Life.

Speke was born on 4 May 1827 at Orleigh Court, Buckland Brewer, near Bideford, North Devon. In 1844 he was commissioned into the British Army and posted to India, where he served in the 46th Bengal Native Infantry under Sir Hugh Gough during the Punjab campaign and under Sir Colin Campbell during the First Anglo-Sikh War. He was promoted lieutenant in 1850 and captain in 1852. He spent his leave exploring the Himalayan Mountains and Mount Everest and once crossed into Tibet.  In 1854 he made his first voyage to Africa, first arriving in Aden to ask permission of the Political Resident of this British Outpost to cross the Gulf of Aden and collect specimens in Somalia for his family's natural history museum in Somerset. This was refused as Somalia was considered rather dangerous. Speke then asked to join an expedition about to leave for Somalia led by the already famous Richard Burton who had Lt William Stroyan and Lt. Herne recruited to come along but a recent death left the expedition one person short. Speke was accepted because he had traveled in remote regions alone before, had experience collecting and preserving natural history specimens and had done astronomical surveying. Initially the party split with Burton going to Harrar, Abyssinia, and Speke going to Wadi Nogal in Somalia. During this trip Speke experienced trouble with the local guide, who cheated him; after they returned to Aden, Burton, who had also returned, saw that the guide was punished, jailed and killed. This incident probably led to larger troubles later on. Then all 4 men traveled to Berbera on the coast of Somalia from where they wanted to trek inland towards the Ogaden. While camped outside Berbera they were attacked at night by 200 spear-wielding Somalis. During this fracas Speke ducked under the flap of a tent to get a clearer view of the scene and Burton thought he was retreating and called for Speke to stand firm. Speke did so and then charged forward with great courage, shooting several attackers. The misunderstanding laid the foundation of their later disputes and dislikes. Stroyan was killed by a spear, Burton was seriously wounded by a javelin impaling both cheeks and Speke was wounded and captured; Herne came away unwounded. Speke was tied up and stabbed several times with spears, one thrust cutting through his thigh along his femur and exiting. Showing tremendous determination, he used his bound fists to give his attacker a facial punch; this gave him an opportunity to escape, albeit he was followed by a group of Somalis and had to dodge spears as he ran for his life. Rejoining Burton and Herne, the trio eventually managed to escape with a boat passing along the coast. The expedition was a severe financial loss and Speke's natural history specimens from his earlier leg were used to make up for some of it. Speke handed Burton his diaries that Burton used as an appendix in his own book on his travels to Harrar. It seemed unlikely that the two would join again and Burton believed that he would never lead an expedition to the interior of Africa, his fervent hope, after this failed journey.

Search for the Nile source 1856–1859.

In 1856, Speke and Burton went to East Africa to find the Great Lakes, which were rumored to exist in the center of the continent. It was hoped that the expedition would locate the source of the Nile. The journey, which started from Zanzibar Island in June 1857, was extremely strenuous and both men fell ill from a variety of tropical diseases once they went inland. By 7 November 1857 they had traveled over 600 miles on foot and donkey and they reached Kazeh (Tabora), where they rested and recuperated among Arab slave traders who had a settlement there. In Kazeh Burton became gravely ill and Speke went temporarily blind as they travelled further west. After an arduous journey, the two arrived in Ujiji in February 1858 and became the first Europeans to reach Lake Tanganyika (although Speke was partially blind at this point and could not properly see the lake). They decided to explore the lake but it was vast and they only could get small canoes from the locals. Burton was too ill to journey and thus Speke crossed the lake with a small crew and some canoes to try to rent a larger vessel from an Arab who, they were told, had a large boat and lived on the west side of the lake. (Lake Tanganyika is over 400 miles long on the north-south axis but only about 30 miles wide.) During this trip Speke, marooned on an island, suffered severely when he became temporarily deaf after a beetle crawled into his ear and he tried to remove it with a knife. Unable to rent the larger vessel from the Arab, Speke returned. The pair were unable to explore Lake Tanganyika properly and they initially misunderstood that a river flowed out of it from the north side. A few weeks later Sidi Mubarak Bombay confirmed via locals that the river flowed into the lake; however, since neither man actually saw this river, this remained a source of speculation.

Speke's travels to Lake Victoria.

They had also heard of a second lake to the north-east, and in May 1858, they decided to explore it on the way back to the coast. But Burton was too weak to make the trip and thus stayed in base camp when the main caravan halted again at Kazeh. Speke went on a 47-day side trip that was 452 miles up and down in which he took 34 men with Bombay and Mabruki as his captains and on 30 July 1858 became the first European to see Lake Victoria and the first to map it. It was this lake that eventually proved to be the source of the River Nile. However, much of the expedition's survey equipment had been lost at this point and thus vital questions about the height and extent of the lake could not be answered easily. Speke's eyes were still bothering him and he only saw a small part of the southern end of the lake and his view was blocked by islands in the lake so he could not judge the size of the lake well. However, Speke did estimate the elevation of Lake Victoria at 4000 feet by observing the temperature at which water boiled at that level. (This lake's being substantially higher than Lake Tanganyika did make it a more likely candidate for the source of the Nile.)  From the beginning, the relationship of Speke and Burton was one of opposites; Burton considered Speke inferior linguistically and a less experienced traveler in remote regions (which was partially true) but Burton himself appears to have been jealous and far less able to relate to the safari caravan to keep the expedition motivated and moving (a vital factor as they were completely dependent on their safari crew). While Speke enjoyed hunting and thus provided the caravan with meat, Burton was not much interested in such pursuits. Burton was appointed the head of the expedition and considered Speke the second in command, although the pair seemed to have shared the hardships and labors of the journey pretty much evenly. Once it became clear that Speke might have found the source of the Nile the relationship deteriorated further. Why Burton did not journey back to Lake Victoria with Speke to make a better reconnoitre of the Lake after Speke returned to base camp in Kazeh is unclear. Burton was incapacitated and had to be carried by bearers but this had been true for a great deal of the trip.  While Speke and Burton were instrumental in bringing the source of the Nile to the wider world and were the first to record and map this section of Africa, the efforts and labors of Sidi Mubarak Bombay and Mabruki were instrumental in discovering the lake. Bombay was captured as a child near Lake Nyasa by slave traders and was sold to Indian merchants on the coast of Africa who took him to Sindh. Thus he spoke Hindustani and after his master's death he sailed back to Zanzibar where Speke and Burton met and hired him. Both spoke Hindustani, which greatly facilitated the travel in the interior as Bombay spoke several native languages beside Swahili. Speke was much attached to Bombay and spoke highly of his honesty and conscientiousness. Bombay's efforts in dealing with hostile tribes, interpreting and keeping the safari crew on track was a great help to the expedition. Less is known of Mabruki, the other caravan leader, but he was later known as Mabruki Speke, and like Bombay became one of East Africa's great caravan leaders and was also a member of the Yao tribe like Bombay. Because of Speke's recommendations both Bombay and Mabruki served on Henry Stanley's 1871 expedition to find Livingstone.

Return to England and debate over the source of the Nile.

On 26 September 1858 the return journey from Kazeh was started with 152 porters; both men had to return as their military leaves were coming to an end although Jeal contends that they could have extended the trip by asking for an extension as their clear mission statement of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) was to find the source of the Nile. The expedition had lost a great many people through desertions, disease and hostilities but in Kazeh, on the return journey, Mabruki had recruited local porters. Again Speke and Burton suffered from severe illnesses and had to be carried in a litter (machilla) by the porters some of the way. Once Speke and Burton were back on the coast they went by ship to Zanzibar and then traveled to Aden. When back at the coast Burton had written a letter to Norton Shaw of the Royal Geographical Society (which had partially sponsored the journey) in which Burton enclosed a map of Lake Victoria made by Speke and wrote "there are grave reasons for believing it (the map) to be the source of the principal feeder of the White Nile." Once in Aden, Burton was not granted a medical certificate to travel and thus Speke left on HMS "Furious" and arrived in England on 8 May 1859. Burton was not far behind and he arrived on 21 May 1859.  Now further disagreements developed; Burton maintained that they had promised each other in Aden not to make public announcements till they both were back in England and Burton accused Speke of a breach of promise by publicly claiming the source of the Nile was found on their trip. Burton now turned against the theory that Lake Victoria was the source of the Nile (and now said the river flowing "out" of the north side of Lake Tanganyika was the source) and thus also reversing himself from the position he took in the letter to Norton Shaw. In that same letter to Shaw, Burton had also stated that Speke would present his findings to the RGS as he was prevented from traveling as he was in poor health and would be in England a short time after Speke. Jeal concludes that Burton's claim of a promise from Speke to not go to the RGS was improbable. The jealousies and accusations between the two men got ever greater, further inflamed by their respective circles of friends and people who stood to gain from the feud such as book publishers and newspapers. Burton was still extremely weak and once he appeared in front of a committee of the RGS he was not able to make a convincing case for his leading a second expedition to settle the outstanding matters about the Nile. The rift widened, and perhaps became irreversible, when Speke was chosen to lead a subsequent expedition instead of Burton. The two presented joint papers concerning the expedition to the Royal Geographical Society on 13 June 1859.

Second journey to the source of the Nile, 1860-1861.

Together with James Augustus Grant, Speke left Portsmouth on 27 April 1860 and departed from Zanzibar in October 1860. The expedition approached the lake from the south west but Grant was often sick and was not able to travel with Speke much of the time. As during the first trip, in this period of history, Arab slave traders had created an atmosphere of great distrust towards any foreigners entering central Africa, and most tribes either fled or fought when encountering them as they assumed all outsiders to be potential slavers. Lacking a great deal of guns and soldiers, the only thing the expedition could do was make peace offerings to locals, and both men were severely delayed and their supplies depleted by demands for gifts and passage fees by smaller local chieftains. After numerous months of delays Speke reached Lake Victoria on 28 July 1862, and then travelled on the west side around Lake Victoria but only seeing it from time to time; but on the north side of the lake, Speke found the Nile flowing out of it and discovered the Ripon Falls. Whilst being at the court of Muteesa I, the Kabaka (or King) of Buganda, the local kingdom, who treated Speke with kindness, he was given two girls of about 12 and 18 out of the entourage of the Queen Mother. Speke took a serious liking to the elder, Meri, whom he fell in love with, according to his diaries (which were redacted when they were published as books later). While Meri proved loyal to Speke and fulfilled her task at being a "wife" as commanded by the Queen Mother, she showed no emotional attachment to Speke, and this left Speke heart-broken because he sought a relationship of mutual emotional feelings. Speke spent several months at the court of Mutesa and when he had given up winning Mere's heart, tried to arrange a better relationship for Mere with another man, without success it seems. Finally, given permission by Mutesa in June 1862 to leave, Speke then travelled down the Nile now reunited with Grant. Because of travel restrictions placed by the local chieftains, slave raiding parties, tribal wars and the difficulty of the terrain, Speke was not able to map the entire flow of the Nile from Lake Victoria north. Why he did not make more efforts to do so is not clear, but the enormous hardships of the journey must have played a large role. By January 1863 Speke and Grant reached Gondokoro in Southern Sudan, where he met Samuel Baker and his "wife". (Her name was Florence von Sass and she had been rescued by Baker from a slave market in Vidin during a hunting trip in Bulgaria.) Speke had expected to meet John Petherick and his wife Katherine at Gondokoro, as they had been sent by the RGS south along the Nile to meet Speke and Grant. However the Pethericks were not there but on a side expedition to trade ivory, as they had run out of funds for their expedition. This caused some hard feelings between Pethrick and Speke, and Baker played into this so he could assume a greater role as an explorer and co-discoverer of the Nile. Speke, via Baker's ship, then continued to Khartoum from which he sent a celebrated telegram to London: "The Nile is settled." Speke's expedition did not resolve the issue, however. Burton claimed that because Speke had not followed the Nile from the place it flowed out of Lake Victoria to Gondokoro, he could not be sure they were the same river. Baker and Florence, meanwhile, stayed in Gondokoro and tried to settle the flow of the river from there to Lake Victoria by travelling south. They eventually, after tremendous hardships, such as being wracked by fevers and held up by rulers for months on end, found Lake Albert and the Murchison Falls.

Return to London and third expedition.

Speke and Grant now returned to England where they arrived in June 1863 and were welcomed as genuine heroes. This did not last long in Speke’s case however; disputes with Burton, who was relentless in his criticisms and a very compelling public speaker and gifted writer, left Speke’s discoveries in less than an ideal light. Speke had also committed to write a book for John Blackwood which he found hard and time consuming as he was not naturally a gifted writer. He failed to give a good and full report to the RGS for many months and thus in effect was not defending his positions of discovery. In addition Speke had a public dispute with the Pethericks who had by and large acted according to their RGS instructions but Speke had felt they had not. All this led Roderick Murchison, president of the Royal Geographical Society, to start disliking Speke and a third expedition, led by Speke, was becoming less likely as it would have to be funded by the people Speke was now not on good terms with. It appears that just as Burton had overplayed his hand after the first trip Speke now did the same. Now the RGS asked that a public debate should be held between Speke and Burton to try and settle the Nile.

Death.

A debate was planned between Speke and Burton before the geographical section of the British Association in Bath on 16 September 1864, but Speke had died the previous afternoon from a self-inflicted gunshot wound while shooting at Neston Park in Wiltshire. A contemporary account of the events surrounding his death appeared in "The Times": An inquest concluded that the death was accidental, a conclusion supported by his only biographer Alexander Maitland, though the idea of suicide has appealed to some. Bearing in mind, however, that the fatal wound was just below Speke's armpit, suicide seems most unlikely. Burton, however, could not set aside his own strong dislike of Speke and was vocal in spreading the idea of a suicide, claiming that Speke feared the debate. Speke was buried in Dowlish Wake, Somerset, five miles away from the ancestral home of the Speke family.

Source of the Nile is settled, 1874–1877.

In 1874–1877, Henry Stanley mounted a new expedition and took a boat along the entire shore of Lake Victoria; he established that Lake Tanganyika and the Nile were not connected in any way, and he explored the headwaters of Lake Edward. It was now proven that Speke had been right all along, and that the Nile flowed from Lake Victoria via Ripon Falls and Murchison Falls to Lake Albert and from there to Gondokoro.

Scientific works.

Much of Speke's "Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile" is a description of the physical features of Africa's races, in whose condition he found "a strikingly existing proof of the Holy Scriptures." Living alongside the negroes, Speke found a "superior race" of "men who were as unlike as they could be from the common order of the natives" due to their "fine oval faces, large eyes, and high noses, denoting the best blood of Abyssinia" –; that is, Ethiopia. This "race" comprised many tribes, including the Watusi (Tutsi). Speke described their physical appearances as having retaineddespite the hair-curling and skin-darkening effects of intermarriage"a high stamp of Asiatic feature, of which a marked characteristic is a bridged instead of bridgeless nose".

Legacy.

Eponyms.

Two species of African reptiles are named in his honor: Speke's hinge-back tortoise, "Kinixys spekii"; and Speke's sand lizard, "Heliobolus spekii". Three species of African mammals are named in his honor: the sitatunga, "Tragelaphus spekii"; Speke's gazelle, "Gazella spekei"; and Speke's pectinator, "Pectinator spekei".

Film.

The film "Mountains of the Moon" (1990), starring Scottish actor Iain Glen as Speke, related the story of the Burton-Speke controversy, portrayed as having been unjustifiably incited by Speke's publisher to stimulate book sales.

John Hanning Speke (4 May 1827 – 15 September 1864) was an English explorer and officer in the British Indian Army who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa. He is most associated with the search for the source of the Nile and was the first European to reach Lake Victoria. He is also known for propounding the Hamitic hypothesis in 1863, in which he supposed that the Wahuma ethnic group were descendants of the biblical figure Ham, and had lighter skin and more Hamitic features than the Bantu over whom they ruled.

John Hanning Speke (4. květen 1827, Bideford – 15. září 1864, Neston Park) byl anglický cestovatel, účastník tří britských expedic do Afriky. Jako první Evropan spatřil Viktoriino jezero. Správně ho identifikoval jako jeden z pramenů Nilu. Roku 1863 též vyslovil hypotézu, že Tutsiové jsou potomky biblického Cháma, jednoho ze synů Noemových.


Design and decoration of Villa Farnesina.

Almost all art critics ascribe the design of the Villa Chigi in Rome, now known more commonly as the Villa Farnesina, to Peruzzi. In this villa, two wings branch off from a central hall with a simple arrangement of pilasters, and a decorative frieze on the exterior of the building. Some of the frescoed paintings which adorn the interior rooms are by Peruzzi. One example is the Sala delle Prospettive, in which Peruzzi revived the perspective schemes of Melozzo da Forli and Mantegna, possibly under the influence of both. The walls of the room are painted so that when one stands toward the left, one has the illusion that one is standing in an open-air terrace, lined by pillars, looking out over a continuous landscape. The decoration of the façade, the work of Peruzzi, has almost entirely vanished, but it is documented by an anonymous French artist in a drawing, now held by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. To decorate this villa on the Tiber many artists were employed, and just as the style of the villa in no wise recalls the old castellated type of country-house, so the paintings in harmony with the pleasure-loving spirits of the time were thoroughly antique and uninspired by Christian ideas. Raphael designed the composition of the story of Amor and Psyche as a continuation of the Galatea. On a plate-glass vault Peruzzi painted the firmament, with the zodiacal signs, the planets, and other heavenly bodies. The interior room has a striking use of illusionistic perspective

Other work.

Peruzzi had produced a mosaic ceiling for the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome; the mosaic depicts the Saviour. Other paintings ascribed to him are to be found in Sant'Onofrio and San Pietro in Montorio. That Peruzzi improved as time went on is evident in his later works, e.g., the "Madonna with Saints" in Santa Maria della Pace at Rome, and the fresco of "Augustus and the Tiburtine Sibyl" in Santa Maria in Portico a Fontegiusta at Siena. As our master interested himself in the decorative art also, he exercised a strong influence in this direction, not only by his own decorative paintings but also by furnishing designs for craftsmen of various kinds. While primarily known as an architect, one of his great loves was drawing. His extraordinary pen and ink drawings for the basilica of St. Peter's are preserved in the Prints and Drawings Collection of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. He was especially well known for his extraordinary studies of antique buildings, as seen in The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine (1502–1503) in the Allen Memorial Art Museum.  His final architectural masterpiece, the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne (1535) located now on the 19th-century Corso Vittorio Emanuele, is well known for its curving facade, ingenious planning, and architecturally rich interior. The exterior details display a Mannerist-style.  He left drawings to a pupil, Sebastiano Serlio, who used them in several of his "Books of Architecture", published in Venice beginning in the early 1530s.

Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi (7 March 1481 – 6 January 1536) was an Italian architect and painter, born in a small town near Siena (in Ancaiano, "frazione" of Sovicille) and died in Rome. He worked for many years with Bramante, Raphael, and later Sangallo during the erection of the new St. Peter's. He returned to his native Siena after the Sack of Rome (1527) where he was employed as architect to the Republic. For the Sienese he built new fortifications for the city and designed (though did not build) a remarkable dam on the Bruna River near Giuncarico. He seems to have moved back to Rome permanently by 1535. He died there the following year and was buried in the Rotunda of the Pantheon, near Raphael.

Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi (7. březen 1481, Anciano – 6. leden 1536, Řím) byl italský architekt a malíř. Podílel se na výstavbě Baziliky svatého Petra v Římě. Je mu připisována též stavba a výzdoba římské Villy Farnesina. Po Sacco di Roma (vyplenění Říma roku 1527) se vrátil do rodné Sieny, kde sloužil jako hlavní architekt. Ve městě Siena nechal postavit nové hradby a namaloval fresky v kostele "Cappella San Giovanni". Do Říma se natrvalo vrátil roku 1535 a postavil jedno ze svých vrcholných děl, palác "Massimo alle Colonne" (1535). Jeho syn Giovanni Sallustio Peruzzi se stal rovněž architektem.


Toponymy.

"Kfar Naḥūm", the original name of the town, means "Nahum's village" in Hebrew, but apparently there is no connection with the prophet named Nahum. In the writings of Josephus, the name is rendered in Greek as ("Kapharnaoúm") and ("Kepharnōkón"); the New Testament uses "Kapharnaoúm" in some manuscripts, and ("Kapernaoúm") in others. In the Midrash Rabba (Ecclesiastes Rabba 7:47) the name appears in its Hebrew form, "Kǝfar Naḥūm" (). In Arabic, it is also called "Talḥūm", and it is assumed that this refers to the ruin ("tall") of "Ḥūm" (perhaps an abbreviated form of "Nāḥūm").  The word "capharnaum", meaning a place with a "disorderly accumulation of objects", is derived from the town's name.

New Testament.

The town is cited in all four gospels (,,, ) where it was reported to have been the hometown of the tax collector Matthew, and located not far from Bethsaida, the hometown of the apostles Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John. Some readers take Mark 2:1 as evidence that Jesus may have owned a home in the town, but it is more likely that he stayed in the house of one of his followers here. He certainly spent time teaching and healing there. One Sabbath, Jesus taught in the synagogue in Capernaum and healed a man who was possessed by an unclean spirit ( and ). This story is notable as the only one that is common between the gospels of Mark and Luke, but not contained in the Gospel of Matthew (see Synoptic Gospels for more literary comparison between the gospels). Afterward, Jesus healed Simon Peter's mother-in-law of a fever (). According to and, this is also the place where Jesus healed the servant of a Roman centurion who had asked for his help. Capernaum is also the location of the healing of the paralytic lowered by friends through the roof to reach Jesus, as reported in and.  In the town is referred to only as "his own city", and the narrative in does not mention the paralytic being lowered through the roof. Most traditional biblical commentators (e.g. Bengel, Benson and the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary) assume that in "his own city" means Capernaum, because of the details that are common to the three synoptic gospels.  According to the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus selected this town as the center of his public ministry in Galilee after he left the small mountainous hamlet of Nazareth (). He also formally cursed Capernaum, along with Bethsaida and Chorazin, saying "you will be thrown down to Hades!" () because of their lack of faith in him as the Messiah.

History.

Archaeological evidence demonstrates that the town was established in the 2nd century BC during the Hasmonean period, when a number of new fishing villages sprung up around the lake. The site had no defensive wall and extended along the northwestern shore of the lake. The cemetery zone is found 200 meters north of the synagogue, which places it beyond the inhabited area of the town. It was distant about 3 kilometers from Tabgha, an area which appears to have been used for agricultural purposes, judging by the many oil and grain mills which were discovered in the excavation. Fishing was also a source of income; the remains of another harbor were found to the west of that built by the Franciscans.  No sources have been found for the belief that Capernaum was involved in the bloody Jewish revolts against the Romans, the First Jewish-Roman War (AD 66–73) or Bar Kokhba's revolt (132–135), although there is reason to believe that Josephus, one of the Jewish generals during the earlier revolt, was taken to Capernaum (which he called, "Kepharnōkón") after a fall from his horse in nearby Bethsaida.  Josephus referred to Capernaum as a fertile spring. (Wars – Book III, 10, 8) He stayed the night there after bruising his wrist in a riding accident. As early as 530 CE, Capernaum was mentioned in the writings of Theodosius the archdeacon who said that it was situated, as one goes northward from Tiberius, two miles from Tabga (Heptapegan) and six miles short of Bethsaida along the same route.

Archaeology.

In 1838, American explorer Edward Robinson discovered ruins which he identified as those of a synagogue, but did not relate this to ancient Capernaum. In 1866, Charles William Wilson identified the location (then known as Tel Hum) as Capernaum. In 1894, Franciscan Friar Giuseppe Baldi of Naples, the Custodian of the Holy Land, was able to purchase a good part of the land around the ruins. Additional land on the eastern portion of the site became the property of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem.  In 1905, Germans Heinrich Kohl and Carl Watzinger began a study of Galilean synagogues. These were continued by Franciscans Fathers Vendelin von Benden (1905–1915) and Gaudenzio Orfali (1921–1926). The excavations resulted in the discovery of two public buildings, the synagogue (which was partially restored by Fr Orfali), and an octagonal church.  In 1968, excavation of the western portion of the site—the portion owned by the Franciscans—was resumed by Virgilio Corbo and Stanislao Loffreda. During this phase, the major discovery was of a 1st-century house which may have been believed to be the home of St. Peter. These excavations have been ongoing, with some publication on the Internet as recently as 2003.  The excavations revealed that the site was established at the beginning of the Hasmonean period, roughly in the 2nd century BC, and abandoned in the 11th century.  The eastern half of the site, which is owned by the Orthodox Monastery of the Holy Apostles, centered on the red-roofed Church of the Holy Apostles, was surveyed and partially excavated under the direction of Vassilios Tzaferis. This section has uncovered the village from the Byzantine and Early Arab periods. Features include a pool apparently used for the processing of fish, and a hoard of gold coins (Tzaferis, 1989). On both sides of an ample north-south main street arose small districts bordered by small cross-sectional streets and no-exit side-streets. The walls were constructed with coarse basalt blocks and reinforced with stone and mud, but the stones (except for the thresholds) were not dressed and mortar was not used.  The most extensive part of the typical house was the courtyard, where there was a circular furnace made of refractory earth, as well as grain mills and a set of stone stairs that led to the roof. The floors of the houses were cobbled. Around the open courtyard, modest cells were arranged which received light through a series of openings or low windows.  Given the coarse construction of the walls, there was rarely a second story to a typical home, and the roof would have been constructed of light wooden beams and thatch mixed with mud. This, along with the discovery of the stairs to the roof, recalls the biblical story of the Healing of the Paralytic: "And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay." (Mark 2:4)  A study of the district located between the synagogue and the octagonal church showed that several extended families clustered together, communally using the same courtyards and doorless internal passages. The houses had no hygienic facilities or drainage; the rooms were narrow. Most objects found were made of clay: pots, plates, amphoras, and lamps. Fish hooks, weights for fish nets, striker pins, weaving bobbins, and basalt mills for milling grain and pressing olives were also found.  As of the 4th century, the houses were constructed with good quality mortar and fine ceramics. This was about the time that the synagogue now visible was built. Differences in social class were not noticeable. Buildings constructed at the founding of the town continued to be in use until the time of the abandonment of the town.

Synagogue.

According to Luke's Gospel, the Capernaum synagogue at the time of Jesus' ministry had been built or funded by a Roman centurion based there.  The ruins of a later building, among the oldest synagogues in the world, were identified by Charles William Wilson. The large, ornately carved, white building stones of the synagogue stood out prominently among the smaller, plain blocks of local black basalt used for the town's other buildings, almost all residential. The synagogue was built almost entirely of white blocks of calcareous stone brought from distant quarries.  The synagogue appears to have been built around the 4th or 5th century. Beneath the foundation of this synagogue lies another foundation made of basalt, and Loffreda suggests that this is the foundation of a synagogue from the 1st century, perhaps the one mentioned in the Gospels. Later excavation work was attempted underneath the synagogue floor, but while Loffreda claimed to have found a paved surface, others are of the opinion that this was an open, paved market area.  The building consists of four parts: the praying hall, the western patio, a southern balustrade and a small room at the northwest of the building. The praying hall measured 24.40 m by 18.65 m, with the southern face looking toward Jerusalem. The internal walls were covered with painted plaster and fine stucco work found during the excavations. Watzinger, like Orfali, believed that there had been an upper floor reserved for women, with access by means of an external staircase located in the small room. But this opinion was not substantiated by the later excavations of the site.  The ancient synagogue has two inscriptions, one in Greek and the other in Aramaic, that commemorates the benefactors that helped in the construction of the building. There are also carvings of five- and six-pointed stars and of palm trees.  In 1926, the Franciscan Father began the restoration of the synagogue. The work was interrupted by his death in a car accident in 1926 (which is commemorated by a Latin inscription carved onto one of the synagogue's columns), and was continued by Virgilio Corbo beginning in 1976.

House of Peter.

One block of homes, called by the Franciscan excavators the "sacra insula" or "holy insula" ("insula" refers to a block of homes around a courtyard) was found to have a complex history. Located between the synagogue and the lake shore, it was found near the front of a labyrinth of houses from many different periods. Three principal layers have been identified:  The excavators concluded that one house in the village was venerated as the house of Peter the fisherman as early as the mid-1st century, with two churches having been constructed over it (Loffreda, 1984).

1st century.

One house, slightly larger than most, consisted of a few small rooms clustered around two open courtyards, one to the north and the other to the south. One large room in particular, near the east side and joining both courtyards, was especially large (sides about 7.5 meters long) and roughly square. An open space on the eastern side contained a brick oven. A threshold which allowed crossing between the two courtyards remains well-preserved to this day.  Beginning in the latter half of the 1st century AD, this house displayed markedly different characteristics than the other excavated houses. The rough walls of the main room were reworked with care and plastered. Furthermore, almost no domestic ceramics are recovered, but lamps and large storage jars abound. This suggests that the house was no longer used as a residence but a communal gathering place.  One explanation suggested for this treatment is that the room was venerated as a religious gathering place, a "domus-ecclesia" or house church, for the Christian community. (Loffreda, 1984) This suggestion has been critiqued by several scholars, however. In particular, where excavators had claimed to find graffiti including the name of Peter, others have found very little legible writing (Strange and Shanks, 1982). Others have questioned whether the space is actually a room; the paved floor, the large space without supports, and the presence of a cooking space have prompted some to note that these are more consistent with yet another courtyard (Freyne, 2001).

4th-century transformation.

In this period, the "sacra insula" acquired a new appearance. First, a thick-walled, slightly trapezoidal enclosure was built surrounding the entire "insula"; its sides were 27–30 meters long. Made of plaster, they reached a height of 2.3 meters on the north side. It had two doors, one in the southwest corner and the other in the northeast corner. Next, although there is evidence that the private houses remained in use after the transformation, the one particular room that had before been treated differently was profoundly altered and expanded. A central archway was added to support a roof and the north wall was strengthened with mortar. New pavement was installed, and the walls and floor were plastered. (Loffreda, 1974) This structure remained until the middle of the 5th century when the "sacra insula" was dismantled and replaced with a larger basilica.

Octagonal 5th-century church.

The 5th-century church consists of a central octagon with eight pillars, an exterior octagon with thresholds still "in situ", and a gallery or portico that leads both into the interior of the church as well as into a complex of associated buildings to the east, a linkage achieved via a short passageway. Later, this passage was blocked and an apse with a pool for baptism was constructed in the middle of the east wall. From this wall ascended two stairs on either side of the baptistery, and the excess water from the rite would have escaped along this path. The Byzantines, upon constructing the new church, placed the central octagon directly on top of the walls of St. Peter's house with the aim of preserving its exact location, although none of the original house was visible any longer, as the walls had been torn down and the floor covered in mosaics.  In the portico, the pattern of the mosaic was purely geometric, with four rows of contiguous circles and small crosses. In the zone of the external octagon, the mosaics represented plants and animals in a style similar to that found in the Basilica of the Feeding of the Five Thousand, in Tabgha. In the central octagon, the mosaic was composed of a strip of calcified flowers, of a field of schools of fish with small flowers, and of a great circle with a peacock in the center.

The Memorial (1990).

The memorial is a modern church built above the excavated remains of the ancient house and the Byzantine octagonal church, and dedicated in 1990. The disk-shaped structure stands on concrete stilts, ensuring visibility to the venerated ancient building. Additionally, a glass floor located at the centre of the church allows direct view of the excavated remains below.

Capernaum ( ; ; ) was a fishing village established during the time of the Hasmoneans, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It had a population of about 1,500. Archaeological excavations have revealed two ancient synagogues built one over the other. A house turned into a church by the Byzantines is believed to have been the home of Saint Peter. The village was inhabited continuously from the 2nd century BC to the 11th century AD, when it was abandoned sometime before the Crusader conquest. This includes the re-establishment of the village during the Early Islamic period soon after the 749 earthquake.

Kafarnaum (anglicky " Kapernaum", hebrejsky כפר נחום "Kfar Nahum", vesnice Nahumova, latinsky "Caperanum") je významná archeologická lokalita na břehu Galilejského jezera v dnešním Izraeli. Původně zde byla starověká rybářská vesnice, později židovské a dosud křesťanské poutní centrum.


Structure and evolutionary adaptation.

Amongst the array of "Myrmecodia" plants and myrmecolphilious epiphytes, a vast diversity exists with plants that all have similar evolutionary adaptions. Structures such as modified rhizomes, stems, and leaves, which have evolved to naturally produce systems of tunnels and caverns within its various modified organs. In the case of Rubiaceous tuberous antplants such as "Myrmecodia" plants, which rank highest in number and diversity among the antplants, all have very large, tuberous, modified stems containing many chambers. This adaptation is to house colonies of arboreal ants, which live within the readymade chambers naturally grown by the plant.  The tuber begins its growth with the swelling of the seedling hypocotyl. Later, the cavities are formed when cork-generating meristems arise in the inner parenchymatous tissue forming a cork-like wall, cutting off carious shaped and sized enclosures. The contents of these then die and dry off, leaving the chambers empty. Future ant inhabitants may clean out remnants of dead tissue but do not primarily excavate—this has been shown by the existence of chambers in plants to which ants never had access. It has been found that ants are not required for "Myrmecodia" to form the caudex, or tuberous inner chambers—they exist naturally in "Myrmecodia" with or without a population of ants.  Cavities are found to be randomly but normally distributed within tubers, with no observable pattern or structure. Cavities are connected to the outer surface of the plant by small holes, which are naturally occurring and not created by ants. Hollow, smooth-walled tunnels form within the caudex with external entrance holes, providing an above-ground home for ant colonies. These holes function both as ventilation for both the plant’s living tissues as well as the ants, and serve as passageways in and out of the plant."Myrmecodia" species from the family Rubiaceae have the most highly specialized inner chambers, divided into smooth-walled chambers, which are used by ants for nurseries, and rough-walled chambers, used for waste disposal, insect prey remains, and bodies of dead ants from the colony. The caverns with smooth walls have no observable nutrition uptake ability through their walls. Rough-walled chambers, on the other hand, are able to absorb nutrients. In an experiment done with india ink and water, the mixture was placed in both smooth and rough-walled chambers. The mixture was absorbed readily through the protrusions in the rough-walled chamber, but even after sitting on the smooth-walled chamber surface for 20 hours, no absorption was observed. The protrusions that make the walls rough are inward facing modified root structures that make nutritional uptake through the plant’s rough-walled chambers possible.  The cavities are also a measure of fitness—a plant with more cavity area means that it has a lighter tuber. This is advantageous because in most cases, although the plants are grown "in situ", the tubers become too heavy and fall off of the tree they germinate on, eventually dying on the ground. This suggests that there is a strong selection against heavy or massive tubers.  From the alveoli emerge small white flowers which can self-pollinate to yield a bright orange, fleshy berry filled with up to six small seeds. Seed dispersal is by birds, that often deposit droppings on the branches and trunks of trees they land on. In this they resemble various parasitic plants such as the mistletoes in families such as Loranthaceae, Santalaceae, and Misodendraceae, but "Myrmecodia" species are unrelated to the true parasites, being in the coffee and gardenia family Rubiaceae.  "Myrmecodia" plants produce small, juicy fruits from their one or two leaves and flowers per plant. Seeds will be dispersed following the ingestion and passing of the seed as waste product by a bird, or more commonly, ants will remove the seeds from the fruit by chewing on the fruit. If a bird does get to the seed first, the ants will retrieve the seeds from the ground below, return the seeds to the nesting spot, and plant them on their substrate to continue growing their colony with more housing. The seeds are hardy—able to withstand passage through a gut, desiccation for multiple months, and germinate upon wetting.

Nutrients.

"Myrmecodia" plants grow in tree branches and on trunks. In nature, "Myrmecodia" tubers often grow hanging downward on bare branches without significant amounts of substrate, and thus depend upon symbiosis for most nutriment. The plants store food and water in a greyish brown caudex that swells and grows spines over time. The thick, unbranched stems are covered in clypeoli and alveoli which also grow spines and are densely filled with dry bracts. They form a symbiotic relationship with ants and fungi; "Philidris cordata" (formally "Iridomyrmex cordatus") is believed to be the most common ant found occupying "Myrmecodia" species. Ant plants provide habitats for ant colonies high up into the forest canopy, protecting them from the elements, and in exchange, the nutrients from the ants and the debris left by the ants be absorbed in the plant's chambers. The plant in addition is protected, to some extent, from predation, especially by grazing invertebrates such as slugs. These plants also have a built in defense against climbing animals; even a slight tap or brush against the outside of an inhabited plant causes ants to come spilling out. Most species of ants that live within "Myrmecodia" species have no sting however, but the rush of ants combined with many small bites is enough to startle and warn any potential predator. The most important contribution the ants make to the plants they inhabit is not protection, but feeding the plant itself.  The organic material that the ants contribute to the plant falls into three categories; nest building material (material such as leaves, bark, or other plant matter), ant-created products (such as waste, dead enemies, or the bodies of dead ants), and the final category is food that the ants themselves consume. All of these waste products stored within the rough-walled chambers begin to decompose when moisture is present, and are then broken down by microbial activity and the nutrients are then taken up by intrusive adventitious roots or absorbed through wall linings (rough-walls with root "bumps" lining the chambers). When scientists have examined the contents of the debris chambers, it appears as if the insect parts were placed in the chambers for their nutritional purpose to the plant. For example, disproportionately large numbers of ant heads, containing the most nutritionally dense parts of the ant, are found in large numbers within these chambers.  This symbiosis allows the plants to effectively gather nutrients (via the ants) from a much larger area than the roots ever could cover. The ants operate as a mobile feeding system for the plant which act as an "auxiliary extensive, mobile root system for the plants" that bring it concentrated organic matter high in nutrients.

Species.

The following list of 27 species is based on The Plant List.

Myrmecodia is a genus of epiphytic myrmecophytes (mər′mek•ə‚fīt; literally "ant-plant"), native to Southeast Asia, but also present in Indochina, Malaysia, the Southwest Pacific, the Philippines, Fiji, and extending south to Queensland and Cape York in Australia. It is one of five ant-plant genera in the family Rubiaceae, the others being "Anthorrhiza", "Hydnophytum", "Myrmephytum", and "Squamellaria".

Myrmecodia je rod rostlin z čeledi mořenovité ("Rubiaceae"). Jsou to sukulentní epifyty s nápadnými dužnatými hlízami protkanými sítí chodbiček, v nichž žijí symbiotičtí mravenci. Rostliny mají jednoduché vstřícné listy vyrůstající z tlustého zkráceného stonku a nenápadné bílé květy. Rod zahrnuje 27 druhů a je rozšířen v jihovýchodní Asii, na Nové Guineji a severovýchodní Austrálii. Občas jsou tyto rostliny pěstovány jako zajímavost ve sklenících botanických zahrad a ve sbírkách epifytů.


Plot.

In December 2016, Josh Parker (Jason Bateman), Chief Technical Officer of Zenotek's Chicago branch, meets with his lawyer, Ezra (Matt Walsh), to finalize his divorce in time for the holidays. Zenotek meanwhile has failed to meet its quarterly quota, and interim CEO Carol Vanstone (Jennifer Aniston) threatens to lay off 40 percent of the staff, cut bonuses, and cancel the annual Christmas party. Her brother, branch manager Clay (T.J. Miller), is desperate to keep his staff. Carol harbors resentment toward Clay, whom she believed was her father's favorite, and threatens to shut down the branch. Josh and Clay, along with Josh's head of tech, Tracey Hughes (Olivia Munn), propose partnering with financial giant Walter Davis (Courtney B. Vance), whom they are having lunch with later that day, and Carol gives them the chance to win his business. Walter is pleased with the pitch, but concerned with another recent branch closure at Zenotek, and feels the company is more about the budget than their people. Clay invites him to their Christmas party in hopes of showing him that their company is in good standing. Before leaving town, Carol offers Josh a position at her New York headquarters to which he declines.  Clay funds an exorbitant Christmas party, much to the chagrin of Mary (Kate McKinnon), the head of Human Resources. Joel (Sam Richardson) takes DJ duty, but the party struggles to pick up even with Tracey inviting Chicago Bulls player Jimmy Butler as a friend. While initially reluctant, Walter is inadvertently doused with cocaine when it is accidentally fed into a snow machine and succumbs to his free-spirited nature. Throughout the party, various employees cut loose: Nate (Karan Soni) tries to impress two of his staff, Tim (Andrew Leeds) and Drew (Oliver Cooper), by hiring an escort named Savannah (Abbey Lee) to pretend to be his girlfriend, though Nate found out when she gives a handjob to a fellow employee; Clay's assistant and single-mom Allison (Vanessa Bayer) attempts to hook up with new hire Fred (Randall Park) but stops when he reveals he has a mother-child fetish; and customer service supervisor Jeremy (Rob Corddry) cuts loose on the dance floor with Mary, whom he previously despised. Josh and Tracey get stuck on the roof and nearly kiss before Jeremy interrupts them. Back on the dance floor, Clay eventually wins over Walter's business, and the celebration gradually grows more chaotic as employees begin partaking in orgies, damaging company property, and doing drugs.  Carol's flight is cancelled due to weather, and she rushes back to the office when she hears about the party from her Uber driver (Fortune Feimster), who took people to the party. Though Carol is initially impressed with receiving Walter's business, Walter injures himself attempting to swing off a balcony after a conversation with Clay, and is later discovered to have been fired from his firm after his sudden business closure, nullifying the contract and leaving Zenotek helpless. Carol decides then and there to shut down the branch. To add insult to injury, she reminds Josh about the job offer aloud to everyone, especially Clay. Despite Josh stating he didn't accept it, the surrounding employees angrily shun him. Tracey reveals that she was given the same offer but explicitly rejected it where Josh kept it open. Feeling betrayed about what he heard from Carol, Clay rushes off with Savannah's emotionally unstable pimp, Trina (Jillian Bell), to party elsewhere, though Trina is more interested in robbing Clay of his wealth that he is actually keeping on his person. Josh, Tracey, Mary, and Carol race off to save Clay.  One of the guests learns that the branch is being terminated and convinces everyone to throw out and destroy all the company equipment and burn everything in sight, forcing security guard Carla (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) to put down the unruly, now destructive and rebellious party. Clay ends up racing Trina's car towards an opening drawbridge, attempting to jump the gap, a feat he'd earlier mentioned to Josh. Josh drives Mary's minivan alongside him, and tries to convince Clay not to jump, but he is still heartbroken from Carol offering Josh the job, along with her past insults. Convinced he's a failure he still decides to jump, regardless of whether he makes it or even survives. After everyone, including Trina, fails to convince Clay to pull over, Josh threatens to jump the gap with him, and Clay reluctantly allows it. Scared of dying, Carol forces the steering wheel away from Josh, swerving into Clay's car and causing him to miss the drawbridge, jumping and crashing into an internet hub, which disconnects the entire city.  Trina and Savannah are arrested for their crimes, while Clay is taken to the hospital. In the wake of the internet blackout, Tracey realizes how to run a new innovation she'd been working on for several years that combines internet Wi-Fi with wired connections through the city's power grid, which had previously failed due to her inability to take the real-world interference of the existing internet signals into account. They race back to the destroyed office to set up her tech, and when it works, internet is restored to Chicago. This new innovation saves the jobs of the entire team, with Clay apologizing for how his father treated Carol. Walter, who is in the same hospital as Clay, agrees to join the team. Josh and Tracey kiss amidst the ruins of their office. Jeremy opens up to Mary, and Nate and Allison agree to go on a date. The whole group meets Carol and Clay as he's released from the hospital, and they all go out for breakfast, driving recklessly on the way.

Production.

In 2010, Guymon Casady approached Josh Gordon and Will Speck with an original idea of his, to make a movie about a holiday office party. They subsequently set the concept up at DreamWorks Pictures, and it was later rewritten by Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky, and Laura Solon. On February 19, 2016, it was announced that Speck and Gordon would also direct the film, which would star Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, T. J. Miller, and Kate McKinnon. The producers were set as Scott Stuber, along with Entertainment 360's Guymon Casady and Daniel Rappaport. On March 8, 2016, Randall Park joined the film, and Olivia Munn was cast on March 17. On April 4, 2016, Abbey Lee Kershaw joined the cast. Karan Soni, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Jamie Chung were added on April 5, 2016, and on April 6, 2016, Rob Corddry, Andrew Leeds, and Oliver Cooper were cast as well.  Principal photography on the film began late March 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. In early April, filming took place in Chicago, Illinois, and after that production moved to Hiram, Georgia, where it shot from April 19 to June 1, 2016.  On casting Aniston in the film, Gordon stated, "We created this character for Jennifer because she's absolutely fearless when it comes to playing somewhat unlikeable characters in comedies. For her, the more daring the role, the better."

Release.

"Office Christmas Party" was released in the United States on December 9, 2016, by Paramount Pictures. Paramount also distributed it overseas, except in several territories where Mister Smith Entertainment handled sales, including the United Kingdom and Australia, where it was handled by Entertainment One.

Reception.

Box office.

"Office Christmas Party" grossed $54.8 million in the United States and Canada and $59.7 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $114.5 million, against a production budget of $45 million.  "Office Christmas Party" was released alongside "The Bounce Back" and the wide expansions of "Miss Sloane" and "Nocturnal Animals", and was expected to gross $13–15 million from 3,210 theaters in its opening weekend. It went on to make $16.9 million in its opening weekend, finishing second at the box office and on par with recent R-rated comedies like "How to Be Single" and "Sisters".

Critical response.

"Office Christmas Party" received mixed reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 40% based on 181 reviews and an average rating of 4.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Its cast of gifted comics is good for a handful of laughs, but "Office Christmas Party"s overstuffed plot ultimately proves roughly as disappointing as its clichéd gags and forced sentimentality." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film had a score of 42 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Home media.

The film was released on Digital HD on March 21, 2017, before being released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 4, 2017.  In Germany the title was changed for the home release, with the film named "Dirty Office Party".

Office Christmas Party is a 2016 American Christmas comedy film directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck and written by Justin Malen and Laura Solon, based on a story by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. The film stars an ensemble cast, including Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, T. J. Miller, Jillian Bell, Vanessa Bayer, Courtney B. Vance, Rob Corddry, Kate McKinnon, and Jennifer Aniston, and was released on December 9, 2016, by Paramount Pictures. It grossed $114 million worldwide.

Pařba o Vánocích (v americkém originále: Office Christmas Party) je americká filmová komedie z roku 2016. Režiséry filmu jsou Josh Gordon a Will Speck. Hlavní role ve filmu ztvárnili Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, T. J. Miller, Jillian Bell a Vanessa Bayer.


History.

1970s to 2011.

Though e-commerce on the dark web only started around 2006, illicit goods were among the first items to be transacted using the internet, when in the early 1970s students at Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology used what was then called the ARPANET to coordinate the purchase of cannabis. By the end of the 1980s, newsgroups like alt.drugs would become online centres of drug discussion and information; however, any related deals were arranged entirely off-site directly between individuals. With the development and popularization of the World Wide Web and e-commerce in the 1990s, the tools to discuss or conduct illicit transactions became more widely available. One of the better-known web-based drug forums, The Hive, launched in 1997, serving as an information sharing forum for practical drug synthesis and legal discussion. The Hive was featured in a Dateline NBC special called "The "X" Files" in 2001, bringing the subject into public discourse. From 2003, the "Research Chemical Mailing List" (RCML) would discuss sourcing "Research Chemicals" from legal and grey sources as an alternative to forums such as alt.drugs.psychedelics. However Operation Web Tryp led to a series of website shut downs and arrests in this area.  Since the year 2000, some of the emerging cyber-arms industry operates online, including the Eastern European "Cyber-arms Bazaar", trafficking in the most powerful crimeware and hacking tools. In the 2000s, early cybercrime and carding forums such as ShadowCrew experimented with drug wholesaling on a limited scale.  The Farmer's Market was launched in 2006 and moved onto Tor in 2010. It was closed and several operators and users arrested in April 2012 as a result of Operation Adam Bomb, a two-year investigation led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. It has been considered a "proto-Silk Road" but the use of payment services such as PayPal and Western Union allowed law enforcement to trace payments and it was subsequently shut down by the FBI in 2012.

Silk Road and early markets.

The first pioneering marketplace to use both Tor and Bitcoin escrow was Silk Road, founded by Ross Ulbricht under pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts" in February 2011. In June 2011, Gawker published an article about the site, which led to "Internet buzz" and an increase in website traffic. This in turn led to political pressure from Senator Chuck Schumer on the US DEA and Department of Justice to shut it down, which they finally did in October 2013 after a lengthy investigation. Silk Road's use of all of Tor, Bitcoin escrow and feedback systems would set the standard for new darknet markets for the coming years. The shutdown was described by news site DeepDotWeb as "the best advertising the dark net markets could have hoped for" following the proliferation of competing sites this caused, and "The Guardian" predicted others would take over the market that Silk Road previously dominated.  The months and years after Silk Road's closure were marked by a greatly increased number of shorter-lived markets as well as semi-regular law enforcement take downs, hacks, scams and voluntary closures.  Atlantis, the first site to accept Litecoin as well as Bitcoin, closed in September 2013, just prior to the Silk Road raid, leaving users just one week to withdraw any coins. In October 2013, Project Black Flag closed and stole their users' bitcoins in the panic shortly after Silk Road's shut down. Black Market Reloaded's popularity increased dramatically after the closure of Silk Road and Sheep Marketplace; however, in late November 2013, the owner of Black Market Reloaded announced that the website would be taken offline due to the unmanageable influx of new customers this caused. Sheep Marketplace, which launched in March 2013, was one of the lesser known sites to gain popularity with Silk Road's closure. Not long after those events, in December 2013, it ceased operation after two Florida men stole $6 million worth of users' Bitcoins.

Post-Silk Road to present.

From late 2013 through to 2014, new markets started launching with regularity, such as the Silk Road 2.0, run by the former Silk Road site administrators as well as the Agora marketplace. Such launches were not always a success; in February 2014 Utopia, the highly anticipated market based on Black Market Reloaded, opened only to shut down 8 days later following rapid actions by Dutch law enforcement. February 2014 also marked the short lifespans of Black Goblin Market and CannabisRoad, two sites which closed after being demonized without much effort.  November 2014 briefly shook the darknet market ecosystem, when Operation Onymous, executed by the United States' FBI and UK's National Crime Agency, led to the seizure of 27 hidden sites, including Silk Road 2.0, one of the largest markets at the time, as well 12 smaller markets and individual vendor sites. By September 2014, Agora was reported to be the largest market, avoiding Operation Onymous, and has gone on to be the largest overall marketplace with more listings than the Silk Road at its height.  2015 would feature market diversification and further developments around escrow and decentralisation.  In March 2015 the Evolution marketplace performed an "exit scam", stealing escrowed bitcoins worth $12 million, half of the ecosystem's listing market share at that time. The closure of Evolution led to a users redistributing to Black Bank and Agora. However Black Bank, which captured 5% of the darknet market's listings, announced on May 18, 2015 its closure for "maintenance" before disappearing in a similar scam. Following these events commentators suggested that further market decentralization could be required, such as the service OpenBazaar, in order to protect buyers and vendors from this risk in the future as well as more widespread support from "multi-sig" cryptocurrency payments.  In April, TheRealDeal, the first open cyber-arms market for software exploits as well as drugs, launched to the interest of computer security experts. In May varied DDOS attacks were performed against different markets including TheRealDeal. The market owners set up a phishing website to get the attacker's password, and subsequently revealed collaboration between the attacker and the administrator of Mr Nice Guy's market who was also planning to scam his users. This information was revealed to news site DeepDotWeb.  On July 31, the Italian police in conjunction with Europol shut down the Italian language Babylon darknet market seizing 11,254 Bitcoin wallet addresses and 1 million euros.  At the end of August, the leading marketplace Agora announced its imminent temporary closure after reporting suspicious activity on their server, suspecting some kind of deanonymisation bug in Tor.  By October 2015, AlphaBay was recognized as the largest market. From then on, through to 2016 there was a period of extended stability for the markets, until in April when the large Nucleus marketplace collapsed for unknown reasons, taking escrowed coins with it.  On the 28th of April, investigations into the Italian Darknet Community (IDC) forum-based marketplace led to a number of key arrests.  In May 2017, the Bloomsfield market closed after investigations in Slovakia inadvertently led to the arrests of its operators. Later that month, the long-lived Outlaw market closed down citing a major bitcoin cryptocurrency wallet theft; however, speculation remained that it was an exit scam.  In July 2017 the markets experienced their largest disruptions since Operations Onymous, when Operation Bayonet culminated in coordinated multinational seizures of both the Hansa and leading AlphaBay markets, sparking worldwide law enforcement investigations. The seizures brought in lots of traffic to other markets making TradeRoute and Dream Market the most popular markets at the time.  In October 2017, TradeRoute exit-scammed shortly after being hacked and extorted.  In June 2018, the digital security organization Digital Shadows reported that, due to the climate of fear and mistrust after the closure of AlphaBay and Hansa, darknet market activity was switching away from centralized marketplace websites and towards alternatives such as direct chat on Telegram, or decentralized marketplaces like OpenBazaar.  Currently (2019–present) Dream Market held the title as the most popular market by far, with over 120,000 current trade listings. Dream Market is followed by Wall Street Market, with under 10,000 listings. Wall Street Market was seized by law enforcement in May 2019.  The May 2019 seizure of news and links site DeepDotWeb for conspiring with the markets created a temporary disruption around market navigation. The site has been partially succeeded by dark web discussion forum Dread.  During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a heightened sense of fear urged many people to buy overpriced products on the dark web. Marketplaces have seen increased demand for masks, gowns, gloves, and the drug chloroquine. Even blood allegedly belonging to recovered coronavirus patients was offered for sale. Fake vaccines were distributed for an average of $370 (£300), while one supposedly sourced from China was sold for between $10-15,000 (£8-12,000).

Market features.

Search and discussion.

One of the central discussion forums was Reddit's /r/DarkNetMarkets/, which has been the subject of legal investigation, as well as the Tor-based discussion forum, The Hub. On March 21, 2018, Reddit administrators shut down the popular subreddit /r/DarkNetMarkets citing new changes to their content policy that forbids the sale of "Drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, or any controlled substances". This led to the rise of Dread, the dedicated darknet discussion forum.  Many market places maintain their own dedicated discussion forums and subreddits. The majority of the marketplaces are in English, but some are opening up in Chinese, Russian, and Ukrainian.  The dedicated market search engine Grams allows the searching of multiple markets directly without login or registration.  Dark web news and review sites such as the former DeepDotWeb, and All Things Vice provide exclusive interviews and commentary into the dynamic markets. Uptime and comparison services such as DNStats provide sources of information about active markets as well as suspected scams and law enforcement activity. Due to the decentralized nature of these markets, phishing and scam sites are often maliciously or accidentally referenced.  After discovering the location of a market, a user must register on the site, sometimes with a referral link, after which they can browse listings. A further PIN may be required to perform transactions, better protecting users against login credential compromise.

Customer interactions.

Transactions typically use Bitcoin for payment, sometimes combined with tumblers for added anonymity and PGP to secure communications between buyers and vendors from being stored on the site itself. Many sites use Bitcoin multisig transactions to improve security and reduce dependency on the site's escrow. The Helix Bitcoin tumbler offers direct anonymized marketplace payment integrations.  On making a purchase, the buyer must transfer cryptocurrency into the site's escrow, after which a vendor dispatches their goods then claims the payment from the site. On receipt or non-receipt of the item users may leave feedback against the vendor's account. Buyers may "finalize early" (FE), releasing funds from escrow to the vendor prior to receiving their goods in order to expedite a transaction, but leave themselves vulnerable to fraud if they choose to do so.  Following Operation Onymous, there was a substantial increase in PGP support from vendors, with PGP use on two marketplaces near 90%. This suggests that law enforcement responses to cryptomarkets result in continued security innovations, thereby making markets more resilient to undercover law enforcement efforts.

Market types.

Items on a typical centralized darknet market are listed from a range of vendors in an eBay-like marketplace format. Virtually all such markets have advanced reputation, search and shipping features similar to Amazon.com.  Some of the most popular vendors are now opening up dedicated own online shops separate from the large marketplaces. Individual sites have even returned to operating on the clearnet, with mixed success.  Some internet forums such as the defunct Tor Carding Forum and the Russian Anonymous Marketplace function as markets with trusted members providing escrow services and users engaging in off-forum messaging. In May 2014 the "Deepify" service attempted to automate the process of setting up markets with a SAAS solution; however, this closed a short time later.  Following repeated problems associated with centralised infrastructure, a number of decentralised marketplace software alternatives have arisen using blockchain or peer-to-peer technologies, including OpenBazaar and Bitmarkets,

Vendors.

To list on a market, a vendor may have undergone an application process via referral, proof of reputation from another market or given a cash deposit to the market.  Many vendors list their wares on multiple markets, ensuring they retain their reputation even should a single market place close. Grams have launched "InfoDesk" to allow central content and identity management for vendors as well as PGP key distribution.  Meanwhile, individual law enforcement operations regularly investigate and arrest individual vendors and those purchasing significant quantities for personal use.  A February 2016 report suggested that a quarter of all DNM purchases were for resale.

Products.

Drugs.

Whilst a great many products are sold, drugs dominate the numbers of listings, with the drugs including cannabis, MDMA, modafinil, LSD, cocaine, and designer drugs.

Personal information.

Personally identifying information, financial information like credit card and bank account information, and medical data from medical data breaches is bought and sold, mostly in darknet markets but also in other black markets. People increase the value of the stolen data by aggregating it with publicly available data, and sell it again for a profit, increasing the damage that can be done to the people whose data was stolen.

Fraud and hacking services.

Cyber crime and hacking services for financial institutions and banks have also been offered over the dark web. Markets such as AlphaBay Market have hosted a significant share of the commercial fraud market, featuring carding, counterfeiting and many related services. Loyalty card information is also sold as it is easy to launder.

Prohibitions and restrictions.

Many markets refuse to list weapons or poisons. Markets such as the original Silk Road would refuse to list anything where the "purpose is to harm or defraud, such as stolen credit cards, assassinations, and weapons of mass destruction".  Later markets such as Evolution ban "child pornography, services related to murder/assassination/terrorism, prostitution, Ponzi schemes, and lotteries", but allow the wholesaling of credit card data.  The market in firearms appears to attract extra attention from law enforcement, as does the selling of other weapons such as certain types of knives and blades.

Market operations.

Nachash, former proprietor of Doxbin wrote a guide in early 2015 entitled "So, You Want To Be a Darknet Drug Lord...  Background research tasks included learning from past drug lords, researching legal matters, studying law enforcement agency tactics and obtaining legal representation. With regards to the prospective market's hosting, he recommends identifying a hosting country with gaps in their mutual legal assistance treaty with one's country of residence, avoiding overpriced bulletproof hosting and choosing a web host with Tor support that accepts suitably hard-to-trace payment. Patterns recommended to avoid include hiring hitmen like Dread Pirate Roberts, and sharing handles for software questions on sites like Stack Exchange.  He advises on running a secured server operating system with a server-side transparent Tor proxy server, hardening web application configurations, Tor-based server administration, automated server configuration management rebuild and secure destruction with frequent server relocation rather than a darknet managed hosting service. To protect against guard node deanonymisation he recommends obfuscating traffic by investing in Tor relays which the market site will exclusively use.  For a local machine configuration he recommends a computer purchased for cash running Linux, using a local Tor transparent proxy. For operations security he suggests avoiding storing conversation logs, varying writing styles, avoiding mobile phone-based tracking and leaking false personal details to further obfuscate one's identity. Use of OTR and PGP are recommended.  He recommends verifying market employees carefully, and to weed out law enforcement infiltration through barium meal tests.  Law enforcement and intelligence agencies have expanded investigations of dark web markets,

Fraudulent markets.

A large number of services pretend to be a legitimate vendor shop, or marketplace of some kind in order to defraud people. These include the notoriously unreliable gun stores, or even fake assassination websites.

Exit scams.

Centralised market escrow means that an individual market may close down and "exit" with the buyer's and vendor's cryptocurrency at any given time. This has happened on several occasions such as with BlackBank and most notoriously Evolution who pocketed US$12 million worth of escrowed coins.  Individual vendors often reach a point of reputation maturity whereby they have sold sufficient product reliably to have gained a significant reputation and accumulated escrowed funds; many may choose to exit with the funds rather than compete at the higher-volume higher-priced matured product level.

Commentary.

In December 2014, an exhibition by Carmen Weisskopf and Domagoj Smoljo entitled "The Darknet: From Memes to Onionland" explored Darknet culture. This featured a bot called the "Random Darknet Shopper" which spent $100 in BTC per week on products listed on Agora. Their aim was to explore the ethical and philosophical implications of these markets, which, despite high-profile internationally co-ordinated raids, persist and flourish.  James Martin's 2014 book "Drugs on the Dark Net: How Cryptomarkets are Transforming the Global Trade in Illicit Drugs" discusses some vendors who are even branding their opium or cocaine as "fair trade", "organic" or sourced from conflict-free zones. In June 2015 journalist Jamie Bartlett gave a TED talk about the state of the darknet market ecosystem as it stands today.  According to 2014 studies by Martin Aldridge & Décary-Hétu and a January 2015 report from the Global Drug Policy Observatory, many harm reduction trends have been spotted. These include the reduced risks associated with street dealing such as being offered hard drugs. The vendor feedback system provides accountability for risks of mixing and side effects and protection against scammers. Online forum communities provide information about safe drug use in an environment where users can anonymously ask questions. Some users report the online element having a moderating effect on their consumption due to the increased lead time ordering from the sites compared to street dealing.  Professor for addiction research Heino Stöver notes that the shops can be seen as a political statement, advancing drug legalization "from below". The results of these markets are higher quality and lower prices of psychoactive substances as well as a lower risk of violent incidents. A number of studies suggest that markets such as Silk Road may have helped users reduce the harm caused by illicit drug use, particularly compared with street-based drug marketplaces. Examples include the sale of high-quality products with low risk for contamination (including lacing and cutting), vendor-tested products, sharing of trip reports, and online discussion of harm reduction practices. Some health professionals such as "DoctorX" provide information, advice and drug-testing services on the darknet. The quality of products is attributed to the competition and transparency of darknet markets which involve user feedback and reputation features.  Europol reported in December 2014, "We have lately seen a large amount of physical crime move online, at least the'marketing' and delivery part of the business... [Buyers can] get the illegal commodity delivered risk-free to a place of their choice by the mailman or a courier, or maybe by drone in the future, and can pay with virtual currency and in full anonymity, without the police being able to identify either the buyer or the seller."  In June 2015 the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) produced a report citing difficulties controlling virtual market places via darknet markets, social media and mobile apps. In August 2015 it was announced that Interpol now offers a dedicated Dark Web training program featuring technical information on Tor and cybersecurity and simulated darknet market takedowns.  In October 2015 the UK's National Crime Agency and GCHQ announced the formation of a "Joint Operations Cell" to focus on cybercrime. In November 2015 this team would be tasked with tackling child exploitation on the dark web as well as other cybercrime.  In February 2015, the EMCDDA produced another report citing the increased importance of customer service and reputation management in the marketplace, the reduced risk of violence and increased product purity. It estimated a quarter of all purchases were for resale and that the trend towards decentralisation meant they are unlikely to be eliminated any time soon.  A June 2016 report from the Global Drug Survey described how the markets are increasing in popularity, despite ongoing law enforcement action and scams. Other findings include consumers making purchases via friends operating Tor browser and Bitcoin payments, rather than directly. Access to markets in 79% of respondents' cases led to users trying a new type of drug.

Size of listings.

The size of the darknet markets economy can be problematic to estimate. A study based on a combination of listing scrapes and feedback to estimate sales volume by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University captured some of the best data. A reviewed 2013 analysis put the Silk Road grossing $300,000 a day, extrapolating to over $100 million over a year. Subsequent data from later markets has significant gaps as well as complexities associated with analysing multiple marketplaces.  Digital Citizens Alliance

In fiction.

In the episode "eps2.3_logic-b0mb.hc" (ep. 5 of season 2) of the drama–thriller television series, "Mr. Robot", the protagonist, Elliot, is supposed to be repairing a Tor hidden site which turns out to be a darknet market called "Midland City" styled after the Silk Road for the sale of guns, sex trafficked women, rocket launchers, drugs and hitmen for hire.  In the 2016 movie "Nerve" starring Emma Roberts and Dave Franco, the dark web plays a major role.  In "Grand Theft Auto Online", players who purchase warehouses and garages for illicit cargo and stolen cars can buy/steal and sell them through trade on the "SecuroServ" syndicate website. After the "Biker DLC", players can now purchase buildings for illegal drugs and counterfeit products manufacture, and distribute them through a darknet website called "The Open Road" where law enforcement cannot be notified of the player's trade.  In the first arc of "Lupin the Third Part 5" anime series, Arsène Lupin III steals digital currency from the "Marco Polo" darknet market.

A darknet market or cryptomarket is a commercial website on the web that operates via darknets such as Tor or I2P. They function primarily as black markets, selling or brokering transactions involving drugs, cyber-arms, weapons, counterfeit currency, stolen credit card details, forged documents, unlicensed pharmaceuticals, steroids, and other illicit goods as well as the sale of legal products. In December 2014, a study by Gareth Owen from the University of Portsmouth suggested the second most popular sites on Tor were darknet markets.

Darknet market (temný trh) nebo také cryptomarket je ilegální komerční webová stránka na speciálním neveřejném webu zvaném darknet, který funguje přes Tor nebo I2P. Primárně funguje jako černý trh, pro prodej nebo zprostředkování transakcí zahrnujících léky, kyber-zbraně, zbraně, padělané peníze, údaje z kradených kreditních karet, padělané doklady, nepovolená léčiva, steroidy a další nelegální zboží, ale i zboží legální. V prosinci 2014 Gareth Owen z University of Portsmouth zveřejnil studii, která uvádí darknet market jako druhý nejpopulárnější obsah na Tor.


Biography.

Shiraishi was born in New York, NY on April 3 of 2001. She is the only child of Tsuya and Hisatoshi Shiraishi, who immigrated from Japan in 1978 to New York, NY. Her father, Hisatoshi "Poppo" Shiraishi, was trained as a dancer in Butoh. When she was 6 years old, her parents took her to Central Park, where she started climbing at Rat Rock. She later started climbing at Brooklyn Boulders in Gowanus, Brooklyn.  Shiraishi started climbing competitively at age 7, in 2008, and paired with coach Obe Carrion, an accomplished climber. Their partnership ended in 2012, largely due to tensions and disagreements between Carrion and Shiraishi's father, who has coached her since. At age 8, Shiraishi climbed the classic boulder problem "Power of Silence" (V10), in Hueco Tanks, Texas. At age 9, she also climbed "Chablanke" (V11/12) and "Roger in the Shower" (V11) in Hueco Tanks, and several other difficult boulders. At age 10, she climbed Fred Nicole's notorious "Crown of Aragorn" (V13) also in Hueco Tanks. She is the youngest person ever to climb this grade, and one of very few female climbers to climb a confirmed V13.  Shiraishi also excelled in lead climbing. At age 11, in October 2012, she climbed "Southern Smoke" at the Red River Gorge, a grade 5.14c (8c+) sport route, becoming the youngest person to climb a route of this difficulty.  In 2013, Shiraishi continued to excel at both bouldering and lead climbing, adding to her ticklist a 5.14a ("Slow Food" at Céüse) two more V13s ("One Summer in Paradise" and "Automator") and finally two 5.14c's ("24 Karats" and "50 Words for Pump"). On July 2014, she climbed what might be her first V14, "Golden Shadow"; however, there is a suggestion that "Golden Shadow" is V13 or V13/V14. She was the second officially recorded female climber (after Tomoko Ogawa) to successfully climb a V14 problem. On the first day of 2015, she climbed her second V14 (V13/V14), "The Swarm", claiming the first female top-out of the problem.  At age 13, Shiraishi climbed her first 5.14d (9a), "Open Your Mind Direct R1" in Santa Linya. The route was thought to be harder while Shiraishi was attempting it, for a few months earlier a hold had broken off near the top. However, on Christmas Day of 2015, Edu Márin Garcia climbed the route past Shiraishi's end point to the second top and confirmed Shiraishi's route as a 5.14d (9a). In the same climbing trip, Shiraishi climbed "Ciudad de Dios", making her the youngest athlete to climb a 5.14d/5.15a (9a/9a+) and the second female climber to climb at this level. The route has been climbed by 6 other athletes, but there is still no definite consensus on whether the grade is 5.14d or 5.15a.  In 2015, 2016, and 2017 Shiraishi won the IFSC World Youth Championships for both Lead and Bouldering in the Female Youth B category. In March 2016, at 14 years old, she climbed the boulder problem "Horizon" (8C/V15) in Mount Hiei, Japan. She is the second person ever to finish this problem. Additionally, with this achievement she became the first female climber as well as the youngest climber to climb this bouldering grade. A few months later, she climbed "Sleepy Rave", another V15 (or V14 according to some), in Grampians National Park, Australia.  In 2017, she was the winner in the female sport category at the USA Climbing Sport & Speed Open National Championships (SCS nationals) held in Denver, Colorado, and placed second at the USA Climbing Bouldering Nationals (ABS nationals) to 10-time champion Alex Puccio. In the same year, she started competing in the Climbing World Cup as an adult.  She is sponsored by Evolv, The North Face, Clif Bar, Petzl, Coca-Cola Japan, All Nippon Airways and Nikon.

Rankings.

Climbing World Championships.

Youth

Notable ascents.

Boulder problems.

Other Bouldering Achievements:

Redpointed routes.

9a or 9a+ (5.14d or 5.15a):

Ashima Shiraishi (born April 3, 2001 in New York, NY) is an American rock climber. Shiraishi started climbing at the age of six at Rat Rock in Central Park, joining her father. Only a few years later, she quickly established herself as one of the top boulderers and sport climbers in the world, and is nowadays widely considered to be the best teenage climber of either gender. Her numerous accolades include first-place finishes in international competitions, and multiple "first female" and "youngest" ascents. Shiraishi is featured in several short documentary-style films, and is the subject of the documentary short "Return to the Red" (2012).

Ašima Širaiši (: 白石 阿島 / しらいし あしま, anglický přepis: "Ashima Shiraishi"; * 3. dubna 2001 New York, USA) je mladá talentovaná americká sportovní lezkyně a bouldristka japonského původu narozená ve Spojených státech amerických. Mistryně USA v lezení na obtížnost, trojnásobná juniorská mistryně světa v lezení na obtížnost i v boulderingu.


Prelude.

D'Iberville's flagship, "Pélican" (44-guns), was part of a larger French squadron dispatched to contest English control of Hudson Bay. D'Iberville commanded "Le Pélican" (50 [44] cannons, captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville), a 3rd rate man-of-war cut for fifty guns, and with one hundred and fifty men ship's company. Serigny commanded the "Le Profond" (frigate/'storeship') (460 t, flûte de 32 canons [+2 from Le Pélican], commanded by Pierre Du Gué, Sieur de Boisbriand.). Boisbriant commanded "Le Vesp/Weesph" (frigate) (Capt. Chatrie (chevalier de Chastrier) a vessel of about 300 t with about 20–26 guns). "Le Palmier" (frigate) (5th rate man-of-war, 300t, captain Joseph Le Moyne de Serigny) a vessel of about 20–26 guns, and originally the "Violent" renamed "L'Esquimau/Esquimaux" (the Eskimo), a supply ship (150 ton brigantine) Jean Outelas, Capt., capable of carrying from 10–12 guns; one report says the last was crushed by the ice pack  Before the battle, "Pélican" became separated from the rest of the French squadron in heavy fog, but D'Iberville elected to forge ahead. This set the stage for a little-known but spectacular single-ship action against heavy odds.  As "Pélican" sailed south into clearer weather, she approached the trading post of York Factory, and a group of soldiers went ashore to scout out the fort. Captain D'Iberville remained on board "Pélican". While the shore party was scouting the fort, D'Iberville saw the sails and masts of approaching ships. Thinking the rest of his squadron had arrived, he set off to meet them. D'Iberville realized that the ships were not French, but were, instead, an English squadron when one fired a shot across the bow of "Le Pélican".  The English squadron comprised the warship under Captain Fletcher, mounting 50 guns, "HBC Royal Hudson's Bay" (200 t) commanded by Capt. Nicholas Smithsend and mounting 32 guns, and "HBC Dering" (a 3rd of this name owned by the HBC) (260 t) (Capt. Michael Grimington) mounting 36 guns. Fireship "HMS Owner's Love" (217 t) (Capt. Lloyd), which also joined the expedition, was crushed by ice earlier in the passage of the Hudson Strait.

Battle.

D'Iberville, his shore party out of reach, elected to give battle. The battle began as a running fight, but after two and a half hours, D'Iberville closed with the English and a brutal broadside-to-broadside engagement took place between "Pélican" and "Hampshire". The English seemed to be gaining the upper hand with blood running from the scuppers of "Pélican" into the water. Captain Fletcher demanded that D'Iberville surrender, but D'Iberville refused. Fletcher is reported to have raised a glass of wine to toast D'Iberville's bravery when the next broadside from "Pélican" detonated "Hampshire's" powder magazine. "Hampshire" exploded and sank.

Aftermath.

"Hudson's Bay" and "Dering" seem to have played only a limited supporting role in the final stage of the engagement. "Hudson's Bay" was damaged and struck her colors to "Pélican" after "Hampshire" blew up. "Dering" broke off the engagement and fled, but "Pélican" was too badly damaged to pursue.  "Pélican" was also fatally damaged in the battle. Holed below the waterline, the ship had to be abandoned, but the arrival of the remainder of the French squadron shortly thereafter led to the surrender of York Factory on September 13, 1697, and the continuation of D'Iberville's remarkable career.

The Battle of Hudson's Bay, also known as the Battle of York Factory, was a naval battle fought during the War of the Grand Alliance (known in England's North American colonies as "King William's War"). The battle took place on 5 September 1697, when a French warship commanded by Captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville defeated an English squadron commanded by Captain John Fletcher. As a result of this battle, the French took York Factory, a trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company.

Bitva v Hudsonově zálivu se odehrála 5. září 1697 v Hudsonově zálivu v Kanadě, nedaleko od anglické pevnosti York. Anglické lodě zde zaskočily osamocenou loď francouzského kapitána Pierra Le Moyne d'Ibervilla, jemuž se podařilo anglickou eskadru porazit a později se zmocnit i pevnosti York.