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

Sat Jan 24 09:46:27 CST 2015

that's not P, sourcing the term for us, but the Reverend doing the same for
his audience, preventing unduly merriment ...

2015-01-24 16:32 GMT+01:00 Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>:

> p. 36.....the vessel is a Jackass Frigate...."jackass, a nautical term".
> a jackass is a Hawse--bag, a ship wherein its holes are stuffed.......
>
> why did Pynchon source the term "Jackass" for us?....so unlike him
> who just uses his jargon and specialty words and lets us get them
> ourselves.
>
> On Sat, Jan 24, 2015 at 10:22 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> > The Vessel had a Reputation for Nerve (courage).....fearless in
> > the battle at Beauport, "her Glory assured". She has done her duty in
> > the service
> > of a miracle in that year of miracles, 1759......
> >
> > Year 1759 (MDCCLIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will
> > display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year
> > starting on Friday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). In Great
> > Britain, this year was known as the Annus Mirabilis because of British
> > victories in the Seven Years' War.
> >
> > On Sat, Jan 24, 2015 at 10:15 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >> p.35 Notice how Capt Smith's 'scruffy Sixth Rate' is perceived by the
> >> Cap'n: ...."and if Glories there be, glorious light....'from a Dream"...
> >> a Light in which all Pain and failure, all fear, are bleach'd away.."
> >>
> >> Wha Tha all about?
> >>
> >> On Sat, Jan 24, 2015 at 9:48 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>> 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
> >>>>
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>
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