MDDM Ch. 4 "Poohpooh! Adieu!"

[Terrance]

jbor wrote:
> 
> I think that Pynchon hints at various reasons why the captain and crew of
> *l'Grand* decided to engage the *Seahorse* in battle in the first place,
> only to refrain from finishing her off when they obviously could have.
> Perhaps there was another British ship "some" of the sailors contended
> later; and Wicks parenthetically suggests divine intervention of some sort.
> (40) 

Wicks' parenthetical is none too convincing. In contrast to his
assertion that Prayer got them through, He says, "Perhaps..."

And it so it seems likely that his guardian angel, if it guided the ship
to safety ( the wings, the topgallant riggings of the ship  smashed in
battle), was not a divine intervention, but a moral invention for the
children's benefit. 

The British Ship 

MD40 "some of the Seahorse [sailors]  thought they'd seen it,-- most had
not..."


Back to page 36 and the French Ship

The Captain, If he is  trying not to lose his temper with the crew,   is
still Growling at his Lieutenant while the Lieutenant Timidly attempts
to get the good Captain's attention. At times the the Captain seems an
overbearing ego.  He doesn't reply to Blinky's charge but haunts the
little lout like a nearly unsensed ghost silently.   Contemptuous of his
subordinates (boil-brained) he is  Preoccupied with his scientific
interests and the niceties he assumes are important to his Royal guests.
This exacerbates the poor relations and miscommunications aboard the
Seahorse. 

The Lieutenant does manage to gain the Captain's attention and alert the
Captain that a ship is approaching, though he is either none too certain
it's a ship or too timid to assert his opinion to the Captain. As with
opinions about the British ship's presence, the crew opinion is likewise
divided. 

"Um, what appears to be a sail, south-southwest, -- although there is
faction upon the question, others insisting 'tis a cloud...." 

The Captain's response,  "Damnation... Hell Fire too...", and the
Lieutenant's reply, "I knew that,"   and  the Captains condescending
directions, comments, addresses: "don't drop this..." and "there's a
good Lieutenant" and "ancient beliefs will persist," and "Here then,
Bongo," are all indicative of the failure of top down communications. By
the time the Captain works his way down the chain of command to the
Lascar (whom I presume to be an East Indian sailor, the irony here that
they are sailing to his Land), it as if he is the Learned English Dog
talking to a man he owns and treats like a dog, and not an English dog
mind you.