Foreward

I. E. Lynch  

     That's me, with the hat. I don't remember what the cat's name was. My Grandpop, who is the basis for one of the characters in the novel I'm presenting here, used to tease me, calling me "Inge Annie, Pee Pee Pantee." My furious little face would scowl at him from under my straw hat. Then he'd do his silly dance to make me laugh. I learned that from one male I could receive both frustration and pleasure, a valuable thing to learn about men.

     The novel begins in 1789, with a perfectly normal young Jacob Whalen. You'll see forces play on him that turn him into the sort of character who causes a curse to fall on his descendants. The novel is called Terrapin Cove, a Curse of Wood.

     Here is the Foreward: 

     In the past, the islands of the Chesapeake Bay were bigger and higher than they are today. There was enough acreage on some of them for crops to grow, for livestock to thrive, and for a modest population to live simply. When trees were cut down, the islands began shrinking until now they are small and flat, and some have disappeared. Tangier Island got its name (supposedly) because from the water, as one approached the large island, its profile resembled the outline of that other Tangier so far away from the Chesapeake. The island presents no such profile today, and graves of British soldiers on the south end of the island are under water.

     Devil’s Island turned into Deil’s Island, and, then, thanks to the U.S. postal system, became Deal Island. HMS means “His Majesty’s Ship” (British) in the days of the king. Port is to the left of the front of the ship, and starboard is to the right. Fore (and the bow) means the front, and aft (and the stern) means the back. The spar deck is the top deck. The gun decks are below the spar deck. The British Admiral’s name “Cockburn” is pronounced “COE-burn.” A “picaroon” was a small-time nautical Tory leader who robbed and burned wherever he could get away with it. The “Main,” for those who lived on the islands, referred to the mainland.

     A “crab pound” is the area in front of the shanty, enclosed with boards and poles driven into the mud to prevent the crab floats from drifting out. The floats are crab cribs, in a way, with open slats so water can circulate. Wooden aprons are on all sides so they will float. Crabs are kept in them. The male crab is a jimmy crab, and a name for the female is a sook. 

    You took your oysters to a buy boat. It would be flying a flag indicating it was open for business. When a waterman refers to “them arsters out on that bar,” he means the young oysters have attached themselves and grown big and fat at a place elevated from the bottom of the bay but still under water. 

    The people of the Chesapeake islands speak, to some extent, the English language of Elizabethan times. It’s a “cheer,” not a chair; it’s a “young’n,” not a child; it’s a “poke,” not a bag. If you meant to strike someone, but didn’t accomplish it as you wished, then you “smit” that person (close, but not a good hit). Anything that’s “poor-looking” is really very nice. You don’t carry it; you “tote” it. When you “pole your skiff,” you stand up in your small boat and with a long pole you touch bottom, pushing against it to propel the boat along in shallow water. It’s “Jay-sus” not Jesus. It’s the “nigh-vee,” not the navy. A certain “whiney twang” identifies this language location.
     Everybody has a nickname. When a person’s real name appears in the obituaries, people ask, “Now, who is that?” It’s all part of the easy familiarity watermen and women share among themselves, along with the use of the word “shit” to express every range of emotion. 

And now on to Chapter One, Jacob Whalen, using side bar.