Voyager
Copyright 1994
Diana Gabaldon

Chapter 47: Plague Ship

Claire is calling the shots as she barks orders and gets the able-bodied crewmen to clean the ship. The source of the contagion is still unknown but Claire is doing her best to stop it in its tracks. She enlists the aid of Mrs. Johansen, the Swedish wife of the gunner to help scald the goat’s milk and pound biscuits. Claire is her usual lovable self, cursing as she learns from Elias Pound that some of the crew are drinking from the alcohol used to disinfect everyone’s hands. When Elias tells Claire he is not used to hearing such language from a woman, she responds “I’m not a lady, Elias, I’m a doctor.” To her dismay all of her efforts are in vain if the crew refuses to heed her directions.

Claire is eager to speak with Captain Leonard and finds him napping in his quarters. She unintentionally wakes him up when she knocks over some books. He is startled awake and begins to address her as Mrs. Fraser, but catches himself and says Mrs. Malcolm. She pleads her case for additional rum, greater control of the crew from drinking the distilled alcohol, and better air flow to the sick bay. He agrees to her requests and takes his leave, but not before replying to Claire’s question regarding his age. She is shocked to learn that the captain is only nineteen years old, the same age as Brianna. She then realizes that he had kidnapped Claire out of sheer desperation. What situations might Bree be encountering that would lead her to act out in desperation?

Claire happens to glance at the captain’s log book and gets a chill down her neck for she realizes that he has entered the name Fraser and must know her true identity. She flips through the pages of the logbook to three days earlier when the Porpoise had first encountered the Artemis (3 February 1767). The meeting is noted as is the fact that surgeon, C. Fraser, has been taken on board to assist with the sick crewmen. There is no mention that C. Fraser is a woman. Why keep Claire’s identity ambiguous? The next day’s entry indicates that crew member, Harry Tompkins, recognized the supercargo of the Artemis as the criminal Jamie Roy. Upon the return of the surgeon to the Artemis, Captain Leonard plans to arrest Jamie.

As Claire finishes reading the remaining entries, indicating two men dead from the plague, Mr. Overholt returns to the captain’s room. She is trying to figure out how Tompkins had come by this information and who else might know Jamie’s true identity. Claire asks Overholt the meaning of the legend “DD," to which he explains “It means ‘Discharged, Dead,’ ma’am. The only sure way for most of us of leaving His Majesty’s Navy.” Is this a warning of what could happen to Jamie and his crew if caught?

Claire turns to Elias for information about Tompkins and learns that he is a pressed customs agent from Edinburgh and worked for Sir Percival, which explains how he would have known of the infamous Red Jamie, but not how he had recognized him by sight. A few days later, Claire has her anticipated encounter with Tompkins when she tends to his injured leg. She identifies him immediately as the one-eyed seaman Young Ian thought he had killed in the printing office during the fire. Claire uses this moment to her advantage and has a stroke of inspiration when she spies a surgeon’s bone saw that she uses to gather information from her patient.

An hour later, Claire has the answers to her questions. Tompkins does indeed work for Sir Percival. When SP learns that there might be a major political criminal in his midst, he sees a promotion in his future if he can prove that Jamie is guilty of sedition. At that time, no one knew who they were looking for until another of SP’s agents had the luck to run into another one of Fraser’s associates who tipped them that Malcolm the printer was the wanted criminal. Sir Percival said the informant was an Englishman and warned Jamie of an ambush to avert suspicion away from himself. Tompkins was incapacitated by his injuries in the fire and was able to participate in the ambush at Arbroath cove, but had heard about the turn of events. Claire is curious to know who killed the Customs officer (Tom Oakie) on the road and is shocked to learn that it was his own mate who attacked him when the smugglers reached the road. As SP had failed to find evidence against Jamie, he staged the murder so that he would be subject to a criminal charge that would cause a major public outcry. During the course of the interrogation, we learn that the fellow killed in the brothel was indeed another agent seeking evidence against Jamie. What had become of the crème de menthe?

As Tompkins is escorted to his cabin, Claire asks him what year he was born. She is not certain, but 1713 must have been the Year of the Ratti. She will have to inquire with Mr. Willoughby.

Many of the reader’s questions are answered in this chapter as pieces of the puzzle begin to come together. It is fortuitous for Claire to be on the Porpoise after all as she is able to learn firsthand how Jamie came to be targeted by the agents in Edinburgh. Now she has to find her way back to Jamie and warn him about Sir Percival.

Great summary! So much detail in this chapter -- it's nice to see some of the customs/excisemen puzzles resolved.

Following up on the previous chapter's issues around vows, it's interesting to note that in this chapter, Claire's actions seems to imply that she's willing to bend her medical vows for the sake of her marriage vows. Surely a physician's oath doesn't allow for intimidating a patient with a rusty amputation saw! Of course, we know that Claire wouldn't use her medical skills to actually cause harm, but this seems like a case where she's putting Jamie's well-being far ahead of her medical ethics.

Poor Claire! I'm sure she never, in her wildest dreams, imagined that returning to Jamie would lead to her being stranded on a plague ship. Although I'd guess that some part of her is enjoying the challenge of curing an entire ship through her knowledge and healing skills, against all odds, without proper provisions, support, etc. Despite her exhaustion, she's got to be feeling a tremendous amount of satisfaction as well, seeing her labors start to pay off as the disease begins to come under control.

I think Captain Leonard feels guilty about puting Jamie's name in the log. Once he he can not change it or remove it. At the time he made the entry he did not know what Claire was about to do for him and the ship. Leonard knows that Jamie if caught will be hung, maybe he did not use Claire's name because he thinks that she might not be implemented in any crime.

Great summary Lady Jayne! And, thanks so much for jumping in at the last moment when we realized no one had been assigned to post summaries this week.

And, great additions, Lisa and Janet. Great points!

I continually realize just how much I've forgotten about the books. I hadn't remembered that Claire got the whole smugglers/excisemen story from Tompkins. I knew she learned some, but it was laid out more clearly than I had recalled. And, Lisa, I think you are absolutely right about her competing vows and when each has taken precedence. And, I'm sure she does feel a sense of satisfaction for the good she is clearly doing for everyone on the ship.

I think it's true that Captain Leonard wouldn't want to implicate Claire in any crime after all her help with the plague. But, I thought the reason he didn't include her name and clarify her sex is that the navy might not look too kindly on his essentially kidnapping a woman. She is not a naval surgeon, even though she played that role on the Artemis and now on the Porpoise, and I have the feeling some people would frown on his taking a woman against her will and separating her from her husband (who essentially "owns" her).

The meaning of Discharged Dead and Overholt's comment are definitely warnings about what could have or still could happen to Jamie and the crew of the Artemis if they were pressed into service. That probably helps to once again support the decision to let Claire go with the Porpoise rather than allowing Jamie and the crew to be taken. It is rather ominous, though.

And, I think we all hope that Bree isn't facing anything that would make her as desperate as poor 19 year old Capt Leonard. But, I understand how, as a parent, Claire would feel a lot of empathy for someone the same age as her child under such trying circumstances. Interesting that Leonard grabs so quickly onto the name Fraser after hearing what Tompkins had to say. The first name he said as he woke up is presumably the one he considers the most "real", but since she's been Mrs. Malcolm the whole time she's been aboard and he's only been told the name Fraser by one man a few days before, I would have thought Malcolm is the one that would have been uppermost in his mind. I suppose he probably heard of Red Jamie Fraser and that's why it stuck?

My pleasure, ABL. I agree with everyone's comments. I had forgotten many of the details myself, prior to re-kilting this chapter. Claire does a great job of sleuthing and is doing her wifely duty in her own round about way by looking out for Jamie's best interests. Murtagh would be so proud of her using the bone saw as an interrogation tool.

I just love Claire's comment to Elias that she is no lady, she is a doctor. She has a job to do, irrespective of her gender. She probably never imagined she would find herself aboard a plague ship only months after her reunion with Jamie. Then again, trouble has a way of finding our time traveller wherever she goes.

I was also wondering why Captain Leonard uses the name C. Fraser instead of C. Malcom in the logbook. If he meant to protect her, why link her to Jamie?

He wrote C. Malcolm in the book. It was when he woke up that he started to say Mrs. Fra- before saying Mrs. Malcolm. He hasn't linked her to Jamie in writing. But, clearly has in his mind.