Posted by Ed Kiser on September 16, 2002 at 03:42:35 from 152.163.188.167 user Kisered.
In Reply to: Fogs posted by John Lambert on September 15, 2002 at 18:30:07:
Reference to FOG:
My SEARCH ENGINE does not have access to three books:
PETER DUCK, MISSEE LEE, and GREAT NORTHERN?
as I have not typed these in yet...
The major fogs are, as have already been pointed out:
SWALLOWDALE-Roger and Titty got lost trying to walk back
to camp over High Topps, while the elders tried to get
back by boat on the lake.
WE DIDN'T MEAN TO GO TO SEA-Here, the fog played a major
role in the creation of the plot. Without the fog,
there would have been no story.
COOT CLUB - In Breydon Water near Yarmouth - this fog
was the method of separating Tom in Titmouse from
the Teasel, stranding them both on the mud flats of
low tide. Once the fog lifted, it left him exposed
to the Hullabaloos, who created their own disaster
that was not really fog related.
PETER DUCK - The fog gave them the ability to slip away,
at least for a time, from the Viper, and thus delay
any confrontation to be after their adventures at
the Treasure Island.
There are other instances of the occurance of fog, but
these played minor roles in the plot development.
---------------------------------------------
P75 chapter 7 SA
Reference here to "fog" is referring the density of the
water as Titty did her pearl diving. This of course
is not a real FOG.
(quoting the book...)
She found that she could open her eyes easily enough,
but that it was like trying to see in a bright
green fog. There were no fish to be seen in it.
p178 chapter 17 SA
They were laying plans for their war with the Amazons,
depending on whether the wind was a north or a south
wind. The morning had a fog, which really seemed
to cancel all plans for war. Roger got a chance
to sound like a fog horn, as he and John rowed to
the shore to the Dixons to get milk. They almost
missed the island on their return trip due to the
fog. Later that morning, a light breeze came up
and that seemed to lift the fog. This let them
make their preparations to sail north to try to
capture the Swallow, after rigging the lantern
to make a lighthouse of the tall pine.
P203 chapter 20 SA
Titty, who was left alone being a Robinson Crusoe,
entered in her log that there had been a "fog at dawn"
but this may just have been her literary creativeness
rather than any recording of actual fact.
P325 chapter 30 SA
(quoting from the story...)
All this time the skies had smiled on the Swallows and the
Amazons. There had been a few hours' drizzling rain, a few
hours of fog and that dark night of sordid burglary and high
adventure. But day after day had been dry and clear and, even
when there had been clouds, there had also been sunshine and
wind to drive their shadows, chasing each other, over the bright
heather and bracken of the hills.
This summary-type statement seems to indicate that although
there had been a bit of fog, it was not all that much a
problem. This chapter describes the STORM, which was the
first bad weather they had really encountered.
Fog did not play that much of a role in SA at all.
---------------------------------------------
In SD, Two chapters have "FOG" in their titles:
chapter 28 Fog on the Moor P341
chapter 32 Fog on the Lake P382
The fog here played a major role in the development of the
plot, as it was here that the two different groups had their
story told as to the effect of the dense fog on both of them.
Titty and Roger got lost on the High Topps, and the elders
had to grope their way down the lake. This hazard created
the "cliff hanger" in the plot when the elders finally got
back to the camp, but the young ones were missing, with the
result being some frantic moments until Titty managed to
show up riding on a pile of logs.
---------------------------------------------
P294 chapter 25 WH
(quote from the book)
In those few moments breastplates of driven snow had formed
on the fronts of jackets and sweaters. Roger tried to get
his off all in one piece.
"You can't see the island," he said.
"You can't even see the shores of the bay," said Titty.
"It's worse than a fog," said Peggy.
In this situation, they were not dealing with a fog, but
a dense snow that, like a fog, blotted out visibility.
P327 chapter 27 WH
(quote from the book)
Everybody laughed, although, inside, not one of them really
felt much like laughing. Titty remembered being lost with Roger
up on the fells in a summer fog. That had been bad enough. But
to be lost in winter and in a snowstorm was much worse.
The Swallows are in the middle of the snow storm, as they
head north trying to find the D's. The reference to fog
is the one in SWALLOWDALE, where Roger and Titty got lost
on High Topps in the fog.
P329 same chapter in WH...
(quoting from the story...)
"But what would they do?" said Titty. "They'd have to do
something. They may have tried to get back and got lost on the
way... Going in circles, like we did in the fog."
Yet another reference to the fog in SWALLOWDALE.
---------------------------------------------
P262 Chapter 25 PIGEON POST
(quoting from the story...)
"If only we had a compass," said Roger.
"You can get lost even with one," said Titty. "Remember
that fog on the way back to Swallowdale."
And AGAIN, ANOTHER reference to the fog in SWALLOWDALE.
This is as the younger ones were trying to find their
way back across the top of the mountain after escaping
from the collapsed tunnel in the Old Level.
This is the only mention of FOG in PP.
---------------------------------------------
In PICTS AND MARTYRS, there is NO mention of fog.
---------------------------------------------
P116 chapter 10 COOT CLUB
(quoting from the story...)
Dick wrote in his note-book, "Found two coots' nests in a
reed-bed close to Ranworth Staithe. Watched crested grebes
fishing. What I thought was a fog-horn last night and the
night before was a bittern. There was no fog, and Tom heard
it, too, and told me."
So far as FOG is concerned, this is a "non-event".
chapters 25-29 in CC
Here is the big encounter with fog in Breydon Water near
Yarmouth, with Tom getting separated in the fog from the
Teasel, and both grounding on the mud, leaving Tom
exposed to being discovered by the Hullabaloos.
---------------------------------------------
P86 chapter 7 BIG SIX
(quoting from the story...)
The squat, lumpy little Cachalot showed through the mist
ahead of them. They broke into a run.
"Hullo, you! Steady on with that galloping."
A little further along the bank they saw the fisherman, who
had turned and was standing there in the mist, with a
milk-can in one hand and an empty sack in the other. He
beckoned to them and came back to meet them, and they
went on, trying to walk like cats instead of like elephants.
"I've got one of your baits out now," he said. "There'll be
nothing much doing till this fog lifts off the water, but there's
no point in scaring the fish."
The boys had encountered the Cachalot near the Roaring Donkey.
The weather here is described as having "mist", but in the
words of the fisherman, he refers to it as "fog".
As the boys were reeling in the big pike, they made use of
the FOG-horn to try to call back the fisherman, but not
because there was fog.
P166 chapter 13 BS
(quoting from the story...)
"What went wrong with the flashlight one?" asked Tom.
"Fogged," said Dick. "It was my own fault. I had the
flashlight close to the Admiral to show her knitting in her
chair, and I forgot that it was in front of the camera."
The "FOG" here is not really fog, but the over-exposure
of the film by the incorrect placement of the flashlight.
In chapter 17 BS
There was a real fog in BS, but it did not seem to have
any effect on the events, which at that time was the
sending of various messengers to check with the scattered
members of the Coot Club only to find that they were
considered by the members' elders to be personna non grata.
The fog was referred to and compared to the time in CC
when they were stranded by the fog in Breydon Water. So
far as the plot or story was concerned, this fog seemed
to be quite unnecessary.
P211 Chapter 18 BS
They are about to discover someone "patting" the chimney of
the Death And Glory:
(quoting from the story...)
Dorothea listened for the others, could not hear them, and
went on picking her way through the damp grass along the
narrow path beside the river while William, who scorned
paths, was exploring through the willow bushes far ahead. It
certainly was pretty misty. Her mind went back to that day
of fog in the spring when the Teasel had lost her way on
Breydon Water and William had been a pug-rocket.
Here again, there is the "memory" of that other fog
in another book, when Teasel and Titmouse were stranded
on the mud in the fog in Breydon Water. This is the second
time a reference is made to that event in another book.
The description of the weather was "misty", but not
really a true "fog".
This is yet another example of "misty" weather being
talked of as being "fog". (Fisherman of Chachalot
near the Roaring Donkey.)
In Chapter 25 of BS, Dick is discussing the making of the
very important photograph, and the placement of the
flashlight so it does not "fog" the film. This is
not a reference to "fog" as an element of weather.
P354 chapter 32 of BS
(quoting from the story...)
Dorothea explained. "You see that first time we knew
someone had been there. I saw someone feeling the chimney,
and then he heard me and ran away in the fog and fell over
our bloodhound. And William got a bit of his trousers." She
laid the scrap of flannel on Mr. Farland's table.
When the referenced event took place, it was described as
"misty", not foggy, yet here, in her recollection of that
previous encounter, she describes it as "fog".
P356 same chapter
George Owdon also described the weather on that day
in question when he was accused of "feeling" the chimney
as being a fog:
(quoting from the story...)
"Ralph and I knew pretty well all along that it was these
boys who had been playing the mischief with the boats, and
one evening when there was a bit of a fog, we expected
they'd be up to something, so I went to their boat and felt the
chimney to see if they were at home, or if we had to go to see
what they were doing elsewhere."
---------------------------------------------
In WE DIDN'T MEAN TO GO TO SEA, the fog here played such an
important role in the plot of this story that it is mentioned
quite frequently throughout much of that book.
In chapter 5, Jim mentions another fog that he encountered
on his way in on some previous voyage, but had to mill about
in the open sea until he could see to know where he was and
then felt free to come it. It was this previous experience
of Jim's that made John sure he was making the right
decision to get to the open sea and get away from the
danger of land.
---------------------------------------------
P28 chapter 2 of SECRET WATER
Daddy is warning them as to the ground rules of their
boundaries for their explorations:
(quoting from the story...)
Two of them are taken from the chart. That cross is the place
where I'm going to put you ashore. The square is the farm.
but this dotted line is the most important of all. See it,
everybody? Nobody, on any excuse whatever, goes outside
that line. No more drifting out to sea in fogs. Agreed?"
This, of course, is a reference to the entire adventure
of WD, which event had just recently been done.
P36 chapter 3 of SW
They are on their way, sailing out of the harbour, on
their way to the Secret Water area, but as they go to
sea, they see the Beach End Buoy, and it reminds them
of that other time in the fog...
(quoting from the story...)
They drove down past the dock where (how
long ago it seemed!) they had seen Jim Brading row in for
petrol before the fog had come down on them like a blanket.
Ahead of them once more was the Beach End buoy.
"Listen!" said Titty at the top of her voice.
"I can hear it," shouted Roger.
"Clang!... Clang!... Clang..."
It was very different, hearing the bell buoy now with
Mother and Daddy aboard, and bright sunshine everywhere,
from what it had been, hearing that "Clang... Clang..."
coming blindly nearer in the fog.
P352 chapter 30 SW
(quoting from the story...)
There was no fog, but a thin morning mist was rising.
In this quote, again we see the similarity of FOG
with MISTY weather conditions. This time however,
there did not seem to be the confusion about calling
it "FOG".
-----------------------------
Hope this offering removes some of the "fog" about "fog"
in these stories.
Ed Kiser, South Florida