Send mail | Search site | Mary Celeste index
|
11 A Modern Miracle |
From Mary Celeste |
[From the chaos emerges a churning fairground-like tune, as the lights shift from deck to quay. The wind blows in a gaggle of twelve small ships represented by girls of the Chorus dressed as Figureheads, with sashes bearing their names, each carrying a pole with a sail fastened to it. They skitter about, then quickly form up two-abreast to circle the stage, rising and falling on their poles like horses on a steam merry-go-round. They moor themselves upstage near the quay wall and sing to the onlookers, who include a Missionary and Mary Celeste's three American Owners]
Figureheads
'Calliope', 'Water Nymph', 'Marion Jane',
'Donna Luisa', 'The Tartar',
'Sappho', 'Cecilia', 'Queen of the Main',
'Diligence', 'Immaculata'.
[The three surviving Owners of Mary Celeste (whom we saw arguing with the Temperance League) despondently move among the ships. The agreeable and stirring melodies of this number belie their singers' callously greedy and hypocritical characters]
Owners
Now me and my buddies here own the Celeste
just think of the dollars she cost!
just think of the days she's been under arrest
and the valuable time we have lost
[Owners gesture jealously at the Figureheads]
In God we do trust, as we have all along:
we submit to His master design
but nothing on these ships has ever gone wrong
so, Lord knows, why is He picking on mine?
[Figureheads supply 'oohs' and 'aahs' to the refrain]
Tragedies happen, this much I can see,
(wise men agree)
But what I can't fathom is why they should happen to me.
[The Missionary, with his hand luggage, approaches the Owners; they expect some spiritual guidance, perhaps, but he is only seeking a passage to Darkest Africa]
Missionary
Before I sail for Africa upon my holy mission
I seek a ship whose name befits a Christian expedition
The pagan names these owners use are never to my liking
The Church can't sail on Jezebel or Hildegarde the Viking!
[The Owners quickly find a way of presenting themselves in a pious light to the Missionary: they sense that they may get some custom from him when the hearing is over]
Owners
We spent all we had on a total refit
Of this mystery ship everyone clamours on
'til she was converted I have to admit
That the name on her bow was the Amazon
[Mary Celeste's name-plate is fixed by a hinge, and one of the Owners flaps it up to show that the name Amazon is still painted there underneath]
A warrior woman, a pagan priestess
as a name for our vessel seemed odd;
as a kind of insurance, we thought it was best
to christen her Mother of God
[Figureheads supply 'oohs' and 'aahs' to the refrain, addressing Mary Celeste behind them in the water]
Mary of Heaven, Oh Mary the Blest
(see, see, they're distressed!)
You should have been lucky as lucky, my Mary Celeste
[This delights and inspires the Missionary]
Missionary
A ship by any other name would earn a fate much harsher
But Mary called, and soon there came a ship named Dei Gratia:
[Missionary underines his point by showing one of the Barkers' Dei Gratia caps]
This Latin name means 'Grace of God', Who all things doth determine
So God is our insurance! And your tale will make my finest sermon!
[The Owners, excited by the idea that their financial misfortune will nevertheless profit the Missionary, declaim the next verse over staccato backing]
Owner 1
Yes, what have we lost? Only money and time!
because God brought our ship in to port
Owner 2
to serve as a sign in His mission sublime
so that barbarous tribes can be taught!
Owner 3
I guess we were blessed with a prescient skill
painting Mary Celeste on her bow
3 Owners
'cos if she'd been known as the Amazon still
she'd be down on the bottom by now!
[Figureheads supply 'oohs' and 'aahs' to the refrain, but they are becoming progressively appalled at the heartlessness of Owners and Missionary]
Owners {singing}
Tragedies happen, but now we can see
(Lucky for me)
that something divine was directing our ship's destiny
[Lights change somewhat; add hubbub of tribal drums; Missionary steps up (on to barrel or quayside, or on to his suitcase) and, with Owners, practises preaching the supposed miracle of Mary Celeste to the benighted throng of the Dark Continent, i.e. the Audience]
Missionary
Bow down, you heathen savages and harken to the Lord
He salvages our property as piety's reward
Missionary & Owners
To tribes who doubt His loving care we offer proof empirical
The salvage of a Christian ship by Grace of God: a modern miracle!
[Missionary and Owners are leaving together in triumph]
[Figureheads supply 'oohs' and 'aahs' to the refrain, thoroughly appalled as Owners and Missionary callously overlook the lives that have been lost, preferring a symbolic interpretation of the mystery]
A miracle!
Mary of Heaven, Mary the Blest
(feather our nest)
Now everyone's happy as happy for Mary Celeste
[Missionary and Owners have gone]
Figureheads
Everyone's happy, except for the crew
(what did they do?)
Were they all greedy and stupid and arrogant too?
[Figureheads loose their moorings and depart, directing our attention by a gesture to a tableau of the Crew in labour on the dimly-lit deck of Mary Celeste]