IVIV: chapter seven—Thomas Arnould & Theophilus Parsons

[Robin Landseadel]

Doc asks who owns "The Golden Fang"—the ship, that is. Marine Lawyer  
Sauncho sez: ''Actually, we've considered hiring you to find out." As  
Doc seems to be everybody's favorite fall guy, being selected for such  
an honor constitutes something more along the lines of a sentence.

Note the following line in the context of Pynchon family history:

	For years Sauncho had kept a watchful eye on the yachting
	community of Southern California as they came and went, at
	first feeling the unavoidable class hatred such vessels, for all
	their beauty under sail, inspire in those of average income . . .

This could be pointing to George M. Pynchon and his status as a  
yachtsman. This is from a 1929 "Time" magazine:

	Last week scores of costly marine playthings sported along the
	Atlantic seaboard. In the final, climactic race of the New York
	Yacht Club cruise, Secretary of the Navy Charles Francis
	Adams, persistent vacationist, piloted Gerard B. Lambert's
	Vanitie to beat George M. Pynchon's Istalena for the King of
	England's cup.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,752027,00.html

Sauncho has been interested in "The Golden Fang" for a long time:

	As it turned out, his firm, Hardy, Gridley & Chatfield, had been
	keenly, almost desperately, curious about the Golden Fang for
	a while now. Her insurance history was an exercise in
	mystification, sending bewildered clerks and even partners
	clear back to nineteenth-century commentators like Thomas
	Arnould and Theophilus Parsons,

Here's a taste of what those bewildered clerks and partners were  
reading:

	A TREATISE
	LAW OF MARITIME PROPERTY AND CONTRACTS.
	BOOK II.
	ON THE LAW OF MARINE INSURANCE,
	By Theophilus Parsons. . .

	Taylor v. Curtis, 4 Camp. 337, 6 Taunt. 608. The plaintiffs were
	owners of the ship Hibernia, in which the defendant shipped
	goods to be carried from London to St. Thomas, in the West
	Indies. In the course of the voyage the ship was attacked by an
	American privateer. The Hibernia resisted, and a severe
	engagement ensued. The privateer was beaten off, and the
	Hibernia delivered her cargo safely to the. consignees. She
	sustained great damage, during the engagement, in her hull
	and rigging, which were repaired at a considerable expense to
	the owners. They also incurred a further expense in providing
	medical assistance for several of the crew who were wounded
	in the action. Large quantities of gunpowder and shot were
	likewise expended upon the occasion, which had formed part of
	the stores and outfit of the ship. In the trial at nun priur, Gibbs, C
	. J., said : " I cannot feel that this is a loss entitling the  
plaintiffs to
	claim a contribution as for general average. The defence may
	be ungracious; but according to the rules which prevail in this
	country I think the loss must fall entirely upon the ship. I cannot
	distinguish this from the case of a ship carrying a press of sail to
	escape from an enemy. That is done voluntarily for the
	preservation of all; but it has been held that a loss arising from a
	hazard so incurred is not the subject of general average. I
	likewise remember a case where a ship ran away from a
	privateer, and was shot through, and it was held that the owner
	could not claim a general average from the damage so
	sustained. The practice of underwriters sometimes to contribute
	to a loss such as this cannot weigh much, as it may be
	accounted for from the honor and liberality of those who
	contribute, and from the sense they must feel of their own
	interest. If there is no reward allowed for a gallant resistance,
	such resistances will not be made, and the whole value of the
	property must be paid, instead of a gratuity for saving it."

	This decision was confirmed upon appeal by the Court of
	Common Pleas. The court there said: " The measure of resisting
	the privateer was for the general benefit, but it was a part of the
	adventure. No particular part of the property was voluntarily
	sacrificed for the protection of the rest. The losses fell where the
	fortune of war cast them; and there, it seems to me, they ought
	to rest." 6 Taunt. 623.

http://tinyurl.com/lpjmog

It's pointed out that investigation of this sort of piratic enterprise  
by Hardy, Gridley & Chatfield usually

	. . . would have taken no more than a fraction of the firm's
	weekly entertainment budget, deployed at a carefully selected
	handful of local marina bars, to find out anything they wanted to
	know from nightly chatter, yarns of Tahiti, Moorea, Bora-Bora, . .

. . . but this time there is that Je ne sais quoi of an impenetrable  
silence, inexplicable "Intimidation" and some extraordinary jumpiness  
being displayed by the harbormaster whenever the office radio kicked in.