Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor

A delightful children's book, handwritten and illustrated by Mervyn Peake, though like all really good children's books, it can also be enjoyed by adults.

This book reflects Peake's lifelong love of pirates and islands, though it's really a simple story of friendship, fun and adventure. The Captain and his mate, Smear, bond partly over a shared joy of reading. One surprise is the lack of a peg-leg, given that Barquentine (in Gormenghast, which I reviewed HERE) and the eponymous Lost Uncle (my review HERE) both have one.

The publication date means there are hints of colonialism, but in context, I have no problem with that.

Fantastical

The opening strikes a change from the traditional "Once upon a time", yet somehow has a fairytale show more familiarity, enhanced by its illustration:
"Far beyond the jungles and the burning deserts lay the bright blue ocean that stretched forever in all directions. There were little green islands with undiscovered edges, and whales swam around them in this sort of way."

There is a panoply of fantastical creatures, with suitably exotic names, including the lonely Mousterashe, croaking Hunchabil, lazy Guggaflop, melancholy Saggerdroop, loathsome Squirmarins, along with the prosaically named, Yellow Creature (male in pronoun, but not exactly masculine).

Illustrations

The pictures are a pen and ink. Many are black and white; others use just a few solid colours (it was first published in 1939).

There is a general air of Heath Robinson, the carvings on the ship resemble caricatures of ancient Greek statues, and there’s a large wave echoing Hukusi’s famous one (but rolling the other way, and with a ship atop).

There is a wealth of detail in the lines, shading and stippling. This is especially true of details: tattoos, body hair, fabric, plants, sea creatures, and patched repairs of people(!), clothes and ship. Adults may notice some rather phallic stylising of noses, fingers, and a banana.

Sexuality and gender fluidity?

The lack of women reflects the plot and setting, but there is a gay subtext, or would be if the yellow creature was unambiguously male. In appearance, the yellow creature isn't, but the text uses he/him pronouns. It's subtle and ahead of its time: a subtext that will go over the heads of small children and shouldn't be an issue for anyone anyway. This aspect is the theme of an exhibition at the Kunstmuseum in Luzern, 28.10.2017 07.01.2018 (details here).

Most cowboy stories and many pirate ones have similar, tacit, themes, which is why Brokeback Mountain was startling (as mentioned in my review, HERE).

"The British author and draftsman Mervyn Peake (1911-1968) created a figure with Yellow Creature already in 1939, which in every drawing between woman and man, animal and man 'changiert' and while still faithful above all remains faithful to itself. Yellow Creature is therefore the title for the group exhibition, which focuses on the relationship between gender and genres."

Short and charming. And a little bit adult if you want it to be.

All My Peake Reviews

Note that this is unrelated to Mr Slaughterboard, which is a longer, nastier (a more violent and tyrannical pirate captain), less illustrated story of a bibliophile, and is included in "Peake's Progress" (my review HERE).

All my Peake/Gormenghast reviews (including biographies/memoirs and books about his art) are on a shelf,
HERE. show less

Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor has been a firm favourite since I delightedly found a second-hand 1977 copy back in the '90s. Great find though it was, that edition was in a small format that compressed the lines in Peake's illustrations, dropping detail and, where colour was added, it was a vivid but disappointingly flat, orange-yellow only.

Finally, I've decide to upgrade to the large format Walker Books edition of 2001 - what a revelation! The delicacy and intricate shading and hatching of Peake's pen are now clearly visible and, whilst the colours, where used, are still flat, they are colours: plural! Pastel shades of green, blue and pink abound, earth colours for (most of) the pirates, purple and lilac for the strange creatures show more of the island and, of course, bright yellow for the Yellow Creature!

I've always suspected that the tattoo of the woman on Charlie Choke's left arm was Peake's wife, Maeve Gilmore, now I can read the name beneath the portrait to confirm that it is: a romantically humorous touch.

What's it about? The illustrations, really. They are absolutely integral to the book, which has little in the way of plot of narrative. Such as it is, it's a slight tale of the pirates discovering an island full of strange creatures, one of which becomes the object of the Captain Slaughterboard's rather obsessional affection, with whom he eventually decides to settle down with and "drop anchor". Despite the lack of any deep story, the book is made vibrant and full of humorous energy by the fantastic quality of Peake's illustrations. show less

An absolute gem, unique in artistic style and story, simple yet wildly deep, sure to capture the imagination of both young and old alike.
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I like the drawings but that was a little too random for me. Also even as a child i think i would be annoyed that most of the characters disappear from the story half-way through.

Another Children’s book that I enjoyed thoroughly. About a pirate that meets a strange yellow creature, and after his crew is killed, Captain Slaughterboard decides to retire and live peacefully with this animal. Not much of a point but an enjoyably story none the less.

A truly wonderful picture book, Magnificent quirky illustarations by Mervyn Peake take a delightful story of pirates along a road thateventually leads at least one of them from a world of wickedness to one of love and peace