Kingsport 1844: East India Marine Hall

13) Kingsport East India Marine Hall, “Turkey Hall”
210 Carter Street, The Hollow. Est. 1824

A) The Kingsport East India Marine Society
In 1799, four Kingsport sea captains—Saladin Tuttle, Christopher Pickering, Arthur Illsley, and Oliver Hall—formed the “Kingsport East India Marine Society,” dedicated to sailors who plied the trade routes between Kingsport and the East Indies (the contemporary term for India, Indochina, and Malaysia). Hosted from Hall’s tavern on Water Street, the Three Haddocks, the Society began as a whimsical drinking club devoted to spinning yarns about their voyages and playing “Liar’s Circle.” (In this game, a member produces a bizarre object and invents a bogus explanation. The next person in the circle says, “Oh, you have it wrong, mate!” and proffers a different explanation, and so on. The best lie wins.)

One of the Society’s bylaws instructs members to “seek out & acquire natural & artificial curiosities.” In 1803, they began the cheerful tradition of the Turkish Parade, in which Society members dress up in garish, faux-Oriental robes and march along the harbor playing exotic musical instruments and brandishing scimitars, mandaus, jimpuls, blowpipes, and more than a few outré weapons invented solely for the occasion. Soon the Society became informally known as the “Kingsport Turks.” Oliver Hall was forced to sell the Three Haddocks in 1810, and the Kingsport Turks transferred to a private residence on the South Shore. In 1824, Pickering and Illsley purchased a Georgian manse in the Hollow, and after a year of renovation, the Kingsport East India Marine Hall opened its doors.

B) Turkey Hall
Part social club and part museum, the East India Marine Hall is a two-story granite building located on Carter Street. Informally known as “Turkey Hall,” the club’s ground floor is open to the public, and exhibits the Society’s impressive collection of “natural & artificial curiosities,” including Turkish scimitars, Chinese swords, bejeweled fans, elaborate ivory carvings, a set of Japanese armor, a silver hookah, giant clamshells, poisoned arrows, shrunken heads, and a stuffed penguin with an erroneously-elongated neck. Every exhibit is carefully labeled: “Waistcoat made of the intestines of a Sea Lion.” “Malay passport written on a Palm leaf.” “Model of a Dog, made of shells, by Miss Bell, of Nantucket, when only 6 years old.” “Three thousand yards of human hair, braided.” And so forth.

The Museum is open to the public every day from noon to 3:00 pm, Monday through Saturday. Kingsport sailors are granted free admission, but all others are “encouraged” to make a 10¢ donation. Needless to say, that makes the first floor a literal dime museum, and Oliver Moneypenny good-naturedly considers Turkey Hall his only genuine rival.

The Penan Blowpipe
A few weeks ago, one of the museum’s exhibits was stolen—a Penan blowpipe, complete with its engraved wooden case and set of bamboo darts. The Malaysian weapon was a recent acquisition, brought back by Captain Arthur Illsley Jr., who claimed it was a present from James Brooke, the “White Rajah” of Sarawak. The thief is unknown, but the Marine Society has offered a $10 bounty for its safe return. Unfortunately for the Kingsport Turks, Silas Grimble has already enlisted the blowpipe in his nefarious schemes. (See Encounter 27 for details. The blowpipe is described in Handout: Penan Blowpipe.)

C) Upper Floor
The upper floor of the Marine Hall is closed to the public, and features a social club with a bar and kitchen, a fireside lounge, the Society’s library, and a room mockingly dubbed the Sultan’s Seraglio, decorated in Turkish style and used to host Society functions. (Despite its salacious name, women are barred from joining the Society, and are not permitted upstairs.)

White Leviathan > Chapter 1—Kingsport 1844
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Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 9 March 2024
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
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