Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia—including India, after which the ocean is named on the north, on the west by Africa, on the east by Australia, and on the south by the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, by Antarctica.). Read more on Wikipedia

The Indian Ocean probably featured in his imagination before he crossed the ocean twice in 1927 on his Far East voyage aboard the Blue Funnel ship Pyrrhus. Lowry had already created or heard the myth of his grandfather being lost in the Indian Ocean:

Evelyn Boden Lowry (1873–1950) ... She was the daughter of a master mariner, Lyon Boden, lost at sea in circumstances that were variously described and embellished , by both Evelyn and her son, in the telling. As Lowry told the story to Margerie (who, again, seems to have taken it as gospel)Captain Boden and his command, The Scottish Isles, were becalmed in the Indian Ocean, the crew dying of cholera;  so the Captain gave orders to a nearby British gunboat to blow up the ship, with him on board. Bradbrook debunks this by saying that Captain Boden had died of cholera, the news relayed to a passing vessel before before The Scottish Isles vanished and was lost in a storm with all hands. Bowker found that the ship that John [sic] Boden disappeared on 26 April 1884, somewhere in the Indian Ocean, was the Vice Reine, of which Boden was not captain but first. Chris Ackerley Paradise Street blues: Lowry's Liverpool in Writing Liverpool: Essays and Interviews By Michael Murphy, Deryn Rees-Jones 2007

Lowry makes reference to the myth of his grandfather's loss in Ultramarine Pgs 110-11; and in letters to Derek Pethwick dated 6th March 1950 (Collected Letters Vol 2 Pg. 207) and to George Sumner Albee dated 17th March 1957 in which he again refers to his grandfather being "at the bottom of the Indian Ocean." (Collected Letters Vol 2 Pg. 896); in the short story 'The Forest Path to the Spring'; "And I thought of my grandfather, becalmed in the Indian Ocean, the crew dying of cholera,my grandfather giving orders finally, at the beginning of wireless, to the oncoming gunboat, to be blown up himself with the ship." (Pg.258); in his incomplete novel La Morida the West Coast"Could their captain love these diesel-engined monstrosities to the extent, like his grandfather, of going down with them?" (Pg 188)

The ocean would have featured in many of the books and magazines read by Lowry about the sea including Joseph Conrad's novels and short stories, Bill Adams's works; James Johnston Abraham's The Surgeon's Log , Eugene O'Neill etc. It is interesting to note that the father of the character Swede Chris C. Christopherson in Eugene O'Neill's play Anna Christie died in the Indian Ocean. Lowry received a copy of the play as a prize at his school The Leys. (Collected Letters Vol. 1 Pg. 26).

Lowry makes other references to the ocean other than alluding to the death of his grandfather; in a letter to Betty and Gerald Noxon dated January 15th 1943; "I wish you could both be here for we seem to see potential pictures for Betty everywhere and moreover we are putting on some magnificent freezing blue weatherwith the sun raining diamonds in Burrard Inlet and sea-gulls and the washing frozen on the line and a two hundred foot alder plunging above the house like the mast of a ship on a rough day in the Indian Ocean. (The Letters of Malcolm Lowry and Gerald Noxon: 1940-1952 Pg. 50); and the novella Lunar Caustic when Lowry's alter-ego Bill Plantagenet recalls sailing across the Indian Ocean with a cargo of animals; "The panthers died, in the Indian Ocean at night the lions roared, the elephants trumpeted and vomited so that none" (Pg. 69); and again in Under The Volcano; "A piece of driftwood on the Indian Ocean. Is India my home? Disguise myself as an untouchable, which should not be so difficult, and go to prison on the Andaman Islands for seventy-seven years, until England gives India her freedom?" (Pg. 157)  "This chow the crew hadn't eaten went into the Indian Ocean, into any ocean, rather, as the saying is, than “let it go back to the office.” (Pg. 165 )

Lowry further refers to the ocean in his incomplete novel La Morida the West Coast; " — ridiculous, unimaginative name, although it would be beautiful if encountered, say, in the Indian Ocean — or would be beautiful in French Cote Aouest — which makes him reflect about the prophet being without.. " (Pg. 188) and later; "it were eponymous, and certainly not so unimaginative as the beautiful horrible romantic old freighter he'd seen in the Indian Ocean, the British Motorist — the ship has a cargo of rolls of rusty barbed wire. Ugly ships. Possibly she'd done yeoman service in the war. Had oil-tankers got souls? Could their captain love these diesel-engined monstrosities to the extent, like his grandfather, of going down with them?" (Pg 188) and his posthumously published novel Dark as the grave wherein my friend is laid; "of hundreds of miles behind this childhood dream of heaven, and rolling valleys, the dream of the sailor sleeping on the poop in the vast violet of the Indian Ocean as it deepens at noon. (Pg. 221)

Winter Gardens Theatre, New Brighton

Albert Douglas, a member of the well-known theatrical family, came to Merseyside on business in 1907, and realising how little entertainment there was in Wallasey, decided to stop. With Mr H.E Jones as a partner, he leased the Conservative Hall in Atherton Street and renamed it Alexandra Hall.

In February 1908 the name was changed to the Winter Gardens, and palms were placed round the auditorium to justify the appellation. In 1909 a limited company was formed to purchase the building, and alterations on a major scale were commenced in March of that year. A 'Circle' was provided, and an entirely new stage measuring sixty feet by thirty-three feet was installed, with adequate new 'flies' and a modern electric lighting system. 

During the Great War the theatre remained open and in spite of many difficulties made a modest profit. In 1919 Albert Douglas became sole manager director, with his eldest son A.C Douglas as general manager. It was not unusual for London success to visit New Brighton before going on to Liverpool, and from 1919 onwards many famous stars appeared.

In 1924 the younger side of the management wanted to rebuild the theatre on modern lines, but this was vetoed by the older side. However, in 1929 all the directors agreed on rebuilding and work was commenced in February 1931. Read more on History of Wallasey

Lowry refers to the Winter Gardens in his novel Ultramarine when Dana reads in Janet's letter; "On Saturday I went to the Winter Gardens alone and saw - what do you think? So This Is London!...." (Pg. 169). There is no record of whether Lowry actually saw the play or whether Tess Evans saw the play either. To date, no record of the play being performed at the Winter Gardens in New Brighton has been discovered. We must assume Lowry was familiar with the theatre on his trips to New Brighton to meet Tess Evans especially as the theatre was near to the railway station.

So This Is London!

Lowry refers to the play in his novel Ultramarine when Dana reads in Janet's letter; "On Saturday I went to the Winter Gardens alone and saw - what do you think? So This Is London!...." (Pg. 169).

So This Is London is a comedy play by the American writer Arthur Goodrich, first staged in 1922. The play is an Anglo-American culture clash, in which a wealthy Anglophobic American shoe manufacturer arrives in London to discover his son is marrying the daughter of British aristocrats.

There is no record of whether Lowry actually saw the play or whether Tess Evans saw the play either. To date, no record of the play being performed at the Winter Gardens in New Brighton has been discovered.

Charles Dibdin’s Grieving’s a Folly

Sketch by G Cruikshank in Songs of the Late Charles Dibdin

Throughout Lowry's novel Ultramarine, when the crew gather below decks, they sing songs to while away the time. Whether this is an accurate reflection of Lowry’s experience on board Pyrrhus is perhaps doubtful given the difficult time he reportedly had on the journey.  The singing of ‘wild songs’ owes more to the idea of the forecastle that Lowry created from his reading of sea literature, including Herman Melville’s White Jacket. The most significant chapter in White Jacket for this idea of male bonding through the singing of ‘wild songs’ is ‘The World in a Man-of-War’. Melville refers to the singing of songs written by Charles Dibdin on board British and American ships, saying that Dibdin’s songs ‘breathe the very poetry of the ocean’. In Chapter 6 of Ultramarine, the crew gather below decks and tell stories of past voyages, argue and break into song from time to time. One of the crew breaks into one of Dibdin’s songs, ‘Grieving’s a Folly’:

‘And Jack went aloft for hand the top-ga’t sail.
A spray washed him off and we ne’er saw him no more.
But grieving’s a folly,
Come, let us be jolly,
If we’ve troubles at sea, boys, we’ve pleasures ashore.’ (Pg. 163)

Refrains from this song recur throughout Chapter 6, acting as an aural backdrop to the idle banter of the crew passing time between watches. (See Pgs. 163, 164 and 167)

Spanking Jack was so comely, so pleasant, so jolly,
Though winds blew great guns, still he'd whistle and sing,
For Jack loved his friend, and was true to his Molly,
And, if honor gives greatness, was great as a king.
One night as we drove with two reefs in the mainsail,
And the scud came on low'ring upon a lee shore,
Jack went up aloft for to hand the topg'ant sail --,
A spray washed him off, and we ne' er saw him more:
But grieving's a folly,
Come let us be jolly;
If we've troubles on sea, boys, we've pleasures on shore.

Whiffling Tom, still of mischief or fun in the middle,
Through life in all weathers at random would jog;
He'd dance, and he'd sing, and he'd play on the fiddle,
And swig with an air his allowance of grog:
'Longside of a Don, in the " Terrible" frigate,
As yardarm and yardarm we layoff the shore,
In and out whiffling Tom did so caper and jig it,
That his head was shot off, and we ne'er saw him more:
But grieving's a folly,
Come let us be jolly;
If we've troubles on sea, boys, we've pleasures on shore.

Bonny Ben was to each jolly messmate a brother,
He was manly and honest, good-natured and free;
If ever one tar was more true than another
To his friend and his duty, that sailor was he:
One day with the davit to weigh the kedge anchor,
Ben went in the boat on a bold craggy shore
He overboard tipped, when a shark and a spanker
Soon nipped him in two, and we ne'er saw him more:
But grieving's a folly,
Come let us be jolly;
If we've troubles on sea, boys, we've pleasures on shore.

But what of it all, lads? shall we be downhearted
Because that mayhap we now take our last sup?
Life's cable must one day or other be parted,
And Death in safe moorings will bring us all up.
But 'tis always the way on't -- one scarce finds a brother
Fond as pitch, honest, hearty, and true to the core,
But by battle, or storm, or some damned thing or other,
He's popped off the hooks, and we ne'er see him more!
But grieving's a folly,
Come let us be jolly;
If we've troubles on sea, boys, we've pleasures on shore.

If The River Was Whiskey

‘And if the river were whisky
And ah was a duck,
Ah’d go down to the BOTTERN
An ah’d never come up. No sir,
Ah’d never come up.’

The above refrain is sung by one of the crew of Oedipus Tyrannus in Chapter 6 of Ultramarine (Pg. 176). The refrain is from a song variously known as ‘Hesitation Blues’, ‘Hesitating Blues’, ‘If The River Was Whiskey’ or ‘Divin’ Duck Blues’.

The exact origins of this song are lost in the mists of time. The traditional tune was arranged by W. C. Handy and published in 1915 as ‘Hesitating Blues’. The lyrics were entirely different from those of ‘Hesitation Blues’, and seldom used. In his Blues Anthology Handy stated that the tune was from an old spiritual.

‘Hesitation Blues’ was written/adapted by Billy Smythe and Scott Middleton. One of the first popular recordings of this song was an instrumental version by the Victor Military Band, with authorship attributed solely to Billy Smythe. It was recorded in 1915 at the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey. Later, a dispute over the credits was resolved by adding Art Gillham to the credits. Gillham, who was probably responsible for the lyrics, Gillham performed the song on radio and on 25 February 1925 recorded it for Columbia Records. The song was re-published in 1926 giving credit to the three writers. The 1926 publication was a different arrangement from the 1915 publication and featured different lyrics. Because the tune is traditional, many artists have recorded ‘Hesitation Blues’ crediting themselves as writer, though the lyrics of the 1926 publication are frequently used.

Charlie Poole and His North Carolina Ramblers

Versions of the lyrics vary widely, though the refrain is usually mostly consistent with the original. So which version did Lowry hear? The nearest version of the song I can find with the lyrics is ‘If The River Was Whiskey’ by Charlie Poole, which sounds like a speeded-up version of Jelly Roll Morton’s ‘Hesitation Blues’, but Morton’s version lacks the phrase ‘If the river was whiskey’. Charlie Poole was an American old-time banjo player and country musician and the leader of the North Carolina Ramblers, an American old-time string band that recorded many popular songs between 1925 and 1930. The band recorded ‘If The River Was Whiskey’ in 1930 for Columbia, which means that either Lowry heard this while writing Ultramarine or he is referring to an as yet unidentified version. One can see the attraction of the lyrics for a budding alcoholic like Lowry! The song has parallels with the story of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, who is reputed to have been drowned in a vat of Malmsey wine in 1478. The tradition may have originated in a joke, based on his reputation as a heavy drinker. Lowry, of course, would adopt the Plantagenet name for his alter ego in the novella Lunar Caustic.

In Ultramarine, the refrain from ‘Hesitating Blues’ comes while the crew are talking about black sailors. These discussions may not be based on notes made by Lowry on the voyage to the East but may have more to do with his first voyage to America via the Caribbean in 1928 to visit Conrad Aiken. One of the crew talks about hearing black bands in the Milk Market area of Bridgetown, Barbados, which Lowry visited on the voyage to America. This was probably Lowry’s first exposure to African American and Caribbean American music. Up to this point, all the documented jazz and blues that he had heard would have been white American interpretations of the idioms.

Chances Peak, Montserrat

Chances Peak is the culminant point of the active complex stratovolcano named Soufrière Hills at 915 m. It is the highest point in Montserrat, a British overseas territory located in the Caribbean Sea. The last eruption was in January 2009.

Lowry refers to the peak in his novel Ultramarine; " 'Yes, and there's a mountain there, a ruddy great mountain, and I climbed it and I had a guide who went up in bare feet, eh. It was the hell of a climb, like climbing up a tree all the way - ink trees and wild cabbages they were - and kept stopping and his nigger guide'd say, "Catch yo' breeze, man! catch yo' breeze!" ......"Wild cabbage, yis! There was, growing at the top. And all the niggers go and throw pennies in the pond up there on Easter morning -" (Pg. 175).

Whether Lowry actually made the climb described in Ultramarine is certainly open to speculation though he may have spent a short time in Monsterrat on his 1929 voyage to USA to visit Conrad Aiken. (Gordon Bowker Pursued By Furies Pg. 83 ). Lowry also refers to this climb in his short story 'Through The Panama'; " Montserrat not far away to starboard where I altered geography books by climbing Chance's Mountain in 1929, in company with two Roman Catholics : Lindsey, a Negro, and Gomez, a Portugese." (Pg. 72).

Lowry's reference to the coins being thrown into the "pond" cannot be verified. However, there is certainly a legend associated with the Mermaid's Hole on the peak which may relate back to Irish mythology:

Finally, Montserrat is also a land of legend. A mermaid reportedly lives at a pond on Chances Peak in the now famous or infamous Soufriere Hills, with a treasure chest at the bottom of the pond. The mermaid has somehow revealed that anyone who takes her golden comb on Easter Monday and runs to the sea and wash it will possess the treasure. There is a catch however. The seekers must outrun a diamond snake that will try to touch them. If the snake succeeds, they will lose the treasure and must pass the comb back to another person. Montserrat & Monserratians: Photo Exploration: Commemorating Ten Years ... By Igor Kravtchenko, Howard A. Fergus

Or this account:

It is Easter Sunday and in Montserrat there is a legend that there is a white mermaid who appears at the top of Chances Pond every Easter at midnight. Hundreds of Islanders would climb Chances Mountain which is 3002ft using torches. They said that one must arrive before dawn take the mermaids comb from her and ran to the sea before they could be caught they would be rich for life. They never said exactly what you should do with the comb once you arrived at the seashore. Acacia

Butterfield & Swire

Lowry refers to one of Blue Funnel Line's agents in the Far East in his novel Ultramarine as the postal address for Dana's girlfriend Janet's letter; "E.D. Hilliot, S.S. Oedipus Tyrannus, c/o Butterfield and Swire, Singapore." (Pg. 168).

The Swire Group, started by John Swire (1793–1847), had its beginnings as a modest Liverpool import-export company started in the early years of the 19th century. In 1861, John Swire & Sons Limited began to trade with China through agents Augustine Heard & Co. In 1866, in partnership with R.S. Butterfield, Butterfield & Swire was established in Shanghai. Four years later, a Hong Kong branch of Butterfield & Swire was also opened. Read more on Wikipedia

However, Lowry's reference to Butterfield and Swire being Blue Funnel's agents in Singapore is a mistake. Lowry's ship the Pyrrhus did call at both Shanghai and Hong Kong hence his recollection of the agents. The Blue Funnel Line's agents in Singapore were actually Mansfield and Company originally founded by Walter Mansfield and his son, George John in 1868.

Mansfield’s duty as Blue Funnel Agents was to act on behalf of the Owners in the Far Eastern Trades. They were owned 100% by Alfred Holt & Co. in other words they were not merely agents but acted as an extension of the Owners with much greater responsibilities than Agents in other ports.

Apart from being responsible for handling all ship requirements e.g. bunkering, victualling, engineering needs, crew movements etc., their main duties were to arrange for the orderly delivery to consignees of cargoes from Europe, (and the handling of claims for any damaged or missing items), and, most importantly, the securing of homeward cargoes to fill all vessels leaving the Far East for Europe and Australia.

The company had its headquarters at the curve of Collyer Quay, where it meets Cecil Street, and for a while was housed in a beautiful five storey example of colonial architecture, not the original, but the second Ocean Building (the first was built on the site in 1864). The building, construction of which was started in 1919 and completed in 1923, was designed by a British architect, Somers H. Ellis.  It featured overhanging balconies on the second and fifth levels and verandahs on the third and fourth levels. The building was topped with a tower that rose some 49 metres above ground, making it the tallest building in Singapore back when it was built. The Long and Winding Road

Beaumont, Texas

The Port of Beaumont is a deep-water port located in Beaumont, Texas near the mouth of the Neches River.
Its history as a deepwater port dates to 1908, however, when a canal nine feet deep was dug in the Neches River from Beaumont to the Port Arthur ship channel. In 1916, the channel was deepened to 25 feet and a turning basin scooped out in the bend of the river. Local businessmen, meanwhile, had developed dock facilities on the waterfront. The port channel was deepened to 30 feet in 1922, increasing Beaumont's importance as a shipping centre.

Lowry refers to the port in his novel Ultramarine when one of the crew of Oedipus Tyrannus recalls visiting the port; " ' Beaumont, yes. We tied up to the trees in the park there, why, it's only a spindle-head, that place, that's all it is, just a spindle-head. It was a bit of an event too, a ship coming there. And all the girls from the park came and dabbled their feet in the water. We had 'em up on the ship afterwards for a dance. We put an officer ashore there with rheumatism.' " (Pg. 176).

There is no record of Lowry visiting the port on his 1929 trip to the USA. We must assume that Lowry recorded a conversation of a crew member of Pyrrhus.

Lowry's reference to a "spindle-head' probably has to do with Beaumont's oil business. A spindle top is a headstock or tailstock for a spindle or boring bar. Oil was discovered at nearby Spindletop on January 10, 1901. Spindletop became the first major oil field and one of the largest in American history. With the discovery of oil at Spindletop, Beaumont's population grew from 9,000 in January 1901 to 30,000 in March 1901.

The park mentioned by Lowry is probably Riverfront Park.

Cebu, Philippines

Cebu is a long narrow island stretching 225 kilometers from north to south, surrounded by 167 neighbouring, smaller islands, which include Mactan, Bantayan, Malapascua, Olango and the Camotes Islands.  In 1898, the island was ceded to the United States after the Spanish-American War and Philippine-American War. In 1901, Cebu was governed by the United States for a brief period, however it became a charter province on February 24, 1937 and was governed independently by Filipino politicians. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to Cebu in his novel Ultramarine; "Whew, Christ it's hot..Reminds me of Cebu in the Philippines. Last voyage we tied up nose-on to the maternity hospital. They say they dump the miscarriages into the ditch. None of the crowd would go in bathing, anyway." (Pgs 70-71); " 'Manila, eh, reminds me of Cebu. That's the place for you, Hilliot, the town of ukeleles. We had a feller flogged his going ashore suit for one. Why he never even learnt to tune the damn thing' " and " 'We went to Cebu on the Plato. We tied up to buoys just alongside the maternity hospital. The mozzies was awful-' " (Pg. 177).

Lowry never visited Cebu on his 1927 voyage to the Far East. Cebu was not a port of call for Blue Funnel Line ships. Richard Eberhart refers to Cebu in his long poem 'A Bravery of Heart' which was an influence on Lowry.

Cebu has a long history of guitar making due to its traditional industry. Most of the guitar manufacturers are family-owned enterprises passed on from one generation to another.The centre of the guitar-making industry in Cebu is in Lapu-Lapu City in Mactan Island. In addition, other string musical instruments made in Lapu-Lapu City include ukuleles, banjos, and mandolins.

The guitar-making industry in Lapu-Lapu City started when the Spanish friars assigned in Cebu needed to repair the guitars they were using. Instead of waiting for the guitars to arrive from Mexico, they commissioned the townspeople of Opon village in Mactan Island to make new guitars and repair the existing guitars they had; thus began the guitar industry in Cebu. Read more

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee

Lowry refers to Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in his novel Ultramarine; "—the 'ottest day I've ever known, anywhere in the world, was in England, in Liverpool, on Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee." (Pg.178).

On 23 September 1896, Victoria surpassed her grandfather George III as the longest-reigning monarch in English, Scottish, and British history. The Queen requested that any special celebrations be delayed until 1897, to coincide with her Diamond Jubilee, which was made a festival of the British Empire at the suggestion of Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain.

The date of the celebrations was 22 Jun 1897. The prime ministers of all the self-governing dominions were invited, and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee procession through London included troops from all over the empire. The parade paused for an open-air service of thanksgiving held outside St Paul's Cathedral, throughout which Victoria sat in her open carriage. The celebration was marked by great outpourings of affection for the septuagenarian Queen.

Queen Victoria arriving at the Mansion House for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations

Crosse & Blackwell

Crosse & Blackwell is a food production brand which has been in existence since 1706.

Originally trading under the Jackson brand and then West and Wyatt, the company was purchased in 1830 by Edmund Crosse and Thomas Blackwell. Over the years, the brand has been applied to various varieties of canned, dried and bottled grocery products. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to the company's products in his novel Ultramarine; "Now I was telling you about this hungry ship. We were carrying a cargo of Crosse and bloody Blackwell's plum puddings and tinned chickens and all sorts out East for the Christmas season. Ruddy murder it was to think of all that food under the hatches and us poor twats forward eating Harriet Lane all the time."( Pg. 177) and " 'Well, one night this fellow got a catch on the end of his heaving line and we helped him haul it up to the fo'c'sle. And it was a damned great box of - what do you think? Crosse and Blackwell's tin openers.' " (Pg. 178).

Lowry also refers to the phrase "Purveyors to His Majesty the King" during one of Dana's inner dialogues when he is thinking of his family. The phrase means that a company supplies goods to the royal family by royal warrant. The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family, so lending prestige to the supplier. Lowry's use of the phrase may be related to Cross and Blackwell's advertising.

Bridgetown, Barbados

English settlement of Bridgetown began on 5 July 1628 under Charles Wolverstone, who brought with him 64 settlers to these lands formally claimed by James Hay, the Earl of Carlisle. From 1800 until 1885 Bridgetown served as the main seat of Government for the former British colonies of the Windward Islands. During this period the resident Governor of Barbados also served as the Colonial head of the Windward Islands. After the Government of Barbados officially exited from the Windward Island union in 1885, the seat was moved from Bridgetown to St. George's on the neighbouring island of Grenada. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to Bridgetown in his novel Ultramarine; Dana tells Poppelreuter while on their drunken drift around Dairen; " 'In Barbados, in Bridgetown, I remained a week, playing the taropatch in a brothel. While accepting the offer of the fifteen-year-old daughter of the house. I sold her to the Negro doorkeeper for a bottle of gin.' " (Pg. 93).

Later Lowry again refers to Bridgetown;  " ' Talking about cows, all round the West Indies I been, Barbados, Bridgetown, that's hot stuff...All the grape trees coming down to the water's edge, you want to stay at the Colonial in the Milk Market there - nigger orchestra. The Marine's no good - that is, if you got money. I had. That was during the war. I tried the Marine, and the Balmoral. And then I went to the Colonial.....' " (Pg. 174).


Lowry visited Bridgetown on his 1929 trip to the Caribbean, en route to the USA to visit Conrad Aiken, on board the SS Dorelian. Gordon Bowker states that Lowry later claimed to have played in a hot band in a brothel in Barbados (Pursued By Furies Pg. 83). We can only speculate whether the claims made by Dana in Ultramarine reflect Lowry's own visit to Bridgetown.


Marisa Joanna Fuentes in Buried Landscapes: Enslaved Black Women, Sex, Confinement and Death in Colonial Bridgetown etc (1997) states "Bridgetown is still a small city — underneath it all, the history of slavery is deftly white washed by "development", yet street names such as "Molls Alley", "Maiden Lane", "Milk Market" and "Liverpool Lane" whisper to a haunted past." (Pg. 109). This "haunted past" is perhaps what Lowry was tapping into on his visit in 1929.

Milk Market, Bridgetown

Marine Hotel, Hastings, Barbados

The Marine was a 200 room hotel built in 1887 in Hastings, Barbados about 2 miles from Bridgetown. The hotel featured some very elaborately detailed cast iron balustrades, large wrap-around patios and a magnificent ballroom. Today, on the sites of both the Marine and Pomroy Hotels is the PomMarine Hotel, a teaching Hotel attached to the Barbados Community College.

Lowry refers to the hotel in his novel Ultramarine; " ' Talking about cows, all round the West Indies I been, Barbados, Bridgetown, that's hot stuff...All the grape trees coming down to the water's edge, you want to stay at the Colonial in the Milk Market there - nigger orchestra. The Marine's no good - that is, if you got money. I had. That was during the war. I tried the Marine, and the Balmoral. And then I went to the Colonial.....' " (Pg. 174).

There is no record whether Lowry visited the hotel on his 1929 trip to the Caribbean en route to the USA to visit Conrad Aiken.

Hotel Balmoral, Bridgetown, Barbados

Lowry refers to the hotel in his novel Ultramarine; " ' Talking about cows, all round the West Indies I been, Barbados, Bridgetown, that's hot stuff...All the grape trees coming down to the water's edge, you want to stay at the Colonial in the Milk Market there - nigger orchestra. The Marine's no good - that is, if you got money. I had. That was during the war. I tried the Marine, and the Balmoral. And then I went to the Colonial.....' " (Pg. 174).

The hotel was located on the opposite side of the Hastings Road, near St. Matthias Church in Hastings, Barbados. There is no record whether Lowry visited the hotel on his 1929 trip to the Caribbean en route to the USA to visit Conrad Aiken.

I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles

The music was written by John Kellette. The lyrics are credited to "Jaan Kenbrovin", actually a collective pseudonym for the writers James Kendis, James Brockman and Nat Vincent. The number was debuted in the Broadway musical The Passing Show of 1918, and it was introduced by Helen Carrington. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to the song in his novel Ultramarine; " 'And then I went to the Colonial. I lived there for three weeks with a black cow....fighting drunk I was all the time and all the niggers playing "I'm forever blowing Bubbles on their bloody banjos-'"

Manila

Manila Bay is a natural harbour which serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines.The bay is considered to be one of the best natural harbours in Southeast Asia and one of the finest in the world.

The Port of Manila dates back to Spanish and pre-Spanish rule of the Philippine Islands. It is recorded that Manila and the Philippines had trade relations with most neighboring countries at least as far back as the 9th to 12th centuries. Major trading partners included China and Japan, with ties to India through the areas that are now Malaysia and Indonesia. The Spanish-controlled Port of Manila handled trade primarily with China and other East Asian countries, with Mexico, with Arab countries, and directly with Spain from the 16th to mid-19th century when the port was opened to all trade ships. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry visited the port between August 10th and 14th August 1927 on his voyage to the Far East aboard the Pyrrhus. Lowry arrived from Foochow before sailing onto Singapore. The stopover was one of the longest on the voyage - Yokohama (17 days), Dairen (5 days) and Singapore (5 days outward bound and 5 days inward bound).

Lowry refers to Manila in his novel Ultramarine; Barcelona I knew as well as......Manila or Surabaya." (pg. 94); "Yes we are homeward bound after Manila." (Pg. 113); "I had an experience like that on the Plato - in Manila - last voyage..." (Pg. 135) "Oor, you can buy cigars dirty cheap in Manila, boy." (Pg. 177) and "Manila, eh, reminds me of Cebu." (pg. 177). Later Lowry refers again to Manila in his filmscript for Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night; "MANILA—GOVERNOR WOOD WAS REPORTED SERIOUSLY ILL HERE." (Pg. 148).

Stan Hugill refers to the port in his book Sailortown:

Leaving Nippon behind let us now head for the Philippines. We have noted the fact that during the windjammer days Manila was an occasional port of call for whalers, the case oil traders and so on, but between the wars trade grew in leaps and bounds and Manila harbour was never empty of ships. The dock area, or Tondo, was fairly notorious for assaults on ship-returning sailors, but the town lacked the number of seamen's pubs found elsewhere int he East. There was a rather well-got-up joint called the Mariner's Club, of which the writer was once an evening member, but apart from one or two saloons like the New York bar what a sailor calls 'real dives' didn't exist, although outside the city's limits, near the village of Kulikuli, many large brothels thrived. Of course, there was a cabaret Santiana, said to be the largest in the world, but here the girls were easy on the eye and hard on sailor's pockets. (Pg. 336).

Red Lion, Perim

Lowry refers to a pub on the island in his novel Ultramarine"; "Perim in the Red Sea, they have red-headed n...... I don't know if any of you fellers ever been ashore there. There's one pub, the Red Lion. And its as flat as a flipper and bloody hot. We took a chap out there once to be a signalman”. (Pg 175.). The pub remains unidentified to date though there was hotel as seen above on the island. Read more

Lowry did not stop at the island on his voyage to the Far East in 1927.

Red Lion is the name of over six hundred pubs in the UK. It thus can stand for an archetypal British pub. The lion is one of the most common charges in coats of arms, second only to the cross, and thus the Red Lion as a pub sign probably has multiple origins: in the arms or crest of a local landowner, now perhaps forgotten; as a personal badge of John of Gaunt, founder of the House of Lancaster; or in the royal arms of Scotland, conjoined to the arms of England after the Stuart succession in 1603.

Tsingtao

Former western postal name of Qingdao, China a major seaport, naval base, and industrial centre on the Shandong Peninsula on the Yellow Sea. China conceded the area to Germany in 1898, and the Kiautschou Bay concession, as it became known, existed from 1898 to 1914.

After a minor British naval attack on the German colony in 1914, Japan occupied the city and the surrounding province during the Siege of Tsingtao after Japan's declaration of war on Germany in accordance with the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. The failure of the Allied powers to restore Chinese rule to Shandong after the war triggered the May Fourth Movement. The city reverted to Chinese rule in December, 1922, under control of the Republic of China. The city became a direct-controlled municipality of the Chinese Government in 1929. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry visited the port between July 29th and 1st August 1927 on his voyage to the Far East aboard the Pyrrhus. Lowry arrived from Dairen before sailing onto Keelung.

Lowry refers to the port in his novel Ultramarine; "He was thinking of the first time he had seen Andy in the booth, where he had been talking about a girl at Tsintao, on the bathing beach there." (Pg. 25); "A white motor boat came curtsying out of the harbour, rolling nearer and nearer: as she rounded the stern of the Oedipus Tyrannus her name was visible, Mabel-Tsintao." (Pg. 28); "In Tsintao I defrauded a Chinaman of a bottle of Batavian arak, weeping afterwards, when he refused publicly, to shake hands with me." (Pg. 93/94) and " 'Aw, you mean Tsintao, boy' ' No, I don't mean Tsintao' 'E means Tsintao all the bloody same.' (Pg. 161).

Stan Hugill in his book recalls the sailortown area of Tsingtao:

Tsingtao, in China, having been taken over by the Japanese after the First world war, was in these days very Japanese in character, although the imprint of its previous owner, Germany- with a dash of Russian, and a bottom layer of China - was also present. In the early thirties it was quite a busy port and consequently had many drinking dives fro seamen. The first one, outside the dock gates, was the Port Lunch. Up the Kuan Hsieh and Liao Cheng Roads stood many more , with brothels in Lin Hsing Road. Here we give some of the better known of these joints: cafe Ginza, the Korean Bar, Sapporo Cabaret, Slick's Bar, Jimmy's Bar, Bright Eyes, Kismet, the St. France, the Kiharu Baru, and the New Bluejacket Bar.

In the Lin Hsing Road were the 'cages' with Japanese joro gazing outwards while they knitted, embroidered, or chatted to each other. Korean kisnangs or Geisha, all of whom, unlike Japanese Geisha, were harlots, were also to be found in houses in this street. (Sailortown Pg.332).

F. E. Chadwick et al Ocean Steamships etc

Lowry's references to literature of the sea are fairly extensive in Ultramarine and include appropriations from a book entitled Ocean steamships a popular account of their construction, development, management and appliances by F. E. Chadwick, U.S.N., J. D. J. Kelley, U.S.N., Ridgely Hunt, U.S.N., John H. Gould, William H. Rideing, A. E. Seaton (1891).

Lowry's obsession with the stokehold may have been ignited by the descriptions in Chapter "The Ship's Company written by Lieutenant J. D. Jerrold Kelley U.S. Navy in Ocean steamships etc. However, we have no record of when Lowry read the book - it may have been as a child or at school.

Lowry had an affinity with ships' firemen and references or allusions to firemen occur frequently in his work. Lowry may have even signed on the S.S. Fagervik as a fireman on his journey to the White Sea in 1931. A description of the stokehold of the Oedipus Tyrannus and the fireman Nikolai Wallae occurs early in Ultramarine. (Pg.s 24-25); "But despite their work the firemen seemed to get more fun out of life than the seamen, and it seemed somehow to be better, in some queer way to be nearer to God-" (Pg. 25).

Compare text from Ultramarine with Ocean Steamships etc:

...it was humiliating to watch the nicety with which the lever weight and fulcrum worked, opening and closing their hidden mechanisms and functioning with such an incomprehensible exactness! He thought of the whirling clanks holding horribly in their nerveless grip the penetrating shaft that turned the screws ... Ultramarine Pg. 25

....and in the end you marvel at the nicety with which lever, weight, and fulcrum work, opening and closing hidden mechanisms, and functioning with an exactness that dignifies the fraction of a second into an appreciable quantity. Cranks whirl and whirl and whirl incessantly, holding in moveless grip the long shafting turning the churning screws..... Ocean Steamships Pg. 171

An echo of the above can also be found in a description of the movement of Oedipus Tyrannus on Page 41; "The desire of the link for the pivot; of the lever weight for the fulcrum...".

"Well, those were the ancient violences, the old heroic days of holystones; and they are gone, you say." Ultramarine Pg. 47

"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." Ocean Steamships Pg. 166-169.

"He gazed round the engine room. Ah, there at least no interruption entered. It was a wonderland, a laboratory of laboratories, a twilight island of mysteries.....Why was it his brain could not accept the dissonance as simply as a harmony, could not make order emerge from chaos?" Ultramarine Pg. 157

"When you come to measure the region fairly, it broadens into a wonderland ; it shapes itself into a twilight island of mysteries, into a laboratory where grimy alchemists practise black magic and white. At first all seerns confusion, but when the brain has co-ordinated certain factors, harmony is wooed from discord and order emerges from chaos." Ocean Steamships Pg. 170

Lowry used the phrase "All Lombard Street To A Tahiti Orange" in his novel Ultramarine when the crew are discussing the chances of the survival Norman's pigeon in the sea  "Yes. All Lombard Street To A Tahiti Orange on that, mate' said the boatswain, as he started to roll a cigarette. 'I'm afraid he'll make a nice little bit of supper for one of them sharks, supper eh?'" (Pg 149). Lowry must have recalled the phrase from Ocean Steamships; "Very creditable, sir ; very well done. You may secure, sir ? " Very well done it is, and when you remember this is the first drill and many of the hands are new, you may feel reasonably assured, should any ordinary fire break out, that it is all Lombard Street to a Tahiti orange it will be subdued most promptly." (Pg. 155).

Keelung, Taiwan

Keelung City (also Jilong or Chilung) is a major port city situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan formerly Formosa in the 1920s. A systematic city development started during the Japanese Era, after the 8 May 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki, which handed all Taiwan over to Japan, went into force. A five-phase construction of Keelung Harbour was initiated, and in by 1916 trade volume had exceeded even those of Tamsui and Kaohsiung Harbours to become one of the major commercial harbors of Taiwan. Read more on Wikipedia 

Lowry visited the port on the inward bound voyage of Pyrrhus arriving August 4th and departing the next day for Foochow.

Lowry refers to Keelung in his novel Ultramarine; "Now ... I once pinched a five-pound packet of what I thought was Formosa tea from Kelung, only it turned out to be camphor!" (Pg.178).

Later in The 1940 Under The Volcano; "When I was on the Achilles I once saw the Helen coming out of Kelung, Formosa, with the Menelaus after her. The Minnylaws, as the limeys call her. But that's by way" (Pg. 61).

Lowry also wrote to David Markson in a letter dated 10th Setember 1951; "...(Though I've been to Ceylon, Likewise Formosa. Likewise China & Japan. Also Dollarton). (Collected Letters Vol 2 Pg. 433).

Images courtesy of Taipics