He walked to the very edge of the deck, and I watched his back as he spread his legs and leant forward slightly, reaching down to open up his fly, the sun shining bright before him. I heard his steady stream splashing down into the water.
I sat reclining against the big coil of weathered rope, watching my father weewee over the stern, as I held his box. And I understood in a flash why he’d given it to me, why he’d wanted me to hold it, if only for a minute: he wanted me to know that it belonged to me too. It was my story now, same as his. But I realised something else, and this other thing I don’t even think my father intended. I realised that the story was far from finished. Far from ended. It was simply resting, sleeping in its pasteboard box. Because all I had to do was lift open the cover to wake it up.
I sat there thinking this, feeling the box in my hands—testing the illusion of its near-weightlessness—listening to my father’s stream splashing down into the sea, the morning so quiet it sounded like water splashing into a pan of sizzling grease.
Suddenly we were shaken from out our solitude by Captain Vincent’s hoarse voice, booming up to us from down below—
Last ferry ashore! If you don’t leave now, we carrying you arse wid us all de way to jolly Englan!
My father returned, buttoning up his fly—
Jesus! Vincent’s voice frighten me so much, I almost weeweed myself!
He reached down, taking back his box. Offering a hand to help me onto my feet—
Better hurry, son. Vincent don’t make no joke when it come time to bust a leave!
I followed him across the deck.
3 Letters
LETTER FROM WILLIAM SANGER TUCKER
The Morning Star, No. 32, 26 March 1846
Friend Powell—
You may recollect requesting me to send a true statement of Chaguabarriga after I had given it a careful examination. I have not hastily formed my opinion, as it has taken some time to study and learn the property. Now for it. The bay is in the shape of the letter C, tilted onto its back. From side-to-side of the letter, tending inland, is about two miles, and the bay is about half a mile wide. At high tide there is about four fathom of water, shallowing regularly. The beach is of fine hard sand, and near the centre is a stone pathway raised a little, formed on purpose by nature, and with a little expense may be made into a good landing place. The coast abounds with cockles, rock oysters, limpits, periwinkles, and the bay is full of fish. The bay may be compared with Brighton or Weymouth, but the mountain scenery much more pleasing. Turtle, it is said, are plentiful in the season, but only one has been caught so far by harpooning. If nets were set for them I have no doubt a profitable trade may be carried on. The thorn-back or skate is very plentiful.
On landing you find about 100 acres of level land, partly cleared, including our compound and Mr. Carr’s gardens, which are cultivated with 50 young cocoanut trees, 400 plantains, various sorts of sweet peas, sweet potatoes, oranges, limes, and much more. The mountains at the back of the estate are about 2000 feet high, and are about 1000 to 1500 acres more, and are not measured. On the declivities are dense forests of all kinds of timber. Some are so high that a bird at the top would be safe from a sportsman. The timber is very valuable for building, paper-milling, and medicinal purposes, and shortly may be exported with great advantage. The game consists of doves, parrots, pheasants, partridges, wild turkey, wild hogs, and red deer. There is a good river running through the gardens that we have embanked, where watercress would thrive. I am convinced that all our peas, beans, &c, would grow abundantly here. As to the climate I cannot speak but from my own feelings. The summer in England is more oppressive than here. The fresh breeze from the sea, morning and evening, is delightful. It is rather oppressive from 11 to 3 o’clock, but not more so than the dog days with you. The mineral productions are abundant. There is lime-stone, brick clay; the beach produces a roman cement-stone, such as found on the Isle of Sheppey. There is copper on the estate, but I have had no time to examine if the lode be worth working. I have seen sulphate of copper almost as pure as purchased in England. The rocks are slightly tinged with green crystals.
My opinion upon the subject of more members coming here is that they must bring good sabres (cutlasses), and good strong arms to wield them amongst the brushwood. Also there must be plenty of axes, billshooks, spades, course canvas trousers, strong shirts, strong high boots, and a straw hat. No engineers, carpenters, blacksmiths, or fancy gardeners are of any use unless they work like countrymen. You may as well send a Bond Street perfumer or a Parisian milliner. A strong country shoemaker, with some leather and all his tackle to repair our torn boots, would be of essential service.
My opinion of our agent, Mr. Carr, is that he is a man of great enthusiasm, but not necessarily a man of business; he is sometimes too cautious, and luffs too near the wind in money matters. If he was to pay off a little more of the Society’s money and fill his sails, we would make some headway.
Upon the fever of the country I will offer my opinion. If you have a cramp in the great toe, headache, or any pain, it is sure to be the fever. It more frequently happens that it makes its appearance in this way. There’s a good-natured fellow here by the name of John, a black, who has assisted me in repairing the beached schooner. He has been my helpmate. On the Monday after our labours began I said, ‘John.’ ‘Yes suh.’ ‘Get ready early tomorrow morning for another hard day’s work.’ ‘Yes suh,’ he said. In the morning I sung out, ‘John,’ who replied from underneath a sail, ‘Suh, fever, suh.’ I was rather taken aback, but left him there and set about strapping to with my son. An hour later the fever abated, as it commonly does, and John rose to join us strong and industrious as ever. I however must acknowledge that it is a dreadful disease in this beautiful country, and it is so contagious that I have caught it nearly as bad myself. It is incurable but in one way, that is by riding it out in your hammock for an hour or two till the fever subsides. Sometimes a few winks of sleep is a palliative for a short time.
I wish you were here, and I am sure you would be of great assistance to Mr. Carr. I have given him a description of you, and he is anxious to see you. Mr. Carr has much anxiety, and attempts so many things all on his own. He takes a cutlass in hand and cuts away like a trooper, and when the work is finished you may wring the wet from his trousers and shirt. It is time some of you were here to bear part of the responsibility; but please remember the spades, &c. Come then and put your shoulder to the wheel. There is lots of hard work, but there is also plenty of good living.*
___________________
*Our members will find that the writer, Mr. Tucker, shortly after writing thus far was taken ill and died in Trinidad. On his deathbed this letter, a little packet tied into a small roll with fishing twine, was retrieved from his pocket and sent on to me. Mr. Tucker’s widow and son and three daughters intend to remain in Trinidad to carry on the business of dyers. (Ed TP)
5 November 1881
Dear William,
Per your request, please find below the list of your exhibits that I have sold to interested scientific and lay parties (minus the two larger displays you have generously donated to the Museum, and which shall become part of our Permanent Collection). You will also find attached to this letter my cheque, drawn on Coutts Bank of London, to the amount of £15. s18, representing the total moneys collected. I am pleased to inform you that all of your exhibits left behind have found enthusiastic owners—
1. Male & female copper-rumped emeralds (Amazilia tobaci) straight long bills w/nest & egg on allamanda branch in flower. Donated to the Museum.
2. 3 Male ruby-topaz (Chrysolampis mosquitus) w/short slightly decurved bills on heliconia in flower. Donated to the Museum.
3. 2 Male rufus-breasted hermits (Glaucis hirsuta) strongly decurved bills on ixora branch w/blooms. £7. s5
4. Male ruby-topaz (Chrysolampis mosquitus) on heliconia branch w/blooms. £4. s5
5. Female blue-chinned sapphire (Chlorestes notatus) fairly straight bi
ll on red hibiscus in flower. £2. s3
6. Male copper-rumped emerald (Amazilia tobaci) long straight bill on allamanda branch in flower. £2. s5
total : £15. s18
I should like to thank you again on behalf of the Ornithological Society and all of us here at the Museum for your visit to us. Your excitement for your little birds was quite contagious, your lectures and demonstrations most informative. They will not soon be forgotten.
Sincerely,
Dr. Francis M. Evans
Director, Natural History Museum
PS My wife sends her regards.
24 October 1881
Dear Mr. Tucker,
Perhaps you were unaware of the middle-aged woman and her two daughters—both now older than I was when you knew me—sitting towards the rear of the auditorium at the Natural History Museum, whilst you lectured so knowledgeably about your birds. Only that morning I’d chanced to read an announcement in the Guardian that a ‘Mr. William Tucker from Trinidad BWI, who is here on a visit to Professor Evans, will be discussing his techniques for preserving and displaying hummingbirds in their natural habitat . . .’ and almost before I could finish reading the announcement and catch my breath, I rushed to the Museum to see if this same man could possibly be the ‘Willy’ I knew some 36 years ago—imagine my surprise! Imagine my daughters’ dismay at being dragged off to such a lecture!
But you won Anne and Nicole over as easily as you did me and the rest of your audience. Your illustration of how the short bills of certain sapphire and emerald hummingbirds are perfectly suited for feeding on hibiscus flowers, slightly curved bills for heliconias, and the long straight bills of the copper ones for the tiny tubes of allamanda flowers, &c, &c. I would like to have made myself known to you after your lecture—indeed, I tried my hardest to do so, grasping in my hand a hastily scribbled note of reintroduction—but there were so many others crowded round you and Dr. Evans that I hadn’t a chance! So I wrote the Professor next morning asking if he could kindly put us into contact. Professor Evans replied by way of sending the very letter you had written yourself before departing Trinidad, since he now had my postal address. Yet to my great disappointment, by the time your letter reached me and I made inquires at the Museum, you had already sailed again for Port-Spain.
I have since become acquainted with Dr. Evans and his wife, having been invited to visit them at their home. Indeed, Dr. Evans questioned me late into the evening on the Society and my family’s experiences with Mr. Etzler in Trinidad, whilst I scribbled out my replies, discovering then that Dr. Evans’s father was a close acquaintance of Mr. Whitechurch—as you know of the Professor’s connection to the TES and his curiosity on the subject. He and his wife told me everything they’d learnt from you, of your life in Trinidad and your successes in the lighterage and shipping business, of your marriage and your children—also of the recent death of your mother, Mrs. Tucker, and so for a brief moment I found myself dissolved to tears in the Evans’s living room.
Dr. Evans then escorted his wife and me to his laboratory in the Museum’s basement, where he unveiled for us your various exhibits left behind, several of which you had presented during your lecture. Most spectacularly he showed us the two large scenes that shall become a permanent feature of the Museum’s collection. The Professor also explained how you had left in his charge the duty of selling the remaining exhibits to interested parties, the end result being that I now find myself the owner of ‘Male copper-rumped emerald on allamanda branch in flower,’ which I and the girls watched you demonstrate for your audience, and which has found a place in our home.
Having now this remembrance of the natural beauty of Trinidad constantly in my midst, and having heard you speak so passionately about your birds, I thought it fitting to return your very first attempt at what has become your art. I cannot tell you how often I have admired this tiny creature, which I have kept for 36 years in her little box lined with cotton wool, so curiously labeled ‘buttons.’ And although you may imagine my sadness at parting with her, I have always felt she truly belonged to that wistful young man I once knew so fondly as ‘Willy.’ So I return her to him, undoubtedly much changed, yet in some small way preserved in this little bird.
Sincerely,
Marguerite
Final Message
15/11/10
dear mr robot:
i say YES mr robot, say YES YES YES cause i was so happy when lil buddah & raj reach home last night & tell me how dey find u in de hilton, where i say u was staying & we did have so much of sweet jooking in dat hotel 2 sure-as-shiva, & lil buddah say u had all u bags pack & ready to go back home in amerika, & so sad & forlorn dat all dis time u have dedicate 2 researching u book & now u have 2 go home empty-handed, except 4 dem 5-6 photocopies u manage to copy out yesterday pon dis machine dat i give u permission, plus dat letter from u relative WILLIAM SANGER TUCKER dat i find 4 u in de STAR, but u say dat aint enough, u say dat aint noting a-tall, u needs to make PLENTY PLENTY more copies 4 u research before u could write out dis book, but now u give up cause u cant fight it no more & u bags pack, ready to go home empty-handed
so lil buddah & raj invite u 4 drink downstairs in de hotel bar, dat dey could discuss dis matter wid u men-to-man, & u say ok, u would take a drink wid dem, & lil buddah say, well u know mr robot de people gots dey rules, & if de law say no photocopies pon dis machine in de archives except what miss ramsol make, cause she in charge, den u gots 2 abide by de rules, & raj chime in 2 & he say yes, rules is rules & laws is laws, but is not only de ARCHIVES got dey rules, cause here in t’dad WE got a NEX law dat say u dont JOOK-WE-LIL-SIS-&-RUN-BACK-HOME-IN-AMERIKA, not so easy as dat mr robot, not we lil sis, so raj say mr robot u gots to do what is right & proper according to de rules, & lil buddah say yes it is mr robot, so let we cease from beating round de bush & come direc to de point here: lil buddah say he KNOW u would want to follow de rules mr robot & do what is right & proper, cause dat mash-face & bust-nose & dem 2 blue-eye is only a lil TASTE of what u would be tasting if u dont, & lil buddah say, look here mr robot, u want to copy out u photocopies in de archives? u say is plenty plenty more photocopies u needs to copy out in de archives? well we only offering u a lil suggestion of how u could do it, as much of photocopies as u want to copy, as much of copies as u could ever WISH to copy, & lil buddah say let me tell u someting else mr robot: u tink dat u could find anyting so sweet as lil sis in amerika? all dem forceripe hardback womens dey got in amerika, & so stingy 2? what u going back dere 4? lil buddah say mr robot u could have dem BOTH, lil sis & photocopies both, as much as u could want, only ting is u got to do what is right & proper by de rules, u got to follow de rules
& lil buddah say, & plus mr robot let me tell you someting else: according to what lil sis say, dis ting between u & she aint no passing fancy a-tall, cause lil sis say what begin as bullying between 2 of u wind up in hollywood, TRUE hollywood, de real ting, no trifling fancy neither, cause lil sis say dat is de title of dis story between u & she: FROM BULLYING 2 HOLLYWOOD, dat is how dis story bound 2 be call, & mr robot u cant turn u back pon dat, not hollywood mr robot, cause if is ANYTING against de law it bound 2 be dat
well raj & lil buddah say u did start to SMILE lil bit now, u was still sad and forlorn but now u was smiling lil bit 2, now dat dey plant dis idea in u head, now dat u did feel it inside uself 2, & mr robot u say ok, u not going back home in amerika, flight cancel, u staying here in t’dad & u doing what is right according 2 de rules, & u tell raj & lil buddah please to inform miss ramsol u would be in de archives bright & early tomorrow morning 2 settle everyting up good and proper, & anyway u did always dream 2 settle down in t’dad, & despite dat a east-indian wife & half-east-indian popos was never part of dat dream before, it is now, cause you doing what is right & proper according to de rules, & raj and lil buddah say dey was smiling now 2, & all 3 of u was smiling happy hugging up 2gether, 2 east-indians & 1 yankee-whiteman, & raj stand-up now 2 he feet & raise-up he glass & say, well let we toast a toa
st 2 mr robot, we new yankee brother-in-law!!!
cordial,
miss ramsol
director, t&tna
ps mr robot i would be waiting in de back room wearing my dentalfloss panties & dis machine running charge wid ink & plenty paper waiting 4 u 2
pss MONSOON WEDDING IN U TAIL!!!
Appendix
There are five icons in this book that lead to extra materials on the As Flies to Whatless Boys website.
The forward facing fish appearing in Chapter 3, 27 Flickering Churchcandles, brings you to a screening of the film Silence. If your e-reader does not support hyperlinks, visit www.whatlessboys.com/silence to view the film.
Chapter 4, Minstrel Passage, refers to the presentation of Etzler's Play, A Dialogue on Etzler’s PARADISE. We've included a direct link to the play at the end of this e-book, and it can also be read online at www.whatlessboys.com/etzlersplay.
This symbol, appearing in the Miss Ramsol-supplied document, "Inventors Narrowly Escape Drowning in Sea Trial of Naval Automation, direct you to John Adolphus Etzler's original drawings accompanying his patent for "Navigating and Propelling Vessels by the Action of the Wind and Waves," patent number 2533, April 1, 1842. Reproductions of these drawings can be explored at the end of this e-book , or online at www.whatlessboys.com/etzlersmachines
That Etzler drew the attention of Henry David Thoreau is indicated in Chapter 14, Captain Taylor's Schooner. A transcription of Thoreau's fascinating 1843 review, Paradise (to be Regained), is available at the end of this e-book, and is also artfully reproduced online at www.whatlessboys.com/thoreausreview
Lastly, the backward facing fish at the conclusion of Chapter 15, An Ancient Arawak Trace invites you to an online screening of the film Bruit Noir (www.whatlessboys.com/bruitnoir)
As Flies to Whatless Boys Page 31