Skull and Bones
Page 35
THE LEAP INTO HYPERSPACE: EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STYLE
A common event in science fiction is the escape - say of Millennium Falcon - by leaping into hyperspace: that trans- dimensional realm where space is folded, time suspended and detection impossible. Well, an eighteenth-century sailing ship couldn't do that, but it did something very similar every time it went to sea, because once it had gone over the horizon, it was totally undetectable and totally unable to communicate with any person, place or ship that it couldn't see.
It is hard for us to appreciate the total isolation under which men sailed in those times, and their exclusive reliance on their own skills. For comparison, when Apollo 13 went wrong, the crew were the most isolated men-in-peril in all history. But they were in constant communication with base, where experts worked on a full-scale simulation of their vehicle to give advice.
And you didn't get that in the age of sail! You fixed it yourself or you died. You navigated skilfully or you died. You weathered the storm or you died. The sea made men out of boys, and heroes out of men… those it didn't kill.
There were a few and limited exceptions to the loneliness of sail. Warships routinely sailed in fleets, and in wartime merchantmen sailed in convoys. Also, ships - especially warships - could communicate by flag signals, but only when in sight of each other, only in daylight and only in good weather, and certainly not when you most needed it: when the fog closed in, off a lee shore, in foul weather, at night.
So, think about that next time you use your mobile phone.
THE LEXICOGRAPHER: AN APOLOGY
As in previous books in this series, I have brought historical characters into the action. Thus George Washington survives Chapter 34 in such a way as should earn Billy Bones the Congressional Medal of Honor, at the very least.
More important (to me) Dr Samuel Johnson appears in Chapters 19 and 23. He was celebrated for writing a great dictionary of the English language, taking nine years to do it as sole scholar, by comparison with the French equivalent which took forty scholars of the Academie Frangaise, forty years (so it is said).
The dictionary was published in 1755, not 1753 as I imply in this book - but then, I write fiction, don't I? On the other hand, Johnson was physically and intellectually exactly as I have described him, and since I admire him enormously I must apologise to him (where he sits among the righteous in Heaven) that I placed him in circumstances of embarrassment.
I therefore add that Johnson was not only a genius; he was not only wise, clever, and witty; he was an endearingly loving man, who adored his wife and was kind to his servants. In addition, he was so fond of his cat, Hodge, that he fed him oysters, which Johnson went out and bought personally, not sending his servants lest they should resent the cat and be unkind to it.
Good men are distinguished by small acts as well as great ones, and Johnson was a very good man indeed.
THE FIRST WORLD WAR: 1754-61
This is the war constantly referred to as "imminent" throughout this book, and I have not mixed it up with the dreadful war of 1914 to 1918. The 1750s version is better known as the Seven Years' War, because in Europe it lasted from 1756 to 1763. It was fought between combinations of Britain, Prussia, Hanover, Portugal (and others) against France, Austria, Russia (and others) - and a war doesn't get bigger than that.
It was a world war, because fighting took place at sea worldwide; and on land in Europe, the East Indies, the West Indies, and North America (where it started two years earlier in 1754 and is known today as the French and Indian War).
NOT JACKSON'S, BUT HARRIS'S LIST
In Chapter 17 I have shamelessly plagiarised Harris's List a guide to the whores of Covent Garden published between 1757 and 1797, and written originally by one Samuel Derrick, who got his information from the chief waiter at the Shakespeare's Head Tavern, one Jack Harris, a man known as Pimp-General to all England.
The guide lists the descriptions, addresses, and services offered by the top tier of the London trade: girls who charged £1 a visit (£1,000 in modern money), or £2 for those few who permitted entry by the back door. The guide was published at Christmas, was eagerly awaited, and was packed with details, not only of the ladies themselves, but also of the liaisons in progress between these expensive professionals and the rich and famous men who were their clients: a directory of Who's Having Whom.
It sold for a costly 2/6d, or £125 in modern money, since 2/6d (half a crown) was one eighth of their huge, one thousand pound "pounds" (do try to keep up). It was renowned as a Christmas treat for the gentlemen of the family, and doubtless their ladies too, for the Georgian female - unlike the Victorian - was not precious about such matters.
CURING SCURVY
In Chapter 29, Dr Cowdray saves Walrus and all aboard her by curing scurvy with lemon juice, a dramatic feat of medical intervention, since the mid-eighteenth century had no idea what caused scurvy (vitamin C deficiency), only that it came on after a long time at sea, and could wipe out whole crews. Flint refers to Anson's circumnavigation of 1739-44 during which over half Anson's crew - at least a thousand men - died of the condition.
The book Dr Cowdray read while ashore was James Lind's Treatise on the Scurvy, just published, in which Lind recommended lemon juice, having experimented with using it to treat patients and proved that it worked.[1]Unfortunately, the world was full of quack cures for scurvy, the Admiralty was constantly pestered with them, and lemon juice had previously been tried and had failed - presumably through insufficient dosage, and perhaps because the men wouldn't drink it… until it was mixed with their grog, as Long John suggested in my fiction, and as was practised - eventually - by the Royal Navy, except that they used lime juice (another citrus fruit, rich in vitamin C).
Sadly, the issuing of lime juice in grog didn't happen until the 1790s. Who knows how many poor souls died of this easily preventable condition, before then?
(And no, I'm not going to explain why a certain American nickname for the English stems from this story. It's pointless because the nickname's obsolete - nobody's heard of it any more. Ask your granddad.)
AURIBUS LUPUM TENEO!
This phrase - spoken by Dr Cowdray - appears at the end of chapter 44. Literally, it means I hold a wolf by the ears, words which a Latin scholar might exclaim on suddenly discovering that he is right next to some horrible monster… or person.
GEORGE WASHINGTON: FINAL THOUGHTS
It is historic fact that George Washington was offered a berth as a midshipmen in the Royal Navy, with a ship waiting to receive him, and that his mother stopped him going aboard. So what if she hadn't? What if the great man had become a sea-service officer, serving afloat, far from colonial politics, and remaining loyal to his king?
Who then would have crossed the Delaware and founded the USA?
It is likewise historic fact that Washington was a freemason, as were many others of the Founding Fathers of the United States. This should be seen in the social context of the eighteenth century, when men's clubs of all kinds flourished and were an important means whereby men of all classes made friends and business or professional contacts. Some of these clubs were merely social, but others - especially in colonial America - were devoted to the self- improvement and moral advancement which was so vital to men struggling to establish European civilisation on a wilderness continent.
Consequently, given the high and noble aims of eighteenth- century American freemasonry, it is no surprise that it attracted men of great stature, including the first president.
And no, I'm not a mason. I'm just trying to reflect the truth.
John Drake, Cheshire, England.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13<
br />
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44