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

[jochen stremmel]

A-and let's not forget that the author of the best historical novels in
your language before Hilary Mantel's, Patrick O'Brian, wrote two novels
about George Anson's mission – The Golden Ocean and The Unknown Shore –
before he, well, embarked on the finest series of seafarer novels that I
know (not saying much, sure), with two heroes, a British captain and an
Irish-Catalan physician and natural scientist who can communicate quite
freely with French colleagues despite the war, and I have the impression
that it is all very well researched. The author wrote a biography about Sir
Joseph Banks as well.

A-and any boy who read the Hornblower novels of C.S. Forester knows that
captains in the Royal navy had to pay for their own victuals.



2015-01-24 20:01 GMT+01:00 <kelber at mindspring.com>:

> This whole sub-section, from p. 31 ["He wants whah'?"] to p. 34 ["Perhaps
> there is?" he suggests, as gently as possible.] is rife with conjecture and
> unreliable narration. Cherrycoke recounts or conjectures about Mason's
> conjectures about what went on at a meeting at which he was not present.
> Various names are referenced: Mead, White, Stephens, Lord Anson [
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Anson,_1st_Baron_Anson], adding up to
> a "Them," maybe? The sequence sets up a backdrop for the paranoia that
> consumes M and D after the attack. Meetings are being held, letters sent,
> by persons they have no contact with. What other decisions are being made
> by unseen parties?
>
> Laura
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> >Sent: Jan 24, 2015 9:48 AM
> >To: James Robertson <james at themutedposthorn.com>
> >Cc: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> >Subject: Re: M & D deep duck: section 4 -- orders not to sail. Puzzled.
> >
> >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
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>
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