MDDM Ch. 6 Summary

[jbor]

After some editorialising which reveals more of the Rev.d's own biases (the
battle at sea was really "a warning ... from Beyond", "the Astronomers were
right and the R.S. wrong"), Wicks continues his recount. Uncle Lomax, a
manufacturer of "Philadelphia Soap", joins the group of "Parlour Apes"
listening to the tale.

On board the *Seahorse* now Wicks, feeling quite despondent, is quartered
with Lieutenant Unchleigh, "a rattle-head" who disdains both "Print" (even
the Bible) and "Coffee" as spurs to "Civil Unrest". Elsewhere M & D continue
to engage in gentle philosophickal disputation. Captain Grant is impetuous
and ambitious, and he flies a West Indian version of the Jolly Roger which
he won in a card game from another English captain, in rebellion against
having to sail in league with a warship for a time, until sight of French
sail resolves him to the necessity of this precaution. The *Seahorse* is
bound for Tenerife first, and then to an undisclosed eastern destination. A
brash young envoy had sought out the captain just prior to embarking and
handed him a sealed order from the Admiralty. The messenger directed Grant
not to open the mysterious last minute directive until the frigate's safe
arrival in Tenerife.

Captain Grant sometimes "pretends" to be insane to keep others on their
toes, but one day spies Mason seemingly similarly disposed. Mason is in fact
mourning the second anniversary of Rebekah's death (on Feb. 13, St
Valentine's Eve) by fasting and moping.

We are introduced to various crew members, the irascible Jack 'Fingers'
Soames, the "somniac" Veevle, and young Slowcombe, an apparently ageless
upstart previously attached to the infantry. The ship's band has been
reduced over the years to a lone fifer, this Slowcombe, and it had fallen to
him to sound the battle cry and maintain morale as the French warship
*l'Grand* bore down when last the *Seahorse* had ventured forth across the
waves.

Sailing southwards the crew contend with the monotony and close-quarters in
various ways. The Boatswain, Mr. Higgs, has an "Obsessedness as to Loose
Ends" and runs training sessions for the off-duty seamen on how to tie
proper marine knots. Others play practical jokes on one another, or grow
beards, pierce ears or give themselves tattoos. (Seaman "Fender" Bodine,
possessed of an apparently large and malodorous paunch, is also present.)
The crossing of the Equator in such an environment becomes a focus for
celebration, and the traditional "Ceremony of Initiation" of first-timers -
only M & D and Wicks are virginal in this respect as it turns out - is
elaborately planned for, costumed, and choreographed. But Wicks' account of
the ritual humiliations endured is effectively censored for the twins'
benefit by the two Uncles, and by Wicks himself, by recourse to a type of
slapstick version (a variation on the old cream-pie-in-the-face routine).

The ship sails on, and Mason and Dixon amuse themselves with a game of
imagination called "Sumatra" which is very reminiscent of the sort of thing
which keeps the kids amused in the back seat on long car trips.

best