The Letter of Marque

I knew she was to be sold out of the service, but I had no notion of . . . I had supposed that privateers were little disreputable half-piratical affairs of ten or twelve guns at the most, luggers and brigs and the like.' `To be sure the most part of those that ply their trade in the Channel are of that description, but there are foreign-going private men-of-war of much greater consequence. In the nine-ties there was a Frenchman of fifty guns, that wrought terrible havoc on the eastern trade; and you can scarcely have forgotten the prodigious fast-sailing ship that we chased day after day and so very nearly caught when we were coming back from Barbados — she carried thirty-two guns.' `Of course, of course: the Spartan. But she was from America, was she not?' `What then?' `The country is so vast that one has an indistinct notion of everything being on a larger scale, even the privateers.' `Listen, Martin,' said Stephen, after a slight pause. Will I tell you something?' `If you please.' `The word privateer has unpleasant echoes for the seaman, and it might be thought injurious, applied to the dear Surprise. In any case she is no ordinary privateer, at all. In an ordinary privateer the hands go aboard on the understanding of no prey, no pay; they are fed but no more and any money must come from their prizes. This makes them unruly and contumelious; it is their custom to plunder without the least mercy and strip their unfortunate victims; and in the case of the most wicked and brutal it is said that those prisoners who cannot ransom themselves are thrown overboard, while rape and ill-usage are commonplace. In the Surprise on the other hand everything is to be run on naval lines; the people are to be paid; Captain Aubrey means to accept only able seamen of what he considers good character; and those who will not undertake to submit to naval discipline are turned away.

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 Eventually Auden acknowledged having painted the name. He refused to remove it — said he was unable to do so in conscience — and in this he was backed up by the other six. He was not violent or abusive — no foul language — nor was he obviously drunk — but he and the others stated that if any hand attempted to remove the name, his first stroke would be his last. Davidge and West had had no support from the bosun, gunner or carpenter, still less from any of the hands, who, though in no way riotous, were clearly heard to say that they would do nothing to bring bad luck on the ship. For fear of making the position even worse, Davidge had therefore given no further direct, unmistakable orders: nor, having no Marines of course, had he put the seven men in irons. Since the Articles of War did not apply, and since the ship was not at sea, neither he nor West had been certain what to do. He had nevertheless suspended the men from duty pending the captain's arrival and had forbidden them to come on deck. Perhaps he should have sent them ashore directly; if he had done wrong he was heartily sorry for it; but he appealed to Captain Aubrey's candour. `Did you consult Mr Martin?' asked Jack. `No, sir. He only returned a few minutes before you.' `I see. Well, I think you did tolerably well in a difficult situation. Pray ask the doctors if they can spare me a moment.' In the short time he had to wait various possibilities flashed through his mind, but the arguments for and against each were still equally balanced when the cabin door opened. 'Mr Martin,' he said, 'you have no doubt heard about the present trouble. Please tell me all you can about these Sethians. I have never heard of them.' `Well, sir, they descend from the Valentinian Gnostics, but the descent is so long, remote and obscure that there would be little point in tracing it. In their present form they are small independent communities with I believe no governing body; but it is difficult to be sure of that, since they were in danger of persecution as heretics for so long that they are naturally reserved; and there is still something of the air of a secret society about them. They believe that Cain and Abel were brought into being by angels, whereas Seth, who, as you will recall, was born after Abel's murder, was the Almighty's direct pure creation, and not only the ancestor of Abraham and all men now living, but the prototype of our Lord. They have the utmost veneration for him, and believe he watches over Sethians with particular care. But they have little opinion of angels, holding that by their — how shall I express it? — that by their mutual impurities they brought about Noah's flood. This should have wiped out their descendants, but some crept into the ark; and they, not Seth, are the ancestors of the wicked.' `It is odd that I should never even have heard of them. Do they often go to sea?' `I imagine not. Most of the few I have come across or heard of live in small scattered groups in remote inland parts of the West Country. They sometimes carve the name Seth on their houses; and they fall into two schools, mutually hostile, the old school that writes the S backwards and the new that writes it as we do. Apart from that and an unwillingness to pay tithes, they have a reputation for holding together and for being honest, sober and reliable, not unlike the Quakers. Yet unlike the Quakers they have no dislike for warfare.' `But they are Christians, are they not?' 'As for that,' said Martin, looking at Stephen, 'there are some Gnostics who would puzzle St Peter.' `The Valentinians were good enough to say that Christians might be saved,' observed Stephen. 'We might perhaps return the compliment.' `In any event,' said Martin, 'these people have left the gnosis of Valentinus infinitely far behind: it is quite forgotten. Their holy books are ours. I believe we may certainly call them Christians, though somewhat heterodox on certain points of doctrine.
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This is not unlike being on a stage and waiting for the curtain to go up. I wonder whether actors have the same sense of distorted time, a present that advances, to be sure, but only like the shadows on a dial, imperceptibly- and even then it may go back.
Perhaps they do- they tell me that stage feasts are all made of cardboard- cardboard sausages, cardboard leg of mutton, cardboard ham, cardboard goblets they make believe to drink in.
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This fine-tooth comb that the worthy shipwrights will be using- we often hear of it and yet who has ever combed his teeth?
May it not be that fine qualifies the tooth rather than the comb? That what is intended is a comb with fine teeth that is to say with teeth set close together?