Voyager

Part Eight: On the Water

Chapter 40: I Shall Go Down to the Sea

© Diana Gabaldon 1994


Please discuss Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager ONLY in this thread. Thanks!

The Spoiler thread can be found HERE: voyager-spoiler-thread-t2572.html

Jamie and Claire arrive in France and immediately seek Cousin Jared’s assistance to find Young Ian. First, Jared consults with the harbormaster to identify the ship which has taken Ian as the Bruja. Its home port has been Bridgetown, Barbados. But, has it turned pirate?

Jared agrees to make a sloop, the Artemis, available for the pursuit. The Artemis is still inbound and then will need a week for outfitting. It is a smaller ship than the usual trans-Atlantic Indiamen. And, they will be leaving after the usual westward sailing season into the threat of winter storms. Jamie is grateful for Jared’s assistance - knowledge, loan of a ship, and encouragement.

After their preparations at the docks, they make their way, with armed escort, to Jared’s home in Le Havre after dark. Claire went to bed after a fine meal while Jamie stayed up to make additional preparations, including a letter to Jenny advising her of Young Ian’s disappearance. Claire is unable to sleep. She is still up and musing at the window when Jamie finally comes to their room. The stormy night foreshadows the voyage ahead?

The arrangements with Jared include Jamie serving as purser and supercargo, responsible for the ship’s cargo (perhaps the only role on the ship that he would qualify for), and Claire serving as ship’s surgeon, which is not a usual position on such a small ship. They take their roles seriously and prepare for them while the ship is readied.

Jared provides further assistance by locating a rare coin dealer to perhaps identify the treasure on the silkies’ isle. Maybe identification of the owner of the treasure would help them find Ian. DG introduces us to a fascinating historical figure, Mayer "Redshield". Mayer displays his collection of rare coins. Some of the coins Jamie identifies from his recollection of the silkies’ treasure. Mayer would not normally disclose confidential purchase information, but the purchaser was dead. The purchaser, from Mayer’s family records, was the Duke of Sandringham in 1745! (And who, pray tell, was responsible for his death?) Curiously, Mayer’s uncle also purchased a number of ancient coins from the estate of the dead duke in 1746,

Jamie and Claire speculate about the treasure which has aided his family, but now led to the disappearance of Young Ian.

When Claire asks Jamie for the translation of "Red Shield" to German, she realizes that this is an early Rothschild, the beginning of a major European banking house.

Claire moves on to complete her tasks. She seeks out an apothecary. Master Raymond is gone and people are suspicious of her questions. Claire is accompanied by Mr. Willoughby, who proves useful in suggesting medicines for the trip.

Claire runs into the Reverend Campbell, late of Edinburgh, and brother of the poor Margaret Campbell. We also learn of Mr. Willoughby’s opinion of the Reverend, which is not good.

Back at Jared’s home, his cautious inquiry has disclosed that he and Jamie are Masons. This is one of those secrets that Jamie has not disclosed to Claire. However, a Masonic connection is of further assistance to Jamie’s quest.

The next day, Claire sets off alone on another errand. This time she is visiting the grave of their daughter, Faith. She also meets Mother Hildegard and renews that friendship.

Discussion:

I have felt that this chapter is an important transition for Jamie and Claire from their life in the somewhat sheltered Europe of their past to the unknown challenges of the future. Sailing a small ship into the threat of winter storms certainly fills me with foreboding. I am relieved that we are not near the end of the book!

Do you feel the possibility of a number of foreshadowings here?

Do you feel that Jared may have used Mayer before to help his cousins in Scotland sell rare coins? Do you think that Jamie might have reason to deal with Mayer RedShield in the future?

I was disappointed that Claire did not go with Jamie to visit Faith’s grave. What are your feelings on this revisit to their past?

Claire renews her friendship with Mother Hildegard. She is unable to locate Master Raymond. How do you feel about these connections to Claire’s past?

Claire runs into Rev. Campbell again. Is DG attaching significance to this meeting?

Have you noticed that even though (or because?) Jared is an ex-patriot, he is very accommodating to his kinsman’s requests, as he once was to Prince Charles’ cause? It is worth noting that Jamie proved himself capable when he assisted Jared years ago.

My review emphasized the information about the silkies’ treasure. What do you think is the relationship of this treasure to the Duke’s reputed support for the Second Rising? What do you make of its appearance in connection with the death of Duncan Kerr while Jamie was a prisoner at Ardsmuir? What do you think of Jamie’s last question wondering if the Duke had a confederate?

I noticed the question about a confederate on this read too. Not something I thought much of before, but now, of course, I know who that confederate must have been (or at least one other who knew the location of the treasure).

I had completely forgotten that Claire ran into the Reverend in Paris. That scene did show us how Mr. Willoughby and the Reverend felt about one another, and it wasn't positive on either side.

I loved that Claire got to see Mother Hildegard. And, was glad that she had the chance to visit Faith's grave. It's too bad she didn't get to see Master Raymond again, because I'd love to see him again myself, but I can't say I'm surprised. Didn't we see him last on trial for witchcraft (or whatever)? Seems like not a bad idea to move on after that.

Definitely some foreboding with the weather. Claire was thinking that, Jared mentioned it, and after the fog in the last chapter when Ian was kidnapped, I think it's all leading up to stormy times in the story.

We're off so that's about all I've got, at least for now. Good job summarizing a chapter with a bunch of separate little scenes that don't necessarily hang together all that well except that they are preparing to sail and saying goodbyes before they leave.

Repoman you did a great job with what is a difficult chapter for me. There are so many underlying questions!

I was very sad that Claire didn't go with Jamie to visit Faith's grave. I think she didn't want to break down in front of him. They have been through so much in the short time since she returned.

As for Mayer...it does seem that Jared has done business with him before. Maybe it's me, but I always wondered to what extent Jared's involvement was. We were never told explicitly (that I recall) that he was working behind the scenes, but I think he was. I wondered about the reference to Rothschild; perhaps, it was just for historical reference. But, maybe he will be useful in the future.

I definitely think there is a foreshadowing of things to come. I was happy about Mother Hildegard but I never had good feelings about Rev. Campbell. He is a bit creepy.

I think I need to re-kilt.

I am anxious to see more responses to maybe pick up things that I missed!

We do know that in the past these rare coins have been forwarded from Lallybroch to help ex-patriots and to purchase needed items for the residents. I believe that they may have gone to Jared. Given Mayer's willingness to help Jamie and the limited market for these rarities, Mayer's family may have been the purchaser.

As for possible future connections, that bumps us into the spoiler thread.

Great summary! Are we to stay only up to this chapter in Voyager because much is disclosed later in this book.

Twilight, as I understand the Spoiler rules we can discuss all of Voyager. I should actually defer to your judgement in that matter. As for this thread, I deliberately discussed only this chapter to permit other posters to add comments as they felt appropriate. In fact, I bit my tongue, figuratively - like the gecko tries to say, to avoid discussing more!

Great discussion, as always! Also worth noting is Claire's pondering after learning that Jamie is a Freemason, when she contemplates how she can know him, body and soul, one minute, and then discover these great chasms in her knowledge of who he is now and who he has become in the past 20 years. Again, foreshadowing -- we know there's at least one more major secret that's going to come crashing down on Claire before we get to the end of this book.

One additional point about Mayer Rothschild. The challenge of figuring out the significance of the coins, who had them when, etc, is a little mind-boggling (and perhaps I was too tired last night to follow it all!). On the other hand, twice in this chapter DG has shown us that Jamie is unusually tolerant for his time. The French maid wrinkled her nose in disgust over allowing the Jewish peddler into Jared's home; pretty much everyone looks at Willoughby as a lesser creature. Jamie seems not to be affected by the deep-seated prejudices of his era, and treats these people with respect. Okay, we all know Jamie is practically perfect -- but I think this is important, too, in understanding how a modern woman like Claire, having seens the horrors of WWII and the social upheavals of the '60s, can find a soulmate in a man from a time where sexism and racism are just a normal part of how most people think.

Good question re why didn't Jamie go with Claire to visit Faith's grave. On the surface, I would guess that Claire didn't explicitly tell him she was going there; they were each busy doing their own sets of preparations for their voyage. Still, in some ways Faith has always felt more Claire's alone than both of theirs. Claire suffered through the miscarriage and the months that followed without Jamie. Maybe for her, this is a piece of her past that she needed to grieve by herself.

Funny, when I re-read this chapter last night, I was thinking that it was mostly logistics, not a lot to think about. Guess I was wrong!

My thoughts exactly on Mayer.

And, Lisa SF, I agree that there is a lot more going on here than what it seems on the surface!

I definitely thought that Jared had worked with Mayer (and his family) before, likely with coins from the chest and very possibly with other things since he is a wealthy businessman himself. I think that helped to get him to Jamie quickly since he already had a business relationship with Jared.

Lisa - Really good point about Jamie's unusual tolerance toward people of different races/cultures. Jamie is certainly not a typical man of his time.

I also thought that part of the reason that Claire did not ask Jamie to go to Faith's grave with her was that the miscarriage and the following events were such a difficult time in their marriage (Claire was angry that he dueled BJR, he was arrested and wasn't with her when she miscarried and nearly died, and then he got mad that she had to go to the king in order to get him out of the Bastille, etc.). Maybe with her having just returned a short time ago, and having gotten through the kerfuffle with Laoghaire, she didn't want to bring up one of the low points in their marriage. And, she might have wanted a bit of time alone with Mother Hildegarde since Jamie hadn't worked with Mother as Claire did.

And, I thought the freemason thing just showed once again how much time they have spent apart and how much necessarily happened to them both during that time.

I just noticed that I totally made a mess of my previous post!!! Sorry...I have no idea what happened. I think that most of that was supposed to be a quote from repoman. Not sure how it did not end up in the box.

I fixed the quote box for you, Trudy.

a bunch!!! Not sure what I did...just talented, I guess! My children would hang their heads in shame!!!:rotfl: