Posted by Terence McManus on October 15, 1997 at 11:10:57:
In Reply to: WHO IS "BONY" was: The Hundredth Port; What country does Misee lee open in? posted by Peter's brother's brother on October 14, 1997 at 05:31:44:
"Bony" was the English soubriquet for Napolean Bonaparte - the French tyrant not Arthur Upfield's Australian policeman. In the early 1800s a French invasion of England was a very real fear and threatening naughty children with Bony was a common practice. Britons continued to fear French invasion, with less cause, for most of the 19th Century.
From memory the Harbour master said something to the effect that his respected ancestors were threatened by their nannies.... Nannies in this context are nurses (remember Vicky's nurse in S&A) employed to care for young children. The children may or may not have been English but the Nannies almost certainly were. I have a feeling that, during the 19th C,
it was a status symbol in many countries to have an English governess
(vide Anna and the King of Siam).
If the 100th port is in the Phillipines (and based on travel time I think this most likely) then the Harbour Master would be most likely to be either Spanish, if he was in the post before 1898 [ I think that was the date of the the US Spanish war], or American (US). Native Phillipinos were treated as second class citizens by the Spanish and would have been unlikely to have been given such a post.
If an American the HM could well have had English Ancestors with English nannies. If Spanish this could explain the "brown and thin" after all Peter Duck, when Titty spoke of Stout Cortez, commented "... most Dagoes is thin..." (sic). In this case, to explain the reference to Bony, the HM would have to either have had some English blood or have had ancestors who employed English nannies. The Spanish have no reason to remember Bonaparte fondly either.
Given that the HM had been in the post for 30 years or more I think it most likely that he was Spanish.