q2

[dubdobdee]

2.
i: What started off as a fluke?
ii: Where did the names of four Frisian islands reappear?
iii: Between which ports did the “Devil Boat” carry cattle?
iv: Which fictional island witnessed a wartime transit of Venus?
v: On which island did the fruit-drop-addicted evangelist sprout wings and horns?
vi: Which Lieut. Governor, misled by disinformation, was court-martialled for surrendering?
vii: Which “tailor-made” Victorian siblings were decorated “FOR VALOUR”?
viii: Where does midnight mask the reared heads of seven rocks?
ix: Where did Superb founder on a sightseeing diversion?
x: Who is nominally represented in NC and NJ?

COMPLETED:
ALL QUESTIONS INVOLVE THE CHANNEL ISLANDS (inhabited islands not yet mentioned include Herm, Jethou, Brecqhou aka Brechou); uninhabited islets include Écréhous, Les Dirouilles, Les Pierres de Lecq (aka the Paternosters), Burhou, Casquets, Ortac, Renonquet, Crevichon, Grande Amfroque, Les Houmets, Lihou… )

i:
ii: Lagers BORKUM and HELGOLAND, SYLT and NORDERNAY were respectively two work camps and two concentration camps established on ALDERNEY in WW2 (googled jeff_worrell, who had earlier guessed the Nazi occupation would feature in a Q on the Channel Islands)
iii: in Victor Hugo’s Toilers of the Sea, the “Devil Boat” carried cattle between St Malo and GUERNSEY
iv:
v: is SARK (the evangelist is Mervyn Peake's MR PYE: correctly guessed dubdobdee)
vi: MOSES CORBET in 1781 (googled kat
vii: is the SARTORIUS BROTHERS, educated on Jersey (their name means ‘tailor-made’: both won VCs (alextiefling via another site)
viii:
ix: In 1850, near LES MINQUIERES (aka the MINKIES), the SUPERB diverted to rubberneck the very recent site of the wreck of the POLKA (SUPERB had several POLKA survivors aboard) and itself struck a rock (googled by sbp
x: is the Jersey-born GEORGE CARTERET, a British politician during the Restoration with places named after him in North Carolina (NC) and New Jersey (NJ): he features often in Pepys’ diaries (googled jeff_worrell)

Comments

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

i think v may be mervyn peake's mr pye (i haven;t read it for 30 years), in which case it's one of the channel islands -- maybe sark?

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Lieut. Governors are usually UK representatives of the Channel Islands, so the answer to vi. may also be one. Alderney was abandoned to the Germans in WWII, but I thought the population all voted to evacuate.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

vi seems to be Moses Corbet:

"On 6 January 1781 a French invading force led by Philippe de Rullecourt secured the town of Saint Helier and surprised Corbet in bed in Government House... De Rullecourt convinced Corbet that thousands of French troops had already overwhelmed Jersey. He threatened to burn the town and slaughter the inhabitants if the garrison did not capitulate and Corbet, unable to ascertain the true situation, surrendered."

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

(with Google and some help from rival site)

in fact it's ii. that's connected to the German occupation of Alderney:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alderney_camps

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

Yes Mr Pye was Sark - I'll admit I only know this from the telly version mind

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

x. must be referring to North Carolina and New Jersey, so guessing these are US dependencies represented in Congress by other States - Puerto Rico? Guam?

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

In fact, the answer seems to be this dude:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Carteret

(the intro para basically explains his connection with both Jersey and with the two US States)

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

I recall something about Laputa, astronomers and Venus, but not specifically a transit, or even war at the time TBH :-(

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

actually maybe it was Mars :-(

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

(Google go)

iii appears to refer to this Victor Hugo http://www.online-literature.com/victor_hugo/toilers-of-the-sea/16/
which would make it St Malo and a port on Guernsey (St. Peter Port?)

[alextiefling.livejournal.com]

vii is the Sartorius brothers, educated on Jersey, whose surname means 'tailor-made'. They each one a VC. (via a knowledgeable bod on another site).

[(Anonymous)]

sar, sar, sartorious

[sbp.livejournal.com]

ix) "The paddle steamer was running from Saint Malo to Jersey with 60 passengers, including survivors from the Polka ( United Kingdom) on approaching the Minquiers reef, they went to inspect where the PSS Polks had sunk, whereupon they themselves struck a rock, which caused panic and 20 people lost their lives, the rest being saved." (Superb in 1850)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_the_Channel_Islands

[sbp.livejournal.com]

iii) Victor Hugo's "Toilers Of The Sea"

"Lethierry had himself constructed the "Devil Boat" upon the great covered stocks by the side of the first tower between St. Peter's Port and St. Sampson."

"Lethierry's boat made the voyage from Guernsey to St. Malo once a week. She started on the Tuesday morning, and returned on the Friday evening, in time for the Saturday market."

http://www.online-literature.com/victor_hugo/toilers-of-the-sea/16/

[thebopkids.livejournal.com]

Jersey Royal potatoes used to be known as Jersey Royal Flukes but I don't know whether that's relevant to i