A dark Stage. Surround sound ocean, creaking hawsers, lap of waves against boat, wooden sounds, set up a subliminal 90 beats per minute pulse… We hear distant thunder
Bang! A pistol shot roles off into a major thunder clap A brief flash of light illuminates the Captain's face – his expression of peace turns to horror… The spot turns into radiant golden sparkles rippling across the backdrop – watery fireworks – that momentarily freeze. He slumps forward and his raised arm, grasping a pistol, falls to his side. Sounds of rain start – and the frozen light effect begins to fall as streaks of rain.
Pringle is moved about on a platform pulled by a crew of four sailors tugging on thick ropes – their tai chi like movements are slow, graceful, funereal. His directional facing can be gyroscopically fixed or freely floating to follow the direction set by the crew. He is able to control a shallow, rocking platform built upon a universal joint that rotates from side to side and forward and back; thus simulating a ship’s rolling deck. He grasps a railing in front to steady himself.
An animated ocean projection heavily skewed to a deep indigo becomes the background. Lighting on Pringle is lavender, while the crew are bathed in a warm cyan. Pringle is inarticulate and disoriented as his ‘ship’ sails forward
SAILORs in sequence
I was first mate
SAILOR
Lieutenant Skyring sir
SAILOR
To Captain Pringle. I took his orders
SAILOR
Such as they were
SAILOR
And kept his ship afloat...
SAILOR
He was our captan,
SAILOR
we faithfully supported his mission till the very bitter end
SAILOR
What shall we do now?
SAILOR
He was not well
SAILOR
Locked in his cabin for weeks on end...
SAILOR
Retired and absent
(The sailors turn the platform around...)
SAILOR
We did what we could
SAILOR
To survey this coastline
SAILOR
This icy land of Tierra del Fuego, this land of fire.
CALL
It was God’s will.
RESPONSE
It was miraculous that any of us survived.
CALL
It was God’s will.
RESPONSE
Save us from despair and madness.
CALL
It was God’s will.
RESPONSE
Spare us chaos and catastrophe.
CALL
It was God’s will.
RESPONSE
With our Captain ill and out of his mind.
SAILORS ALL
Help us find our way back to humanity.
SAILOR
We returned to Port Famine. This retched outpost at the end of the earth
SAILOR
Where the water of the seas swirl in an incessant maelstrom...
SAILOR
And savage creatures naked and barely human...
SAILOR
Swarm upon the shore.
Sailors all Our Captains not well
and were going to hell
here at the bottom of the world
Pringle returns to his senses; watching and listening...
Pringle Here am I
What is this place?
Where am I going,
and what's happened here?
There's a pain in my head
and anguish in my soul.
I remember now
by my own hand
I should be dead
yet this cannot be life...
I thought it would be over
I should be gone to dust
to red rust weeping into the sea
Sailors all Our Captains not well
and were going to hell
here at the bottom of the world
Crew in sequence our lot in life was cast
sailors before the mast
and mariners secure in our mission
commands we are to obey
for duty demands
that we do as they say
their orders and rules
are limited tools used to circumscribe fools
‘are daily borders to
so we obey orders
for duty demands that we do as we are told
Pringle We were sent west ‘bridge
to map this treacherous coast
of this hideous landscape
for commerce, resources
military might and the greater glory
of God and King
our work was to bring
back everything for the empire...
Crew What a horror to be fingers blindly groping
at the ends of the outstretched arms
of a King and country...
While life itself is conditioned and unfree
Let our choice of chains determine our destiny
PringleThese chains I forged in life…
constrain the quality of my afterlife
And It was through my fault
That the doctrine of evolution
was loosed upon the world
Because I couldn’t stand this life
I decided to die
I took to my cabin
and refused to take part
If I had only thicker skin
And been stout of heart
I tried again and again
and repeatedly failed to take my life
Unable to move forward
Unable to retreat
Overcome by this quandary
Of inertia and defeat
Seeking peace from my plight
only to find endless night
only to be denied entry into the light
Where I was entrusted
to discover and report
To be aware and faithful to my task
I failed utterly..
I am an incompetent
And through my fault
my weakness and fear
My command fell to
the honorable Lord Fitzroy
I resigned my commission…
with a bullet to the brain
and nearly a fortnight
of delirium and pain
Due to my lack of sand
Lord Fitzroy took command
And in his turn
Because of his personal demons
He took Charles Darwin along on that journey
That irrevocably changed our lives….
Enough about me
Allow these ghosts to rise up before us
Ultimately to vanish in the light
If I had only been
charting the seas for my majesty
I had dreams
I dreamt of one to come
after me
that would upset the majestic (natural) order
the divine plan
here where mountains curl monstrously under the sea
I was warned
I knew this could not last
we find that what seems permanent
in this life
what is future - is soon past
I did what came naturally
I went to sea
And by my own hand
before my time
I went down
in these southern seas
if I could bury myself in the sea
a watery grave is no place to be
for any man
I was to worry myself needlessly
with things that I couldn't fix
with things beyond my ability to change
with everything and with this!‘in disdain, gestures with hand like a gun to temple
I want to be in a mound on the ground for eternity
not drowned, vanished and forgotten without a final resting place
When we returned to port famine
The ships surgeon of the Adventure was sent for
it was too late
He had already placed a bullet in his brain
But by God’s will or a cruel fate
our captain was alive nearly a fortnight
Pringle: my crew were discreet as was the admiralty
I was buried on land - not at sea
Sometimes it is time to turn the ship of state
You know the captain is always right
until he is completely wrong
and even then mutiny is out of the question
and always dishonorable
unless you write the histories
INTRO PRINGLE STOKES from august 1st
I was pringle stokes
captain of the beagle
As she sailed for the first time in these
treacherous and stormy southern seas
sailing for his majesty
creating charts useful to this day
Loneliness and despair
In this life apart
Before the mast
Before the men
Sullen and aloof
as far as we know
no one gets out alive
and belief in life after death
is an expression of faith
Pringle: always wet
always cold
exhausted from our battle with nature
I gave up to feel better
Where whole white ghostly glaciers
snapped from looming mountains
Are hurled amidst incessant squalls
and driving rain
A continual maelstrom
worthy of the devil himself
Assailed our vessel… ‘ Pringle is slowly spun about
Pringle: My name is Pringle Stokes
Perhaps you have heard of me
I was the first captain of the Beagle
Surveying these Southern Seas
Thomas Scott Nelson ©
last modified
August 22, 2021