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Chapter 12: Down to the Sea
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Hard Work, Perseverance, and Success
Safety and Responsibility
Risk and Reward
The Growth and Development of America
Courage and Grief
Summary
Analysis
Monsieur Bonnefoy rushes to the railing, eager to return to the Isle of Bourbon—no, he corrects himself, after the French Revolution it was renamed Réunion. A pilot boat approaches the Henry with bad news; the last typhoon destroyed the harbor. They will have to unload their cargo slowly, rowing it ashore. But although this requires more work, it won’t put them behind schedule, since the coffee crop they’re scheduled to take back to America isn’t fully harvested yet, either. The captain of another American ship anchored nearby tells Prince, Collins, and Nat that if they really play up the French Revolution angle, they’ll make a better return on their sales—he himself got 1,000 livres a cask for his wine shipment.
Monsieur Bonnefoy reminds readers how much changed in the world during the final decades of the 18th century, with the American and French revolutions. The book wants readers to remember that, at this time, the success of democracy wasn’t a foregone conclusion; people were still debating its merits. By proving the worth of the common man, and by showing how treating all people with dignity and respect improves the functioning of shipboard society, Nat proves the worth of the beliefs that American and French people fought, suffered, and died for.
Themes
Nat goes ashore to translate for Captain Prince. He’s surprised by the muggy tropical heat. While waiting for the Henry’s paperwork to be processed, Nat overhears two locals bragging about how they swindled an American ship captain who thought he was making a fortune on his wine shipment, when really the locals would have paid almost twice as much as he asked. Nat laughs quietly, then approaches them to sell his cargo of boots, learning that he should make about four times what he paid for them.
Nat’s French comes in handy here, especially since he clearly doesn’t look like a translator to the two local men. This yet again proves the worth—and sometimes the superiority—of the well-educated average person and illustrates one of democracy’s founding ideals: that all people can thrive when given the opportunity to better themselves.
Themes
It takes long, tedious weeks to unload the cargo and ferry it ashore; many days the weather prevents the sailors from accomplishing anything. And it takes just as long to load the cargo ahead of the return trip. The Henry isn’t prepared to leave until September. As the jagged mountains of Réunion fade into the distance, Nat watches a hardness settle into Captain Prince’s features again—a hardness that he still doesn’t understand.
As life continues to offer Nat reminders of what he can’t control—the weather, the maturation and harvesting of crops, and the politics of local harbors, for example—this merely highlights by contrast what he can control: the way he treats others (and contributes to a good shipboard community), and the way he can use tools like the sextant and math to know with certainty where he is in the world.
Themes
Nat quickly settles back into his usual shipboard routine on the voyage home. He makes the most efficient calculations and is the only one aboard who can even attempt to make lunar reading. One night, while Nat studies the lunar tables in his navigation book, he spots a miscalculation. He feels so affronted that he bursts into Captain Prince’s quarters without knocking to complain. Prince laughs briefly at Nat’s naiveté and fury. While Nat can’t imagine how anyone in good conscience would allow such a dangerous error into these crucial tables, Prince points out how many calculations it took Nat to spot the error. Finally, the bell on deck rings, and Prince sends Nat to his watch.
Nat loves math and navigation for the sense of safety and assurance they give him. They each have one right answer—at least as long as a person solves a math problem or calculates a point on the globe with precision. Because he relies on—and trusts—the navigational tables so implicitly, it comes as a horrible shock to discover their mistakes. Each tiny error puts Nat’s life, the lives of his crewmates, and sailors everywhere at risk. His own sense of responsibility for his communities makes this unacceptable.
Themes
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On deck, as his temper cools, Nat begins to feel ashamed of his outburst—after all, Captain Prince isn’t responsible for the error! But when he returns to his cabin at the end of the watch, he finds a note from the captain, telling him to “Carry on!” and suggesting that he point out the error to the man who’s preparing the first American printing of the tables. Relieved, Nat returns to the deck to take a lunar reading. And as he looks at the stars, he suddenly realizes that he can take a more efficient, easier lunar reading if he observes the moon in relation to three stars rather than waiting for it to cross paths with a single one. Prince sends Mr. Collins for his own sextant and confirms the discovery.
Despite his stern exterior, Captain Prince greatly appreciates his young navigator—likely at least in part because he shares his Nat’s concern with safety. All his life, Nat has looked to the stars for comfort and for guidance. Now, the stars don’t just show the ship’s position—they also begin to plot the path of the rest of his life. His epiphany about how to make lunar readings easier sets him one step further on the path toward writing his own navigational textbook.
Themes
Nat returns triumphantly to Salem. He’s made $500 plus his pay and discovered a new way to take lunar readings. But Dr. Bentley meets him at the dock with bad news. David and his entire crew perished of fever on their last voyage.
Life tempers Nat’s triumph with tragedy, reminding him of the courage he, his sister Mary, and everyone else needs to look toward the future and find happiness in life.
Themes
