Previous
Chapter 21: “Sealing is Safer”
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
Nat and Dr. Holyoke go into town to get more details about the sinking. When they get home, Polly asks about Zack’s visit. Dr. Holyoke explains that Zack speaks for a lot of people who don’t trust “book sailing”—using mathematics and astronomy to chart one’s way—over the old-fashioned ways. In a way, he muses, sailing is like medicine: it combines art and science, and many people prefer to trust superstition over science. And every time a ship sinks, this further confirms the beliefs of those who dislike “book sailing.” Still, despite the doubts of men like Zack Selby, Nat’s book sells briskly, and soon becomes more popular—even in England—than Moore’s due to its superior accuracy.
Nat’s career has proved beyond the shadow of a doubt both that scientific navigation is more accurate and more useful than traditional dead reckoning. And it’s shown that this kind of navigation isn’t really the mystery that people consider it: anyone, down to the lowliest sailor, can learn its secrets with a very reasonable amount of time and effort. Yet, most risk-averse people counterintuitively reject life-saving advances. Progress toward the future—a true democracy or the acceptance of scientific advances, for example—takes time and ongoing effort. Nevertheless, Nat’s prodigious efforts soon yield success.
Themes
Then, another Salem investor asks Nat to sail a new vessel, the Putnam, to Sumatra for a load of pepper. With Polly’s full support, he accepts and begins preparations. When preparations happen to bring him to Boston on the day of Harvard’s graduation, he decides to go and watch. But this just brings back painful memories of his dashed childhood dreams. He thinks he must be hearing things when the university president confers a degree on someone with the name “Bowditch”; a few days later, back in Salem, he receives a letter from Harvard explaining that the university has conferred an honorary degree on Nat. After all these years, he’s a Harvard man after all!
Nat’s efforts toward his education also continue to bring him success and recognition, as his honorary degree from Harvard demonstrates. Now, through his own hard work and indomitable spirit, he has earned all the things he hoped and wished for in childhood. And he can be all the prouder of them for having achieved them despite the obstacles he’s had to overcome along the way.
Themes
One day soon afterwards, Nat and Polly are working together in Nat’s study when someone comes pounding on the door. Nat hurries downstairs, expecting a local drunk. But instead, he finds Lem Harvey, back as if from the dead! Lem explains that he and a few other men from the ship escaped the wreck in a tender (smaller boat). With one thing and another—details he repeatedly skips over to spare Polly distress—the other men died. Lem survived long enough to be rescued by another ship on its way to Sumatra, where he had more alarming adventures. The spice trade is lucrative, but conditions around the Malay peninsula are dangerous. He swears he’ll never go back—until Nat asks him to join the crew of the Putnam. He would, Lem says, follow Nat anywhere on earth.
Only the loss of Lem Harvey at sea could possibly be counted as a blemish on Nat’s spectacular career (even though Lem’s disappearance was due to Moore’s faulty navigational tables, not Nat’s instruction). When Lem unexpectedly returns, his survival points both toward his own indomitable spirit and removes the most potent weapon available to those who, like Zack Selby, oppose “book sailing.” He also luckily brings Nat much-needed intelligence and forewarning to prepare him for his risky upcoming voyage.
Themes
A few days after this miraculous encounter, Dr. Holyoke stops by to bring Nat a medicine chest for his upcoming voyage. A ship’s master must fill many roles at sea, including doctor. Suddenly, Lem’s wife bursts into the house, looking for Dr. Holyoke. Lem has fallen from his roof and broken his leg.
Lem would have provided Nat with much-needed combat support and knowledge of local conditions in the Malay peninsula. His accident thus forces Nat to embark for Sumatra, for all intents and purposes, alone. No one else will share ultimate responsibility for the ship’s safety with him.
Themes
Get the entire Carry On, Mr. Bowditch LitChart as a printable PDF.
