrived in Boston on 10 December 1781, wanting to return home. Even with the aid of the Marquis' great influence, a full fortnight passed before she could put to sea on Christmas Eve 1781.

1782
The ship arrived off L'Orient on 17 January 1782 and disembarked Lafayette and his party.

Barry wanted to make a cruise in European waters to capture British shipping which would yield crewmen to be used in freeing American prisoners by exchange. Alliance got underway in February and headed for the Bay of Biscay. Accompanying her out was the American letter-of-marque brig Antonio which was bound for home. Three days later, she chased and overhauled an American brigantine which jettisoned her guns in an effort to escape. Antonio's commander offered to escort the unfortunate, and now defenseless, merchantman to Philadelphia and they parted from Barry the next day. Alliance encountered only friendly and neutral shipping before putting in at L'Orient on February.

Barry remained in port more than two weeks awaiting dispatches from Paris containing Franklin's observations on the diplomatic scene and on prospects for England's recognition of American independence and negotiations for peace. The messages arrived on 15 March, and the following day Alliance headed home.

Wretched weather and contrary winds plagued the ship for much of the voyage. The almost incessant northerly blasts forced her south into hot, unhealthful climes. Eight men died before the end of April when she managed to turn north with the trade winds and head for the Delaware River.

The frigate reached Cape Henlopen on 10 May, but found it guarded by a Royal Navy ship of the line which – in company with a tender – gave chase. Fleeing south and eluding her pursuers, Alliance turned north around Montauk Point and across Long Island Sound to New London, Connecticut, where she arrived on 13 May.

Although hopeful of soon beginning another cruise, Barry again was frustrated by the inevitable shortages of men, money, and material. Almost three months passed before Alliance was finally ready for sea. She reentered Long Island Sound on 4 August and almost immediately took Adventure, a Rhode Island brigantine which had fallen prey to an English privateer. Barry sent the prize back to New London and unsuccessfully sought her captor. On the 10th, while sailing toward Bermuda, the frigate captured the schooner Polly and sent her to Boston. On the 25th, she retook Fortune, a Connecticut sloop which the British privateer Hawk had seized on the 16th.

At the end of August, Barry headed north in quest of stragglers from a convoy which had sailed from Jamaica a bit over a month before. A week later he made a prize of Somerset, a Nantucket whaler that had been sailing under a British pass.

On 18 September Alliance captured a damaged British brig and learned that a storm had scattered the Jamaica convoy sinking or crippling both escorts and merchantmen. Making temporary repairs to this prize, Barry sent her to Boston and then began looking for the Jamaicamen. On the 24th he captured Britannia and Anna, carrying coffee, logwood, sugar, and rum. On the 27th the snow Commerce became his prize. The next day he captured the dismasted Kingston.

Though he would have preferred to take his prizes home Barry was now closer to Europe. Prevailing westerly winds clinched the matter, prompting him to head for France. The eastward passage was slow and stormy, but the convoy reached Groix Roads on 17 October.

Alliance got underway again on 9 December 1782 for the West Indies.

1783
At the end of a largely uneventful passage, she anchored off Saint-Pierre, Martinique, on 8 January 1783. There Barry found orders to sail to Havana to pick up a large quantity of gold and to deliver it to Congress at Philadelphia. After brief repairs, Alliance resumed her voyage on the 13th, touched at St. Eustatius and Cape Francois, and reached Havana on the last day of January.

Another American warship, USS Duc de Lauzun, was already in port on the same mission. The specie had already been loaded on Duc de Lauzun and Barry decided to escort her home. The inevitable delays kept both ships in port until 6 March. The next day, they encountered two Royal Navy frigates that gave chase. Barry chose not to fight these warships rather than risk losing the funds his consort carried, and the American vessels successfully eluded their pursuers. Three days later they encountered the same pair – HMS Alarm (1758) and HMS Sibyl (1779) – in company with the sloop-of-war HMS Tobago.

Still striving to avoid risk to the desperately needed money he was carrying to Congress, Barry again headed southwest to escape from these unidentified strangers and ordered her consort to follow. Far off in that direction, the rigging of another ship appeared over the horizon, sailing away from the others.

Soon Alliance was noticeably pulling away from the pursuers but Duc de Lauzun – second in line – was losing ground to Alarm. In the distance, the newcomer was seen to change course and head toward Alliance. Alarm evidently gave up the chase and headed away. Sybil pressed on and soon began firing at Duc de Lauzun.

Confident in both Alliance's speed and her fighting ability, Barry maneuvered her between Sybil and Duc De Lauzun to demand the full attention of the former so that the latter might slip away to safety. Sybil then turned her fire toward Alliance and managed to send one shot from her bow chaser into the American frigate's cabin, mortally wounding a junior officer and scattering many splinters. Yet Barry held Alliance's fire until she was within a "pistol's shot" of her opponent. At that point, a broadside from the American warship opened some 40 minutes of close-in fighting which finally forced Sybil to flee in the wake of Alarm and Tobago. Ships' logs indicate that this battle was fought 140 miles south of Cape Canaveral on 10 March 1783. Captain Vashon, commander HMS Sybil, is recorded as saying "he had never seen a ship so ably fought as the Alliance." Captain Vashon is further quoted as saying of Barry, "every quality of a great commander was brought out with extraordinary brilliancy".

Meanwhile, the Treaty of Paris which ended the war and recognized the independence of the United States had been ratified on 3 February 1783, some five weeks before the battle.

The two American ships again headed home on the day following their brush with the British, 11 March, but separated off Cape Hatteras a week later. On the 19th, Alliance met a British ship of the line as she headed in toward the Delaware capes. She gave chase and forced Alliance back out to sea. This created a diversion which allowed Duc De Lauzun to slip into the Delaware unmolested and ascend the river to Philadelphia.

Alliance continued on northward and arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, at midafternoon on 20 March 1783. Since that port could easily be raided by British men-of-war, she soon proceeded up Narragansett Bay and anchored just below Providence. There, her crew was reduced to peacetime needs, and she was thoroughly overhauled.

Ordered to proceed to Chesapeake Bay to take on a cargo of tobacco for shipment to Europe, the frigate got underway on 20 June, but, headed for sea, she struck a rock and was stranded until high tide. Upon floating free, Alliance still seemed to be tight and resumed her voyage via the Virginia Capes and the lower Chesapeake Bay to the Rappahannock River. She then moved up that river where she began taking on tobacco. When completely loaded, she headed downstream on 21 August and sailed into the Atlantic three days later.

Soon after the ship entered the open sea, water rose rapidly in her hold. A hasty investigation revealed that a leak had developed where she had struck the rock weeks before. The crew's attempts to stem the influx failed, forcing Barry to head for the Delaware.

Further examination of the ship at Philadelphia ruled out any quick remedy and caused Congress to cancel the voyage. Her tobacco was transferred to other ships and her crew was further reduced to the bare minimum necessary to keep her in reasonably satisfactory condition. When the survey board reported that the necessary repairs would be quite expensive, no funds were available for the task.

1785–1788
It seems that the work was never done before Alliance – the last ship left in the Continental Navy – was sold in Philadelphia on 1 August 1785 to John Coburn and a partner named Whitehead. These gentlemen subsequently sold her to Robert Morris who converted the vessel to an East Indiaman. Her new owner – who, as the guiding spirit on naval matters in the Continental Congress and that body's Agent of Marine in the later years of the American struggle for independence, had directed her operations – selected Thomas Read as her master during her first merchant service. That former captain in the Continental Navy took her to China by a new route through the Dutch East Indies and the Solomon Islands. She departed Philadelphia in June 1787 and arrived at Canton on 22 December of that year. While passing through the Carolines on the outward voyage Read found two islands which were not on his chart and named the first – probably Ponape – Morris, and the second, Alliance. At Canton he loaded the ship with tea which he delivered back at Philadelphia on 17 September 1788, ending a record voyage.

"On her voyage to China, she had for her commander, Thomas Reed ; first- mate, the late Commodore Dale ; and for supercargo, the late George Harrison, of Chestnut street.

It is recorded thus: "September 19, 1788, the ship ' Alliance,' Thomas Reed commander, and George Harrison supercargo, arrived from Canton, consigned to Isaac Hazlehurst & Co.," of which Robert Morris was the company.

The ship was seven hundred and twenty-four tons register: a very large ship in those days."

After 1788
An 1860 source states, "Mr. [Robert] Morris bought the United States frigate "Alliance," and fitted her up and out for the East Indies, in which she made but one voyage to China, and was condemned on her return as unseaworthy, dismantled, and drifted to Petty's Island— where 'tis said some of her ribs yet perpetuate the fact of her existence." At low tide, some of her timbers could be seen in the sands there until her remaining hulk was destroyed during dredging operations in 1901.

title: USS Alliance (1778)


text:
The Day of the Jackal

The Day of the Jackal (1971) is a political thriller novel by English author Frederick Forsyth about a professional assassin who is contracted by the OAS, a French dissident paramilitary organisation, to kill Charles de Gaulle, the President of France.

The novel received admiring reviews and praise when first published in 1971, and it received a 1972 Best Novel Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. The novel remains popular, and in 2003 it was listed on the BBC's survey The Big Read.

The novel begins as historical fiction: the OAS, as described, did exist and did conspire to commit the act, which the book opens with, giving an accurate depiction of the attempt to assassinate de Gaulle by Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry on 22 August 1962. The subsequent plot, however, is fiction.

Part One: Anatomy of a Plot
The book begins in 1962 with the (historical) failed attempt on de Gaulle's life plotted by, among others, Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry in the Paris suburb of Petit-Clamart. Following the apprehension of Bastien-Thiry and various other conspirators, the French security forces wage a short but extremely vicious underground war with the terrorists of the OAS, a militant right-wing group who believe de Gaulle to be a traitor to France after the Évian Accords granted Algeria her independence.

The French secret service SDECE, particularly its covert operations directorate (the Action Service), is remarkably effective in infiltrating the terrorist organisation with their own informants, allowing them to seize and interrogate the OAS operations commander, Antoine Argoud. The failure of the Petit-Clamart assassination, and a subsequent betrayal of the next attempt on de Gaulle's life at the École Militaire, compounded by Bastien-Thiry's eventual execution by firing squad, likewise demoralise the antagonists.

Argoud's deputy, Lt-Col Marc Rodin, carefully examines what few options they have remaining and establishes that the only way to succeed in killing de Gaulle is to hire a professional mercenary from outside the organisation, who is completely unknown to both the French government and the OAS itself. After extensive inquiries, he contacts an English hitman (whose true identity is always unknown), who meets with Rodin and his two principal deputies in Vienna, and agrees to assassinate de Gaulle, although he demands a total of US$500,000 (roughly US$ million as of currency). The killer further requires that half of the amount be paid in advance and the rest on completion. Lastly, the hired assassin chooses a code name, "The Jackal" which Rodin, the leader, agrees to. The triumvirate of OAS commanders then take up residency on the top floor of a hotel in Rome guarded by a group of ex-legionnaires to avoid the risk of being captured, like Argoud, and subsequently revealing the assassination plot under interrogation, and also to minimise the possibility of being executed.

The remainder of this part describes the Jackal's exhaustive preparations for the forthcoming project. He first acquires a legitimate British passport under a fake name, "Alexander Duggan", which he intends to use for most of his operation. He then steals the passports of two foreign tourists visiting London who superficially resemble him for use as contingency identities. Masquerading as Duggan, the Jackal travels to Brussels, where he commissions a master gunsmith to build him a special suppressed sniper rifle of extreme slimness with a small supply of mercury-tipped explosive bullets. He also acquires a set of forged French identity papers from a professional forger. The latter makes the mistake of attempting to blackmail him, for which the Jackal kills him and locks his body in a large trunk where he determines it will not be found for a considerable time. After exhaustively researching a series of books and articles by, and about, de Gaulle, the Jackal travels to Paris to reconnoitre the most favourable spot and the best possible day for the assassination.

Following a series of armed robberies in France, the OAS is able to deposit the first half of the Jackal's fee in his Swiss bank account. Meanwhile, the French authorities, suspicious about Rodin and his subordinates never leaving the hotel for weeks, compose and dispatch a fake letter that lures Viktor Kowalski, one of Rodin's bodyguards (and a hulking giant) to France, where he is caught and tortured to reveal what he knows. Interpreting his incoherent ramblings, the secret service is able to decipher the bare bones of Rodin's plot, and the name "Jackal", but know nothing of the assassin himself. When informed of the plan, de Gaulle (who in real life was notoriously careless of his personal security) refuses to cancel any public appearances, modify his normal routines, or even allow any kind of public inquiry into the assassin's whereabouts to be made: any investigation, he orders, must be done in absolute secrecy.

Roger Frey, the French Minister of the Interior, organises a conference of the heads of the French security authorities. Because Rodin and his men are in a foreign hotel under heavy guard, kidnapping them for interrogation will be impossible (unless it is achieved through a commando-style operation), nor can they be assassinated. The rest of the meeting is at a loss to suggest how to proceed, until a Commissioner of the Police Judiciaire reasons that their first and most essential objective is to establish the Jackal's true identity, which is something that he insists is "pure detective work". When Frey asks him to suggest the best detective in France, he volunteers his own deputy commissioner: Claude Lebel.

Part Two: Anatomy of a Manhunt
Granted special emergency powers to conduct his investigation, Lebel does everything possible to uncover the Jackal's identity. He first calls upon his old boy network of foreign intelligence and police contacts to inquire if they have any records of a top-class political assassin. Most of the inquiries are fruitless, but in the United Kingdom, the matter is eventually passed on to the Special Branch of Scotland Yard, and another veteran detective, Superintendent Bryn Thomas.

A search through Special Branch's records turns up nothing. However, one of Thomas's subordinates suggests that if the assassin were an Englishman, but primarily operated abroad, he would most probably come to the attention of the Secret Intelligence Service. Thomas makes an informal inquiry with a friend of his on the SIS's staff, who mentions hearing a rumour from an officer stationed in the Dominican Republic at the time of President Trujillo's assassination. The rumour states that a hired assassin stopped Trujillo's car with a rifle shot, allowing a gang of partisans to finish him off. Additionally, Thomas also learns that the assassin was an Englishman, whom he identifies as a man named Charles Calthrop.

Thomas is then surprised when he receives a summons in person to report to the Prime Minister (unnamed, but most probably intended to represent Harold Macmillan), who informs him that word of his inquiries has reached higher circles in the British government. Despite the enmity felt by much of the government against France in general and, more precisely, de Gaulle, the Prime Minister informs Thomas that de Gaulle is his friend, and that the assassin must be identified and stopped, with a limitless amount of resources, manpower or expenses at Thomas' disposal. Thomas is handed a commission similar to Lebel's, with temporary powers allowing him to override almost any other authority in the land. Checking out the name of Charles Calthrop, Thomas finds a match to a man living in London, said to be on holiday. While Thomas confirms that this Calthrop was indeed in the Dominican Republic at the time of Trujillo's death, he does not believe it justifies informing Lebel, until one of his junior detectives realises that the first three letters of his first name and surname (i.e. "CHA-rles CAL-throp") forms "Chacal", the French word for "Jackal".

Unknown to any member of the council in France, there is an OAS mole among them: the mistress of an arrogant Air Force colonel attached to de Gaulle's staff. Through pillow talk, the officer unwittingly feeds the Jackal a constant stream of information as to Lebel's progress. The Englishman enters France through Italy, driving a rented Alfa Romeo sports car with his weapon soldered/wired to the chassis. Although he receives word from the OAS agent that the French are on the lookout for him, he assesses that he will succeed whatever happens and decides to take the risk. In London, the Special Branch raids Calthrop's flat, finding his passport, and deduce that he must be travelling on a fake identity. When they discover that the Jackal is travelling in the name of Duggan, Lebel and a police force comes close to apprehending him in the south of France, but owing to his OAS contact, he leaves his hotel early and evades them by only an hour. With the police on the lookout for him, the Jackal seeks refuge in the château of a woman whom he encountered and seduced at the hotel: when she goes through his things and finds the weapon, he kills her and flees after disguising himself as the first of his two emergency identities. Before leaving this region, he disposes of Duggan's belongings in a ravine. The murder is not reported until much later that day, allowing him to board the train for Paris.

Part Three: Anatomy of a Kill
Having failed to capture the Jackal at least twice, Lebel becomes suspicious of what the rest of the council label the killer's apparent "good luck", and has the telephones of all the members tapped, which leads him to discover the OAS female agent. The disgraced Air Force colonel withdraws from the meeting and subsequently submits his resignation. When Thomas checks out and identifies reports of stolen or missing passports in London in the preceding months, he closes in on the Jackal's remaining secondary identities. Meanwhile, the Jackal slips into a small hotel upon arriving in Paris (narrowly evading a police checkpoint as he does) disposes of his first emergency identity, and disguises himself as the owner of the second stolen passport.

During a council meeting on 22 August 1963, Lebel deduces that the killer has decided to target de Gaulle three days later on 25 August, which commemorates the liberation of Paris during World War II. It is, he realises, the one day of the year when de Gaulle can definitely be counted on to be in Paris and make a public appearance. De Gaulle also authorises Lebel to release the Jackal's most updated picture and name to the newspapers, identifying him as a wanted man. Believing the inquiry to be over, the Minister orchestrates a massive, citywide manhunt for the foreigner now that he can be publicly reported as a murderer, dismissing Lebel with hearty congratulations – but the killer eludes them yet again: slipping into a gay bar while masquerading as his second contingency identity, he gets himself picked up by a local man and taken to his flat, where he kills him after a news update reports that "Martin Schulberg" (whose identity the Englishman is using) is wanted for murder, and waits out the remaining days.

On the 24th, Roger Frey summons Lebel yet again and tells him that the Jackal still cannot be found. The detective listens to the details of the President's schedule and security arrangements, but can suggest nothing more helpful than that everyone "should keep their eyes open", much to the Minister's dismay. On the 25th itself, the Jackal, masquerading as a one-legged French war veteran, passes through the security checkpoints carrying his custom gun concealed in the sections of a crutch. He makes his way to an apartment building overlooking the Place du 18 Juin 1940 (in front of the soon-to-be-demolished façade of the Gare Montparnasse), where de Gaulle is presenting medals to a small group of Resistance veterans. As the ceremony begins, Lebel is walking around the street, questioning and re-questioning every police checkpoint. When he hears from one CRS guard about a one-legged veteran with a crutch, he realises what the Jackal's plan is, and rushes into the apartment building, calling for the patrol to follow him.

Having sneaked into a suitable apartment to shoot from, the Jackal prepares his weapon and takes aim at de Gaulle's head, but his first shot misses by a fraction of an inch when the President unexpectedly leans forward to kiss the cheeks of the veteran he is honouring. Outside the apartment, Lebel and the CRS man arrive on the top floor in time to hear the sound of the first, silenced shot. The CRS guard shoots off the door lock and bursts in as the Jackal is reloading: the Englishman turns and fires, killing him with a shot to the chest. At this point, the detective and the assassin, having developed grudging respect for each other during the pursuit, share a brief glance of recognition. The Jackal scrambles to load his third and last bullet while the unarmed Lebel snatches up the dead policeman's submachine-gun: Lebel is faster and shoots the Jackal with half a magazine-load of 9mm bullets, killing him instantly.

Epilogue
In London, the Special Branch are searching Calthrop's apartment when the real Charles Calthrop storms in and demands to know what they are doing. Once it is established that Calthrop truly has been on holiday in Scotland and is totally separate to the killer, the British are left to wonder "if the Jackal wasn't Calthrop, then who the hell was he?"

The Jackal is buried in an unmarked grave in a Paris cemetery, officially recorded as "an unknown foreign tourist, killed in a car accident." Aside from a priest, a policeman, registrar and grave-diggers, the only other person attending the burial is Inspector Claude Lebel, who then leaves the cemetery to return home.

Origins
Over the three years immediately prior to his writing The Day of the Jackal, Frederick Forsyth spent most of his time in West Africa covering the Biafran war, first for the BBC in 1967 and then for another eighteen months as a freelance journalist in 1968–1969. Upon his return to Britain his first book, the non-fiction The Biafra Story: The Making of an African Legend about that brutal civil war during which Nigeria fought to prevent the secession of its eastern province, was published as a paperback by Penguin Books in late 1969. To Forsyth's disappointment, however, the book sold very few copies and so with the arrival of the 1970s the then 31 year-old freelance journalist, international adventurer, and onetime youngest (at 19) fighter pilot in the RAF found himself both out of work and "flat broke". To solve his financial problems he thus decided to try his hand at fiction by writing a political thriller as a "one-off" project to "clear his debts". Unlike most novelists, however, Forsyth would employ the same type of research techniques that he had used as an investigative reporter to bring a sense of increased reality to his work of fiction, a story which he first began to consider writing in 1962–1963 while posted to Paris as a young Reuters foreign correspondent.

When Forsyth arrived in 1962, French President Charles de Gaulle had just granted independence to Algeria to end the eight-year Algerian War, a highly controversial act that had incurred the wrath of the anti-decolonisation paramilitary group Organisation Armée Secrète (OAS) which then vowed to assassinate him. Forsyth befriended several of the President's bodyguards and personally reported from the scene of the failed August 1962 assassination attempt along the Avenue de la Libération during which de Gaulle and his wife narrowly escaped death in a fusillade of gunfire in the roadside ambush, the most serious of six overall attempts the OAS would make on his life. Forsyth incorporated an account of that real-life event to open his new novel throughout which he also employed many other aspects and details about France, its politics, the OAS, and international law enforcement that he had learned during his career as an investigative journalist. Forsyth noted that virtually all OAS members and sympathizers were known to, and under surveillance by, French authorities—a key factor in the failure of their assassination attempts. In his 2015 memoir The Outsider, Forsyth wrote that during his time in France he briefly considered that the OAS might assassinate de Gaulle if they hired a man or men who were completely unknown to French authorities – an idea he would later expand upon in Jackal.

Publishing history
Although Forsyth wrote The Day of the Jackal in 35 days in January and February 1970, it remained unpublished for almost a year-and-a-half thereafter as he sought a publisher willing to accept his unsolicited approximately 140,000-word manuscript. Four publishing houses rejected it between February and September because their editors believed a fictional account of the OAS hiring a British assassin in 1963 to kill Charles de Gaulle would not be commercially successful, given the fact that he had never been shot and, when the book was written, de Gaulle was in fact still alive and retired from public life.

The editors told Forsyth that they felt that these well-known facts essentially abrogated the suspense of his fictional assassination plot against de Gaulle as readers would already know it would not and could not possibly have been successful. (De Gaulle subsequently died of natural causes at his country home in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises in November 1970 after peacefully retiring). After these rejections Forsyth took a different strategy and wrote a short summary of the novel to present to publishers, noting that the focus was not on the plausibility of the assassination itself, but rather on the technical details and manhunt. He persuaded London-based Hutchinson & Co. to take a chance on publishing his novel, however, they only agreed to a relatively small initial printing of just 8,000 copies for its 358-page red and gold clothbound first edition. Forsyth was signed to a three-book contract: a £500 advance for Jackal, followed by another £6,000 advance for the second and third novels. Although the book was not formally reviewed by the press prior to its initial June 1971 UK publication, widespread word of mouth discussion resulted in brisk advance and post-publication sales leading to repeated additional printings (including some prior to its official publication date) being ordered from Hutchinson's longtime printer, Anchor Press Ltd (Tiptree, Essex), to meet booksellers' unexpectedly strong demand.

The book's unexpected success in Britain soon attracted the attention of Viking Press in New York which quickly acquired the US publication rights for $365,000 (£100,000)—a then very substantial sum for such a work and especially for that of a first-time author. These fees (the equivalent of $ million in ) were split equally between Hutchinson and Forsyth, which led the heretofore self-described "flat broke" author to observe later that he had "never seen money like it and never thought I would." Just two months after its publication in the UK the 380-page clothbound Viking first edition was released in the US at $7.95 and with a distinctive jacket designed by noted American artist Paul Bacon.

The US first edition's launch was considerably aided by two glowing reviews in The New York Times by senior daily book reviewer Christopher Lehmann-Haupt three days before its release, and by the American mystery writer Stanley Bernard Ellin the week after. In mid-October it reached No. 1 on the Times "Best Seller List" for fiction and by mid-December 136,000 copies of Viking's US edition were already in print. Over two-and-a-half million copies were sold worldwide by 1975. As in the UK, over forty years later The Day of the Jackal still remains in print in the US published now by Penguin Books (which acquired Viking in 1975) as a New American Library imprint. Hundreds of other print, electronic, and audio editions have been produced around the world since 1971 with many more millions of copies now in print in both English and the thirty other languages to which it has been translated including Spanish, German, French, Russian, Turkish, Czech, Polish, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Hebrew, Latvian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Thai.

The Day of the Jackal was published in serial format in 1971 in both the London Evening Standard and Israel's oldest daily newspaper, Ha'aretz. Earning Forsyth the 1972 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel, in 1973 it was also made into a 143-minute feature film directed by Fred Zinnemann. In 2011 a number of special "40th Anniversary" editions of The Day of the Jackal were released in the UK, US, and elsewhere to commemorate the four decades of continuous success of the book, the first of 18 more Forsyth novels and collections of his short stories published since the 1971 release of his seminal debut thriller.

Film adaptations

 * The film The Day of the Jackal was released in 1973, directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Edward Fox as The Jackal, Michael Lonsdale as Lebel, and Derek Jacobi as Caron. It follows the novel rather faithfully although it has several cosmetic changes
 * An Indian film in Malayalam titled August 1 (1988), directed by Sibi Malayil, is loosely based on the novel. It stars Mammootty, Captain Raju and Sukumaran in pivotal roles.
 * A film titled The Jackal, directed by Michael Caton-Jones, was released in 1997. The film bears little resemblance to the plot of the novel or the original film, featuring an unnamed assassin (Bruce Willis) being hired by the Russian mafia to kill the First Lady of the United States. Both Zinnemann and Forsyth lobbied to have the film's name changed to disassociate it from Forsyth's novel.

Television adaptation
Sky and Peacock have ordered a television series adaptation of the novel, produced by Carnival Films and Sky Studios with Ronan Bennett as showrunner and Brian Kirk as director. Eddie Redmayne will play the Jackal.

Influence on later events
The method for acquiring a false identity and UK passport detailed in the book is often referred to as the "Day of the Jackal fraud" and remained a well known security loophole in the UK until 2007. The New Zealand Member of Parliament David Garrett claimed the novel's description of identity theft inspired him to create his own fake passport as a "youthful prank". The incident further inflamed a national controversy over the law and order campaigner's criminal history.

In 1975, the Venezuelan terrorist Carlos was dubbed "The Jackal" by The Guardian after one of its correspondents reportedly spotted the novel near some of the fugitive's belongings.

A copy of the Hebrew translation of The Day of the Jackal was found in possession of Yigal Amir, the Israeli who in 1995 assassinated Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel.

Would-be assassin Vladimir Arutinian, who attempted to kill US President George W. Bush during his 2005 visit to the Republic of Georgia, was an obsessive reader of the novel and kept an annotated version of it during his planning for the assassination.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: The Day of the Jackal


text:
Mayon

Mayon (Bulkan Mayon; Bulkang Mayon, ), also known as Mount Mayon and Mayon Volcano (Monte Mayón, Volcán Mayón), is an active stratovolcano in the province of Albay in Bicol, Philippines. A popular tourist spot, it is renowned for its "perfect cone" because of its symmetric conical shape, and is regarded as sacred in Philippine mythology.

The volcano with its surrounding landscape was declared a national park on July 20, 1938, the first in the nation. It was reclassified as a natural park and renamed the Mayon Volcano Natural Park in 2000. It is the centerpiece of the Albay Biosphere Reserve, declared by UNESCO in 2016, and is currently being nominated as a World Heritage Site.

Mayon is the most active volcano in the Philippines, and its activity is regularly monitored by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) from their provincial headquarters on Ligñon Hill, about 12 km from the summit.

Geography
Mayon is the main landmark and highest point of the province of Albay and the whole Bicol Region in the Philippines, rising 2463 m from the shores of Albay Gulf about 10 km away. The volcano is geographically shared by the eight cities and municipalities of Legazpi, Daraga, Camalig, Guinobatan, Ligao, Tabaco, Malilipot, and Santo Domingo (clockwise from Legazpi), which divide the cone like slices of a pie when viewing a map of their political boundaries.

Geology
Mayon is a classic stratovolcano with a small central summit crater. It is one of the world's most symmetrical volcanic cones.

The concave profile, a hyperbolic sine curve of the volcano is due to the balance between erosion and eruption, defined by the angle of repose of ash. The steepest upper slopes of the volcano reach an average slope gradient of 75%, while the lower foot slope is only an average of 3%. The volcanic crater is about 250 m in diameter. At least 85 lava flows have been identified, and consist mainly of lava augite-hypersthene-andesite, generally fed from the crater. Pyroclastic flows, characterized as a St. Vincent nuee' ardente, leave behind block and ash deposits, and breadcrust bombs in an ash and lapilli matrix. The farthest flow reached 8.5 km along Fidel Surtida, Santo Domingo. Mayon lahars were formed by rainstorms during eruptions, or by torrential rain afterwards. Averaging 230 m in height and 710 m in diameter, 7 cinder cones are found on the southern and southwestern lower slopes. Composed of olivine-augite basalt, these cones have an angle of repose of 34%, with Ligñon Hill as an example.

Like other volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean, Mayon is a part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. It is on the southeast side of Luzon. The Bicol Arc is one of 7 oceanic trench subduction zones defining the Philippine Mobile Belt. Volcanism in the Bicol Arc is related to the westward subduction of the Philippine Plate along the Philippine Trench. The 12 active and inactive volcanoes within the arc include the Mayon Volcano, Mount Bulusan, Mount Isarog, Mount Iriga, Malinao Volcano, and Mount Masaraga. In general, these are calc-alkali basalts, basaltic andesites, and andesites.

In August 2021, soils from Mayon have been found containing bacterial species with potential antibiotic and anti-cancer properties.

Recorded eruptions
Mayon is the most active volcano in the Philippines, erupting over 52 times in the past 500 years. Historical observations accounted its first eruption in 1616. The first eruption for which an extended account exists was the six-day event of July 20, 1766.

1814 eruption

Its most destructive recorded eruption occurred on February 1 (VEI=4). Lava flowed but less than the 1766 eruption. The volcano belched dark ash and eventually bombarded the town of Cagsawa with tephra that buried it. Trees burned, and rivers were certainly damaged. Proximate areas were also devastated by the eruption, with ash accumulating to 9 m in depth. In Cagsawa town, about 1,200 locals perished in what is considered to be the most lethal eruption in Mayon's history according to PHIVOLCS. The 1814 eruption is believed to have contributed to the accumulation of atmospheric ash together with the catastrophic 1815 eruption of other volcanoes like Indonesia's Mount Tambora, leading to the Year Without a Summer in 1816.

1881–1882 eruption
From July 6, 1881, until approximately August 1882, Mayon underwent a strong (VEI=3) eruption. Samuel Kneeland, a naturalist, professor and geologist, personally observed the volcanic activity on Christmas Day, 1881, about five months after the start of the activity: At the date of my visit, the volcano had poured out, for five months continuously, a stream of lava on the Legaspi side from the very summit. The viscid mass bubbled quietly but grandly, and overran the border of the crater, descending several hundred feet in a glowing wave, like red-hot iron. Gradually, fading as the upper surface cooled, it changed to a thousand sparkling rills among the crevices, and, as it passed beyond the line of complete vision behind the woods near the base, the fires twinkled like stars or the scintillations of a dying conflagration. More than half of the mountain height was thus illuminated.

1897 eruption
Mayon's longest uninterrupted eruption occurred on June 23 (VEI=4), and lasted for seven days. Lava once again flowed down to towns 11 km eastward, the village of Bacacay was buried 15 m beneath the lava. In Santo Domingo 100 people were killed by steam and falling debris or hot rocks. Other villages like San Roque, Santa Misericordia and Santo Niño became deathtraps. Ash was carried in black clouds as far as 160 km from the catastrophic event, which killed more than 400 people.

1984 and 1993 eruptions
No casualties were recorded from the 1984 eruption after more than 73,000 people were evacuated from the danger zones as recommended by PHIVOLCS scientists. But in 1993, pyroclastic flows killed 79 people, mainly farmers, during the eruption that also forced 50,000 residents evacuated, according to the Albay provincial government.

1999 eruption
Mayon began its increasing activity in May, with hazard status associated raised to Alert Level 1. On June 22, Mayon emitted an ash column that rose to approximately 10 km above the vent; the status was later raised to Alert Level 2. The emission was recorded by the seismic network of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology as an explosion that lasted for 10 minutes. No volcanic earthquakes nor other visible signs of abnormal activity were observed before the explosion.

2000 eruptions
Mayon had experienced continuous emissions since 1999 and followed by a series of eruptions in the next two consecutive years.

On January 5, a 5-km-high ash column was produced by an explosion. Growth of summit-crater dome and intensifying eruptions later signaled evacuations.

Past emissions had led to the growth of the lava dome beginning on February 12. On February 23, series of eruptions began. PHIVOLCS then recommended evacuation even beyond the permanent danger zone. On February 24, PHIVOLCS raised its status to the highest, Alert Level 5, with at least eight towns and one city warned of possible explosions with ash and lava flows, and several thousands forced to evacuate even outside identified danger zones. The most violent eruptions were occurred from February 28 to March 1, and since then, declining activity was observed until April.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDCC)reported that the 2000 eruption displaced 14,114 families (68,426 persons) and damaged at least ₱89-million worth of property and crops.

2001 eruption
The NDCC reported that another eruption in July affected 11,529 families (56,853 persons) and damaged at least ₱48-million worth of property and crops.

2006 eruptions
Mayon's 48th modern-era eruption occurred on July 13, followed by quiet effusion of lava that started on July 14. Nearly 40,000 people were evacuated from the 8 km danger zone on the southeast flank of the volcano.

After an ash explosion on September 1, a general decline in the overall activity of Mayon was established. The decrease in key parameters such as seismicity, sulfur dioxide emission rates and ground inflation all indicated a waning condition. The slowdown in the eruptive activity was also evident from the decrease in intensity of crater glow and the diminishing volume of lava extruded from the summit. PHILVOLCS Alert Level 4 was lowered to Level 3 on September 11; to Level 2 on October 3; and to Level 1 on October 25.

2008 eruption
On August 10, a small summit explosion ejected ash 200 m above the summit, which drifted east-northeast. In the weeks prior to the eruption, a visible glow increased within the crater and increased seismicity.

2009–2010 eruptions
On July 10, 2009, PHIVOLCS raised the status from Alert Level 1 (low level unrest) to Alert Level 2 (moderate unrest) because the number of recorded low frequency volcanic earthquakes rose to the same level as those prior to the 2008 phreatic explosion.

At 5:32 a.m. on October 28, a minor ash explosion lasting for about one minute occurred in the summit crater. A brown ash column rose about 600 m above the crater and drifted northeast. In the prior 24 hours, 13 volcanic earthquakes were recorded. Steam emission was at moderate level, creeping downslope toward the southwest. PHIVOLCS maintained the Alert Status at Level 2, but later warned that with the approach of tropical cyclone international codename Mirinae, the danger of lahars and possible crater wall collapse would greatly increase and all specified precautions should be taken.

After dawn, field investigation showed ashfall had drifted southwest of the volcano. In the 24-hour period, the seismic network recorded 20 volcanic earthquakes. Alert Status was kept at Level 2.

At 8 pm on December 14, after 83 volcanic quakes in the preceding 24 hours and increased sulfur dioxide emissions, PHIVOLCS raised the Alert status to Level 3.

Early in the morning of December 15, a moderate ash explosion occurred at the summit crater and "quiet extrusion of lava" resulted in flows down to about 500 m from the summit. By evening, Albay Province authorities evacuated about 20,000 residents out of the 8 km danger zone and into local evacuation centres. About 50,000 people live within the 8 km zone.

On December 17, five ash ejections occurred, with one reaching 500 m above the summit. Sulfur dioxide emission increased to 2,758 tonnes per 24 hours, lava flows reached down to 1500 m below the summit, and incandescent fragments from the lava pile continuously rolling down Bonga Gully reached a distance of 3–4 km below the summit. By midday, a total of 33,833 people from 7,103 families had been evacuated, 72 percent of the total number of people that needed to be evacuated, according to Albay Governor Joey Salceda.

On December 20, PHIVOLCS raised Mayon's status level to alert level 4 because of an increasing lava flow in the southern portion of the volcano and an increase in sulfur dioxide emission to 750 tonnes per day. Almost 460 earthquakes in the volcano were monitored. In the border of the danger zone, rumbling sounds like thunder were heard. Over 9,000 families (44,394 people) were evacuated by the Philippine government from the base of the volcano. No civilian was permitted within the 8 km danger zone, which was cordoned off by the Philippine military who actively patrolled to enforce the "no-go" rule and to ensure no damage or loss of property of those evacuated.

Alert level 4 was maintained as the volcano remained restive through December, prompting affected residents to spend Christmas and the New Year in evacuation centers. On December 25, sulfur dioxide emissions peaked at 8,993 tons per day. On December 28, PHIVOLCS director Renato Solidum commented on the status of the volcano, "You might think it is taking a break but the volcano is still swelling." On the next day December 29, a civil aviation warning for the airspace near the summit was included in the volcano bulletins. The ejected volcanic material since the start of the eruption was estimated to have been between 20 million to 23 million cubic meters of rocks and volcanic debris, compared to 50 million to 60 million cubic meters in past eruptions.

On January 2, 2010, PHIVOLCS lowered the alert level of the volcano from level 4 to level 3, citing decreasing activity observed over the prior four days. The state agency noted the absence of ash ejections and relative weakness of steam emissions and the gradual decrease in sulfur dioxide emissions from a maximum of 8,993 tonnes per day to 2,621 tonnes per day. 7,218 families within the 7–8 km danger zones returned to their homes, while 2,728 families residing in the 4–6 km danger zone remained in the evacuation centers pending a decision to further lower the alert level.

On January 13, PHIVOLCS reduced the Alert Level from 3 to 2 due to a further reduction in the likelihood of hazardous eruption.

Government response
Albay governor Joey Salceda declared the disaster zone an 'open city' area to encourage aid from external groups. Potential donors of relief goods were not required to secure clearance from the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council, and were coordinated directly with support groups at the local government level.

The restiveness of the volcano also stimulated the tourism industry of the province. Up to 2,400 tourists per day arrived in the area in the two weeks after the volcano started erupting on December 14, filling local hotels, compared to a more modest average of 200 in the days prior. However, it was reported that some tourists lured by local "guides" ignored government warnings not to venture into the 8 km danger zone. "It's a big problem. I think the first violation of the zero casualty (record) will be a dead tourist," said Salceda.

Speaking about thrill-seekers finding their way into the area, Salceda warned, "At the moment of the eruption, the local guides will have better chance of getting out. The helpless tourist will be left behind."

International response
Following the declaration of alert level 3 for the volcano, the United States issued an advisory cautioning its nationals from traveling to Mayon. Canada and the United Kingdom also posted advisories discouraging their nationals from visiting the volcano.

The United States government committed $100,000 in financial aid for the evacuees of Mayon. In cooperation with the Philippine government the assistance was delivered through the Philippine National Red Cross and other NGOs by USAID.

The Albay provincial government ordered the local military to add more checkpoints, place roadblocks and arrest tourists caught traveling inside the 8 km danger zone.

Power and water supply were cut off within the danger zone to further discourage residents from returning. The Commission on Human Rights allowed the use of emergency measures and gave the authorities clearance to forcibly evacuate residents who refused to leave.

When the alert level around the volcano was lowered from alert level 4 to alert level 3 on January 2, 2010, the Albay provincial government ordered a decampment of some 47,000 displaced residents from the evacuation centers. Power and water supply in the danger zones were restored. Military vehicles were used to transport the evacuees back to their homes, while food supplies and temporary employment through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) were provided to the heads of each family. As of January 3, 2010, the National Disaster Coordinating Council reported the overall cost of humanitarian aid and other assistance provided by the government and non-government organizations (NGOs) has reached over 61 million pesos since the start of the eruption.

The United Nations World Food Programme (UN-WFP) delivered 20 tons of high energy biscuits to the evacuees to complement supplies provided by the DSWD, with more allocated from emergency food stocks intended for relief from the effects of the 2009 Pacific typhoon season. When the alert level was downgraded to level 3 on January 2, 2010, UN-WFP provided three days worth of food for evacuees returning to their homes who will continue to receive supplies already set aside for them.

2013 phreatic eruption

On May 7, at 8 a.m. (PST), the volcano produced a surprise phreatic eruption lasting 73 seconds. Ash, steam and rock were produced during this eruption. Ash clouds reached 500 meters above the volcano's summit and drifted west southwest. The event killed five climbers, of whom three were German, one was a Spaniard living in Germany, and one was a Filipino tour guide. Seven others were reported injured. The bodies of the hikers were soon located by the authorities. However, due to rugged and slippery terrain, the hikers' remains were slowly transferred from Camp 2 to Camp 1, the site of the rescue operations at the foot of the volcano. According to Butch Rivera of Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital, the hikers died due to trauma in their bodies, and suffocation. Authorities were also able to rescue a Thai national who was unable to walk due to fatigue and had suffered a broken arm and burns on the neck and back. Despite the eruption, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology stated that the alert level would remain at 0. No volcanic earthquake activity was detected in the 24 hours prior to the eruption as no indication of further intensification of volcanic activity was observed, and no evacuation was being planned.

International response
The government of the United Kingdom advised its nationals to follow the advisories given by the local authorities, and respect the 6 km permanent danger zone. The advisory was given a day after the explosion.

2014
On August 12, a new 30–50 meter high lava dome appeared in the summit crater. This event was preceded by inflations of the volcano (measured by precise leveling, tilt data, and GPS), and increases in sulfur dioxide gas emissions. On September 14, rockfall events at the southeastern rim of the crater and heightened seismic activity caused PHIVOLCS to increase the alert level for Mayon from 2 to 3, which indicates relatively high unrest with magma at the crater, and that hazardous eruption is possible within weeks.

The rockfalls and visible incandescence of the crater from molten lava and hot volcanic gas both indicated a possible incipient breaching of the growing summit lava dome. On September 15, NASA's Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) detected thermal anomalies near Mayon's summit, consistent with magma at the surface. On September 16, provincial governor Joey Salceda said that the government would begin to "fast-track the preparation to evacuate 12,000 families in the 6–8 km extended danger zone", and soldiers would enforce the no-go areas.

On September 18, PHIVOLCS reported 142 VT earthquake events and 251 rockfall events. White steam plumes drifted to the south-southwest and rain clouds covered the summit. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission was measured at a 757 tonnes after a peak of 2,360 tonnes on September 6. Deformation (precise leveling and tiltmeters) during the 3rd week of August 2014 recorded edifice inflation.

2018 activity
On January 13, at 4:21 pm (PST), a phreatic eruption occurred that propelled a grayish steam and ash plume approximately 2500 meters high that drifted to the southwest side of the volcano. The activity lasted approximately 1 hour and 47 minutes and ash fell in Barangay Anoling, Daraga, Barangays Sua, Quirangay, Tumpa, Ilawod and Salugan of Camalig and in Barangays Tandarora, Maninila, and Travesia in Guinobatan. Sulfuric odor was noted by residents of Camalig town proper. Rumbling sounds were also heard by residents of Brgy. Anoling, Daraga and rockfall events were intermittently recorded. Faint crater glow was first observed at 10:16 pm. The event prompted PHIVOLCS to raise the Alert Level of Mayon from Alert Level 1 (abnormal) to Alert Level 2- (increasing unrest for the people's safety). About 40,000 residents were displaced in the resulting evacuation.

On January 14, Mayon's alert status was upgraded to Alert Level 3 (increased tendency towards a hazardous eruption) after 3 phreatic eruptions and 158 rockfall events were recorded. The summit crater also exhibited a bright glow signifying the growth of a new lava dome and the start of lava flows towards its slopes.

On January 16, the province of Albay declared a state of calamity as lava flows reached the limits of the 6-kilometer evacuation zone.

On January 22, Alert Level 4 was raised after Mayon spewed a 3-kilometer tall ash column at around 12:45 pm. Classes in all levels in private and public schools were suspended in the whole province of Albay. By evening, lava fountains were spewed from the crater with pyroclastic flows and ash plumes. Lava bombs and rockfalls could also be observed and rumbling sounds from the eruptions could be heard. The eruption type was classified as a Strombolian eruption.

On January 23, Mayon spewed 300 to 500-meter lava fountains and ash plumes with a 4 to 5-hour interval. Lava bombs and rockfalls could also be observed and sounds from the volcano could be heard. Classes in all levels, both public and private were still suspended, work in some places were suspended as well. The danger zone was expanded up to 9 kilometers despite remaining at Alert Level 4 and residents from the expanded danger zone were evacuated.

On January 24, a column of ash and lava fountains were spewed again with an interval of 4 to 5 hours. Fire bombs and rockfalls were observed and sounds from the eruptions were heard.

On January 25, a column of ash and lava fountains were spewed again. Fire bombs and rockfalls were observed and sounds from the eruptions were heard. The eruptions had an interval of 3 to 5 hours.

Alert Level 4 was maintained at the volcano for the rest of January and all throughout the month of February as it remained restive. On March 6, after observing a decline in volcanic activity, PHIVOLCS downgraded the alert level back to Alert Level 3. On March 29, after observing a further decline in activity, PHIVOLCS lowered the alert level back to Alert Level 2 signifying the end of Mayon's eruptive activity and the volcano's decline to a moderate level of unrest.

On December 26, Mayon caused two phreatic explosions but remained under Alert Level 2.

2020 crater glow
On the evening of February 4, PHIVOLCS reported that the crater of Mayon showed crater glow, attributed to magma which was still present slightly underneath the surface of the volcano. Even though this phenomenon alerted the officials and the public, Mayon remained at an Alert Level 2 out of 5. The Alert Level 2 was lowered to Alert Level 1 on July 17, 2020. And on July 30, 2021, PHIVOLCS-DOST lifted the alert level status of the volcano.

2022 activity
On October 1, Mayon released 391 tons of sulfur dioxide, and its edifice was also slightly inflated.

PHIVOLCS observed a faint crater glow at the summit of Mayon. One volcanic earthquake was detected in the last 24-hour observation period. Plumes were also seen drifting west-northwest and westward.

On October 7, the status of Mayon was raised to Alert Level 2 by PHIVOLCS, due to exhibiting "increasing unrest".

2023 eruption
On June 5, PHIVOLCS raised the status of Mayon Volcano to Alert Level 2 due to its "increasing unrest", after it observed an increase in rockfall from the volcano's summit lava dome since the last week of April, indicating aseismic growth. Rockfall increased in frequency from an average of five events per day to 49 events per day from June 4 at 5:00 a.m. to June 5 at 5:00 a.m. A total of 318 rockfall events were recorded by the Mayon Volcano Network since April 1 while 26 volcanic earthquakes were recorded for the same period.

On June 8, the alert level in Mayon was raised to Level 3, signifying "increased tendency towards a hazardous eruption", and that an effusive magmatic eruption was taking place. An incandescent rockfall was recorded in the evening. On June 9, PHIVOLCS recorded six pyroclastic flows and 199 rockfall events from the volcano overnight. The province of Albay was placed under a state of calamity due to the unrest.

On June 11–12 there were more eruptions. On the night of June 15, the volcano registered its largest pyroclastic flow since the resumption of its activity, with ashfall affecting parts of Ligao and Guinobatan. On June 18, the volcano's lava flow reached a maximum length of 1.5 kilometers from the crater, which ran down the Mi-isi gully in the south side and the Bonga gully in the southeastern side of the volcano, while debris from the summit reached as far as 3.3 kilometers from the crater.

20,000 people living within the volcano's danger zone were evacuated. At least 628 people required medical treatment due to the effects of the eruption and complications arising from evacuation measures.

On June 30, Mayon emitted a pyroclastic flow that lasted four minutes and traveled around 3 to 4 kilometers downslope on the Basud Gully. Ashfall was reported in Tabaco City.

On December 8, PHIVOLCS lowered the volcano's activity status to alert level 2.

2024
On February 4, Mayon underwent a phreatic eruption that lasted four minutes and nine seconds and produced a 1.2-kilometer high plume. On March 5, PHIVOLCS lowered the volcano's alert status to level 1.

Deadly lahars

On November 30, 2006, strong rainfall which accompanied Typhoon Durian produced lahars from the volcanic ash and boulders of the last eruption killing at least 1,266 people. The precise figure may never be known since many people were buried under the mudslides. A large portion of the village of Padang, an outer suburb of Legazpi City, was covered in mud up to the houses' roofs. Students from Aquinas University in Barangay Rawis, also in Legazpi, were among those killed as mudslides engulfed their dormitory. Central Legazpi escaped the mudslide but suffered from severe flooding and power cuts.

Parts of the town of Daraga were also devastated, including the Cagsawa area, where the ruins from the eruption of 1814 were partially buried once again. Large areas of Guinobatan were destroyed, particularly Barangay Maipon.

A similar post-eruption lahar occurred in October 1766, months after the July eruption of that year. The heavy rainfall also accompanying a violent typhoon carried down disintegrated fragmental ejecta, burying plantations and whole villages. In 1825, the event was repeated in Cagsawa killing 1,500 people.

Monitoring
Three telemetric units are installed on Mayon's slopes, which send information to the seven seismometers in different locations around the volcano. These instruments relay data to the Ligñon Hill observatory and the PHIVOLCS central headquarters on the University of the Philippines Diliman campus.

PHIVOLCS also deploys electronic distance meters (EDMs), precise leveling benchmarks, and portable fly spectrometers to monitor the volcano's daily activity.

Mythology

It is said that the volcano grew from the burial grounds of lovers Magayon and Panganoron. Thus, the ancient Bicolanos named it after the legendary princess-heroine Daragang Magayon (Beautiful Lady). After some time, the volcano was chosen as the abode of the supreme god of the Bicolano people, Gugurang, who also chose Mayon as the repository of the sacred fire of Ibalon. Numerous festivals and rituals are associated with the volcano and its landscape.

Incidents and accidents
On February 23, 2023, a twin engine Cessna 340 airplane owned by the Energy Development Corporation departed Bicol International Airport in the early morning on an executive flight to the capital Manila. A few minutes after takeoff, while climbing to an altitude of 6,000 ft, it impacted the rocky slope of Mt Mayon located about 16 km north of the airport. The wreckage was found the next day near the crater of the volcano. The airplane disintegrated on impact and all four occupants, including two Australians, were killed.

title: Mayon


text:
Price war

A price war is a form of market competition in which companies within an industry engage in aggressive pricing strategies, “characterized by the repeated cutting of prices below those of competitors”. This leads to a vicious cycle, where each competitor attempts to match or undercut the price of the other. Competitors are driven to follow the initial price-cut due to the downward pricing pressure, referred to as “price-cutting momentum”.

Heil and Helsen (2001) proposed that a price war exists only if one or more of a set of qualitative conditions are satisfied. These conditions include: (1) a primary focus on competitors rather than consumers, (2) undesirability of pricing interactions for competitors, (3) absence of intention to start a price war by any competitor, (4) violation of industry norms through competitive interactions, (5) accelerated pricing interactions in comparison to the usual pace, (6) a downward direction of pricing, and (7) unsustainable pricing interplay.

While price wars can offer short-term benefits to consumers by providing them with lower prices, they can have a negative impact on the companies involved by reducing their profit margins. Moreover, the negative effects of price wars on companies can extend beyond the short term, as the companies involved may struggle to recover their lost profits and maintain their market share. Firms may be cautious when engaging in price wars as this competition can lead to prices that are unsustainable for long-term profitability.

Causes
The main reasons that price wars occur are:
 * Homogenous products: Where products are homogenous, and product substitution between firms is high, then the price elasticity of demand will also be high. As a result, if one company in an industry lowers its prices, other firms offering similar products must also reduce their prices to retain their market share.
 * Penetration pricing: If a firm is trying to enter an established market, it may offer lower prices than existing brands to incentivise consumers to switch to their product.
 * Oligopoly: If the industry structure is oligopolistic (that is, has few major competitors), the players will closely monitor each other's prices and be prepared to respond to any price cuts.

 * Applying game theory, two oligopolistic firms that engage in a price war will often find themselves in a kind of prisoner’s dilemma. Indeed, if Firm A reduces it prices whilst competitor, Firm B, doesn’t reduce its prices, then Firm A can capture market share. And, if Firm A reduces its prices, then Firm B must reduce its prices to avoid being eliminated from the market. The equilibrium is such that both firms adopt a low-price strategy to protect themselves.

 * Predatory pricing: One firm substantially reduces its prices for a sustained period below its own cost of supply in an attempt to reduce market competition. Predatory pricing on the international market is called dumping. That is, when a foreign company sells a product in a domestic market at a price below market value, and in doing so, causes injury to the industry in the domestic market.

Reactions to price challenges
The first reaction to a price reduction should always be to consider the following:

Has the competitor decided upon a long-term price reduction or is this just a short-term promotion?

If the competitor has implemented a short-term promotion, the ideal response is to monitor the competitor's price changes and maintain prices at the current level. Price wars often begin when simple promotional activities are misunderstood as major strategic changes. If the competitor is implementing a long-term price change, the following reactions may be suitable:

 * Reduce price: The most obvious, and most popular reaction is to match the competitor's move. This maintains the status quo (but reduces profits pro rata).
 * Maintain price: Another reaction is to hope that the competitor has made a mistake, but if the competitor's action does make inroads into a merchant's share, this can soon mean customers lose confidence and a subsequent loss of sales.
 * Split the market: Branch one product into two, selling one as premium and the other as basic. This effective tactic was notably used by Heublein, the former owner of the Smirnoff brand of vodka.
 * React with other measures - Reducing price is not the only weapon. Other tactics can be used to great effect: improved quality, increased promotion (perhaps to improve the idea of quality).

Effects of price wars
Empirical studies suggest that price wars can significantly damage the companies that practice such behaviour. Notably, price wars can have some short term benefits for firms as it allows them to quickly turnover inventory, alleviate financial pressure, increase social purchasing power, and may compel firms to enhance their production efficiency. But these short term gains are ultimately offset by long term losses. In the long run, price wars can cause companies to incur losses in their margins, customer equity, innovation capabilities and competitive advantage. Victims of price wars may be downgraded in the market, and even incur bankruptcy. But the companies that involve themselves in price wars are not the only affected parties, as suppliers and investors will also be impacted. This can lead to compromised company image and reputation over the long run. Overall, society may suffer from less efficient allocation of resources as the resources that were poured into participating in a price war could have been allocated elsewhere. In the short term, consumers appear to benefit from lower prices during a price war. However, in the long run, consumers are likely to form unrealistic reference prices and may be faced with lower quality products.

Examples of price wars
Price wars are prevalent in many industries, with academic literature citing cases in market segments, including: electricity, telecommunications, automotive, and airlines. Some key examples include:
 * 1992 United States airline price wars: American Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and other United States carriers matched and exceeded the reduced prices of one another, resulting in increased sales volume but record losses.

 * 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war: In 2020, Saudi Arabia initiated a price war on oil with Russia, which facilitated a 65% quarterly fall in the price of oil. Revenue from oil exports is heavily relied on by many governments, with Iraq, Kuwait, and the Republic of the Congo reporting oil rents (as a percentage of GDP) over 30%. Lower market prices led to reduced profit margins and put financial pressure on such governments.

title: Price war


text:
Raymond of Toulouse

Raymond of Toulouse may refer to:

 * Raymond I, Count of Toulouse (died 865), Count of Limoges, Rouergue, Quercy, Toulouse and Albi
 * Raymond II, Count of Toulouse (died 924), Count of Toulouse, Nîmes, and Albi
 * Raymond III, Count of Toulouse (died 978), Count of Toulouse, Nîmes, and Albi
 * Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, aka Raymond of St Gilles (c. 1041 or 1042 – 1105), Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne, Margrave of Provence and a leader of the First Crusade
 * Raymond of Toulouse (saint) (died 1118), Saint, native of Toulouse
 * Raymond V, Count of Toulouse (1134–1194), count of Toulouse
 * Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse (1156–1222), count of Toulouse and marquis of Provence
 * Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse (1197–1249), Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne and Marquis of Provence

title: Raymond of Toulouse


text:
Talk:Crusader states

Demography
The article presents Prawer's estimation about the Frankish population as a fact, although it is only one of the scholarly guessworks. Borsoka (talk) 01:35, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

 * Population figures are always likely to be guesswork - are there any alternative guesses? Norfolkbigfish (talk) 08:24, 23 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes, medieval population figures are mainly guesswork, but the article does not emphasize it: Prawer's estimation has no solid documentary basis. Scholarly estimations of the number of Franks in Outremer range between 120,000 and 300,000 (Morton, 2020, p. 154). Borsoka (talk) 00:55, 24 June 2021 (UTC)
 * What exactly does Morton write? Who has come up with alternative figures? Prawer's figures seem pretty much accepted and are based on primary sources. Norfolkbigfish (talk) 17:22, 25 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Please find my edit here: . I hope it answers all your above questions. For instance, the primary sources are unreliable, as it is emphasized in a number of scholarly works published during the last decades. Borsoka (talk) 00:25, 26 June 2021 (UTC)

Society
The article contains information about peasantry in the crusader states, but our readers are not informed about the principal features of society: the development of a frontier society, the survival of a modified dhimmi system, the similarities and differences between European and Levantine feudalism, etc. Borsoka (talk) 01:42, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

 * Feudalism's impact on the peasantry is a minor concern in the works cited in the article. Firstly, because the Franks social structure largely left the peasantry untouched. Secondly, Frankish society is accepted as largley urban, particularly after Hattin but even before. Feudalim is touched on by Prawar and Riley-Smith based on the legal system that governed the Franks, and by extension the Crusader states itself. Norfolkbigfish (talk) 08:53, 23 June 2021 (UTC)
 * I think you misunderstood my above remark. My concern is that the article does not present the crusader states' society as a whole and in context, but contains statements about peasantry. Borsoka (talk) 00:59, 24 June 2021 (UTC)
 * There are only 3 references to peasantry, one of which refers to Europe Norfolkbigfish (talk) 17:25, 25 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Please read the section "Demography and society" again. Perhaps you want to search for the term "peasants" instead of "peasantry". For your removal of the term "peasantry" in other parts of the article, please find my remarks below. Borsoka (talk) 23:47, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

Peasantry
your last edit removed the term "peasantry" from some sentences. Why do you think it was necessary? I think the edit contradicts scholarly consensus. For instance, I cannot remember scholarly books claiming that formerly free clergymen or burghers were subjected into serfdom in this period. Borsoka (talk) 23:44, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

outremer, or all crusader states?
the lead of this article is very unclear as to whether the article itself considers the State of the Teutonic Order for example to be a "crusader state". That's important because this article is linked in the lead of the article on the State of the Teutonic Order. Freyheytlid (talk) 20:48, 23 February 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Crusader states