Through The Panama

Through The Panama is one of my favourite works by Lowry. I have posted 37 "postcards" on my Postcards from Malc blog relating to Through The Panama.

Here are links to the ones specifically relating to the Canal:

Panama Canal 21st November 1947
Cristobal, Panama 26th November 1947
Balboa, Panama November 1947
Miraflores, Panama November 1947
Pedro Miguel, Panama November 1947
Culebra Cut, Panama November 1947
Gatun Lake, Panama November 1947
Gatun Lock, Panama November 1947
Lighthouse, Gatun Locks, Panama November 1947
Gatun Lock, Panama November 1947
Cristobal, Panama November 1947

'The Kerry Dancers'

Engine that sings 'The Kerry Dancers'Through The Panama
Just had to remind myself what they may have sounded like to Malc!!

Leonard Pennario Variations on the Kerry Dancers (1942):

Condor

- A great black bird sitting crucified on the cross-trees, its wings so vast it obscures the foremast light; the Captain calls us to see it, says : I will not shoot the eagle , or anything, I never kill anything, but - "Shoot it ! I should damned well think not!" says Primrose. It is a condor ( Gymnogyps Californianus) with a 10 half foot wing-spread, and the sight one of the rarest in the world, for the bird, a sort of super-xopolite or vulture by Thomas Wolfe, is almost extinct, after a while it has vanished, as mysteriously as it arrived
Through The Panama

Malc and Margerie were keen birdwatchers. Many species of birds pervade Malc's writings. The condor in 'Through The Panama' appears to evoke the memory of the Mexican vultures (xopolite) who have a sinister presence in Under The Volcano.

The California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus) is a North American species of bird in the New World vulture family Cathartidae and the largest North American land bird. Currently, this condor inhabits only the Grand Canyon area, Zion National Park, and western coastal mountains of California and northern Baja California. Although other fossil members are known, it is the only surviving member of the genus Gymnogyps.

It is a large, black vulture with patches of white on the underside of the wings and a largely bald head with skin color ranging from yellowish to a bright red, depending on the bird's mood. It has the largest wingspan of any bird found in North America and is one of the heaviest, weighing up to 29lbs. The condor is a scavenger and eats large amounts of carrion. It is one of the world's longest-living birds, with a lifespan of up to 60 years.

Condor numbers dramatically declined in the 20th century due to poaching, lead poisoning, and habitat destruction. Eventually, a conservation plan was put in place by the United States government that led to the capture of all 22 remaining wild condors in 1987. These surviving birds were bred at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Los Angeles Zoo. Numbers rose through captive breeding and, beginning in 1991, condors have been reintroduced into the wild. The project is the most expensive species conservation project ever undertaken in the United States. The California Condor is one of the world's rarest bird species. As of April 2011, there are 394 condors known to be living, including 181 in the wild.

The condor is a significant bird to many Californian Native American groups and plays an important role in several of their traditional myths. Read more

Art Tatum

Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques - Played by Louis Armstrong and his orchestra. Art Tatum on piano. Joe Venuti violin. Battement de Tambours Through The Panama

Malc's only mention of the maestro!

Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. (October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso. Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. Critic Scott Yanow wrote, "Tatum's quick reflexes and boundless imagination kept his improvisations filled with fresh (and sometimes futuristic) ideas that put him way ahead of his contemporaries ... Art Tatum's recordings still have the ability to scare modern pianists."
Read more

Here's Art from 1947 with Art's Blues from the movie Fabulous Dorseys - the year Malc sailed through the Panama Canal:

Henry B Tucker

Dawn behind the Henry B Tucker of the Luckenbach Line. Through The Panama

As far as my research shows there was no such ship of that line in 1947 at the time of Malc's voyage through the Panama Canal. This is not unusual for Malc as he either incorrectly spells names of ships, invents or slightly alters their identities.

In this case, I think he is referring to the Henry St.G.Tucker an ex- Liberty ship similar to the S.S. Brest on which Malc was sailing. Henry St.G.Tucker was originally owned by U.S.Department of Commerce and operated by American South African Line / Lykes Bros,Steamship Co.Inc.under WSA / USMC Service Agreement Form GAA / BB (General Agent Agreement / Bare Boat. Lykes Bros,Steamship Co Ltd sailed between New Orleans and other Gulf ports (Houston, Galveston etc), Yokohama and other Japanese ports, Korean ports, Taiwanese ports, Manila, Indonesian ports, Singapore, Penang, Port Swettenham, Singapore and return to US Gulf via the Philippines.

With regard to the Luckenbach Line, they didn't own a vessel corresponding to the name Henry B.Tucker. However, they did sail Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Panama Canal, Philadelphia, New York, Boston. Seattle and Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Panama Canal, New Orleans, Houston, Mobile routes. After World War II the company took over from the United States Maritime Commission several standard ships to make up for the wartime losses which means they would have used ex-Liberty ships as well.One such ship was the A C2-S-AJ3 Standard type steam turbine driven merchant built by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Wilmington, North Carolina and launched for the WSA on 6 September 1944 as USS Waukesha (AKA-84). She was decommissioned on 10 July and struck from the Navy List on 31 July and therefore returned to the control of the WSA. She was purchased by the Luckenbach Steamship Co., New York in 1947 and renamed Mary Luckenbach. She continued to trade for the same firm until 1959 when she was sold to the States Marine Lines Inc., New York and was renamed Bayou State, as shown in photograph below.



In conclusion, I think Malc probably got the name slightly wrong as usual and perhaps liked the company name Luckenbach?

S.S. Parthenia

Going down, at 7 am, between buoys, passing at buoy 7, going the other way, S.S. Parthenia out of Glasgow... Through The Panama

There have been several ships with this name. The ship corresponding to the 1947 voyage made by Malc must be the former USS Mercer:

USS Mercer, a 13,130-ton cargo ship, was built to Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1037 at Hackensack River, New Jersey, in 1918 as the civilian ship of the same name. The Navy acquired her upon completion in January 1919 and immediately placed her in commission. She made one voyage to Europe, with a cargo of food, beginning in mid-February. Upon arrival in England, she was given emergency repairs and then sent to Antwerp, Belgium. After staying at that port into early May, Mercer recrossed the Atlantic and steamed on to New Orleans, Louisiana, where she was decommissioned late in that month. She was returned to the United States Shipping Board in early June 1919.

Mercer remained in that agency's custody until 1941, when she was transferred to British registry and renamed Empire Kangaroo. She operated as Parthenia in 1946-1949, then went to Italian registry, initially as Erminia Mazzella and, from 1951, as Pina Onorato. The ship was scrapped at Spezia, Italy, in 1958. History Navy MIL

S.S. Brest

'Through The Panama' is one of my favourite works by Malc. The story is based on the sea voyage made by the Lowrys from Vancouver to Rotterdam in November 1947 aboard the S.S. Brest en route to a short tour of Europe. Malc calls the S.S. Brest the S.S. Diderot in 'Through The Panama' after the French writer. Diderot was of interest to Malc and there are allusions to Diderot's work in Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place which contains the short story.

The S.S. Brest was formerly the Liberty ship S.S. John Mac Lean.

Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by German U-boats, they were purchased for the U.S. fleet and for lend-lease provision to Britain. Eighteen American shipyards built 2,751 Libertys between 1941 and 1945, easily the largest number of ships produced to a single design.

The production of these vessels mirrored, on a much larger scale, the manufacture of the Hog Islander ship and similar standardized types during World War I. The immense effort to build Liberty ships, the sheer number of ships built, and the fact that some of the ships survived far longer than the original design life of five years, make them the subject of much study. Read more on Wikipedia

Brest (liberty-ship) 1947 - 1949
hull material : ...................
previous name(s) of ship : ........John Mac Lean
detailed type : ...................liberty-ship
type of propulsion : ..............1 propeller
building year of ship : ...........1942
name of shipyard : ................Permanente Metals Corp.
place of construction : ...........Richmond
year of entering the fleet : ......1947
length (in meters) : ..............126,79
width (in meters) : ...............17,37
gross tonnage (in tons) : .........7176
deadweight (in tons) : ............10900
type of engine : ..................inverted, triple expansion 3 cylinders
engine power (in HP) : ............2500
nominal speed (in Knots) : ........11

11 cargo liners of the liberty-ship type were entrusted with management to « Compagnie Générale Transatlantique » before the conclusion of the Blum-Byrnes agreements of May 26, 1946. Following these agreements, the French government acquired 75 liberty-ships, of which 21 in their turn were entrusted to management with Transat, which amounts their total to 32. The deliveries spread out until 1947. These ships were used, according to the needs, on the lines of the North Atlantic, of the West Indies, of the North Pacific or the South Pacific. Between 1957 and 1960, thirteen of them were especially equipped for the transport of the Renault cars in the United States and were chartered by the « Compagnie d’Affrêtement et de Transport » (CAT), then subsidiary company of Régie Renault. The first liberty-ship to leave the fleet of « Compagnie Générale Transatlantique » after the accident of the GRANDCAMP in 1947 was SAINT VALERY in May 1948 and the last DOMFRONT and BAYEUX in 1965. The last of the liberty-ships "ex-Transat" to disappear was the ARGENTAN, demolished in 1973. Built in 1942 under the name of JOHN MAC LEAN on behalf of the U.S. Shipping War Administration. Delivered to the French government in 1947. Renamed BREST and entrusted with management to « Compagnie Générale Transatlantique ». In July 1949, is transferred to the Messageries Maritimes company. Retains her name. In 1956, takes share in expedition of Suez. From 1958, is used to transport Renault cars to the United States. In 1961, is sold to a Panamanian Shipping company and renamed GALAXY. Is resold in 1969 and is renamed ELIOS. Demolished in 1970 in Kaoshiung, Taiwan. French Lines

Green River Whisky

I fear that was the consequence of a case of none too good American whisky bought in Los Angeles because I liked its name, Green River. Even so, there is not half enough for this voyage. Through The Panama

Green River was the most advertised whiskey in the United States before prohibition. There are Green river tokens and bar pieces to be found in flea markets on a regular basis today. That illustrates how much was made. A fire in 1918 pretty much put the distillery out of business because wartime prohibition made it unprofitable to rebuild. The last of the Green River whiskey was sold by AMS during prohibition. After prohibition, the distillery was sold to new owners and eventually became the Medley distillery that is being re-opened by Angastura today.

The brand was also sold to new owners and was made at several central Kentucky distilleries, including Chapeze Station, until it was sold to Schenley in the 1940's. Schenley kept the brand alive until the 1960's and it was passed on to United Distillers. Straight Bourbon Forum

The above detailing the changes to the whisky explain Malc's comments in 'Through The Panama'.

S.S. Flying Enterprise

Another Ship to starboard: Flying Enterprise. Pretty name 'Through The Panama

I have recently been researching all the ships either mentioned by Lowry in his work or ships he was associated with in one way or another. One consistent theme in my research is that many of the ships relating to Malc had unfortunate ends. This was something which Malc himself recognised in a letter to Conrad Aiken dated 3 March 1940;

Ariadne N Pandelis and Herzogin Cecile in In Ballast went to the bottom a few weeks after I had written about them... But that is nothing to what happened, by coincidence, to two ships, real and imaginary, in my first early plagiaristic paen to puberty, Ultramarine.

He goes on to describe the fate of the Pyrrhus and the Wolfsberg before coming back to the idea of correspondences:

Nothing in it my dear fellows, but these here correspondences of the subnormal world with the abnormally suspicious are damned queer, if you like to think so. Joyce says that nearly all the characters mentioned in the funeral scene in Ulysses, or people with the same names, have met a strange fate.....

One such ship that Malc wrote about was the S.S. Flying Enterprise which later went to the bottom of the English Channel:

Cape Kumukaki was built by Consolidated Steel Corporation of Wilmington, California and launched on 7 January 1944. Delivered on 18 March 1944, she was owned by the United States War Shipping Administration and registered at Los Angeles.

After the end of World War II, she was sold in 1947 to the Isbrandtsen Company. At this time, her name was changed to the Flying Enterprise and re-registered in New York. For the next five years, she was used as a general cargo freighter in the North Atlantic.

On 21 December 1951, under the command of Henrik Kurt Carlsen, she left Hamburg, Germany bound for the USA. Among her cargo was 1,270 long tons (1,290 t) of pig iron and 486 long tons (494 t) of coffee, 447 long tons (454 t) rags, 39 long tons (40 t) peat moss, twelve Volkswagen cars, antiques and antique musical instruments, typewriters, 447 long tons (454 t) of naphthalene as well as ten passengers. There is speculation that the cargo also included gold and zirconium.

Four days later, on Christmas night, she encountered a storm in the Western Approaches to the English Channel. Afterwards, it was discovered that she had suffered structural damage and a crack was found across the weather deck. The cargo then shifted. An SOS was issued on 28 December, by which time she was listing 45 degrees to port. The SS Southland and USS General A. W. Greely responded. On 29 December 1951, the crew and passengers were evacuated with the loss of one life (a male passenger). Captain Carlsen remained on board.

By 2 January 1952, the USS John W. Weeks had arrived and relieved the merchant ships. The following day, the tug Turmoil arrived, guided by the searchlights from USS John W Weeks, but found it impossible to take the Flying Enterprise in tow. The tug's mate, Kenneth Dancy, was then transferred to the Flying Enterprise on 4 January, by which time the list had increased to 60 degrees. The ship was taken in tow on 5 January, when she was some 300 nautical miles (560 km) from Falmouth, Cornwall. On 6 January, USS Willard Keith relieved the John W Weeks and the French tug Abeille 25 also joined the rescue effort. The tow line parted at 01:30 on 10 January, with Flying Enterprise 31 nautical miles (57 km) south of The Lizard and 41 nautical miles (76 km) from Falmouth. Later that day, the Turmoil was joined by the Trinity House vessel Satellite and the tugs Dexterous and Englishman. Carlsen and Dancy finally abandoned ship at 15:22 hrs and were picked up by Turmoil. The Flying Enterprise sank at 16:10 hrs to whistle, siren and foghorn salutes from the flotilla.

The salvage attempts were criticised as the ship might have been saved by heading for the nearest safe harbour, Cork, rather than Falmouth. Read more on Wikipedia

Malc would have like a further correspondence in the caption below describing the ship as "lying a great whale" as in the letter to Aiken he refers to the fate of Melville's Pequod:



You can view more photos on the Wrecksite

"Frère Jacques"

Anyone, who has faced a constant noise while trying to rest or sleep, as Lowry would have experienced on board the ship Pyrrhus, while the engines constantly throbbed as it made its way across the ocean, may have turned the noise into a song.

Lowry may have originally turned the noise of the Pyrrhus's engines into the French nursery rhyme "Frère Jacques" and this nursery rhyme repeatedly crops up in his work when he is writing about being aboard a ship.

He probably uses the "Frère Jacques" the most in his short story Through The Panama which is included in Lowry's posthumous collection Hear us O Lord from heaven thy dwelling place.

The use of "Frère Jacques" becomes part of a Lowry soundscape including songs and noises which sit alongside Lowry's "cinematic" way of writing as the audience settles into the "ethereal upper circle" of Malc's imaginary flea-pit cinema.

The original French version of the song is as follows:

Frère Jacques, frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.

This is the ship's endless song Through The Panama

The song is traditionally translated into English as:

Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping
Brother John, brother John?
Morning bells are ringing! Morning bells are ringing!
Ding, ding, dong. Ding, ding, dong.

A literal translation of the French lyrics is:

Brother Jake, brother Jake,
Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?
Ring the morning bells! Ring the morning bells!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.

Given that some maintain that nursery rhymes have serious themes when they are examined in detail (this might not always be true, however, one might infer some morbid undercurrent to the French version of this song. Admittedly, if the song originally was created to commemorate some negative event, it might have greater cultural resonance and be more likely to be incorporated into the canon of cultural elements that are transmitted from generation to generation. Once a memetic unit like this song reached sufficient familiarity and social penetration, it presumably would continue to be passed on as part of a tradition even though its original meaning had been forgotten. If one subscribes to this line of reasoning, one might expect Frère Jacques to refer to a well known figure and a well known event.

Another piece of evidence that appears to support a dark interpretation of this song is the fact that in some places such as Austria, it was at one time commonly sung in a minor key, rather than a major key, giving the song the quality of a funeral dirge.

In this vein, some have suggested that this verse might not refer to sleep, but to the death of a friar or monk, or perhaps a member of one of the religious military orders. For example, it is widely believed in France that the renowned Frère Jacques de Molay of the Templar Knights, who was executed in 1314, is the subject of the Frère Jacques song.

This claim should probably be approached with an air of caution, because there are many alternate interpretations. For example, the poet Jean-Luc Aotret has written a poem suggesting that the subject of Frère Jacques is the excommunicated Franciscan poet Jacopone da Todi (1236–1306).

Another candidate for Frère Jacques is Frère Jacques Clément (1567-1589), a Dominican Friar and the assassin of Henry III of France. The letters of Clément's name can be rearranged to form the famous anagram, "c'est l'Enfer qui m'a créé", which can be translated as "it is Hell that created me". Clément was drawn and quartered for committing regicide, but some believed his actions were defensible. This theory does not appear to be as popular as some of the others in the literature.
Wikipedia

Here is Aldo Lopez Gavilan playing "Frere Jacques" in a piano solo



In the video below is another version of the song from a recording made, in 1973, by the Westview Centennial Secondary School Stage Band (Toronto, Ontario.) The musical directors were Paul Minor and L. Donskov.