Posted by Adam Quinan on September 03, 2000 at 02:35:54 from proxy1-external.ym1.on.home.com:
In Reply to: More about Pauline Marshall, Broadcast and Memoirs... posted by Andy Morley on September 02, 2000 at 21:35:27:
Arguments about whether or not Pauline Marshall and her sister "are" or "aren't" a model for the Amazon pirates, it seems to me, should be perfectly allowable TARS topics. What is disturbing is the imnplication that some TARS people don't seem to want to even consider the possibilities. As we can't ask Ransome how much of whom he put into his books, to dismiss any opinion on the originals is somewhat cavalier to say the least. Examination of the evidence provided can give us some clues as to the probability of any such claim, but to suppress discusion and presentation of the arguments is not productive.
As in most Ransome attributions, of people, boats or places, there is probably some truth in the assertions on both sides. Whether AR incorporated Pauline and her sister into the books in some form is probably impossible to prove definitively either way. The Rawdon-Smiths may well have been used as models for the Blacketts, though apparently there is not the same detailed objective evidence available to demonstrate the connection as there is with the Altounyans. The Altounyans were not identical to the Walkers, though the use of their names and the original dedication would seem to point to a pretty sure thing! The original Swallow is missing, Mavis/Amazon still exists and was known to be on the spot and involved in the sailing activities of the Altounyans. Beetle is no longer available for examination (do photographs exist?) so can it be objectively shown that she was nearer to Ransome's drawings of Amazon than Mavis? .