Songs of Second Childhood

Lowry refers to a collection of fictional sonnets in Dana's inner dialogue in Chapter 2 of Ultramarine when he is thinking of his Norwegian father; "..without a country. Like myself, like Herman Bang, like the ship, like my excellent father, the only surviving son, who is now in a home eating the buttons off the chair at clairaudient intervals, and composing a sonnet sequence, Songs of Second Childhood.... (Pg. 68).

Lowry would appear to be making a humorous allusion to William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience or John Donne's Songs and Sonnets. Lowry's reference to Second Childhood relates to a later reference in Ultramarine when he quotes from the Descriptive Catalogue of the Liverpool Museum of Anatomy, which he utilised for the detail of the anatomy museum in Tsjang Tsjang (Dairen); ...The face of  an old BACHELOR, he became IDIOTIC and rapidly sank into second CHILDHOOD; what a fearful account he will have to give of himself at the JUDGEMENT DAY.... (Pg. 103). This quote relates to exhibit number 261 in the former Liverpool Museum of Anatomy, which Lowry visited sometime in the 1920's. (Gordon Bowker Pursued By Furies Pg. 40). Lowry has expunged from his quote the reference to masturbation as the full description begins as follows; " 261. - Face of an old bachelor; a confirmed onanist." (Descriptive Catalogue of the Liverpool Museum of Anatomy Pg. 33). Lowry is also alluding to the kind of Wesleyan books he probably read as a child informing of the dangers of masturbation; "The ..books on top of my brother's wardrobe .. already assured me, if they were true, that I had acquired certain habits and should have gone mad. So I had long got used to having no normal prospects. I looked for death at any moment." (Notes on manuscript to draft of 'Enter One In Sumptuous Armour').

Lowry also made reference to the description from the catalogue in a letter to Conrad Aiken dated 14/9/1952 concerning the publication of Ushant:

What a fearful account he will have to give 
of himself at the judgement day!
OW, HOW IT HURTS!

the reference being to the sinister inscription upon the glass case containing a bepoxed Liverpudlian waxwork in the old Museum of Anatomy in Paradise (Street) outside which it also said: Man know thyself! (Collected Letters Vol 2 Pg. 597)

The above throws light on the possibility that Lowry noted down the inscriptions rather than using the catalogue. We should also note that Lowry indicates to Aiken that the inscription is about syphilis and not masturbation which is a mistake on Lowry's part - deliberate or forgetfulness is open to question.

Lowry's reference to Herman Bang relates to the writer's death during a lecture tour of the United States when he was taken ill on the train and died in Ogden, Utah - dying "without a country" in effect a self-imposed exile. A theme later taken up by Lowry himself but also by Herman Bang in his novel Denied A Country. However, Lowry may also be alluding to Bang's novel Ida Brandt, in which the character Ida works in a hospital for the mentally ill, looking after a patient in room "A" who writes all day. Bang's family also had a history of madness and disease.

Lowry's use of the 'clairaudient' - The power or faculty of hearing something not present to the ear but regarded as having objective reality - probably relates to his exposure to clairvoyance through his sister-in-law Margot (Gordon Bowker Pursued By Furies Pg. 39). This may have included theosophy - "As a very young child I was evidently somewhat clairaudient — so many children are.." NFT Theosophical Quarterly Magazine, 1929 to 1930 - (Pg.166). There are several references to the system of esoteric philosophy in his work.

Lowry also adapted the phrase used in Ultramarine to name the fourth section of his long poem The Lighthouse Invites The Storm' - 'Songs for Second Childhood'.

S.S.Menelaus (3)

Menelaus (3) was built in 1923 by Caledon Ship Building & Engineering Co. at Dundee with a tonnage of 10278grt, a length of 490ft 10in, a beam of 62ft 4in and a service speed of 14 knots. Sister of the Calchas she was launched for the Ocean Steam Ship Co. on 1st May 1923 and completed for the Liverpool - Far East service on 11th October. In 1940 she collided with Ellerman's City of London. On Christmas Day 1940 she had a close encounter with the German warship Admiral Hipper in the Mediterranean but was rescued by convoy escorts. In 1942, on 1st May and during a voyage from Durban to Baltimore, she was attacked at dawn by the German commerce raider Michel commanded by Capt. Helmut von Ruckteschell when she was 700 miles south west of St. Helena. Although von Ruckteschell used one of his motor torpedo boats the Menelaus laid a smoke screen and escaped. She was fortunate as von Ruckteschell was ruthless and sank his victims leaving survivors to fend for themselves. After the war he admitted that the Menelaus was the only ship to escape him and he was the only the second German seagoing naval officer to be tried for war crimes. He died in prison while serving a ten year sentence. On 25th June 1952 the Menelaus arrived at Dalmuir where she was broken up by W. H. Arnott Young & Co. Red Duster

Lowry refers to the Menelaus in the 1940 Under the Volcano when Hugh talks about his time on a ship sailing past Sokotra; "It was an English ship, the Helen. Before that, out of Frisco over to Japan I'd been on its sister ship, that was the Achilles. When I was on the Achilles I one saw the Helen coming out of Kelung, Formosa, with the Menelaus after her. The Minnylaws, as the limeys call her."(Pgs. 60-61).

Lowry never sailed on any of the ships nor is it possible to ascertain whether 3 Blue Funnel Line ships would all be in Keelung at the same time though Lowry did sail to the port on board the Pyrrhus in 1927. The symmetry of the 3 ships appears to fit in with Lowry playing with characters from Homer's Odyssey to underpin the drama of the novel.

Lowry also refers to the ship in his poem 'The Lighthouse Invites The Storm'; "Reclaims dividendless Homeric errors: ..Menelaus riding at anchor" (Collected Poetry Pg. 85). Chris Ackerley has identified that Lowry's poem may be an ironic imitation of John Masefield's 'Ships'. (Pg.262).

SS Helenus (I)

Helenus (1) was built in 1913 by Scott's Ship Building & Engineering Co. at Greenock with a tonnage of 7555grt, a length of 455ft 4in, a beam of 56ft 4in and a service speed of 11 knots. Sister of the Lycaon she was completed for the Ocean Steam Ship Co. During 1917-18 she was requisitioned as an Expeditionary Force Transport and used to transport Portuguese troops. On 1st December 1917 she was hit by a torpedo from U-53 in the English Channel and had to be towed into port. In the following year, on 30th June, she was missed by a torpedo in the North Sea. On 22nd August 1918 she was pursued by U-90 and attacked by gunfire but she retaliated and managed to outpace her attacker. She was finally sunk when torpedoed by U-68 (FregattenKapitan Karl-Friedrich Merten - Knights Cross with Oakleaves) off Freetown, Sierra Leone (6.01N 12 02W) on 3rd March 1942, with the loss of 5 lives, during a voyage from Penang to the Mersey via Table Bay and Freetown. Eighty six survivors were picked up during the same evening by the Beaconsfield.

Lowry refers to the Helenus in the 1940 Under the Volcano when Hugh talks about his time on a ship sailing past Sokotra; "It was an English ship, the Helen. Before that, out of Frisco over to Japan I'd been on its sister ship, that was the Achilles. When I was on the Achilles I one saw the Helen coming out of Kelung, Formosa, with the Menelaus after her. The Minnylaws, as the limeys call her."(Pgs. 60-61). Lowry refers to 2 other Blue Funnel Line ships accurately but for the sake of symmetry changes the name of Helenus to Helen which was a name not used by the Blue Funnel Line.

Lowry never sailed on any of the ships nor is it possible to ascertain whether 3 Blue Funnel Line ships would all be in Keelung at the same time though Lowry did sail to the port on board the Pyrrhus in 1927. The symmetry of the 3 ships appears to fit in with Lowry playing with characters from Homer's Odyssey to underpin the drama of the novel.

Lowry also refers to the ship in his poem 'The Lighthouse Invites The Storm'; "Reclaims dividendless Homeric errors: A rusted Helen rotting in Kow-loon" (Collected Poetry Pg. 85). Chris Ackerley has identified that Lowry's poem may be an ironic imitation of John Masefield's 'Ships'. (Pg.262).

Later in  the 1940 Under the Volcano, Lowry refers again to the Helen;  "I was on two ships, " he said, "Helen and Achilles. Blue-pipers. Sweatrags and hard work..." (Pg. 62-63).

Lowry also evokes the the myth of Helen of Troy in Under The Volcano; "the face that launched five hundred ships." Chris Ackerely notes the allusion; "Mephistophilis in Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus evokes the vision of Helen of Troy:

Was this the face that launched a thousand ships
And burnt the topless towers of llium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.

Like Helen, who betrayed her country by going with Paris to Troy, Doña Marina, or Malinche, the Indian maiden who became the mistress of Cortés, betrayed her people by revealing to Cortés Moctezuma's plans for murdering the Spaniards in Cholula before he had even reached Tenochtitlán.  Malinche's treacherous beauty, the Consul implies, like Helen's, launched the ships of the Spanish conquistadors, and by her act of betrayal to her people she brought into being the worship of Christ in the New World. Cervantes, being Tlaxcalan, is likewise a betrayer of his people" Malcolm Lowry Project 268.8

Joe Passalique

The name of the seaman in ‘Goya The Obscure’ who like Lowry is fearful of catching syphilis. One of many intriguing names used by Lowry whose origins are unknown. One intriguing link is to a French book about urinary complaints; “Ceux de la région passalique sont extrêmement rares” Léon Clément Voillemier, Jean François Auguste Le Dentu Traité des maladies des voies urinaires, Volume 1 1868. Lowry also uses the name Fernandez Passalique in the poem ‘The Lighthouse Invites The Storm’ (Collected Poetry Pg. 58).