Posted by John Lambert on July 02, 2002 at 22:08:59 from 24.84.34.133 user John.
In Reply to: Re: Tea Bay-reworded posted by Peter H on July 02, 2002 at 19:49:17:
I think the elusive Tea Bay must be Shark Bay. In Chapter Seven of SA,
the Swallows row 'across from the island into the bay below Dixon's
farm.' (p. 85). There is only one bay marked on the endpapers map in SA
and on Dave Thewlis's map, and that is Shark Bay. They found that with
only one anchor out, Swallow swung around too much. The narrative
continues, 'So they rowed ashore, and fastened a big stone to the other
end of the anchor rope. Then they rowed back to another place not far
away.' (p.86). They are now in another part in the same bay, with
Swallow anchored at both ends. It was here that Roger caught the pike.
This is why they named the place Shark Bay.
In Chapter Ten Peggy says, "We sailed on to Tea Bay and had our
second breakfast there, a real one with tea." (p. 120). If Tea Bay had
been Horseshoe Cove, as Andy Bolger suggests, the Amazons would have had
to sail across the lake to the Cove, then sail back. In the morning
there is seldom much wind, so there is no way the Amazons would have
rowed across the lake to have tea, then row back. In her chatter, Peggy
would surely have mentioned that they crossed the lake twice. She goes
on, "Then we crawled along the shore and saw one of you coming back from
somewhere in your ship. The others were bathing." They had seen Captain
John returning from Dixon's Farm with the milk. (p. 84). If the Amazons
had been on the other side of the lake, there would have been no need to
crawl along the shore to avoid being spotted by the Swallows.
Peggy continues, "Then we saw you all disappear, and we crawled back
to our ship and sailed straight into the harbour." (p. 120). This
certainly suggests they were very close to the island, and not on the
other side of the lake in Horseshoe Cave. If they had been, they could
never have seen the Swallows "disappear" because the bulk of Wild Cat
Island would have been in the way. They disappeared of course as they
went into the trees to the campsite after arriving at the landing place
- which is on the east side of the island, away from Horseshoe Cove.
The Amazons probably knew the bay as Tea Bay because neither of them
knew that Roger had nearly caught the "shark" there. The Swallows gave
it the name of Shark Bay in honour of the event. Now, why did the
Amazons call it Tea Bay?
One last point: Dave's map shows Shark Bay far too south of the
location shown on the endpapers of both SA and SW. It should be more
towards the middle of Wild Cat Island. On the shore of Shark Bay
Tea Bay), the Amazons would have been so close to the island when they
were watching the Swallows, that crawling for concealment would have
been vital.