On display at the National Museum of Transportation. . .

St Louis

Brad's summer reading list number 21 - CROO - Victoria's Wars

"Oh, but the tattered web we weave."

It is not unusual to find in the Canon of Sherlock Holmes reference to men who have served in the military.

Matter of fact, that is how we first meet Watson. Watson introduces us to his world with an explanation of his time in service and how he comes to be in London.

In other stories Holmes is mentioned as deducing the appearance of a man by his military bearing.

And Watson's military 'bearing' is also mentioned in this story.

Most of the military adventures suggested in the Canon take place in far off exotic locations.

And if you think about it, it doesn't seem unusual.

During Victoria's reign the empire of Great Britain was at it largest and most extreme. It was the super  power that in just another fifty years would be taken over by the United States.
Britannia still ruled the waves, for better or worse.

Victoria's wars found British fighting men in conflicts all over the world; China, India and other Asian nations. Crimea, Russia, Afghanistan and many areas and countries in Africa. British service man fought in well over one hundred conflicts during Victoria's reign. (In a quick count I came up with 49 major battles. This count does not include small battles.)

Some great movies have come out of this time in British military history, "The Four Feathers", "Zulu" and "Zulu Dawn", among many others.
Most try to show the British soldier as brave and loyal and dependable. Fighting for Queen and country. We have come to expect that as the portrayal of the British soldier at this time.
Also at this time it was still common for officers to have purchased their commissions  This practice was not abolished till 1871.
The explanations behind the justification of purchased commissions is very interesting.

This does not however apply to our two protagonists in this story. Both start as humble soldiers, with one working his way up through the ranks. And with the outcome we find at the end of the case, maybe some of his methods were a little under-handed.


I would suggest that what is described in this story as the Siege at Bhurtee has some similarities to the actual Siege of Cawnpore. It is worth reading about.

Victoria's soldiers were involved in conflicts all over her realm and we should not find it unusual for some of those men to pop up in the Canon, good or bad.

One question: are there any Navy veterans mentioned in the Canon as part of any of the stories?
Not just nautical men, of which there are many, but actual British Navy veterans.

Okay, Brad, I am waiting for our next assignment.

Brad's summer reading list #11 - Black Peter (BLAC) - Sherlockain pinterest

I love Black Peter! I don't know if that is akin to loving 'spotted dick' or what, but it is one of my favorites.
As well it should be.
It is the namesake story of the first scion I belonged (and still belong) to, The Harpooners of the Sea Unicorn. Taking a reference from BLAC and the building of missiles at then MacDonald Douglas in St. Charles. (We even had a fake harpoon the the most recent member to commit a Sherlockian faux pas had to carry throughout the meeting.)
Which meant we did a presentation on the story each year on the anniversary of our group.
So I have been over it a lot.
I even did a large painting of this F.D.S. illustration that we could hang at our meetings and events. It is one of my favorite F.D.S. illustrations.
So, needless to say, I have attended the inquiry into the death of Peter Carey many times.
But, like with most of the Canon, you can always walk away with something new.

And with the line; "I have never known my friend to be in better form, both mental and physical, than in the year ‘95. His increasing fame had brought with it an immense practice, and I should be guilty of an indiscretion if I were even to hint at the identity of some of the illustrious clients who crossed our humble threshold in Baker Street."
the date 1895 is firmly planted in the minds of readers as the date the will always be associated with Holmes and his time in Victorian history.

 ". . .  Here, though the world explode, these two survive,

And it is always eighteen ninety-five." V.S.

But arguably we would have to examine the four to six stories (depending on the chronology you follow) collected from 1895 in the canon to see how they hold up as favorites and to see if this was indeed Holmes at his best.

Several other years contain more documented cases. And none were actually published in 1895 to my knowledge.

1887, 88, and 89 all have many more documented cases than 1895.

But even with all that said, there are still some great things to explore in BLAC. Once again we find our adventure starting in Baker Street. Only Holmes and Watson are both present at the start of the case. And once again Scotland Yard is in need of Holmes' help.

Like so many we have been reviewing for Brad's summer reading list, the case again takes Holmes and Watson out of London to the more rural environs.

And again, as mentioned in the last review, the story involves nautical intrigue. And, as also mentioned, another wealthy man who got his gains from nefarious acts while on board a boat. Although we never actually meet Peter Carey, alive or dead, he has to rank up there with the best of the bad guys in the Canon for temper, strength and loathsomeness.

Repeating myself, once again we get some insight into Watson's knowledge of nautical terms and ship board life. It is never mentioned in any of the stories that Watson actually carries a note book with him, In many television and film adaptations we sometimes see Watson making notes at the end of the day, and there are a few Canonical references to back that up. But most of Watson's writings are done from memory, even his note taking. But to get the nautical references so accurate one most have some experience with boats, like the literary agent Doyle did. Or Watson was using a lot of artistic license.

Most of Holmes investigations take place from the confines of Baker St. with the aid of the newspapers and information he can gather from Baker St. The crime scene gives up little that Holmes does not already know.

Again we are teased in this tale of cases we will never read about; The sudden death of Cardinal Tusca and the Wilson the notorious canary-trainer. Oh, how we have speculated about those, especially Wilson, imagining how he could train canaries to commit crimes. Amazing! 

We get to meet Stanley Hopkins and find that he is not all that different the Lestrade other than he know Holmes does something different from the police but really can't get a hold of what that is.

And why was the elder Neligan, then Holmes and Watson, going to Norway. I mean the younger Neligan got the securities back, at least the ones that were left.  Well I guess in July Norway could be nice. Unless the original Neligan is not dead? What's up with that!

I did a presentation once about the difference in Whale and seal harpoons and the individuality of each type of hunt. We have had presentation on the design of steam trawlers, which was the Sea Unicorn. Terms and trades that were so common at the time, but unknown or unfamiliar to us now.

And very few tales have as much atmosphere as BLAC. First of course we have 221b Baker St.                                                                         We have a train ride.                                                                                             We have high adventure on the high sea.                                                     Mansion of dark happenings                                                                           A very grotesque crime scene (more on that in a minute).                   Interesting little room called 'the cabin'.                                                       Holmes and Watson about to embark on another adventure.

Now back to the point about grotesque. I have noticed with the re-reading of our summer reading list that the word grotesque has appeared several times, and not always in places where I would expect it. To me, the death of Peter Carey and the means by which it was carried out, would appear to have been very grotesque. At least me modern use in films and books. But seldom does Watson use the term as we would now. And for good reason. While I usually associated the word with horrible images in horror or action movies, which does apply, that is not the only use or original use of the word. And for a quick reference to the history of use of the word I will quote wikipedia; "    Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, fantastic, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus is often used to describe weird shapes and distorted forms such as Halloween masks. In art, performance, and literature, grotesque, however, may also refer to something that simultaneously invokes in an audience a feeling of uncomfortable bizarreness as well as empathic pity. More specifically, the grotesque forms on Gothic buildings, when not used as drain-spouts, should not be called gargoyles, but rather referred to simply as grotesques, or chimeras."

And several other sources have referenced about the same.

'Sherlock' Benedict Cumberbatch walking in with the harpoon

was indeed grotesque, as is the bug on our windshield. But several of the times Watson has used the word I questioned it's placement and, as in the case of BLAC, I questioned why it wasn't used there. But now we know.    

So, yea, I really like BLAC. It gives those of us who enjoy  what is now the history part of the stories a lot to think about.]

And that can never be wrong.        

Although it did lack beer.                    

Brad's summer reading list - #10 - Gloria Scott (GLOR) - Not a luxury cruise at all.

There are several good points worth discussing in GLOR.

The one point picked up most of all, usually, is the information that is provided about a younger Sherlock Holmes and his time before Baker St. His college years.
We learn of his studies, or lack there of.
We learn of his interest in the martial skills of boxing and fencing.
We learn that indeed Sherlock did form a friendship, again with a person very much not like himself, and seemingly very much like Watson. (Read Brad's take on this relationship at Sherlock Peoria.)
And we also learn that Sherlock was in tune with the feelings of this friend when we realize that he shorten his vacation because he felt his presences seemed to put a burden on the young master of the house.

But for me the story once again is in the surroundings and not the case.
And with most stories I like to chose some thing within the 'stage props' to focus on.

It is quite evident that Watson (Doyle) was very up on his knowledge of nautical terms and meanings.
We know Watson took at least one long sea voyage, We also know Doyle served on a ship as ships doctor.
And we know both men were astute observers and would have picked up a good deal more knowledge than most.
Several cases of Holmes involve adventures that took place aboard ship, or at least required long sea voyages at one point or another.
The one thing that jumped out for we on the re-reading of GLOR was the words 'picking my salt meat out of the harness cask'. More specifically 'harness cask'.
That's not a phrase you are going to hear on a modern cruise ship, that's for sure.
Imagine if you will, in your work environment, having each meal during your working hours being placed in a large tub in the middle of the work room floor. And it is from this tub you get your food. Most often hard biscuits and salted meat. Then imagine if you will doing this for two years or longer. And said food would not have been in a zip-lock bag. No nice igloo cooler.

The image to the left shows the ships cooper 'coopering' the harness cask.

A ships coopers job was maintaining the barrels used on a ship.

What warrants thinking about here is the conditions of sailors at this time in history. It was a very hard life, with much risk to the individual.

This cask would have been lashed down in some way to prevent it moving or spilling in rough seas.
And there would have been a very specialized knot or hitch for holding that barrel down.

Check out this wonderful book about knots and see how many are no longer used. (and rope is made out of different materials now, so many of these knots are no longer usable. Nylon and hemp do not react the same way, so can not be used in all cases the same way.)

Like the food served to the crew, water would have been obtained the same way, a mutual barrel.

Coopers, like so many other jobs casually described in the Canon are jobs that either no longer exist or are at least rare.

One interesting bit of research I did once, based on a Canonical reference, was how Holmes was able to describe peoples occupations by what they were wearing. A butcher say would wear a different type of apron than say a baker. A sail maker would wear a different type of glove compared to a press operator.

How many modern occupations now a days are recognizable by clothes or uniforms. Some still, but not as many. (Some time, when sitting in a bar at happy hour, make a game with a friend out of trying to figure out what people do by how they are dressed.)

Another interesting thing about the words 'harness-cask' is to wonder how many of our modern terms will be around in fifty or a hundred years. How many readers of our modern mysteries will know the a word, say, like eight track or CD.

Most of us Sherlockians would love to decorate a room in our homes to look like 221b Baker St. with what to us are antiques, but to Watson would have been modern conveniences and decor.

So much about the research into the Canon becomes more than just finding out facts, it becomes a history lesson. And in doing that research for ourselves, we preserve a little bit of knowledge for the next generation.

One other point I would like you to consider is; How many of the wealthy men involved in the cases of Sherlock Holmes gained there wealth after or being involved in some crime?

Have you ever seen Sherlock Holmes Baffled

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