M&D linguistic paper

[Sherwood, Harrison]

From: Andrew

> It also
>suggests to me that Pynchon might have learned his tarpaulin from
>other authors, who were either equally unconcerned with exact details
>of period language or wrote of slightly later times. 

&, as I seem to recall saying a couple of weeks ago to resounding cheers
and "well done"s from all and sundry for the ruthless thoroughness of my
research (and how's that for dry sarcasm, eh?), at least one source for
the "tarpaulin" is Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels, and _A Sea
of Words_, a lexicon of the nautical terminology used by O'Brian. 

In Andrew's quote above, the latter case is correct. O'Brian's attention
to period detail is above reproach, quite famously exhaustive, if not
definitive. The A/M novels take place in the Napoleonic Wars and the War
of 1812.

M&D evidence:

1) O'Brian gets a tip of the cocked hat from TRP in the form of Seaman
Pat O'Brian, "the best Yarn-Spinner in all the Fleets" (p. 54) Seaman
O'Brian knows "all there is to know and more 'pon the Topick of
Euphroes, and Rigging even more obscure."
 
2) M&D p. 37: "'Twas small work to come up with us, get to
leeward,--from which the French like to engage..." A major plot point in
(I think it's) _Post-Captain_ depends on the French preferring the
lee-gage for attack. In fact, it is arguable that the Battle of
Trafalgar was won because the two British columns attacked from the
weather side, as was the British habit, and the French and Spanish did
not use the advantage of the wind to turn and flee when they had the
chance (the major advantage to possession of the lee-gage). This little
oversight virtually wiped the French and Spanish navies from the oceans
for the rest of time, and somebody or other Ruled the Waves from that
point forward.

3) Jack Aubrey has addressed the RS on the Topick of refinements of
lunar navigation to determine longitude. ("[Capt. Smith of the
_Seahorse_ is] now silent upon his side of the Quarter-deck, now bending
late and dutifully over the lunar-distance forms. 'He wishes to be taken
as a man of Science,' opines the Rev'd upon first meeting the
Astronomers...")

Harrison