We cannot direct the wind...

Posted by Baceseras on April 20, 2009 at 20:27

In Reply to: We cannot direct the wind... posted by Victoria S Dennis on April 20, 2009 at 18:03:

: : "We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust our sails" (Cmdre. Harry GoodHorn)

: : Who was Cmdre. Harry GoodHorn? Is he the originator of the saying?

: I don't know the saying, or Harry Goodhorn, but "Cmdre." is a standard abbreviation for "Commodore". (VSD)

[I haven't been able to trace Commodore Harry Goodhorn (yet?), but it sounds like a journalistic cognomen for an advice columnist, perhaps in a specialist publication for seafarers. It's an old established publishers' device to have such a character on the masthead, answering readers' questions and serving up tidbits of near-forgotten lore. Usually the material is written by various members of the paper's staff. The name "Harry Goodhorn" combines at least these three salty references: Harry = Prince Henry the Navigator; GoodHorn = (a.) Cape Horn, and (b.) Cape of Good Hope - these being two of the most famous challenges to mariners in the days of wooden ships, rounding the southernmost waters off the continents of South America and Africa. - Bac.]