(Untitled)

[idler_1814]

Well, I tried to come up with something new for the Boat Challenge, but to no avail. So, given that the option to "repost vintage creative endeavours" was available, I blew the dust off this one, originally posted in 2010 for the letter S in lokei's Horatio Hornblower Alphabet Soup ficathon. The boat in question is a steam tug, as it appears in a

Comments

[anteros_lmc]

Oh thank you for reposting this! I remember reading this piece, it's so perfectly in character that it could easily be cannon. Beautifully written and very evocative.

Also, I think this was the first challenge I ever participated in :)

[idler_1814]

Oh, thank you! I think I'll post the 'annotated version' in the comments (as soon as I locate the last reference or two that insists upon eluding me....). It will make more sense when I do.

It just might have been your first challenge! I went back and re-read your entry, and thoroughly enjoyed it all over again. Killer ending!

[anteros_lmc]

I think I'll post the 'annotated version' in the comments (as soon as I locate the last reference or two that insists upon eluding me....)
Oh yes, please do post the annotated version!

Heh, it's ages since I've re-read Fidget. It's an exceptionally silly fic, but it was a lot of fun to write :}

[idler_1814]

Oh yes, please do post the annotated version!

Done!

Heh, it's ages since I've re-read Fidget. It's an exceptionally silly fic, but it was a lot of fun to write :}

I thought it was extremely clever, and not silly at all! There's more than enough angst in this fandom (looks guilty).

[eglantine_br]

Oh Horatio-- I just want to hug him up!

[idler_1814]

I'd like to think he needed it. How he could not have though of Bush, I can't imagine. As far as CSF described, though, it was as if Bush never existed at all.

So of course I had to meddle with that.

[mylodon]

Ah, my beloved Temeraire. Lovely little ficlet.

[idler_1814]

Thank you!

There's something painfully ironic about a steam tug bearing the name Temeraire, given Turner's masterwork. CSF was merciless, wasn't he?

[vespican]

Somehow I sense a connection to "His Majesty's Dragon." The creature named Temeraire, although not a fire-breather, and the smoke and cinders belching from the tug...
Dave

[idler_1814]

Wow. I never thought of that! The parallels are definitely there.

I haven't read any of the series....I have a difficult time wrapping my head around adding dragons to the AoS. I hear the books are quite engaging, though!

[idler_1814]

Steam and Sterling, the Annotated Version. As you can see, not many of these words are mine.

Admiral Lord Hornblower stood on the deck of Crab, studying the steam tug as though forseeing the future. He felt a queer twinge, almost of conscience (1), as he watched her. To be no more at the mercies of wind and weather: it seemed a miracle, opening oceans of possibility to his fertile imagination...and yet....

And yet, this lumbering beast belching sparks and ash(2) heralded the death of the superb seaman(3), the capable sailor(1) who by virtue of his strong arm might conquer (4) tide and tempest. She foretold a world where iron ships would supplant the iron constitution (5) of men, a world where sterling good qualities(6) would tarnish, leaving rust to triumph.

It was a world in which the ridiculous pleasure(7) of sails well set, of a ship running free before the wind would vanish, consumed by fire and a column of smoke(2). The tug spat her black cinders upon the deck(8), incongruous(9) upon the pristine whiteness; once a flogging

[anteros_lmc]

Oh that's brilliant! I thought one or two of the lines could have been Forester but your writing is so note perfect it's hard to tell the difference. I certainly agree that it's hard to believe that Hornblower would have been unmoved by the tug called Temeraire. His studied disinterest is always painfully disingenuous.

The "superb seaman" quote actually refers to Pellew:

"Hornblower, despite his nervousness and his miserable apprehensions, yet found time to appreciate the superb seamanship displayed as Pellew brought the big frigate in through these tricky waters on that dark night."
- Mr Midshipman Hornblower

That seems appropriate :)

[idler_1814]

I thought one or two of the lines could have been Forester but your writing is so note perfect it's hard to tell the difference.

That, I think, is the best review I could ever have asked for. Thank you!!

I certainly agree that it's hard to believe that Hornblower would have been unmoved by the tug called Temeraire. His studied disinterest is always painfully disingenuous.

It is indeed. But writing his reaction any other way would have felt strangely out of character.

The "superb seaman" quote actually refers to Pellew:

Oh, thank you for finding that! Even if it wasn't about Bush after all, I'm just relieved that I wasn't quoting myself. That would be just...ewww. Beyond obnoxious.

[anteros_lmc]

That, I think, is the best review I could ever have asked for. Thank you!!
Well deserved ma'am!

It is indeed. But writing his reaction any other way would have felt strangely out of character.
Absolutely. That's what I loved about this, the characterisation is absolutely perfect.

Oh, thank you for finding that! Even if it wasn't about Bush after all,
Fitting it was Pellew in a way. From what we've learned about the historical Pellew, Bush is exactly the kind of seaman he would have really valued.