Warp Speed

The New York Times says that some young playwright's career is moving at warp speed. I was never particularly a Trekkie, but couldn't avoid knowing that in Star Trek warp speeds are beyond the speed of light. (And therefore beyond possibility, but never mind that.)Given that I don't think much about Star Trek, "warp" first recalled accounts of ships that were warped here and there, either towed, or moved by the crew hauling on a rope secured to some fixed object. I find in Henry Adams's history of Madison's second administrationJune 6, at leisure, Perry superintended the removal of the five small craft from the navy-yard at Black Rock; several hundred soldiers, seamen, and oxen warped them up stream into the Lake(chapter "Proctor and Perry 1813") andA little after dusk, Reid, seeing the suspicious movements of the enemy, began to warp is vessel close under the guns of the castle.(chapter "Sloops-of-War, 1814") The vessels so warped must have moved slowly, and certainly moved at the…