M & D deep duck: section 4 -- orders not to sail. Puzzled.

[Mark Kohut]

Before this analysis, I simply assumed the orders had come somewhere
in the spaces of the text.
Now, I am inevitably reminded of the Orders to the Chums, of They, etc.

The happy Captain is in the pocket of the Royal Society.

p.41 "They knew the French had Bencoolen,---what else did they know?
Thah's what I'd like to know"---[Dixon]

On Fri, Jan 23, 2015 at 7:49 PM, James Robertson
<james at themutedposthorn.com> wrote:
> I am a little puzzled by this passage:
>
> On the eighth of December the Captain has an Express from the Admiralty,
> ordering him not to sail. "Furthermore," he informs Mason & Dixon,
> "Bencoolen is in the hands of the French. I see no mention of any plans to
> re-take the place soon. I am sorry."
>
> "I knew it...?" Dixon walking away shaking his head.
>
> "We may still make the Cape of Good Hope in time," says Capt. Smith "That'll
> likely be our destination, if and when they cut the orders."
>
>
> Without any further explanation the Seahorse proceeds down the Channel
> towards its bloody encounter with the l'Grand. But why? Captain Smith has
> orders from the Admiralty, which is responsible for command of the Navy, not
> to set sail. And as we have seen in the proceeding matter of the hundred
> pounds for expenses the Captain has "no wish to offend" "the Great
> Circumnavigator" George Anson, the then First Lord of the Admiralty.
>
> Does this mean the orders not to sail should be read as "do not sail to
> Bencoolen"? This makes sense as it has been taken by the French, but
> "furthermore" suggests Bencoolen is an additional reason not to sail not the
> primary one. Is the Admiralty aware of the danger posed by the L'Grand?
>
> Who is the "they" Captain Smith is referring to when he talks about cutting
> orders? If it's the Admiralty, then why would they order the captain not to
> sail and then not cut orders. Surely the two are one and the same. If it is
> the Royal Society then this raises other questions.
>
> Judging by the threatning letter the Royal Society send Mason and Dixon in
> reply to their letter from Plymouth, it is they whom the captain is
> referring to. So why then would he follow their orders over those of the
> Admiralty not to sail?
>
> "Happen," Dixon contributes in turn, "we were never meant at all to go to
> Bencoolen,-- someone needed a couple of Martyrs, and we inconviently
> surviv'd?"
>
> Dixon's suspicions about the motives of the Society (on page 44) offer
> another glimpse of an explanation hinted at by captain Smith earlier. That
> Mason & Dixon are not the only ones sent out to observe the Transit of
> Venus.
>
> "No one else is going there to observe," Mason "Odd, isn't it? You think
> there'd be a Team from somewhere."
>
> Capt. Smith look away, as if embarrass'd. "Perhaps there is?" he suggests,
> as gently as possible.
>
> Of course this suggestion is absolutely correct, Maskelyne has also been
> sent out by the Society to observe the Transit from St. Helena. But it is
> his mission that fails not theirs. Why the captain should know about this,
> almost to the point of embarrsement, is unclear. But certainly Mason & Dixon
> are being kept in the dark.
>
> --
> James J. Robertson
> @jamesjrobertson
> james at themutedposthorn.com
> themutedposthorn.com
>
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