The History of the Gunroom's Rolling Toast
The Gunroom Rolling Toast is a relatively recent tradition. It was established to commemorate the passing of those who people found significant in the life of the Gunroom.
The way it works is that a place (time zone), date and time is picked and at that time all listswains in that time zone make the toast. As the designated time occurs in each successive time zone, then listswains there make the toast. Thus unless the origin is in the far east of the world, a Rolling Toast occurs over two days.
For example if the time chosen is noon at Greenwich on Saturday, as it reaches noon in each time zone progressing westward, listswains take up the toast. So the Americas and half the Pacific will toast on Saturday while Australians and those in Asia and Europe will toast at noon on Sunday.
The first Rolling Toast was suggested by Prag Katta in a response to Gary Sims' post that he intended to make a toast his late wife Cindy (http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu/POB/20xx/MAY0212/2346.html), The idea immediately struck a chord with Gary who was delighted with the idea. While Cindy was not actually a member of the Gunroom, we had heard a lot about her from her devoted husband. He invited the Gunroom to join him and the very first toast was made at 21.00 local time on Thursday and Friday April 26 & 27 2012.
http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu/POB/20xx/MAY0212/2369.html
The second Rolling Toast, less than a year later, was to honour Gary Sims himself. He was a prolific poster and unsung benefactor to the Gunroom who harboured our list servers for a number of years. The toast was held on Tuesday & Wednesday February 26 & 27 2013.
http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu/POB/20xx/MAR0913/1387.html
Later that year we were sad to lose Bruce Trinque, another prolific poster and fount of knowledge on the history of ships and sailing from our era and many others and Custer's Last Stand. The Rolling Toast for Bruce was held to coincide with a Memorial Service at which our own List Greeter and Baker Doug Essinger-Hileman presided on Friday & Saturday September 20 & 21 2013.
http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu/POB/20xx/SEP2913/2576.html
The run of sad losses continued with the crossing of the bar by "the Admiral", Jim Klein. Originator of what some Whiggish innovators have recently termed the selfie but will always be known by the cognoscenti as the "Klein Maneuver". Jim was noted for his hospitality at home and abroad and probably had met more listswains than most. The Rolling Toast was held on Saturday & Sunday February 22 & 23 2014.
http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu/POB/20xx/FEB1714/2940.html
Interestingly there was a suggestion in the list archives for a Rolling Toast in honour of Patrick O'Brian's 100th birthday in December 2014 but this event never came to fruition.
The next Rolling Toast commemorated Mark Fowler on Saturday & Sunday February 8 & 9 2015. Mark was a man of many parts and also had travelled to a number of listswain events.
http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu/POB/20xx/MAR1215/1933.html
On a happier note the Gunroom held a Rolling Toast to celebrate its 20th anniversary which occurred some time in September 2015, the actual date was unknown, so we arbitrarily chose September 29th 2015, Nelson's 257th birthday. The toast was to the Gunroom, listswains past present and passed. On this occasion everyone was asked to toast at 6 pm local time on the same day.
http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu/POB/20xx/OCT1115/2254.html
The lighter mood was not to last very long, Kerry Webb, an Australian listswain since 1999, who was much regarded in our on-line community for his wit and erudition and whose puns were renowned in the Gunroom, was commemorated on Thursday November 12 2015 at 7 pm local time, starting in Australia.
http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu/POB/20xx/JAN0316/2030.html
Our long time List Bard Charlezzzzz (formerly Charlezzzz and known to the outside world as Charles Muñoz) who was renowned for his poetry, sea stories and protective alligators was celebrated with the toast starting at 7.00 pm in Doylestown PA, home of Kelley's Topless Pizzeria, on February 27 & 28 2018. The announcement was shared on Facebook so that former listswains might see it and join the toast.
https://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/POB/20xx/MAY2418/1514.html
Bryce Rumbles died quite suddenly on 28th December 2018. The Rolling Toast was initiated by his wife, April, on Saturday 23rd February at 18.31 (local sunset) at their home in Yuma, Arizona. This toast was also introduced to and celebrated by members of the Facebook Aubrey-Maturin Appreciation Society group where Bryce also posted. Bryce was a librarian and had been on the list since 2004.
https://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/POB/20xx/DEC3119/0740.html