M&D Deep Duck: Section 4 summary

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Here's a nice account of the voyage of the Seahorse, written the same year that Mason & Dixon came out, though not inspired by Pynchon's book in any apparent way.

http://www.mdlpp.org/pdf/library/SeahorseMdTransitofVenus.pdf

See the Mayhem On the Seahorse section.

Laura



-----Original Message-----
>From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
>Sent: Jan 18, 2015 10:59 PM
>To: P-list List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Re: M&D Deep Duck: Section 4 summary
>
>Well I got past the first screen as a teacher but then they wanted an interview with the american philosophical society. fuck that. I know a philosophy professor who might be able to get them if no one else can. What is listed in describing relevant letter  is here:
>
>Dixon, Jeremiah. 
>Letter to Tho[ma]s Birch
>Jan. 12, 1761	 	Request File
>Plymouth, Photostat of A.L.S. 1p. and add. Report to the Royal Society on the condition of his vessel after an encounter with a French ship; impossible to now reach Indian in time for the observations. From original in British Museum.l 
>
>So this looks basically historically accurate.
>On Jan 18, 2015, at 8:30 PM, <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>> Pynchon had some good documentation of the event in the form of letters.
>> 
>> They're actually available here:
>> 
>> http://www.amphilsoc.org/mole/view?docId=ead/Mss.B.M381-ead.xml
>> 
>> They're available to researchers via this site, but when I tried to sign up as "unaffiliated," it blocked me. Any university-affiliated p-listers should try to get them.
>> 
>> Laura
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
>>> Sent: Jan 18, 2015 8:09 PM
>>> To: "kelber at mindspring.com" <kelber at mindspring.com>
>>> Cc: "pynchon-l at waste.org" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>> Subject: Re: M&D Deep Duck: Section 4 summary
>>> 
>>> Dear historians: did M & D do this in real life? And same time? 
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>> On Jan 18, 2015, at 4:42 PM, <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> My summary. Please, everyone, point out and attack my misreads.
>>>> 
>>>> Part 4:
>>>> 
>>>> Cherrycoke reminisces to his assembled audience -- which includes his niece Tenebrae, her brothers Pitt and Pliny, their father LeSpark, who we now learn made his fortune in weapon sales, and LeSpark's nephew Ethelmer -- on break from Princeton. Cherrycoke is reminiscing about traveling with Mason and Dixon on the frigate Seahorse, en route to Sumatra, to observe the Transit of Venus. But an event occurs -- well-known already to Cherrycoke's assembled audience -- which he now relates to us.
>>>> 
>>>> Mason and Dixon are annoyed to discover that they're apparently being charged for their passage by Captain Smith. It turns out to be a misunderstanding, and Dixon warms up to the Captain when he discovers he enjoys a drink. But there's impending doom on the horizon -- we and Cherrycoke's immediate audience know that the French warship l'Grand is lurking in the Channel. Mason, in particular, seems to sense it. It turns out Ben Coolen (their destination on Sumatra) has fallen to the French, and the Captain's been warned by the Admiralty not to sail for it. So they’re going to head for the Cape of Good Hope instead.
>>>> 
>>>> As the ship sails through the Channel -- considered the most dangerous body of water in the world by some of its sailors -- we learn something of both the captain and his ship. Smith, captain of a near-warship (it lacks the full complement of guns) is, himself, no man of war. He'd prefer to be sharing a drink and having a philosophical chat with the two Men of Science on board. The ship, though, has a proud military record, having served with distinction in Quebec. While the sailors sing a chanty wherein they rhyme Sumatra with Cleopatra, Cherrycoke discourses on the meaning of the ship's motto, Eques Sit AEques, which he translates as "Let the Sea-Knight who would command this Sea-Horse be ever fair-minded." At which point the l'Grand appears on the horizon, and, being a French ship, its intentions are clearly hostile.
>>>> 
>>>> The l'Grand proceeds to kick the shit out of the Seahorse. Cherrycoke, Mason and Dixon, terrified, are dispatched below to serve as makeshift medical aides as the casualties pile up. Finally, the l'Grand stops the mayhem and moves on. Cherrycoke's never been sure what transpired, and he speculates that either the French captain realized there were men of science aboard, signaling: France is not at war with the sciences. Or maybe he just realized that the Seahorse was not a worthy foe: You are leetluh meennow -- I throw you back. Captain Smith, distraught over the dead and wounded lashes out at M and D: Are you two really that important? On deck, Mason and Dixon commune over a couple of bottles of grog. Dixon: More like a Transit of Mars ...? And the Seahorse limps back to the dockyard.
>>>> 
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