AtDTdA: (9) 254

[Jasper]

254 The Chums in Venice (continued)

Page 254
Ponte di Paglia
Bridge of Straw.  The name derives from its use as a marketplace for 
straw brought on boats from the mainland.
http://www.pbase.com/dlcmh/image/52453503

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green crabs
the European Green Crab, /Carcinus maenas/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinus_maenas

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"Darby Suckling [came] abseiling down from some overhead purchase"
/absayl, -zil/
verb: descend a near-vertical surface using a rope coiled round the body 
and fixed at a higher point.
[Compact OED]

Darby has perhaps abseiled from the airship itself down to where Chick 
and Renata are eating breakfast.  A "mascotte", he's not unlike 
Groucho's duck from "You Bet Your Life", eh?

http://timstvshowcase.com/youbety2.jpg

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Pax tibi
Peace to you.
*wiki*

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"like some damned Farewell Symphony"
Franz Josef Haydn, 1772, Hungary. Musicians at Count Esterházy's court 
had been kept too long on duty (and away from their families). Going on 
strike would have been disrespectful, so in the last movement of Haydn's 
hinting work, the players one by one extinguish their candles and exit, 
leaving two violins to play the last phrases.
*wiki*

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"resign from the Sky"

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"Chums of Chance were expected to die on the job. Or else live forever, 
there being two schools of thought, actually."
Possibly a reference to the fact that the Chums seem to live 
simultaneously in the "real" world of the novel and also in fictional 
stories within the novel.
*wiki*

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a line of torpedo boats tied up
Motor Torpedo Boats were small, very fast vessels designed for torpedo 
attacks against larger ships

In 1902, the Italian navy had 13 first class torpedo boats (>100 tons) 
with four in construction, and 124 second class torpedo boats (<100 tons).
*http://tinyurl.com/3dolcj [books.google.com]*

Venice was home to the 10th and 11th Torpedo Boat Divisions going into WWI.
http://www.gwpda.org/naval/fdin0001.htm

An Italian torpedo boat crew, 1897:
http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/images/italship.jpg

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"We've aviated ourselves away from the clambake"
clambake: NOUN: 1. A seashore picnic where clams, fish, corn, and other 
foods are traditionally baked on heated stones covered with seaweed. 2. 
Informal A party or gathering, especially a noisy and lively one.
[American Heritage Dictionary]

In this context, Chick seems to lament that his skills are not 
marketable.  Why clambake, I don't know.

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Montenegro
Montenegro, officially the Republic of Montenegro, is a country located 
in Southeastern Europe, an internationally recognised country from 1878 
until 1918.  The country was later a part of various incarnations of 
Yugoslavia and the state union of Serbia and Montenegro.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montenegro

Map:
http://encarta.msn.com/map_701511961/Dalmatia.html

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the Austrian installations in Dalmatia
Dalmatia (Croatian: Dalmacija; Italian: Dalmazia) is a region on the 
eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, in modern Croatia, spreading between 
the island of Rab in the northwest and the Gulf of Kotor (Boka Kotorska) 
in the southeast. The hinterland, Inner Dalmatia (Dalmatinska Zagora), 
ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north but narrows to just a 
few kilometers wide in the south.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmatia

Dalmatia had been under Austrian administration since 1822, and was at 
this time more or less a client of the Austrian Empire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmatia

Map:
http://encarta.msn.com/map_701511961/Dalmatia.html

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Irredentist elements
Irredentism is any position advocating annexation of territories 
administered by another state on the grounds of common ethnicity and/or 
prior historical possession, actual or alleged. It is a feature of 
identity politics and cultural and political geography. Since most 
borders have been moved and redrawn at one point, a great many countries 
could theoretically present irredentist claims to their neighbours.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irredentism

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"We got Venice back"
Venice became Austrian territory when Napoleon signed the Treaty of 
Campo Formio on October 12, 1797. The Austrians took control of the city 
on January 18, 1798. It was taken from Austria by the Treaty of 
Pressburg in 1805 and became part of Napoleon's Kingdom of Italy, but 
was returned to Austria following Napoleon's defeat in 1814, when it 
became part of the Austrian-held Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. In 
1848-1849 a revolt briefly reestablished the Venetian Republic. In 1866, 
following the Seven Weeks War, Venice, along with the rest of Venetia, 
became part of Italy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice#Origins_and_History

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"and so shall Trieste be ours again"
Trieste is a city and port in northeastern Italy right on the border 
with Slovenia, at the head of the Gulf of Trieste on the Adriatic Sea.  
Formerly the Imperial Free City of Trieste, it became the capital of the 
Austrian Littoral region -- the /Küstenland/ -- and was the principal 
Austrian commercial port and shipbuilding center.  The Vienna-Trieste 
Austrian Southern Railway was completed in 1857.

Heading into World War I, Trieste was the main seat of the irredendist 
movement, which sought annexation to Italy of all the lands historically 
inhabited by culturally Italian people. After World War I ended and 
Austria-Hungary disintegrated, Trieste was transferred to Italy (1920) 
along with the whole Julian March (Venezia Giulia).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trieste