Week One – Question #3
When it is clear that he will be captured aboard his ship, Creighton’s uncle quickly tries to burn all the important papers so they don’t fall in the hands of the Americans. He burns almost all of the documents but not all of them. If you were in this situation on the ship what would you have done to destroy the evidence?
If I was in this situaton, I wouldn’t burn them so that Benedict Arnold and his crew wouldn’t suspect that I had anything to hide. Instead I would tear them up and put them in a pillowcase or something small and then throw them of the boat. Earlier in the book when Creighton ripped up his mom’s letter and threw it out the window it said that some pieces flew back in. If I put it in a case it would be easier to throw them off the boat and that way the papers wouldn’t fly around or back into the boat.
I see we have some very creative slicksters here. Some alternative ways to solve the problem posed here (what to do withthe papers) include burn them, shred them, throw them, stuff them, pocket them, sink them.
If i was in that situation, i would probably have ripped up the remaining papers and either thrown them out the window or stuffed them some place where they wouldnt be seen until i had the chance to dispose of them.
If I was in Colonel Gowers position I would have ripped the pieces of paper and thrown them over board so the water would ruin it, and the waves would carry the pieces away
To destroy the evidence I would have first riped it into a bunch of peices. Then I would have thrown the peices into the ocean, when no one was looking. This way no one would jump in after the peices.
If I was in Creighton`s Uncles situation and I had very important documents that need to be disposed of I would eat most of them and make Creighton eat the rest. If that diddnt work Id just throw the documents over board.
If I was in the situation in which Colonel Gower was,I would have burned all of the papers,and then I would throw the ashes out of the boat window so there would be no evidence left behind.
If I was in the same situation as Colonel Gower was, I would have done differently. I wouldn’t have burned them because that showed the Americans that there was something they were not suppose to see. I would have ripped them up into shreds, then opened the closest window and thrown them overboard. Not only when it hits the water it ruins the paper, but this also makes it seem like Colonel Gower had nothing to hide because Benedict Arnold would had never seen the ashes or found the loose paper.
If I was in that situatuion where i had to destroy the evidence so that the Americans woudn’t see them, i would have obviously ripped them up and through them in the ocean. Not burn them because you dont have reassurance on if all the papers are burnt enough to still be seen, not stuff them underneath someplace because that’s a risk you’d be willing to take if the Americans find them and someone responded to eat them??!!, ummm, im not to sure if that will work, in speaking that would literally have to digest the actual papers (I find that to be a really strange plan but thats your opinion). So the best decision to me would be to throw all the paper into the ocean in ripped up pieces.
What I would have done is if there was a window to the ocean I would through them overboard but usually the room that they are in would be in the middle of the boat with no windows, so I would rip the papers up in really, really, really small pieces. Or maybe I would have hidden them in a secret or small place.
If I was in Creighton’s situation I would have probably tore the paper up into little pieces and thrown them out the window. Or I would fold the paper and stuffed them in my pants. That is what I would have done in that situation.
If I was in Creighton’s or his uncle’s situation I would put all of the papers in the chest, put something heavy inside it with the papers, and throw it overboard. The Americans would never be able to get it because they can’t go down deep into the ocean because:
1) They don’t have scuba tanks yet.
2) The pressure would be too much even if they did have scuba tanks.
Given a situation like this, I would have probably ripped up the documents and thrown them overboard. When I initally read the question, though,the first thing that popped up in my mind was eat them, though in reality I really wouldn’t have.
If I was in a situation like that I would have thrown the papers overboard. When the paper are in the water the ink will be washed out and the documents will be soggy and tarnished.
If I was in a situation like that, I would throw out all of the papers outside of the ship. That way know one would be able to find them.
If I was in this problem i would eat the papers if they were that important, and if i couldn’t eat it i would try to make the fire bigger.
If I was in that situation I have to say that I would have thrown them out the window into the ocean.That way they would get all soggy and been unable to read.
If i had to get rid of documents of that sort i’d cram as many as i could down my throat and burn whatever i couldn’t shread or eat.
~HmMmM…
Good Question – I think if I were in there situation I would A~ Put Them In my hat so I could dispose of them later on, B~Shred them by hand and throw them overboard, C~Shred them and put them in the fire instead of putting them in the fire whole. Those would be my options. 🙂
I would rip-up the documents and put water or a liquid on them so the water ruins it, then I would either put them in my pocket or put them in my shoe; to dispose of later.
I probably would have burnt a little of th papers and when the fire was big, open the chest and burn the chest. That way I know everything is burnt.
I probably would have done the same thing which is to burn all of the papper on the ship. I think that burning the papers is the safeset way to get rid of all of the evidence. Another option would be to throw the papers over board into the water.
If I was in that situation I would of tore the papers up in tiny bits and ate them.I would of also put them in my sock or shoe, if those ideas didn’t work I would of hid them somewhere only I could find them.
Alot of you guys said that you would look at the documents before you decided if you should burn them or just hide them but I just want to remind you that you don’t have that much time. In the book, the rebels were knocking down the door in a few moments. You would have to know ahead of time what you were going to do.
Given this situation, I probably would have done the same as Creighton’s uncle and burned the evidence because when you are in the middle of a war, papers like that become extremely useful to the enemy and I would not want them to get ahold of the papers. When you burn something, it becomes unreadable so that would be a good way to get rid of evidence. Starting a fire can be a little hard though, if you do not have a match, and I assume that most people don’t walk around with matches in hand, so I most likely wouldn’t start a fire if I had a limited amount of time or was under alot of pressure. Since Creighton and uncle were on a ship, another option would be to rip up the papers and throw them out the window into the sea beyond because then, there would not be a great chance of them being found.
If I was in that situation ,and had to get rid of the papers I would burn them or I would just thrown the paper out the window and to the ocean. Also I could have gaven the papers to Creighton because the americans wouldn’t think a servent would have the papers or just do something simple and rip the paper swo they couldn’t be read.
If I was in that situation i would most likely just rip all the papers up without them seeing and then throw them into the ocean or i would have just hidden them where they would not be able to find them.
I would have eaten them or make creighton and the captian eat them. Or cut a hole in my shirt and stuff the paper in a pocket.Or throw out the porthole.Or the captian should have just shot himself.Or shove the papers into a cannon hole.
As I have been asked by Mr. Moshé to post a differant way – to hide the evidence so I would put them under my wig so the americans could not find them.
First I would read the documents to see if they were any use to me. If they weren’t them I would rip them into tiny piece or burn them and throw the ashes or piece of paper in the ocean.So there wouldn’t be any evidence of the document even being in the ship.
Ok, why in the world would you hide the documents in your pants????? Please someone answer me that question!! The simplest and best thing for me and anyone to do in that kind of situation is rip it upa dn throw it overboard. Duh! Unless the Americans have some type of advanced paper dryer and put together ripped up paper devices which I of course highly doubt there is no way they would be able to read the evidence. So there!
If I was in the postion of Creighton on the ship I would make my uncle to throw the fire into the bag to burn it from the inside out. That would make burn everything inside the bag even if it was caught on the side. That is how I would get rid of the evidence.
*Marcus has an excellent idea about ripping up the paper and throwing it out the window but the room may be in might not be near the ocean.
This might sound like it lacks inteligence, but I don’t care. First, I would either burn them because its ash no one would just stand there aboard their ship and act all suspicious about a pile of ash and you can just get a bucket of water and throw it on the ash sending it to whatever side of the ship! Also, if there were no other choice, I would rip them up fast and put them in my mouth (if they could all fit in there)?
If I was Creighton Uncle and I had time to get rid of the papers I would probably rip them up and throw the pieces in the ocean.Therefore the American cannot see the writing because its all ripped up and wet.
Okay, I read only 3, and all of them wrote “throw” as “through”. Please guys, we learned this kind of stuff in 2nd grade. Stop being lazy and type the words correctly. Sorry, it gets annoying.
If i was in this situation on the ship, then i would try to rip up the documents while burning them at the same time. By doing this then if they walk in the room when i have already burned some of the paper, then they still cant use these documents becuase all of the peices of paper are torn into little tiny pieces of paper.
If I were in Colonel Gower’s position,I probably would have ripped them in half and threw them into the ocean.Even if the Americans miraculously manage to get the pieces out with the ink still legible,they would probably have a hard time piecing it together.If there was no other way to hide the papers and if they were drop-dead important,I probably would have eaten them.
If I was in colonel Gower creigton’s uncle situation I would of did many things to destroy those important paper I would do many things. First I would tear the papers into nano size molecules of pieces of paper. Second I would hide the papers in a barrel of food. And third I would tear the papers and scatter them all over the ocean because the water will wash off all the ink and they wouldn’t find it in the ocean.
if i were in the colonels place, i would have likely thrown the documents overboard. It would ruin the ink on the paper and make the text unintelegable. Also make it hard to find the scattered documents in the ocean
If I was in this particular sistuation, I would have tried to kick them under something and hide them. But if I didnt have enough time I might have even tried to rip them up…
If I was in Creightons situation, and i had important/ some what dangerous papers that I needed to get rid of I wouldn’ just get rid of them temporarily(ex. fold and stuff into pockets, push under table or chair) I would simply rip them up and throw them over board or if I had time I would burn them.
First i would have studied them.Then I would have either thrown them in the ocean or burned them and put them in the crews food ( making there no evidence to be recovered).
If I were in a situation like this and I didn’t want important papers to be in the hands of Americans, there are ways to get rid of them. One would be to burn them like Colonel Gower did. It would turn to ashes so the Americans could not know what they were. Another way to get rid of them is to rip them up into tiny bits and throw them out into the ocean at different times so they wouldn’t be in one bunch.
Hiding the papers would not be a good idea. There’s always a chance the Americans will find them.
If I were in that situation I would have put the documents in my shoes.They would never look in my shoe and those documents may come of some use in the future.
To Sarah A.
First of all, I doubt that there were toilets back then in ships.
Second (if there were toilets), remember that you’re in the captain’s quarters, and the Americans are smashing the door. I don’t think that you could get to a bathroom in time (unless there’s one in tha captain’s quarters), so maybe it would be easier to just throw them overboard.
If I were in this situation, I would have done what came easiest (which is rip them up and throw them overboard or put them in my pants). Think of it like this: you’re a Brit that holds important documents, and your door is being knocked down by the enemy; you don’t have that much time and it is of the utmost importance that they don’t get a hold of them. What would you do?
If I were in that situation, I would either 1. Through them into the ocean. or 2. Flush them down the toilet (if they existed back then and if they had one on the ship).
If I were in Creighton’s uncles position I probably wouldnt stuff the documents in my pants as Kristen said. I wouldn’t do this because I knew I wasnt going to surrender and I would know that the Americans would have taken me as a prisoner. They would also probably search me so they would find the documents. But I probably would as Kristen said through the documents into the ocean because the ink on the document would bleed into the water, therefore making it illegeable.
If I were in this situation on the ship, I would not have burned the papers. By burning the papers you leave ash behind, which reveals there was evidence that wasn’t supposed to be seen in the first place. I would’ve dealt with the situation differently. First, I would make sure that I gathered all the documents (unlike Creighton). Then I would have thrown the papers overboard, just like the pirates did with the dead bodies. By doing this you leave absolutely no trace of evidence.
If I was creighton and/or his uncle and I had to brun the important papers and not all of them burned i would either 1. kick them under something and make them unseeable 2. if there weren’t that many when the privets weren’t looking I would fold them and tuck them in my pants or 3. rip them up and through them in the ocean.