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Ran across some interesting books on the British gunrunning operations during the American Civil War. "Clyde Built: The Blockade Runners of the American Civil War" by author Eric Graham documents the Scottish contribution to the Confederate war effort. And it was quite a contribution, as many as a third of all gunrunning ships were built along the banks of the Clyde. This book is taken from the Scottish perspective, and while the general assumption is the Brits remained neutral in this conflict, there was so much money to be made, that it overpowered any thoughts of human rights highlighted by the war. The Brits profited handsomely from their support of both sides in the war, with the added benefit of keeping an international competitor off balance by helping to continue the war. The Independent published some pictures of the latest gunrunner discovery, the sunken Iona 2.
CLYDE BUILT: The Blockade Runners and Cruisers of the American Civil War at Amazon
Another book, "Civil War Blockade Running on the Texas Coast" by Andrew Hall, centers on Galvaston as a hub for gunrunning activity. Plenty of tales of confederate gunrunners activities, along with the US Navy's efforts to curb the flow of guns from Britain. The author has dived wrecks along the coast, and helped to document several wrecks from the period from both sides of the conflict. One interesting note, none of the gunrunner's ships survive above water...
Civil War Blockade Running on the Texas Coast at Amazon
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Sugru is some kind of magic playdough invented by a Brit girl genius and marketed as space rubber or magic dust or something of the sort. It can be molded and shaped into anything and can be used to repair stuff or invent stuff...
A couple of Sugru engineers thought this was just the stuff for parts of a Gatling water gun they were thinking about. It's hard to say what parts it was used for, but looks like a blast hosing down a few of your best pals, in color no less. I might have to get some of this stuff...
Video of gun in action
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