Ni siquiera el barco quiere seguir en alta mar. Herman Melville, en Typee, señala que los marineros quieren llegar a tierra firma.Al final, en vocabulario Sloop of war
Poor old ship!
Her very looks denote her desires! how deplorably she appears! The paint on her
sides, burnt up by the scorching sun, is puffed out and cracked. See the weeds
she trails along with her, and what an unsightly bunch of those horrid barnacles
has formed about her stern-piece; and every time she rises on a sea, she shows
her copper torn away, or hanging in jagged strips.
Poor old ship! I
say again: for six months she has been rolling and pitching about, never for
one moment at rest. But courage, old lass, I hope to see thee soon within a
biscuit’s toss of the merry land, riding snugly at anchor in some green cove,
and sheltered from the boisterous winds.
‘Hurra, my lads!
It’s a settled thing; next week we shape our course to the Marquesas!’ The
Marquesas! What strange visions of outlandish things does the very name spirit
up! Naked houris—cannibal banquets—groves of cocoanut—coral reefs—tattooed
chiefs—and bamboo temples; sunny valleys planted with bread-fruit-trees—carved
canoes dancing on the flashing blue waters—savage woodlands guarded by horrible
idols—HEATHENISH RITES AND HUMAN SACRIFICES.
Such were the
strangely jumbled anticipations that haunted me during our passage from the
cruising ground. I felt an irresistible curiosity to see those islands which
the olden voyagers had so glowingly described.
The group for
which we were now steering (although among the earliest of European discoveries
in the South Seas, having been first visited in the year 1595) still continues
to be tenanted by beings as strange and barbarous as ever. The missionaries
sent on a heavenly errand, had sailed by their lovely shores, and had abandoned
them to their idols of wood and stone. How interesting the circumstances under
which they were discovered! In the watery path of Mendanna, cruising in quest
of some region of gold, these isles had sprung up like a scene of enchantment,
and for a moment the Spaniard believed his bright dream was realized.
In honour of the
Marquess de Mendoza, then viceroy of Peru—under whose auspices the navigator
sailed—he bestowed upon them the name which denoted the rank of his patron, and
gave to the world on his return a vague and magnificent account of their
beauty. But these islands, undisturbed for years, relapsed into their previous
obscurity; and it is only recently that anything has been known concerning
them. Once in the course of a half century, to be sure, some adventurous rover
would break in upon their peaceful repose, and astonished at the unusual scene,
would be almost tempted to claim the merit of a new discovery.
Of this
interesting group, but little account has ever been given, if we except the
slight mention made of them in the sketches of South-Sea voyages. Cook, in his
repeated circumnavigations of the globe, barely touched at their shores; and
all that we know about them is from a few general narratives.
Among these,
there are two that claim particular notice. Porter’s ‘Journal of the Cruise of
the U.S. frigate Essex, in the Pacific, during the late War’, is said to
contain some interesting particulars concerning the islanders. This is a work,
however, which I have never happened to meet with; and Stewart, the chaplain of
the American sloop of war Vincennes, has likewise devoted
a portion of his book, entitled ‘A Visit to the South Seas’, to the same
subject.
Within the last
few, years American and English vessels engaged in the extensive whale
fisheries of the Pacific have occasionally, when short of provisions, put into
the commodious harbour which there is in one of the islands; but a fear of the
natives, founded on the recollection of the dreadful fate which many white men
have received at their hands, has deterred their crews from intermixing with
the population sufficiently to gain any insight into their peculiar customs and
manners.
The Protestant
Missions appear to have despaired of reclaiming these islands from heathenism.
The usage they have in every case received from the natives has been such as to
intimidate the boldest of their number. Ellis, in his ‘Polynesian Researches’,
gives some interesting accounts of the abortive attempts made by the ‘’Tahiti
Mission’’ to establish a branch Mission upon certain islands of the group. A
short time before my visit to the Marquesas, a somewhat amusing incident took
place in connection with these efforts, which I cannot avoid relating.
An intrepid
missionary, undaunted by the ill-success that had attended all previous
endeavours to conciliate the savages, and believing much in the efficacy of
female influence, introduced among them his young and beautiful wife, the first
white woman who had ever visited their shores. The islanders at first gazed in
mute admiration at so unusual a prodigy, and seemed inclined to regard it as
some new divinity. But after a short time, becoming familiar with its charming
aspect, and jealous of the folds which encircled its form, they sought to
pierce the sacred veil of calico in which it was enshrined, and in the
gratification of their curiosity so far overstepped the limits of good
breeding, as deeply to offend the lady’s sense of decorum. Her sex once
ascertained, their idolatry was changed into contempt and there was no end to
the contumely showered upon her by the savages, who were exasperated at the
deception which they conceived had been practised upon them. To the horror of
her affectionate spouse, she was stripped of her garments, and given to
understand that she could no longer carry on her deceits with impunity. The
gentle dame was not sufficiently evangelical to endure this, and, fearful of
further improprieties, she forced her husband to relinquish his undertaking,
and together they returned to Tahiti… (Typee, by Herman Melville.)
Sloop of war, 1894 |
Para
saber
Sloop of war /slup/: (corbeta, buque de tres
mástiles parecidos a fragatas pero de menor porte y dimensiones.)
In the 18 century
and most of the 19, a sloop of war in
the Royal Navy was a small warship with guns on only one deck. In World War I
and World War II, the Royal Navy reused the term "sloop" for specialized convoy-defence vessels, including the
Flower class of World War I and the highly successful Black Swan class of World
War II, with anti-aircraft and anti-submarine capability.
Originally a sloop of war was smaller than a sailing
frigate and was (by virtue of having too few guns) outside the rating system.
In general, a sloop of war would be
under the command of a master and commander rather than a post captain,
although in day-to-day use at sea the commanding officer of any naval vessels would
be addressed as "captain".
Antecedentes
Typee
no es en realidad ni autobiografía ni pura ficción. Melville sacó el material
de sus experiencias, de su imaginación, y de una variedad de libros de viajes
cuando la memoria de sus experiencias era inadecuada.
Artículos
relacionados
Typee,
algunos párrafos en castellano.
De la web
Typee, audiobook from Librivox.
Otro
clásico que no se puede dejar de leer: La
guerra y la paz, de León Tolstoi.
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