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Chapter 23: Captain Bowditch Commanding
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
As Christmas morning breaks, thick fog continues to shroud the Putnam. Despite the danger of running aground, Nat presses forward, cautiously and slowly, reckoning the ship’s position by watching the compass, calculating their speed, and calculating their position in his head. Still, the increasingly anxious men worry about their lack of “sea room” and the risks of running aground, especially Corey Jensen. The fog remains just as thick at noon, although the wind freshens. Nat readies his telescope and stands at the rail, hoping the fog will lift just enough for him to take stock of his surroundings. Corey Jensen continues to panic. Then, Nat confirms his sighting of Baker’s Island. Despite the fog, the Putnam is maintaining her course towards home.
As the ship approaches Salem harbor, Nat sails by dead reckoning, suggesting that he still respects the traditional methods; they have their place, specifically in circumstances that prevent scientific navigation, or “book-sailing.” Corey Jensen’s rising hysteria points toward the relationship between trust, responsibility, and safety; because he proved himself untrustworthy when he fell asleep on watch in dangerous waters, he cannot trust his crewmates or captain to keep him safe. But, despite their concerns, the rest of the sailors press on, trusting their captain to make the best decisions.
Themes
Chad Jensen fully expects Nat to drop the anchor and wait for the fog to clear. But Nat presses on, shouting out directions to the men occasionally, keeping his eyes glued to his watch, and changing directions at precise moments. Corey begins to scream in his panic, and Nat quietly suggests that his second mate, Lupe, should put the terrified sailor to bed. Lupe slips silently through the mist, delivers one swift blow, and Corey falls to the deck, unconscious.
Nat risks pressing on despite the rising dangers—remember how tense Captain Prince became in these familiar but dangerous waters on the Henry’s return voyage, when he could still see ahead. But the reward of getting home—and proving once and for all that he’s a skilled navigator by both modern and traditional methods—outweighs those risks, and he presses on.
Themes
In town, Polly and Lem Harvey nervously wait together as the clock strikes 9:00 p.m. Lem stands to go, as Polly expresses her fervent hope that Nat would be home by Christmas Day. Lem grimly points out that any sailor returning through this fog would be doing so by land—after losing his ship. Suddenly, Polly thinks she hears Lupe’s voice in the darkness outside. Lem insists that the Putnam isn’t coming in on this night; no sane captain would try to bring a ship in through this fog.
The fact that Lem and Polly wait together suggests their mutual—if unexpressed—fear that Nat and his crew won’t make it back intact through the fog. Despite his own marvelous change of character and fortune thanks to Nat’s education and encouragement, and despite his own nearly miraculous escape from shipwreck, Lem can’t imagine Nat making it through. It’s just too risky.
Themes
Polly ignores Lem, runs to the front door, and opens it. Nat calls out, “Polly, is that you?” and bounds up the steps and into her arms. As Lem stares, openmouthed, Nat calmly walks into his home. He tells Lem that of course he brought the ship in despite the fog and the fact that his last solar sighting took place three days earlier. Since that time, he navigated by “simple mathematics,” tracking the boat’s speed against the time on his watch and using this to keep track of their position. Lem can hardly believe Nat’s courage—or foolhardiness—but Nat and Polly express their complete faith and trust in the simple mathematics of the whole affair.
Yet again, as he has at so many points in his life, Nat proves the naysayers and the doubters wrong. Ben Meeker didn’t expect Nat to escape the pull of his indenture, yet he did; Captain Prince didn’t expect him to teach the sailors to navigate, yet again and again he proved he could. Nat even doubted himself when he lost his opportunity to complete his formal education, yet he earned an honorary degree from Harvard on the strength of his own efforts. And although he may claim that his success now is the product of simple mathematics, Nat’s relief and pride in his accomplishments suggest that he does truly realize how lucky he is to have made it through the fog. His hard work has paid off big despite risk and difficulty.
Themes
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Zack Selby pounds on the door, intent on gloating over Nat’s presumed loss of the Putnam. But Lem denies him that pleasure, boasting that the ship lies safe and sound in Salem Harbor. Flabbergasted, Zack asks how Nat did it. Lem answers, roaring with laughter, “Book sailing! Simple matter of mathematics.” Then he gathers his jacket and cap and heads out into the night, anxious to brag to everyone in town about Nat’s skills. Polly blinks back tears of gratitude as she embraces Nat again. Nat hugs her and hears a voice from the past whispering, “a long time to sail by ash breeze.” He tells Polly that it—the voyage, but also, by implication, his life thus far—wasn’t that bad. Although there was some rough weather, at least he was never becalmed.
Zack Selby, expecting to gloat over the loss of Nat’s ship, finds himself thoroughly humiliated—especially since Nat brought the Putnam home through a combination of “book sailing” and dead reckoning. Through a lifetime of hard work and perseverance, Nat has not only achieved his own success, but he has proven the worth of his system of navigation. As more and more people adopt it, he clearly expects, more lives and shipments will be saved. He’s repaid the debt he owes the men who helped and supported him by working to save and improve the lives of countless others, from the men he taught aboard ship on each of his voyages to the hundreds and thousands of people he’s never met but who have used his book. And as Nat and Polly embrace, Polly’s tears remind readers of the risks that Nat took on this voyage and the courage necessary for him—and her—to face those risks with equanimity.
Themes
