Secret Messages: Songs of the Underground Railroad

Today I am going to be writing about the songs of the underground railroad and what they mean. The underground railroad was a secret network of safe houses from the south to the north of America to free slaves. The network would be no use if no one could find it. Because most slaves would not know how to read or write they had to find another way to spread the message. They would do this by coding their words into song. The slaves would pass the songs by word of mouth to spread the secret messages. These songs became a large part of the journey to freedom.  

This is one of the songs that was used in the underground railroad:

Follow the drinkin' gourd 


When the Sun comes back
And the first quail calls
Follow the drinking gourd,
For the old man is a-waiting for to carry you to freedom
If you follow the drinking gourd
The riverbank makes a very good road.
The dead trees will show you the way.
Left foot, peg foot, traveling on,
Follow the drinking gourd.
The river ends between two hills
Follow the drinking gourd.
There’s another river on the other side
Follow the drinking gourd.

When the great big river meets the little river
Follow the drinking gourd.
For the old man is a-waiting for to carry to freedom
If you follow the drinking gourd.

The line "The dead trees will show you the way" means to follow the dead trees on the Tombigbee river and the line "Left foot, peg foot, travelling on" means follow the trees with a foot marked on them. The drinking gourd is the name the slaves had for the constellation we know as the big dipper which always appears in the north, so the line "Follow the drinking gourd" is telling the slaves to head north. (“Pathways to Freedom | Secrets: Signs and Symbols | Follow the Drinking Gourd” (Pathways to Freedom | Secrets: Signs and Symbols | Follow the Drinking Gourd), accessed January 30, 2017)

Another song that was used to alert the slaves to danger was "Wade in the Water." This song was used to tell the slaves to get off the road and walk in the water so that the slavecatchers' dogs wouldn't be able to smell them.  You can listen to Wade in the Water here.

Titanic: a passenger's diary

10th April 1912

My name is Hetty and I  am eight, today along with 2000 other passengers I am going to board a 882 foot steam boat called the Titanic with my mother and father from Southampton to New York city. 

11th April 1912

It's exciting being a 1st class passenger we have lovely big Turkish baths and cabins in the middle of the boat so we don't feel the vibrations as much as the other passengers.

12th April 1912 

I've been past the bridge a couple of times and I have heard five icebirg warning so far I hope we don't crash. Today I also went up to the deck and counted the lifeboats, there's only twenty anyway I shouldn't be scared the Titanic is unsinkable.

13th April 1912

This morning I was woken up by an alert saying that a lifeboat drill would be held tomorrow at 12 o'clock. Today was a surprise they served lobster and mother and father got to drink champagne.

14th April 1912 

Again I was woken up by an alert but this time it said that the lifeboat drill had been cancelled, that's weird I thought we were supposed to do them every week.  Late this night something bad happened the ship tilted then there was a big jolt so me and my mother and father went up to the deck to see what was happening. It was terrifying parts of the ship were falling of into the sea, I'm starting to question the amount of lifeboats. It took about half an hour until everyone realised what was happening... we were sinking.Very soon all of the women and children were on lifeboats but there was only enough room for half of the men, that's when I realised we had no searchlight. We fired fireworks to signal the ship that was passing, but they didn't see us. suddenly the ship broke in half and I blacked out. Hours later I was woken by a voice,
  "is there anyone out there?" lying on the ice I tried to shout but I couldn't talk so I screamed as loud as I could, they didn't hear me so I shouted again, this time they heard me. They took me of the ice and thats when I blacked out again.

20th April 1912 I've been in hospital five days now and i'me only just getting better, but i'me grateful that I even survived I am one of only 700 survivors.    

Experiment: Aerodynamics and drag

Introduction/Aim

Today I went to the Maritime Museum in Falmouth and used some of the equipment there to do an experiment. My aim was to find out how the shape of a boat affects its speed while it travels through the water.

Method/Controls/Apparatus

I had two different shaped boats, three plastic fins, a pool of water and a weighted line. I timed my two boats with and without fins while they traveled through the water from one end of the pool to the other. We did three readings for each run, then calculated the mean average. The reason for using an average was to reduce the effect of human error in the timing. For every run the setup was the same so the only thing that changed was the shape of the boat and the fins.



Predictions

Boat A was wider and heavier than boat B, which was more pointed and streamlined. I thought that boat B would go faster than boat A because it had more of a point which meant it has less friction and less drag. I also thought that the fins would make the boats go slower through the water.

Results



Conclusion

The results show that boat B was faster than boat A as predicted and the result also showed that the fins slowed the boats down.  This is because boat A was less aerodynamic and more heavy and the fins created more drag and made the boats heavier.

Amelia Earheart

Today I am going to be writing about Amelia Earhart.

Amelia was born on the 24th July 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. Amelia was inspired to learn to fly when she took her first flight in 1920 she wrote: "As soon as I left the ground, I knew I myself had to fly." 

So from going through many jobs Amelia finally saved enough money to buy flying lessons. Her first instructor was Neta Snook one of the first women to graduate from the Curtiss School of aviation. Earhart got her U.S flying licence in December 1921 - only the 16th woman ever to do so - and borrowed money from her mother to buy a two seat plane that she called the Canary. At the same time, she was becoming famous for her aviation achievements. 

Earhart disappeared from radar on June 2, 1937 over the Pacific Ocean. She was trying to find Howland Island, near Honolulu but a group says she landed on Gardner Island, 400 nautical miles away. Over 100 radio calls, supposedly from Earhart, were heard. A skeleton, ultimately identified as female was found on the island and 1930s-appropriate wreckage has been found there but the plane wasn't found - it may have sunk into the sea.

Emperor penguin migration

This month I am writing about incredible journeys and today I am going to be writing about how, where and when Emperor penguins migrate.

The Emperor penguin is from Antarctica with a population of 595,000. The emperor penguin is nearly threatened to be endangered because of climate change.  predators: leopard seals, killer whales, giant petrels and skuas.

They migrate inland to breeding ground during March. They usually travel around 60-100 miles to their chosen breeding ground. Most of the colonies (the name for a group of penguins) migrate to the same breeding ground and usually arrive at the same time. They usually start migrating in the beginning of March and get to the breeding ground by the end of March. The penguins always take a different path each year because the ice shifts making obstacles.

When they get to the breeding ground the female will lay an egg. The male will look after that egg for around four months while the female is of feeding in the sea. Then when the egg starts to hatch the female will come and look after her chicks while the male goes to feed in the sea this process will carry on for two to four months.

When the male gets back he calls for his chicks and feeds them. For the next few months the parents take it in turns to feed in the ocean then they both leave their chicks at the breeding ground and go home their chicks then live at the breeding ground for the next four years and on the fifth year they will migrate like their parents.

First man on the moon

                                                                  This month I am going to be writing about incredible journeys and today i'm going to be writing about the first man on the moon.

The first man on the moon was Neil Armstrong he arrived on the moon with the rest of his crew on the 20th of July 1969 at 20:18 they spent two and a half hours there while collecting rock samples. The crew left on July 16th it took four days to get to the moon and four days to get back to earth.

Their lunar module eagle consisted of two parts: the descent stage and the ascent stage. The descent provided the engine used to land on the moon. It had four legs, a storage space for experimental gear and a ladder for the crew to climb onto the moon with. It also served as the launch platform for the ascent module when it was time to leave. The ascent module carried the crew back to the command service 'Columbia.'

Columbia also consisted of two parts: the command module and the service module. The command module is the cone at the top which held the crew, it was the command station during mission it was also the re-entry vehicle for returning to earth. The service module at the bottom provided the propulsion and manoeuvring capability for the space craft.

After re-entering the earths atmosphere parachutes opened to safely lower the crew into the pacific ocean. After landing the crew was taken by helicopter to the recovery ship 'USS hornet.'