Pacific Ocean II: The Fourth of July

1) The Fourth of July
Southwest the Galápagos Islands, July 2-4, 1845

A) Clear Sailing
Leaving the Galápagos behind, the Quiddity sails for the Offshore Grounds—a wide quadrant of ocean beginning some 500 miles west of Albemarle Island. The weather remains pleasant and the winds are favorable. Experienced hands understand that only now, eight months after setting sail, the true work really begins. The Quiddity will spends months at sea, hoping for calm waters and greasy luck!

B) Fourth of July
Three holidays are traditionally celebrated on a whaling ship—Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the Fourth of July. On the morning of July 4th, Joab assembles all hands and reads the Declaration of Independence. He skips most of the “Facts submitted to a candid world,” except for three particular lines: “For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world,” “He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people,” and “He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.”

While many of the foreign-born sailors (not to mention some Native Americans and former slaves) remain impassively neutral during the reading, Stanley Ruch and Quentin Shaw offer “huzzahs!” after the grievance about impressing sailors—as veterans of the War of 1812, this point still stings. Other more patriotic Quids include Virgil Caine, Zimri Folder, Israel Reed, and perhaps surprisingly, P.H. Whipple and Paddy Garcia. Seph Lovecraft is practically a Tory, while a Hard Listen roll catches Thomas Plunkett muttering, “God save the Queen!” The player characters are free to react as they please.

The New Flag
Under United States law, new stars are added to the flag on July 4th. As soon as Joab concludes his reading, Stanley Ruch presents Mr. Coffin with the Quiddity’s “new” flag, a freshly-sewn star representing the 27th state of Florida. The men cheer as the flag is hoisted in place.

Joab announces the expected holiday: a day of general skylarking and boat races, the winning crew awarded with three bottles of Port Madeira. He surprises the men by offering one of his finest tortoises and a Charles Island hog—“Ye worked hard on the islands, men, and more work awaits on the high seas. Today, ‘tis meet we should celebrate our Great Nation.”

D) Fireworks
As the sun sets below the placid ocean horizon, Captain Joab orders Mr. Pynchon to ready the “surprise.” Pynchon asks Coffin to follow him into the hold, where a stash of Chinese fireworks awaits in a wooden crate stenciled “LEFT-HANDED MONKEY WRENCHES.” Under supervision of the officers, strings of firecrackers are handed to the crewmen while Dixon is presented with a box of small rockets, their paper shafts lettered with Chinese characters. Pynchon warns the crew to use caution, and forbids the men from taking unspent firecrackers below decks—“Burn ‘em here lads, and mind the planks!” Dixon is instructed to fire the rockets skyward from the safety of a whaleboat—“Take three men and give us a show! And please, for heaven’s sake, direct them away from the ship.”

Dixon selects his crew and launches the boat, giving the characters the opportunity for some low-stakes Artillery or Demolition rolls, with mishaps only occurring on critical failures. The rockets zoom into the sky and explode, painting the sea with brilliant colors: Red! White! Blue!

Green! … Red! … Green!

Blue! … Red! …

WHITE!

White Leviathan, Chapter 5—Pacific Ocean II
[Back to Chapter 5: Encounters | White Leviathan TOC | Forward to Encounter 2, First Hunt for Mocha Dick]

Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 14 January 2024
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
White Leviathan PDF: [TBD]