Survivors of the Gloria Scott
Please let us introduce the fine Sherlockians from Greenville, SC. These intrepid Southern folk boast two (count 'em, two!) Sherlock Holmes groups in their relatively small town (Cincinnati, which has, maybe, a million and a quarter folks in the metropolitan, area only has one group - The Tankerville Club). Also, Sherlockian groups in the South are few and far between - with a notable exception being South Carolina. We are most encouraged to see two groups flourishing in Greenville in the great state of South Carolina, which also boasts The Strand's Sherlockians in Myrtle Beach and The Hansom Wheels in Columbia. Although we had been aware of the Survivors of the Gloria Scott scion for some time, we came into personal contact with the its members only recently while we were attending The Game's Afloat III conference in St. Louis. You see, Art Schroeder, one of the brightest and most creative people we have ever met, and husband of Mary Schroeder, MC of that landmark St. Louis conference, is gravely ill (click here to read about Art and Mary Schroeder and here to read about the St. Louis conference). When The Survivors heard about Art's condition, and how well he was getting along in spite of his illnesses, they perceived Art as being an heroic "Real Survivor" and acknowledged him with a message of good wishes and a certificate awarding him honorary membership in The Survivors of the Gloria Scott. The Survivors' messages were read publicly at beginning of The Game's Afloat III. We thought that this was a marvelous gesture and we wrote to David Milner, one of the founders of The Survivors, to express our personal thanks for their consideration and kindness to our friend, Art Schroeder. We received a nice reply message from David and, in subsequent communications, we asked him if he would provide for us a little "biographical sketch" of the Sherlockian activities in Greenville so that we could feature it on our web site. David most kindly responded with the following essay. We are pleased to offer David's comments here for your information and enlightenment.
We have two Sherlockian groups here in Greenville, although for practical purposes, we meet under the name: Survivors of the Gloria Scott. We are "one;" somewhat akin to the Borg of Star Trek fame. One might think that it is highly irregular for the upstate of South Carolina to have two Sherlockian groups, but we do.
Knights of Shag was formed in 1991 as a result of a small ad placed in the local paper by Drew Daubenspeck: "Come, Watson, the game's afoot!" He was answered by Vance Drawdy, Esq. and the Honourable Joe Hooper, a local federal judge. The name, Knights of Shag, is derived from Mr. Holmes' tobacco and the State Dance of South Carolina, viz., the shag. (The best description of the shag is a low-impact jitterbug). At their first meeting, Vance and Judge Hooper were reminiscing about 'the nights they had spent shagging' at Myrtle Beach when they were young. Being a Yankee, Drew didn't know about the shag as a dance, but he knew his tobacco! Local folk, whose association with "shag" has been purely terpsichorean, often think we are a dance ensemble.
Vance knew just about everybody in Greenville, and due to his promotion the group soon grew to thirty active members. To do a bit of paraphrasing, at times one could say that Vance was the Knights of Shag. I joined the group early in 1995 (the anarchist within me liked a group with neither constitution nor by-laws!). In late 1995, Drew's work required him to relocate to Texas. No one else volunteered to take over as Gasogene, so I volunteered. At this point, we had members of two different persuasions within KOS; members of one subgroup were primarily interested in socialising, while members of the other were seriously interested in things Victorian, in the Canon and in designing fiendishly clever tests.
Most regrettably, Vance passed away early in 1997. It became evident that many members were dependent on Vance's leadership and weren't going to return without him. Some of the remaining members were openly grousing about 'that other group that's taking over.' I decided to take the summer off ( I needed a break) and to start up again in the fall. In the meantime, I made arrangements for the organization of 'that other group' and that resulted in the genesis of the Survivors of the Gloria Scott. Obviously, they were 'survivors,' hence the name.
At any rate, when I started the Knights up again in the fall of 1997, the remaining members were also members of Survivors of the Gloria Scott. I have kept the KOS name alive in memory of Vance Drawdy and to give Drew Daubenspek (our Gasogene Emeritus) a point of reference in the event that he ever returns here to the Center of the Universe. In January of last year, I applied for, and was granted, scion status for our group(s). The rest of our history to date may be found in issues of The Gaslight Gazette, our regular newsletter. The name of our publication is Victorian. It replaces the newsletter that was published by Drew, viz., The Better Holmesian Guardian. He passed the name of the group to me, but reserved the newsletter's name. We meet monthly, and in January we have a formal Gala at which we encourage dressing in period costumes. That is a lot of fun. Currently there are about 20 active members (i.e., those that come regularly.)
On 9 January 1899 (the Greenville folks predate their activities by one century for obvious reasons), the Survivors of the Gloria Scott and the Knights of Shag, the scion societies of Greenville, South Carolina, gathered at Connolly's Irish Pub for their annual gala celebration of the birth of Sherlock Holmes. The following folk were among the celebrants at this gala affair!
David Milner, Gasogene of the KOS and his wife Karen came dressed as the Count Von Kramm and Irene Adler. Richard Mackintosh, Ship's Captain of the SGS, arrived in the persona of Black Peter. Roger Kellogg cut a dashing figure as the evil Col. Sebastian Moran, while son-in-law Ben Cothran came as Breckenridge, The Blue Carbuncle's favorite goose-monger. Susan Hutchinson (a native of England) came dressed as a Victorian lady. The Musgrave Ritual questions were read by a guest, Loma Anders, who had the same puzzled look on her face that must have been seen on that of Sir Reginald. Canonical toast were given by: Clark Leach (Survivors of the Gloria Scott), Dennis Hutchinson (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), Ben Cothran (The Baker Street Irregulars), Dr. Robert Cox ( Dr. John H. Watson), Susan Hutchinson (Mrs. Martha Hudson), Kathleen Maas (The Woman), and Roger Kellogg (William Sherlock Scott Holmes). The Irregular Knights Theatre Troupe gave a stellar performance of Doyle's How Watson Learned the Trick (Adapted for stage by David Milner.) Boffo performances were turned in by Paula Mackintosh and Becky Cox as Holmes and Watson. Don Anders (spouse of Loma) was very telling in the roll of narrator.
Per your request, I am sending a photo from our recent Gala. Left to right: The Count Von Kramm (me), Irene Adler (my spouse, Karen), Col. Sebastian Moran, sans a shifting moustache (Roger Kellogg), a Victorian woman (Susan Hutchinson), Black Peter (Ship's Capt. Richard Mackintosh), and finally, Breckenridge, a goose-monger (Ben Cothran). The portrait in the rear was done for Roger Kellogg by a local police sketch artist.