Posted by Ed Kiser on September 21, 2002 at 03:54:50 from 205.188.209.46 user Kisered.
We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea
Oddities, Observations, some unusual words or expressions, general comments.
I have used the framing of square brackets to indicate texts as taken
directly from the book.
The page references are to a 1994 edition from Godine Publishing.
No comment I make here should be taken as being critical of Ransome, as
his ability is recognized without question. I merely show what an
educational experience it is to be a part of his adventures, as reading
his works takes me to another place, at another time, to learn as
I observe the language and customs of his characters.
These comments by Edwin M. Kiser, A Ransome Fan(atic)
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P17
[Three quick strokes brought their dinghy along side the buoy,
which had a rope becket on the top of it.]
"becket" - so THAT's what you call that iron ring at the top of a buoy.
P22
["Come along you," said Jim. "Into that corner so that the
others can come down. You can look at the engine
afterwards."]
Interesting to note that the name, "JIM", is used here for the first time,
with no previous introduction, either to the reader or to the Swallows.
It isn't until P23 that he formerly announces his name:
["Miss Powell's? You couldn't be in a better place. Look
here, what are your names? Mine's Jim Brading."]
P23
[he put away the Ship's papers, cleared the chart off the table,
and spread in place of it a wide strip of white, shiny
American cloth.]
I get the feeling that the adjective, "American", as used here, means
something other than "made in America". As to just what type of cloth
this is, is not obvious. Perhaps it is some sort of water resistant
material, where the fibers are filled in with some sort of plastic
material to make it shed water - just guessing here, really... It is
used here like some sort of tablecloth, but more utilitarian than
decorative. Maybe something I would call, "oilcloth".
P41
["Penny whistle," said Roger. "At least it cost more than a
penny."]
Then, why is it called a "penny whistle"?
P44
["We'll have to," said Titty cheerfully, "or he'll stiffen us
out rusty corps and dump us to the fish like the man in the
poem."
"He has my full permission," said Mother.
"Oh I say," said Roger, and then, "But perhaps he hasn't
got an iron belaying pin."]
This seems to be some reference to a poem in literature, which I am
unable to place. Alas, the colonial educational system is so lacking
in the finer things of life; I fear we have missed out.
P66
["What did you do?" asked Roger.
"Just jilled about," said Jim, "outside everything, first on
one tack and then on the other, till things cleared.]
"Jilled"? - sailor buzzword, or just slang? Sounds like it means,
"march in place" - (step, but don't go anywhere)
same page...
[and up the river to Pin Mill, where I made a bad
shot at picking up my mooring and was glad of help from
some jolly good sailors who were hanging about in a
dinghy..."
"How did you know we weren't pirates?" said Titty.
"Or sharks?" said Roger.
"Just guessed," said Jim, laughing.]
If only they had known, they could have wound up OWNING a third of Goblin!
After Jim's big speech about the Longshore Sharks, this is an example of:
"do as I say, not as I do."
P67
["It's getting dusk outside, and we'll put up the riding light..."
"It's getting on for nine, and we ought to try to get some milk for
breakfast."]
This is August. Here it is, nine in the evening, and it is just now getting
dusk. The shortness of night in the northern lattitudes is made plain here,
much to the amazement of one from South Florida, where the lengths of the
day from Winter to Summer do not vary all that much - some, but nothing
like the differences in England. Sometimes, it is hard to remember that
England is really so far North. Wonder what it would be like there if
there were no GULF STREAM shooting across the Atlantic from the Florida
shores...
P70
["To catch the tide, so that she won't come nuzzling round,
knocking us up in the middle of the night."]
Now, THERE's an expression that has suffered a semantic shift when it
went across the ocean...
P76
["Come on, Titty," said Susan. "We'll get into our clothes
in the cockpit. No good bringing half the North Sea into the
cabin."]
While these two are changing in the cockpit, apparently the boys were on
the foredeck, also changing, with some time passing with John and Roger
being referred to as "kilted savages", where they are wearing only a towel
tied around the waist, while Jim had completely changed to normal clothes
there on the foredeck. They did not want to go into the cabin to change as
that would track dampness into the cabin. Modesty was not the problem;
water on the floor of the cabin was.
Maybe times were different then, but somehow, I have the feeling that if
I changed from a bathing suit into normal clothes standing in the cockpit
of a yacht at anchor in a busy harbour, there would be a very likely charge
of indecent exposure. This would be even more sure to happen if I were
changing while standing on the foredeck to that yacht to make those
changes.
The only action that could be considered in deference to modesty so far
observed here is when Jim stayed topside making last minute checks while
the rest of the crew got changed into pyjamas for their first night
sleeping aboard the Goblin, thus permitting them a modicum of privacy.
P79
[Smoke was rising from the chimneys of Harwich, where people
ashore were cooking their breakfasts.]
Signs of those times - the cooking stoves were of a type that made smoke.
Probably coal fueled. It must have been bad air polution with that
much coal smoke. Must be before electric\gas cooking had become popular.
P115
["What's happened?" Susan was at his elbow.
"Get a hold of the rope and haul when I do? Now then.]
His answer ends with a "?". Probably should have been PERIOD, or
as some would say, a "FULL STOP".
P173
["Just remember what it was like when
old Swallow was towed behind the Beckfoot motor launch
and Nancy went too fast by mistake..."]
It is such a delight to find references to previous books in these stories.
But this reference leaves me wondering... Did I miss something? I do not
remember the referenced occasion.
P207
[She had got out the bread-tin and was cutting thick
slices, buttering each slice before she cut it.]
There seems to be so many times and places within these books that the
same concept is repeated, that being to butter the slice BEFORE slicing
it from the loaf. Seem to remember a situation where someone sliced it
first, then had a problem buttering that slice without tearing up the
bread, them remembered Susan's rule to butter first, then slice. Don't
remember what book had that in it... Vaguely seem to think it was in PM
and Dot was find out the advisability of that simple rule. (It was p53
in PM. Just had to go look that one up...)
P225
["She's buzzing along like billy-oh," he said.]
What kind of creature is a "billy-oh"? Apparently something rather swift.
P244
[The mainsail ceased to pull and John gained six or seven inches by
swigging down the halyard. "All right now," he called, and
Susan headed for the steamer. John gave a swig at the staysail
halyard, too, and then went back to the cockpit.]
Interesting to see how a word means more than one thing. When I think of
"swig", I think of "taking a drink", as in "take a swig of grog..." As
used here, it means to pull hard, put your weight on it.
P246
[He bent on the square pilot flag, and, doing his best to
send it up hand over hand in professional style, had it
fluttering a moment later from the cross-trees. ]
Another example of a word with multiple meanings, here the word is "bent"
which normally suggests some flexing, but here means simply to fasten
the flag to the flag halyards. I guess that is all a part of learning
to be a sailor - learning to talk those nautical terms.
This meeting with the pilot steamer: I find it very fortunate that they
actually know the flag sign of a pilot vessel, thanks to some apparent
previous encounter in Falmouth harbour with Daddy. How convenient it
was that when with Jim, they had dug out the flags and discussed using
a pilot, and that the flag to request a pilot was the letter "S".
However, a footnote to that discussion with Jim pointed out that the
INTERNATIONAL signal for pilot was the letter "G", and since they
were in international waters, or at least, not in English waters, they
used the "S" instead of "G". Oh well, it still worked...
P248
[A boat, lowered on the other side of the steamer, dropped
astern of her, and came rowing to meet them.]
I am a bit surprised that a professional service like providing a pilot
is delivered by someone actually ROWING. I would have thought that some
sort of small engine would have been used. Surely, today, a pilot would
come in some sort of small, but POWERED, craft to his customer. Perhaps
it is just the "signs of the times." Things were simpler then.
P287
["He's smoking," said Roger.
"They start them in their cradles," said Daddy.]
I'm sure Daddy's observation was a bit of an exaggeration, but is smoking
at an early age still the norm in Holland today?
P289
[chaffering over the fish]
I presume that means, "haggling over the price of the fish", but that is
only a guess. What would one do over fish anyway, other than perhaps
enhale the aroma...
P318
[He got back to the camber in time
to buy his ticket and get aboard the ferry.]
Jim is frantically searching for the Goblin, and just left the harbourmaster's
office. Not familiar with the meaning of "camber."
P335
[...there's a huge glass of
brawn we never found, and Jim says it's just the thing he feels
like eating.]
What is "brawn"? And I'm still getting over all that "tongue" they
ate during the voyage...