Jason (AR 8) - Naval Cruise Book

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LEAVING HOME

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No man is born into the world whose work Is not born with him; there is always work, And tools to work withal, for those who will; And blessed are the horny hands of toil! James Russell Lowell :--« ? ' muA YOU CAN THINK ABOUT A LOT COMING BACK ON THE LIBERTY BOAT. WHAT LITTLE NOISE AND CHATTER THERE IS COMING FROM YOUR TIRED BUDDIES AND MATES SEEMS TO BE DEADENED BY THE RESONANT NOISE OF THE ENGINES. YOU ' RE TIRED TOO, BUT YOU ' RE LULLED INTO REFLECTION. YOU MARVEL AT THE FANTASTICALLY LARGE RED DISC DISAPPEARING BEHIND THE HORIZON; YOU THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE AND THE PAST - THE THOUGHT THAT THERE REALLY IS NO PRESENT FLASHES BY; THEN YOU ' RE HYPNOTIZED BY THE GROWING SIL- HOUETTE OF YOUR SHIP. IT NEVER ENTERED YOUR MIND BEFORE, BUT NOW YOUR SHIP SEEMS UNREAL. -Cvo-, - : . HOW COULD SUCH A MASSIVE AND AWE- SOME YET COMPLEX AND DELICATE MACHINE COME INTO BEING, EXIST FOR 20 SOME YEARS, AND, WHILE RESTING THERE SO FAR AWAY FROM HOME, GIVE NEW LIFE TO OB- JECTS THAT HAVE BECOME SPENT AND USE- LESS. THE ANSWER DOESN ' T COME EASY, BUT YOU SUDDENLY REALIZE THAT IT ' S JUST MEN WITH VARIED TALENTS AND CREATIVE ABILI- TIES WORKING AND LIVING TOGETHER IN COOPERATION THAT HAVE MADE ALL OF IT POSSIBLE. YOU ' RE DELIGHTED WITH YOUR INSIGHT AS YOU SWAGGER PROUDLY UP THE AFTERBROW. OH, BUT IT TAKES SO MUCH EFFORT AND WORK.

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THE JASON FOR WHICH WE WERE NAMED JASON - JA ' S ' N - IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY WAS THE LEADER OF THE ARGONAUTS WHO SAILED IN OUESTOF THE GOLDEN FLEECE. HE WAS THE SON OF AESON, KING OF lOLCOS IN THESSALY. WHILE JASON WAS A BABY, HIS FATHER ' S HALF BROTHER PELIAS GAINED THE THRONE OF lOLCOS THROUGH EVIL MEANS. JASON WAS PROTECTED AND RAISED BY THE CENTAUR CHIRON ON MOUNT PELION. WHEN JASON HAD REACHED THE AGE OF TWENTY HE RETURNED TO lOLCOS TO CLAIM HIS FATHER ' S KINGDOM. JASON ' S UNCLE, PELIAS, PROMISED HIM THE KINGDOM IF HE COULD CAPTURE THE GOLDEN FLEECE FROM COLCHIS. AFTER GATHERING A CREWOF FIFTY OF THE NATION ' S MOST FAMOUS HEROES, JASON SET SAIL IN THE SHIP ARGO ON WHAT PELIAS HOPED TO BE A FATAL VOYAGE. AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, JASON FELL IN LOVE WITH MEDEA, THE DAUGHTER OF THE KING OF COLCHIS. WITH MEDEA ' S HELP HE ACCOMPLISHED HIS ASSIGNED TASK ' S AND SUCCESSFULLY FLED KING AEETES ' WRATH. UPON RETURNING TO HIS OWN KINGDOM, JASON FOUND THAT PELIAS HAD KILLED HIS FATHER AND BROTHER. WITH HER MAGICAL POWERS MEDEA INDUCED THE DAUGHTER OF PELIAS, TO KILL HIM. THIS ACT INDUCED THE WRATH OF ACUSTUS, SON OF PELIAS, WHO DROVE MEDEA AND JASON FROM lOLCOS. JASON SOUGHT REFUGE WITH CREO, KING OF CORINTH. JASON, AS SOME MEN DO, TIRED OF MEDEA AND HER CRUEL SORCERY AND MARRIED CREUSA, THE KING OF CORINTH ' S DAUGHTER. MEDEA WAS NOT A WOMAN TO BE CROSSED AS JASON SOON FOUND OUT. TO AVENGE THE LOSS OF HER HUSBAND, MEDEA SENT A MAGICAL ROBE AS A WEDDING GIFT TO CREUSA, WHICH BURST INTO UNQUELCHABLE FLAMES WHEN DONNED KILLING BOTH CREUSA AND HER MOTHER. FEELING EVEN THIS WAS NOT ENOUGH VENGEANCE, MEDEA ALSO SLEW HER OWN TWO SONS BECAUSE THEY WERE ONCE A PART OF JASON. THIS IS WHERE THE STORY HAS SOME DIFFERENCE OF OPINION. THE ROMANTICS SAY THAT JASON DIED OF THE GRIEF HE ENDURED AT THIS TIME. A LATER LEGEND HAS IT THAT A PIECE OF THE STERN OF THE BEACHED ARGO FELL AND KILLED HIM. THIS ENDS THE LEGEND OF JASON, A MAN AMONG MEN WHO SAILED MANY HARD MILES TO DO WHAT SEEMED TO BE IMPOSSIBLE TASKS FOR THE SERVICE OF HIS NATION. THE USS JASON (AR-8) CARRIES ON IN THE SAME TRADITION.