Posted by Adam Quinan on May 26, 2012 at 18:02:15 user Adam.
This third category of antagonists is for the birds.
Ornithological villains (CC, B6 and GN?)
The Hullabaloos, George Owdon and Ralph Strakey and Mr Jemmerling
Although linked by their apparent disdain for the well-being of birds, these three sets of antagonists are all quite differently motivated. The Hullabaloos are quite simply oblivious and uninterested in No.7 and her nest. They are there to enjoy cruising on the Broads in their loud Margoletta and don’t realise or care that their actions are actually destroying what they came to enjoy. They are naturally angered by Tom’s action in setting them adrift and so proceed to try and capture him.
George Owdon is motivated by economics and personal dislike of the Coot Club which he sees as interfering in his “right” to take eggs and sell them. In Coot Club he is merely a collaborator and informer with the Hullabaloos but in The Big Six, he and his sidekick, Ralph Strakey, hatch a plan to discredit the Death and Glories and through their downfall disrupt or even destroy the Coots.
Mr Jemmerling is another more complex character, he sees himself as a man of science and is obviously very knowledgeable about birds. His desire to shoot and collect the eggs of the supposed Great Northerns is in part motivated by his reasonable belief that would be the best way to conclusively prove their nesting in the British Isles. However, his ambition to have the Jemmerling collection recognised as outstanding and unique gives his motives a somewhat sinister turn. He needs to grab the glory for himself and trample over the true discoverer, Dick, in the process. It is this aspect of his character that turns Captain Flint into a true believer, rather than any persuasion by Dick and the rest of the crew. If Mr Jemmerling had been nicer and more willing to share the credit of discovery, perhaps Captain Flint would have told him the location of the nest, put down the mutiny and sailed away in the Sea Bear leaving the birds to their fate.