Season One, Episode Five
"Catch as can"
James has returned from France with a cargo for Mr. Watson, one of his now-regular small clients. Callon, however, is angry, because Watson also deals with him and he doesn't want Onedin getting anything from one of his clients. He lays down an ultimatum: no more freight for James Onedin from Watson or he can kiss his contracts with Callon goodbye. The sound of Sarah's newborn is like a drill going into Elizabeth's heart, and she feels totally alone. Daniel's many letters to her lie on the table unopened. Meanwhile at sea the object of her affections is due to take a ship home after its captain took a heart attack, so he will be returning to Liverpool sooner than expected. Frazer comes aboard the "Charlotte Rhodes" as James is given the bad news by Watson, and they discuss his obsession (other than Elizabeth, that is!): steamships. Frazer believes they are the way forward, the transportation of the future, but Onedin disagrees.
"The wind blows free for every man's use", he points out, quoting the title of the pilot episode. "Steamships are expensive to build, even more expensive to run". James is a dyed-in-the-wool sailing ships man, and will resist the pull of steam until he can see a way of making a profit from it. Frazer invites he and Anne down to his new house which he has inherited in the country, and says he would consider it a favour, as the aunt that comes with it is not enamoured of him, and any backup he can provide would be appreciated. Of course, he mentions that should James wish to invite Elizabeth, he would not have any objection.
Rather unsettlingly for James, she does not wish to go. Given that she's now carrying Daniel's child I expect such social engagements are far from her mind, but James is not giving up. He knows Frazer dropped the possibility of Elizabeth attending lightly, but meant it most firmly. It could, and probably will, be a deal-breaker, and Frazer has agreed to repair James's ship at a much lower price than usual in a favour-for-favour return. Anne works on her though, and when she's convinced her that it's Albert's idea and not her brother's she relents and agrees to go.
Baines, meanwhile, has not returned to the ship, and the reason turns out to be that he's been press-ganged by Callon's men and dumped onbaord one of Callon's Clippers bound for Boston. When James has no luck tracking him down he asks Robert what ships are in the dock, and when he learns that one, the "San Francisco Belle", is connected with Callon he's able to guess at what's happened. Callon's son, meanwhile, having seen Baines onboard the Clipper is uneasy at his father's business practices and does not agree with his methods. James tries to intercept the Clipper before it can leave the harbour, and Anne must proceed to the party without him, for the moment.
When Fogarty hears about it though he is determined to chase Elizabeth down and confronts her at the country house. Another fight ensues and she throws him out. James gets onboard the Clipper and locates Baines, but he has been badly beaten and is unable to speak. Remembering his wife's work with the old sailor though Onedin proves Baines' identity by having him sign his name, to the considerable amazement of the captain, who had claimed he "made his mark" when they took him aboard in Riga. Faced with a Board of Trade enquiry if he refuses to release Baines, the captain has no choice and he returns with James.
Back home after the aborted party, Anne tells Elizabeth that she has guessed her secret, and quickly thereafter Robert, who comes calling at their warehouse home, is made aware. He is thunderstruck. Anne is delighted to see James back safe at port, and with Baines onboard: he has saved his Mate, and it's been all thanks to her teaching him how to read and write. Who said education was a waste of time?
QUOTES
Callon: "All men are equal in the sight of God but that's where it ends. In commerce it's value for money and catch as can."
Anne: "Would you come in search of me?"
James: "That would depend on what you'd taken with ye!"
Fogarty: "How's Elizabeth?"
Onedin (departing): "She's got a full programme."
Fogarty (doing a double take): "What do you mean, a full programme?" (He shouts it again at James as the "Charlotte Rhodes" begins to move out of earshot)
James (grinning): "Captains don't shout: they employ men to do that for them!"
FAMILY
JAMES
We see briefly another side of James Onedin in this episode, at least at the beginning. It's a more playful, boyish side that seems miles removed from the hardened plutocrat he aspires to be. On his return from France he presents Anne with a gift, a fan, and she grasps it as if it is the most wonderful thing she ever received. Perhaps it is. His eyes sparkle when she seems so pleased. And later they speak of dancing, with the upcoming garden party Frazer is arranging; Anne says she could not picture James dancing, and he proceeds to regale her with a --- possibly fictitious --- story of a commodore's daugher he danced with in Sydney. He knows she will take no offence from his mentioning other women: she is his now, and he hers, and neither would have it any other way. One thing James will always be while she is alive is faithful to his wife.
Mind you, this jolly mood dissipates quickly when he's faced with his sister's obstinacy, and he's back to the dour old stone-faced tyrant we're coming to know and perhaps love. Despite his contention that it's just because there are no Mates as cheap as Baines in port, it's quite clear that James goes to rescue him as a friend, and with indignation too, that one of his men be "crimped". He has to also admit that his wife has had unexpectedly prophetic vision, for were it not for her having taught Baines to write, he would not have been able to prove that he is who he is.
BAINES
Ever Onedin's right hand man, Baines is still treated as little more than a hired hand by James. But Anne has been teaching him to read and write, and is delighted and satisfied when he is able to sign his name for his wages, a skill that ends up saving him from being shanghaied and taken to parts foreign aganst his will, perhaps never to see England's green hills again! He mentions he is going to see his sister in Wellington Street, which will come up in a later episode. Anne rebukes James for his short treatment of the Mate: "He's your right hand, James," she reminds him. "You'd do better to let him appreciate it." Unlike her husband, Anne is quite aware of Baines' professional reputation and how sought-after he is as a sailor, and fears that if James does not start treating him better, the man may jump ship and go to work for someone else: Callon, even.
This happens, though in a different manner, as related above, and perhaps now James Onedin can begin to see the value of his old seadog, and begin to appreciate him more. Baines certainly appreciates himself, as we will see later, as he tries to better his station in life. Anne Onedin has started him on a road he had never thought to travel, and given him ideas that he can be more than just a simple sailor.
CALLON
Callon Senior thinks nothing of Baines: he tells his son "Most of them were born anonymous and will certainly die that way." He does not care if the man dies at sea, never sees his home again. He does not know, nor care, whether Baines has a family depending on him. He sees him merely as a pawn, a way to strike back at James Onedin. He of course is careful to make sure his name is not in any way linked with the incident officially, and no blame can be attached to him, though James knows, even if he cannot prove it. Callon's son, Edmund, on the other hand, whom we meet for the first time here, seems less callous, a more principled individual, and his father no doubt has a mind to remove such notions as pity and compassion from his mind, and mould him into a copy of himself.
A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE
Callon mentions the "India trade", where fast ships delivered the tea from India and China in Clippers, the fastest vessels on the seas at that time. He tells Watson that the man needs his Clippers if he wishes to remain in the India trade, and Watson glumly tells James that he has no Clippers and so Watson is constrained to accept Callon's demand that he cut off all dealings with James.
Crimping: also known as shanghai-ing or press-ganging, this was a practice known about but which the harbour authorities would turn a blind eye, where gangs of men from ships who needed cheap, ie free labour and who were soon due to depart the port would frequent taverns and inns, roaming the streets after closing time and snagging any unwary drunken able-bodied men, sailors or not, and force them to work on the ships. For many, this could mean months or longer at sea and even the possibility they might never return to their home.
D&D: No, not dungeons and dragons! D&D in this instance stood for deaf and dumb, which was both how the pressed sailors were listed in the ship's crew roster and told to behave, in case anyone should ask who they were or where they came from. A deaf mute could hardly be asked questions!
Making your mark: In the 1860s not that many of the working classes were educated enough to be able to read and/or write, so when they had to sign anything, like a ship's crew manifest or for their wages, they would simply put an "X", which was called making their mark, and perfectly acceptable aboard any ship. Lack of, as Baines would put it, "the letterin'" was not seen to be any impediment to a man serving aboard ship. In fact, the less educated a man was the better in some cases, for it was a lot easier to cheat a man on his wages if he couldn't count.
Clippers: The fastest ships on the seas at the time, long and sleek and with the most and best sails. Beautiful, stylish, top of the range ships at the time, even now still beautiful. The "Cutty Sark", which was displayed in Greenwich in England until the fire that nearly destroyed it was one such.
Nutcracker: A term for the person into whose hands the responsibility of paying out the seamen's wages falls.
MANNER AND MORES
It's quite interesting how the world of the nineteenth century differs so radically from our own, even from the previous one. An unmarried mother is not only a social stigma unwanted by any family, but is entitled to nothing. There is no social welfare, no cheap house, no allowance, and indeed the chances, slim as they already are for women, of being employed if you were seen as a "scarlet woman" were virtually nil. For this reason James and Robert, and indeed Anne and Sarah, will all want Elizabeth married off as soon as possible, definitely before the baby is born.
The level of shock such a thing is greeted with is evident in Robert's almost disbelieving face when he is given the news: his sister, a harlot! Or one step removed. He can't understand it. How could she? And of course the status of women back then was so marginal that Elizabeth would have scarcely any say in whether or not she should be wed, or to who. The honour of the family would be paramount, and this way of thinking of course permeates and informs the entire series, as a microcosm of Victorian values long since left behind in tatters.
Even the appearance of a man, uninvited at her house, scandalises and shocks and enrages Frazer's aunt. Such things are simply not done. In the previous episode, when calling on Mrs Arkwright, James says he brought Robert with him so as not to make it look like his intentions were anything but honourable towards the recently-widowed lady. Of course, he had other reasons for having his brother accompany him, but this explanation is accepted at face value by Mrs Arkwright, as it seems a socially correct precaution.
In the same way as the Onedin family cluck their tongues and wonder when the youngest member of the clan will settle down, Albert's aunt makes the same observations about her nephew, archly asking him if he has a ladyfriend yet, to which Albert replies in the negative, though whether or not his aunt can see through the subterfuge is uncertain.
It's interesting too to note Fogarty's two views of high society. When he comes to confront his intended, he has no time for such things as the rules of etiquette, and indeed for most of his life has lived in a totally different sphere altogther, the tough, hard, uncompromising life of the seaman, where manner and mores count for next to nothing. So his behaviour at Albert's aunt's is in some ways expected and even forgivable, or at least understandable. However, on the other side of the coin, when he hopes to impress his boss by taking Elizabeth to lunch with them, he impresses upon her the fact that no longer is it enough for a ship's captain to be an able sailor, experienced in the way of the sea and the ways of command; now he is expected to be comfortable in polite company, to be able to entertain, mix in society. Fogarty is ready to change his ways for the sake of a promotion, or in other words, when it suits him, but not when his blood is up. In this way, he could be seen as something of a hypocrite, but then, as Elizabeth says to him that night onboard the "Charlotte Rhodes": "When I look at you I don't see the sea captain everyone else sees. I see the orphan child, his face streaked with dirt and holding out his begging bowl."
In many ways, Daniel Fogarty, though he may rise through the echelons of society, will never be comfortable in a top hat and tails, and will always be that orphan child.