Shenandoah

Lowry refers to the song Shenandoah in his novel Ultramarine;

‘Come on, Paddy, boy, give us a song.’
‘Yes, Paddy – good old Paddy – ’
‘Paddy – give us Paddy McGulligan’s daughter, Mary Ann.’ […]
‘Seraphina’s got no drawers, I been down and seen her, Ser-a-phina!’
‘No, that’s no good as a song; we want one of them old sea shanties, one of the real old timers.’
‘Shenandoah.’ (Pg 64)


‘Oh Shenandoah’ (also called simply ‘Shenandoah’, or ‘Across the Wide Missouri’) is a traditional American folk song, dating from at least the early nineteenth century. The lyrics may tell the story of a roving trader in love with the daughter of an Indian chief. Other interpretations tell of a pioneer’s nostalgia for the Shenandoah river, and a young woman who is its daughter; or of a Union soldier in the American Civil War, dreaming of his country home to the west of the Missouri river. The song is also associated with escaped slaves, who sang it in gratitude because the river allowed their tracks to be lost.

‘Shenandoah’ was first printed as part of William L. Alden’s ‘Sailor Songs’, in the July 1882 issue of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. The song had become popular as a sea shanty with British sailors by the 1880s.  The lyrics were printed in Sea Songs and Shanties, collected by W. B. Whall, Master Mariner (1910). A Mr J. E. Laidlaw of San Francisco reported hearing a version sung by a black Barbadian sailor aboard the Glasgow ship Harland in 1894, which went:

Oh, Shenandoah! I hear you calling!
Away, you rolling river!
Yes, far away I hear you calling,

Ha, Ha! I’m bound away across the wide Missouri.

My girl, she’s gone far from the river,

Away, you rolling river!

An’ I ain’t goin’ to see her never.

Ha, Ha! I’m bound away,’ &c

The above lyrics may be near to what Lowry knew or heard on board Pyrrhus.

Mick McGilligan’s Daughter, Mary Anne

Lowry refers to the song Mick McGilligan’s Daughter, Mary Anne in his novel Ultramarine; "Paddy - give us Paddy McGulligan's daughter, Mary Ann." (Pg. 64).

Mick McGilligan’s Daughter, Mary Anne is an anonymous Irish bawdy song, which only exists in print in Louis Tierney’s cleaned-up version:

I’m a gallant Irishman
I’ve a daughter Mary Anne
She’s the sweetest, neatest, colleen in the Isle
Though she can’t now purchase satin
She’s a wonder at bog latin
In a fluent, fascinatin’ sort of style
When she’s sellin’ fruit or fish
Sure, it is her fondest wish
For to capture with her charm some handsome man

Ah! no matter where she goes

Sure, everybody knows

That she’s Mick McGilligan’s daughter Mary Anne

Chorus:

She’s a darlin’, she’s a daisy

And she’s set the city crazy

Though in build, and talk, and manner, like a man

When me precious love draws near

You can hear the people cheer

For Mick McGilligan’s daughter Mary Anne

Alternative chorus:

She’s me darlin’, she’s me daisy

She damn near drives me crazy

She’s got hairs upon her chest like any man

And you know she’s on the rocks

When she’s wearin’ cotton socks

Mick McGilligan’s daughter, Mary Anne

There are eight more verses, which elaborate on the masculine qualities of Mary Anne. This has resonance in Ultramarine, for the underlying theme is that Dana is a ‘nancy’, i.e. effeminate and not a ‘real man’. James Joyce also alludes to this song in Ulysses; this may be a coincidence, but Lowry includes further allusions to Ulysses in Ultramarine, so it seems that he certainly was aware of Joyce’s reference to the song. Another possible influence is Conrad Aiken’s Blue Voyage, Chapter 3, when the gambler sings about a girl who ‘can’t keep her petticoat down’.

This song is not to be confused with another song The Great Big Wheel with another Mary Ann, which Lowry refers to in an untitled poem (Collected Poetry 265.1) and in his film script for Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night (Pg. 223). Lowry stated that he heard The Great Big Wheel from a neighbour; "The song about Mary Ann and the Ferris Wheel was sung for us, out of the blue, on New year's Eve, by one of our neighbours, a Guernsey fisherman of 75, who had come to visit us while we were revising the scene. He did not know what we were writing about. The song was probably written about 1890, is English, forgotten, if ever remembered, and even if ever published, which is doubtful, can be no longer copyright." (Notes on a Screenplay for F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night Pg. 72). This song is a different one to the one written by E. W. Rogers in June 1895, and sung by Arthur Lennard (1867-1954).

James Wood New World Vistas

SELF-PORTRAIT, CIRCA 1918 

James Wood 1889-1975 - Painter, draughtsman, writer and aesthete, born in Southport, Lancashire. From 1908-11 he read history at Cambridge University, then in Paris, after studying etching, pursued painting with Percyval Tudor-Hart before going to Munich. During World War I he was in the army and Royal Flying Corps, later working on battleship camouflage. 

Among Wood's writings after World War I were The Foundations of Aesthetics, written with C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards. He also wrote on colour harmony, a favourite topic, and in 1926 published New World Vistas, an autobiographical work. 

From the 1930s Wood became increasingly fascinated by Persian Art; he learn Persian and subsequently became art adviser to the Persian government. His own paintings were influenced by Kandinsky, and he showed at Leicester and Zwemmer Galleries in solo exhibitions. 

After 1955 he rarely exhibited, but painted several portraits of Cambridge Academics. Wood lived in a remote cottage above Llantony, Monmouthshire, from which he continued to monitor artistic development and where he worked until his death. In 1980 Blond Fine Art held a show of his output. Wood was married to a painter, Elisabeth Robertson, who had previously been the wife of the artist and writer Humphrey Slater. British Abstract Art

Lowry makes no direct reference to James Wood's New World Vistas 1926 but he does use lines from the book in the short story 'Goya The Obscure'. Lowry also utilises the overall atmosphere of Wood's work for the Liverpool scenes in 'Goya The Obscure' as both works include a walk around the Pier Head, Liver Buildings and docks. Compare:

"the wind rushed round him with a cold monstrous final insistency." ('Goya The Obscure' Pg. 277)

"the wind rushed round me with a cold monstrous final insistency." (New World Vistas Pg. 70);

"Tram- lines ran in front of the offices; further away secret tunnels bored through the gloomy buildings and the Overhead Railway and a number of sloping bridges leading to the landing stage spread round in bleak and bare confusion." ('Goya The Obscure' Pg. 277).

"Tram lines ran in front of the offices, dark tunnels branched away between side buildings, the overhead railway and a number of sloping bridges leading to the landing stages spread round in bleak and bare confusion." (New World Vistas Pg. 70).

"Yet the howling wind had blown everything clean as a whistle and the sky was a ferocious blue" (Pg. 277).

"A howling wind had blown the air as clean as a whistle for miles and miles" (New World Vistas Pg. 67).

"Tram bells clanged" ('Goya The Obscure' Pg. 277).

"The tram bells clanged but no one heeded..." (New World Vistas Pg. 69).

"Mothers with warm-smelling furs.." ('Goya The Obscure' Pg. 277).

"..graceful girls smelling of fur.." (New World Vistas Pg. 67).

"But the wind had enveloped and overarched all these masses of iron and concrete......('Goya The Obscure' Pg. 277).

"The wind alone seemed to surround and over-arch this mass of concrete and iron...." (New World Vistas Pg. 70).

"Brutal buildings strode into the air above Joe Passilique.." ('Goya The Obscure' Pg. 277).

The twin towers capped with dull green lead and the peculiar figures of the Liver bird abutted on the blue sky with an unpleasant brutality."  (New World Vistas Pg. 70).

"A drove of black cattle clattered past, herded by a hooligan with a twisted stick." ('Goya The Obscure' Pg. 278).

"..a herd of black cattle..pursued by a tramp in a ragged blue suit....waving a stick as he rushed after them with the gaunt determination of a maniac.." (New World Vistas Pg. 71).

Lowry utilised the same lines in Chapter 2 of Ultramarine (Pg.s.69-70).

Chimborazo, Ecuador

Chimborazo is a currently inactive stratovolcano located in the Cordillera Occidental range of the Andes. Its last known eruption is believed to have occurred around 550 AD. With a peak elevation of 6,268 metres, Chimborazo is the highest mountain in Ecuador. It is the highest peak in close proximity to the equator. While Chimborazo is not the highest mountain by elevation above sea level, its location along the equatorial bulge makes its summit the farthest point on the Earth's surface from the Earth's centre. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to the volcano in his novel Ultramarine when Dana offers a toast while drinking with Popplereuter; " 'Chimborazo, Popocatepetl....' I toasted." (Pg. 89).

Holy-stone

Holystone is a soft and brittle sandstone that was formerly used for scouring and whitening the wooden decks of ships. It was used in the British and American Navy for scrubbing the decks of sailing ships. The term may have come from the fact that 'holystoning the deck' was originally done on one's knees, as in prayer. In realistic reference to their size, smaller holystones were called "prayer books" and larger ones "Bibles"; also, a widely quoted legend attributes the name "holystone" to the story that such pieces of stone were taken for use from St. Nicholas Church in Great Yarmouth. More plausible is the use of stones taken from the ruined church of St Helens, Isle of Wight; tall ships would often anchor in St Helens Roads (the strip of water immediately adjacent to St Helens) and take provisions and fresh water from St Helens before setting off on their journeys. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to the term in his novel Ultramarine; "Well, those were the ancient violences, the old heroic days of holystones; and they are gone, you say." Ultramarine Pg. 47. This use of the term is from Ocean Steamships; "In the middle watches the decks are scrubbed with sand and brooms and brushes, for the old, heroic days of holy-stones are over, and a hundred pounds of effort are no longer expended for an ounce of result." (Pg. 166). Lowry also refers to the term in his poem 'No Kraken Shall Be Found Till Sought By Name'; "Here is the ship then, with decks all holy white/Pure as the stone that scrubbed them to the bone. ( Collected Poetry Pg. 198). Lowry would have also been familiar with the phrase which features in  J. Johnston Abraham's The Surgeon's Log (Pg. 191)  - a book Lowry refers to in the short story 'Enter One In Sumptuous Armour'. (Psalms Pg. 231).

Bull Bay, Anglesey, Wales

Bull Bay (Welsh: Porth Llechog) is a village on the northern coast of Anglesey, Wales. Its Welsh name, Porth Llechog, means "sheltered bay". The English name is derived from Pwll y Tarw ("the bull's pool"), which is located near the shore close to the bay.

The village is located on the A5025. It is the most northerly village in Wales and also contains Wales' most northerly golf course which was opened and funded by a local aristocrat in 1913. The island of East Mouse lies within the bay, the coastline of which is rocky and contains many caves. Some of these rocks are over 570 million years old which make them amongst the oldest in Wales.


Lowry refers to the golf course in his novel Ultramarine when Taff one of the crew of Oedipus Tyrannus says; "Amlwch I lived. I used to work in the forge near Bull Bay. I was a caddy on the links there for a time-" (Pg. 50)

Amlwch, Wales

Amlwch is the most northerly town in Wales. It is situated on the north coast of the Isle of Anglesey, on the A5025 which connects it to Holyhead and to Menai Bridge. The town has no beach, but it has impressive coastal cliffs. At one time it was a busy port, with boats sailing to the Isle of Man and to Liverpool. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to the town in his novel Ultramarine when Taff one of the crew of Oedipus Tyrannus says; "Amlwch I lived. I used to work in the forge near Bull Bay. I was a caddy on the links there for a time-" (Pg. 50)

Bull Bay Golf Club

Bull Bay Golf Club was founded in 1913. The official opening of the original nine hole course took place on Saturday August 16th 1913 amid great pomp and ceremony and attracted a large and fashionable crowd amongst whom were the Marquis and Marchioness of Anglesey and a distinguished party - according to a report in the Liverpool Daily post and Mercury.

The course was designed by W Herbert Fowler, one of the most renowned golf architects of the “Golden Era” immediately prior to the First World War when many of the world’s great golf courses were built. By this time Fowler had already become recognised as a great golf architect for his work on many of the best courses in Britain. n Staffordshire owned by Charles Henry Alexander Paget the Marquis of Anglesey. Lloyd George was probably instrumental in introducing Fowler to his native North Wales and persuading the Marquis to commission Fowler to create his only course in Wales. The cost of laying out the course and the building of the original clubhouse was borne by the Marquis on whose land the links were established. Read more

Lowry refers to the golf course in his novel Ultramarine when Taff one of the crew of Oedipus Tyrannus says; "Amlwch I lived. I used to work in the forge near Bull Bay. I was a caddy on the links there for a time-" (Pg. 50)

Board of Trade Lime Juice

Lowry refers to Board of Trade lime juice in his novel Ultramarine when Dana is cleaning floor of the messroom on board the Oedipus Tyrannus; "Here you are then. If you put some Board of Trade lime juice in that it'll come as white as a lamb's arse..." and "In the bucket is a mixture of soda and hot water. To this he adds three drops of lime juice, Board of Trade bottle, price 15s." - a task probably reflecting Lowry's time on the Pyrrhus. There are references that it made a good cleaning substance (See Ships Nostalgia)

All the ships were equipped with a medical locker which was stocked to the instructions as laid down by the Board of Trade which included Board of Trade lime juice, it was concentrated, very strong and it prevented scurvy, just as in the days of sail.  In later years the practice was discontinued as a result of better diet and food being better preserved with the benefit of ships fridges. The regulations were laid out in the Merchant Shipping Act 1894:

The anti-scorbutics to be furnished shall be lime or lemon juice, or such other anti-scorbutics (if any) of such quality, and composed of such materials, and packed and kept in such manner as Her Majesty by Order in Council may direct.

(2), No lime or lemon juice shall be deemed fit and proper to be taken on board ship, for the use of the crew or passengers thereof, unless it has been obtained from n bonded warehouse for and to be shipped as stores.

(3)Lime or lemon juice shall not be so obtained or delivered from a warehouse as aforesaid, unless—

(a)it is shown, by a certificate under the hand of an inspector appointed by the Board of Trade, to be proper for use on board ship, the certificate to be given upon inspection of a sample, after deposit of the lime or lemon juice in the warehouse; and

(b)it contains fifteen per cent. of proper and palatable proof spirit, to be approved by the inspector or by the proper officer of customs, and to be added before or immediately after the inspection thereof ; and

(c)it is packed in such bottles at such time and in Such manner and is labelled in such manner as the Commissioners of Customs may-direct.

There was even a folk song about the Act:

Now, if you want a merchant ship to sail the sea at large

We'll not have any trouble if ye have a good discharge,

Signed by the Board o' Trade an' ev'rything exact,

For there's nothin' done on a Limejuice ship contrary to the Act. (Read more)

Stan Hugill wrote:

The Merchant Shipping Act came out in the year 1894, and in it was laid down the amount of food, water, etc., Sailor John was allowed when on shipboard. This doling out of rations was known to John as "Pound and Pint". The Act also covered fines and punishments for delinquent mariners, such as "For concealing Knuckledusters, Slung-shot, sword-stick, etc. 5s. for each day of concealment', and many commandments and regulations in similar strain. But the item around which the sarcastic song was built was also the origin of the Yanks calling English sailors "Limejuicers." This was the daily issuing of limejuice to British crews when they had been a certain number of days at sea. Shanties from the Seven Seas 1994

Star Brush Company

Lowry refers to the famous brush making company, which was based in Eden Grove, Holloway, London in the 1920s, in his novel Ultramarine when Dana is cleaning floor of the messroom on board the Oedipus Tyrannus: "He then gets his scrubber - Star Brush Company - and his wad ...... and goes down upon his knees under the messroom table." (Pg. 50) - a task probably reflecting Lowry's time on the Pyrrhus.

Y'lang, Y'lang

Lowry uses the words "Y'lang, y'lang" to describe the sound of a bell ringing in his short story 'Goya The Obscure'; "and the Canning Dock, the sinister bell of warning singing out its desolate nostalgic phrase, y'lang y'lang:, y'lang y'lang, - The voice of the chiming bell-buoy chiming and wallowing and rolling..." (Pg.278) and "A woman passed. Y'lang y'lang. 'Excuse me Miss, are you going anywhere?' " (Pg. 278). Lowry revives the  words in his novel Ultramarine;  "and the Canning Dock, the sinister bell of warning singing out its desolate nostalgic phrase, y'lang y'lang y'lang y'lang. ... tolling, enforcing his sad solitude. 'Ware Shoal! A woman passes. Y'lang y'lang. Norwegian liner aground in Mersey!" (Pg. 70). Lowry also uses the words in a letter to Gerald Noxon dated 1952; "Time for the train that "goes a long way," i. e., toward Port Moody and points east. . . y'lang, y'lang." (Collected Letters Vol 2 Pg.)

Lowry would have been aware that Ylang-ylang was a tree found in Far East which is a one valued for its perfume and is considered to be an aphrodisiac. Lowry would have read a reference to a tree in Penang mentioned by J. Johnston Abraham's in his The Surgeon's Log  - a book Lowry refers to in the short story 'Enter One In Sumptuous Armour'. (Psalms Pg. 231).

Lowry appears to be linking the tree's aphrodisiac qualities to its pronunciation sounding like a bell to develop a complex sexual allusion. The use of sexual allusions is a theme that runs throughout 'Goya The Obscure'. The bell is warning Joe Passalique of the dangers of having sex with a prostitute as he drifts around Liverpool - "A woman passed. Y'lang y'lang. 'Excuse me Miss, are you going anywhere?' " (Pg. 278).

Bidston

Bidston is a suburb of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula. In the 1920's, the area was vastly different to today's landscape of modern housing, retail and industrial parks and new road layouts. In the 1920's, the area had 3 distinct areas: Bidston, Bidston Hill, and Bidston Moss.

Bidston Village has appeared in records since Doomsday, but evidence for occupation goes back to the Stone Age. The Village still maintains its medieval shape of church, farms, village green and manor house.

Bidston Hill comprises 100 acres of heathland and woodland maintained by Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council as a nature reserve and public park. The land was purchased in stages from 1894 to 1908 by Birkenhead Corporation from local landowner Lord Vyner. It is the site of Bidston Windmill, built around 1800 and the former Bidston Observatory and Bidston Lighthouse. Read more

Bidston Moss was originally low-lying wetland marsh at the head of Wallasey Pool. Early reclamation by railway companies led to the use of a triangular piece of land between railway tracks being used for the West Cheshire Golf Course. In 1936 most of the land was given over to residential, commercial and industrial landfill which ceased in 1995 before conversion to a nature reserve.

Lowry refers to Bidston in his novel Ultramarine when Dana recalls crossing the Great Float via the former swing bridge at Duke Street Birkenhead: "We stood there often on our way to Bidston" (Pg. 62). In the 1920's, Bidston Hill was a popular attraction for people to visit to picnic and take in the panoramic views of the Wirral, Liverpool and the Mersey Estuary. We must assume Lowry visited the hill with Tess Evans during 1927.

Bidston features in his novel In Ballast to the White Sea; Sigbjørn recalls making love with Nina on the hill;"They leaned in silence, looking over towards Bidston Hill where they had once made love, but which was now invisible." (Ch. V11); the hill, the observatory and the windmill are noted when Sigbjørn drives to Birkenhead to catch the train to Liverpool on his journey to Preston;  "and down the incline beyond, faster here, to get a run for Bidston Hill where trees, hedges, and houses rushed up to them as from a screen, to be instantly transferred into new, ever-changing scenes; and soon they had reached the summit where it was so clear they could see the Observatory through the trees." and further on in the journey; "Noctorum on the right and Bidston Common on his left. With huge and tattered sails the old windmill loomed before them like a derelict being driven before the storm on the dark sea of the moor where snow patches on the heather were like white crests of waves." (Ch. X1); the windmill had been damaged in a storm in a 1927 remaining unrepaired for several years, Lowry changes the topography at this point as the windmill and observatory were not visible from Upton Road on which Sigbjørn is travelling; "This wound in great curves over the back of the Wirral.......it mounted a final hill at the other side of the county, thickly wooded and crowned by an observatory and an ancient windmill. This was Bidston and the last station of the ancient Telegraph." (Ch. X111). The "ancient telegraph" refers to the site of penultimate station of the Liverpool - Holyhead  Semaphore Telegraph.

Cammell Laird

The company was founded by William Laird, who had established the Birkenhead Iron Works in 1824, when he was joined by his son, John Laird in 1828: their first ship was an iron barge. The company soon became pre-eminent in the manufacture of iron ships and made major advances in propulsion.


In 1903 the businesses of Messrs. Cammell and Laird merged to create a company at the forefront of shipbuilding. Johnson Cammell & Co. had been founded by Charles Cammell and Henry and Thomas Johnson: it made, amongst many other metal products, iron wheels and rails for Britain's railways and was based in Sheffield. Between 1829 and 1947, over 1,100 vessels of all kinds were launched from the Cammell Laird slipways into the River Mersey. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to the company in a list of signs on board the ship Oedipus Tyrannus in his novel Ultramarine; "Cammell Laird Shipbuilding Company, Birkenhead" (Pg. 54).

Lowry also mentions the shipbuilders in his poem 'Freighter 1940' (Collected Poetry Pg. 143);

A freighter builds in Birkenhead where rain
Falls in labourers' eyes at sunset. Then 
She's launched! Her iron sides strain as merchants gaze;
A cheer swoops down into titanic ways.

Liverpool Overhead Railway

The Liverpool Overhead Railway was the world's first electrically-operated overhead railway. The railway ran close to the River Mersey in Liverpool, England, following the line of Liverpool Docks. The Liverpool Overhead Railway was opened on 4 February 1893.

The railway ran from Alexandra Dock to Herculaneum Dock, a distance of six miles. It used standard gauge track with 11 intermediate stations along the line. The railway gained the affectionate nickname of Dockers' Umbrella, as a great proportion of the railway was elevated and dockers could walk beneath it as they travelled around the docks. During World War II, the railway suffered extensively from bomb damage. As a purely local undertaking, it was not nationalised in 1948 with the rest of the British railway system.

The railway was carried mainly on iron viaducts, with a corrugated iron decking, onto which the tracks were laid. As such, it was vulnerable to corrosion - especially as the steam-operated Docks Railway operated beneath some sections of the line. During surveys it was discovered that expensive repairs would be necessary to ensure the line's long term survival, at a cost of £2 million. The Liverpool Overhead Railway Company could not afford such costs and despite considerable protest, the line was closed on the evening of 30 December 1956

Lowry refers to the railway in his short story 'Goya The Obscure'; "and the Overhead Railway and a number of sloping bridges leading to the landing stage spread round in bleak and bare confusion." (Pg.277) and the sames lines in his novel Ultramarine (Pg. 69) and "A dockside train with its diminutive engine is rumbling along cautiously beneath the Overhead railway bridges in the direction of Mann Island and Canning Dock...." 'Goya The Obscure' (Pg. 2770 and Ultramarine (Pg. 70).

John Masefield Dauber

Lowry alludes in his novel Ultramarine to John Masefield's poem 'Dauber';  "Instead of being called out on deck at all hours to shorten sail, we have to rig derricks, or to paint the smokestack: the only things we have in common with Dauber, besides dungarees, is that we still "mix red lead in many a bouilli tin" (Pg. 48).


His work began at five; he worked all day,
Keeping no watch and having all night in.
His work was what the mate might care to say;
He mixed red lead in many a bouilli tin;
His dungarees were smeared with paraffin.
"Go drown himself" his round-house mates advised him,
And all hands called him "Dauber" and despised him. John Masefield Dauber

Lowry's choice of Masefield's poem fits into one of the main themes of Ultramarine - the misfit sailor trying to   fit in with and gain the respect of his fellow sailors. Lowry also refers to the poem in a letter to Gerald Noxon dated February 1944;"but the rest falls off; he might compel a landsman to take it for granted but it is not right, & doesn't even stand up with a much cruder but somehow more human thing like Dauber. No one could find their way around that ship..." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 436)


The life at sea has given us some remarkable writers. Herman Melville, for one, comes to mind. As a young man, Melville, like John Masefield, succumbed to his desire "to sail forbidden seas and land on barbarous coasts." A whaling ship was for him, he said "My Yale and my Harvard." Then there is Joseph Conrad, many of whose best stories came directly from his maritime experience, both before the mast and on the bridge as Master. From both of these authors we can always expect the truest, most tactile rendering of that hard service.

So it was with Masefield. "Dauber" comes out of his experiences as a common sailor. Nowhere else in literature does the reader find a keener sense of the rough scrape of rope on skin, the sounds of wind and flapping sails. In June, 1894, aboard the Gilcruix, a four-masted barque, he rounded infamous Cape Horn. The ship was buffeted and battered for thirty-two days by seas forty feet high. "It was real, naked life.... At sea you get the manhood knocked bare..." He might have called the Gilcruix, to paraphrase Melville, his Oxford and his Cambridge.

A number of themes can be found in this poem . There is the old motif of the scorned and rejected misfit redeemed, a common one in literature and in folklore. There is the absolute commitment of the artist giving himself to his talent, incapable of following a more acceptable course. And there is the isolation of a sensitive man living and working among the "Philistines." But perhaps most rewarding of all in this poem is the sense of the terror and beauty of the sea. Arthur Kay [1998]

Robert Greene's Groats-Worth of Wit

Lowry alludes in his novel Ultramarine to Robert Greene's criticism of Shakespeare when speaking about Janet; "Your lamb's heart was beating under your white woollen sweater. A sheep in sheep's clothing ... a tiger's heart wrapped in a sailor's hide" (Pg. 52). Greene is reputedly parodying Henry VI Part 3 when York curses Margaret: "O tiger's heart wrapp'd in a woman's hide!" - a play Shakespeare contributed to.

Robert Greene (1558 – 1592) was an English author best known for a posthumous pamphlet attributed to him, Greene's Groats-Worth of Wit, widely believed to contain a polemic attack on William Shakespeare. He was born in Norwich and attended Cambridge University, receiving a B.A. in 1580, and an M.A. in 1583 before moving to London, where he arguably became the first professional author in England. Greene published in many genres including autobiography, plays, and romances, while capitalizing on a scandalous reputation.

The dramatist is most familiar to Shakespeare scholars for his pamphlet Greene's Groats-Worth of Wit (full title: Greene's Groats-worth of Wit bought with a Million of Repentance), which the majority of scholars agree contains the earliest known mention of Shakespeare as a member of Elizabethan London's dramatic community. In it, Greene disparages Shakespeare, for being an actor who has the temerity to write plays, and for committing plagiarism. The passage quotes a line which is purportedly from Shakespeare's play Henry VI, part 3, but scholars are not agreed on exactly what is meant by this cryptic allusion:

"...for there is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygers hart wrapt in a Players hyde, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey".

Greene evidently complains of an actor who believes he can write as well as university-trained playwrights, alludes to the actor with a quotation from a Shakespearean play, and uses the term "Shake-scene," a unique term never used before or after Greene's screed, to refer to the actor. Though anti-Stratfordians argue that the early date of Greene's remark precludes a reference to Shakespeare (who in 1592 had no published works to his name), most scholars think that Greene's comment refers to Shakespeare, who would in this period have been an "upstart" as an actor who is writing and contributing to plays such as Henry VI, Parts 1-3 and King John, which were most likely written and produced (though not published) before Greene's death. Others argue that it is a reference to another actor, Edward Alleyn, whom Greene had attacked in an earlier pamphlet, using much the same language.

Some scholars think that all or part of the Groats-Worth may have been written shortly after Greene's death by one of his fellow writers (the pamphlet's printer, Henry Chettle, being the favoured candidate) hoping to capitalize on a lurid tale of death-bed repentance. Wikipedia

Lowry would have been aware of both the line in Henry VI to describe deceit in women and Greene's parody. Lowry firstly creates a joke that Janet is an innocent compared to Margaret in Henry VI - "Your lamb's heart was beating under your white woollen sweater. A sheep in sheep's clothing..." (Pg. 52) Then the change of the line in Henry VI to "a tiger's heart wrapped in a sailor's hide" both alludes to Dana's status as a sailor but alludes to Greene, with Lowry making a joke about his own plagiarism in Ultramarine and maybe the "accusations" that Lowry was a "literary upstart" who was trying to be too clever.

Sapporo Cafe and Bar, Dairen

Lowry mentions several bars and brothels his novel Ultramarine in the fictional port of Tsjang Tsjang, which actually existed in Dairen in 1927. One bar that was real was the Sapporo; "There we go, boys, there's the old Sapporo-" (Pg. 30); "Sapporo Bar's the place to go, down the Yamagata Dori." and "Yes, the Sapporo Bar, Hilliot. Follow the tramlines, it's just past the Customs House, Meet you there tonight." (Pg 67) "What was the name of the place?" "Sapporo Cafe and Bar. Here, I've got the card. Listen to this. Nice and clean accommodation. Quick service. Sapporo Cafe and Bar, No. 157, Yamagata-Dori, Tel. No. 6705. Soft and hard drinks. Mariners are all welcome. Here is a place you must not fail to visit, everything at very moderate charges." (Pg. 134). Lowry first used that last sentence in his short story 'Punctum Indifferens Skibet Gaar Videre' (Pg. 71).

The above card from Stan Hugill's book Sailortown confirms the address given by Lowry. Given the precise detail referred to on page 134 of Ultramarine we must assume that Lowry visited the bar and kept the card as the language is very similar to the cards depicted in Hugill's book. Hugill also refers to a Sapporo Cabaret in Tsingtao a port visited by Lowry on his voyage to the Far East.

Liverpool Evening Express

Liverpool's first evening newspaper established in 1870 by Charles Tinling. Initially, supporting Conservative interests in the city later became a popular paper until ceasing publication in 1958.

Lowry refers to the paper in his short story 'Goya The Obscure'; " 'Liverpool Liner aground,' Last Echo and Exprey!-' (Pg. 278) and "The wind blows up from the road an old copy of the Liverpool Express, rumples and whisks it down the Goree Piazzas. It clung finally to a lamp-post, like some ugly cringing wraith." (Pg. 278); Lowry repeats the sentences in Ultramarine (Pg.69) but changes the liner to; "Norwegian liner aground in Mersey!"

Mann Island, Liverpool

Originally an island in the River Mersey called Mersey Island. Created between the docks off Liverpool. Renamed Mann Island in 1784 after oil-stone dealer John Mann. When George's Dock was filled in (the present site of the Liver Building and its two companions) it ceased to be an 'island'.

Lowry refers to Mann Island in his short story 'Goya The Obscure'; “A dockside train … was rumbling… beneath the Overhead Railway bridges in the direction of Mann Island and Canning Dock”.(Pg.278) and his first novel Ultramarine; "with its diminutive engine is rumbling along cautiously beneath the Overhead Railway bridges in the direction of Mann Island and ..." (Pg. 70).

Penang

Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis.

Lowry visited the island on his 1927 voyage to the Far East. Lowry arrived on board the Blue Funnel ship Pyrrhus on 9th June 1927 and departed the next day for Port Swettenham. Lowry returned on the homeward leg of his voyage from Port Swettenham arriving 25th August and leaving for Colombo on the 26th August 1927.

In the short story 'On Board West Hardaway', Lowry set scenes in the port centred around the death of the pigeon adopted by Norman, a crew member; "The West Hardaway reached the Straits Settlements and unloaded some of her cargo in Penang, leaning with a quiet gratitude against the wharf, sea-weary after her long journey." (Pg. 29).

Lowry refers to the island in his first novel Ultramarine based on the voyage; "I am on a ship, I am going to Japan - or aren't I?" then he lists all the places he is due to visit including Penang.(Pg. 18); "And I went ashore with Joe in Penang."(Pg. 58), "Why! I went ashore in Penang."(Pg. 58); "I played billiards in Penang with Joe Ward, in the Chinese quarter. (Pg. 58) and "I went ashore with Joe in Penang." (Pg. 73).

Penang Road Penang

Lowry also referred to the port in his later fiction including Chapter 6 of Under The Volcano; 'A curly-headed boy stood on the fo'c'sle head of the Philoctetes as she docked in Penang strumming his latest composition on the ukelele.' (Pg.167); and in the short story 'Elephant and Colosseum'; "Since but for his duty to Rosemary he would have transferred in those days to a sister ship at Penang."  (Pg. 170).

Campbell Street Penang

Stan Hugill describes the port of Penang as follows:

Not far from Singapore lies Penang, a port known to eastern traders since the days of the tea clipper. In modern times sailors ashore would visit the Fun and Frolic, a rather popular amusement park, after the style of the New World in Singapore. Here were Chinese theatres, bars, gambling and dance-halls with Eurasian and Chineses hostesses, and Malay 'ronggeng' sections - where a member of the crowd would endeavour to out-dance a Malay girl, usually a hopeless task. Prostitutes frequented these Malayan amusement parks in large numbers, but in Penang also there was a regular quarter in Campbell Street containing several Chinese bordels. One sailor-frequented pub was the Can-do, and others were the Prince of Wales Bar, the Hong Kong Bar, and Penang Bar. Sailortown Pg. 325