The Isle of Devils (54 page)

CHAPTER II: THE
MALABAR


        
Watson clearly treasured that “very excellent field-glass”, as he retained it until at least 1888 when Holmes suggested that Watson bring them along upon their jaunt to King’s Pyland (
Silver Blaze
).


        
Watson would hear of St. Helena again when Jack Douglas was lost overboard in a gale near the isle, a cover for his murder by the orders of Professor Moriarty (Epilogue,
The Valley of Fear
). As an interesting aside, Watson’s first literary agent Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a story in 1903 entitled
The Last Adventure of the Brigadier (How Etienne Gerard Said Goodbye to His Master),
which
chronicled an unsuccessful attempt to rescue Napoleon from St. Helena. One wonders if Sir Arthur got the idea from Watson?


        
The Malabar’s cook was wise to disguise the aging mutton in curry, which is also strong enough to “disguise the flavor” of powered opium (
Silver Blaze
).


        
Of course, Master Billy was not the only spirited British boy upon the high seas. Master Jacky Ferguson was sent out for a year as well at Holmes recommendation (
The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire)
. Watson never records what became of Master Billy after he grew out of the role of cabin boy aboard the
Malabar
. It is perhaps tempting to imagine that, on Watson’s recommendation, he acquired a job as a page at 221 Baker Street (
The Problem of Thor Bridge
). Billy’s tenure at Baker Street was a long one, lasting from no later than 1888 (Chapter I,
The Valley of Fear
) to at least 1903 (
The Mazarin Stone
).


        
Watson’s quotation from
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
(1817) is the only indication that we have that Watson was familiar with the works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). Coleridge was indisputably an opium addict, even admitting that he dreamt up the poem
Kubla Khan
(1816) under its influence. Unfortunately, Watson would later witness some of the crueler aspects of opium abuse while caring for his patient Isa Whitney (
The Man with the Twisted Lip
).


        
That Watson was a voracious reader is self-evident from a perusal of the Canon. The list of books that he has reporting reading is long and varied. Watson clearly collected books, and his shelves were almost completed filled by 1894 (
The Adventure of the Empty House
). In 1895, Holmes even goes so far as to call him a “man of letters” (
The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
). Watson clearly enjoyed
The Wreck of the Grosvenor
(1877) enough to continue to read the author’s other works, for by early 1885 he was “deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea stories'” (
The Five Orange Pips
). Sensational novels bound in vividly illustrated yellow boards and originally intended for railway travelers, were always referred to by Watson as “yellow-backed novels” (
The Boscombe Valley Mystery
). Even before his fateful meeting with Sherlock Holmes Watson was extremely fond of mysteries: “’Oh! A mystery is it?’ [he] cried, rubbing [his] hands” (Chapter I,
A Study in Scarlet
). Wilkie Collins’ (1824-1889) classic
The Moonstone
(1868) is considered the first detective novel (as opposed to Poe’ short stories) written in English, and certainly Watson would have read it.


        
Watson and Lomax would continue as friends for many years. In 1902, Watson consulted Lomax when he was in need of a rapid education on the history of Chinese pottery (
The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
).


        
Lomax’s quote ‘But dearly was that conquest bought’ was from the opera
The Americans
(1811) by John Braham, with words by S.J. Arnold. Very popular in its day, Sherlock Holmes
would later quote from a later part of the same passage (‘For England, home and beauty’) (
His Last Bow
).


        
Lomax’s longing to see England again was clearly typical of the soldiers of the day. His very words echoed those of the crippled Harry Wood (
The Adventure of the Crooked Man
). Watson also continued to feel strongly about the lure English countryside (
The Cardboard Box
).


        
Watson was still fond of quoting Thomas Carlyle (1775-1881) a year later (Chapter II,
A Study in Scarlet
). He was amazed that Holmes did not know Carlyle’s works, though Watson must have inspired his new friend. By 1888, Holmes was completely familiar not only with Carlyle, but with his intellectual ‘parent’ Johann Paul Friedrich Richter (1763-1825), as the two men discussed on their hunt with Toby (Chapter VII,
The Sign of the Four
).  


        
By an odd coincidence, a copy of Pope’s Homer was later stolen from the house of old Acton by the two Cunninghams (
The Reigate Squires
). Watson was clearly fond of Alexander Pope’s writings, as he quotes him (“The proper study of mankind is man”) to young Stamford (Chapter I,
A Study in Scarlet
). Watson’s allusion to a ‘modern Alexander’ refers to Alexander the Great of Macedonia, who legendarily slept with a copy of
The Iliad
under his pillow.


        
Watson was certainly familiar with the works of Poe (1809-1849) by the time he met Sherlock Holmes, for he remarked that Holmes “reminded [him] of Edgar Allen Poe’s Dupin” (Chapter II,
A Study in Scarlet
). Since
The Gold Bug
(1843) was Poe’s most successful story during his lifetime, it is highly likely that Watson once read that tale as well. We now have proof for that supposition and one wonders its influence on Watson’s further tales of treasure and great jewels (see notes to Chapter XXV). Watson must have enjoyed the tales of Poe, since by the time he met Holmes he had already moved on to the tales of the detective
Lecoq
by Emile Gaboriau (1832-1873) (Chapter II,
A Study in Scarlet
).


        
It is not clear how much of Watson’s list of ships is accurate. It is well documented that the HMS
Northampton
was at Bermuda in 1880, where its generator-powered electric lights were a ‘brilliant display” and “most splendid” (the Bermuda
Royal Gazette
). The HMS
Warrior
certainly undertook a voyage to Bermuda in 1869, but it is less clear that it would have been spotted there by Watson in 1880. Fortunately, the ship is still intact and can be visited in the historic dockyard of Portsmouth, England. Both the
Irresistible
and the
Scorpion
were definitely stationed in Bermuda during that time, as was the
Vixen
, which was deliberately
scuttled in 1896 off the western shore of Bermuda and can be reached by scuba divers today. There does not appear to be good evidence that the
Achilles
was in Bermuda in 1880. While it is possible that the cutter
Alicia
would have been spotted in Bermuda waters, it is odd that a ship of the same name was mentioned by him twenty years to have mysteriously disappeared (
The Problem of Thor Bridge
). As it is not an uncommon name, it may be a coincidence.

CHAPTER III: THE ISLE OF DEVILS


        
The
Llandoger
Trow
pub on King Street is supposedly the meeting place of Daniel Defoe and the historical inspiration for ‘Robinson Crusoe’, Alexander Selkirk. It is also rumored to be where Robert Louis Stevenson got the idea for the Admiral
Benbow
pub at the beginning of his great work,
Treasure Island
(1883). The pub is a 17th-century Grade II listed building that still stands in Bristol.


        
Unfortunately for Mr. Brewis, although he would eventually return to Bristol temporarily and marry his sweet barmaid, she would later prove to be unfaithful to him when he was sent back to Bermuda, taking her pleasures with Mr. James McCarthy (
The Boscombe Valley Mystery
). This is the only mention of Bermuda in the Canon, suggesting that Watson may have had painful or unpleasant memories of his sojourn there.


        
The Floating Dock nobly served its purpose until 1906, when the new generation warships were too large to fit in its constraints. It was then sold to a German company for scrap metal. After partially dismantling it, the Dock was being towed away when it fell into a gale and broke loose. It then got stuck upon a reef near Spanish Point, where multiple attempts to remove it have failed. Even today you can see a large chunk of rusted iron lying on the water, all that remains of the greatest floating dock in history. No other shipyard appears in the Canon of Sherlock Holmes, though one does make a memorable appearance in the 2009 eponymous film.


        
From 1880 to 1885, Dr. Edward Lewton Penny was the Dockyard parson, schoolmaster and librarian. His complaints about life on Bermuda were legendary.


        
In addition to eventually going back into full-time practice for a stint, Watson also kept up with his medical literature, such as “the latest treatise on pathology” (Chapter II,
The Sign of the Four
), “a recent treatise upon surgery” (
The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez
), the
British
Medical Journal
(
The Stock-Broker’s Clerk
), and even “monographs upon obscure nervous lesions” (
The Resident Patient
).
The
British Medical Journal
is the official journal of the British Medical Association, of which Watson must have been a member, and has been continuously published since 1840.