Le Pot-au-noir, les dames espagnoles, la baleine et, peut-être, qui sait, le retour à la maison

Philip G. Needell - In the Doldrums/Dans le Pot-au-noir, n.d.

Gravure sur bois en couleurs

 

À minuit sur le gaillard d'avant, c'est au chapitre 40 de Moby Dick qu'on se met à chanter...

Herman Melville - Moby Dick, ch. 40, trad. Armel Guerne

Ne soyons pas sentimentaux,c'est mauvais pour la digestion...

 

 

...Spanish Ladies, le grand classique des chants de marins anglais.

 

 

Farewell and adieu unto you Spanish ladies
Farewell and adieu to you ladies of Spain
For we have received orders to sail to old England
We hope in a short time to see you again
We'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors
We'll rant and we'll roar along the salt seas
Until we strike soundings in the Channel of Old England
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues

 
We hove our ship to with the wind on sou'west, boys
We hove our ship to, deep soundings to take
Twas forty-five fathoms, with a white sandy bottom
So we squared our main yard and up channel did make.

We'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors
We'll rant and we'll roar along the salt seas
Until we strike soundings in the Channel of Old England
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues

 

 Le 40 c'est un de mes chapitres préférés, à vrai dire...

 

Sarah Blasko - Spanish ladies (trad.) (1)

 

 

 

Now let every man drink off his full bumper
And let every man drink off his full glass
We'll drink and be jolly and drown melancholy
Here's to the health of each true-hearted lass
We'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors
We'll rant and we'll roar along the salt seas
Until we strike soundings in the Channel of Old England
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues

 

 

  

Herman Melville - Moby Dick, ch.40 

Où sont les filles ?

 

The first land we made was called the Dodman
Next Ram Head off Plymouth, off Portland the Wight
We sailed by Beachy, by Fairlee and Dover
Then abreast away for South Foreland Light
We'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors
We'll rant and we'll roar along the salt seas
Until we strike soundings in the Channel of Old England
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues

 
The signal is made for the grand fleet to anchor
And all in the Downs that night for to lie;
Let go your shank painter, let go your cat
Haul up your clewgarnets, let tacks and sheets fly!
We'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors
We'll rant and we'll roar along the salt seas
Until we strike soundings in the Channel of Old England
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues

 

 

 

...mais c'est un tournant du livre car c'est là, juste après, là, au début du chapitre 41, qu'on en vient...

 

 Herman Melville - Moby Dick, ch.41

Relativement rares étaient ceux qui l'avaient vu, de leurs yeux vu...

 

...au fond de l'affaire, à la baleine, et est-ce qu'on en remontera, du fond, est-ce qu'on reviendra chez soi, et dans quel état, hein ?

 

 
Now let every man drink off his full bumper
And let every man drink off his full glass
We'll drink and be jolly and drown melancholy
Here's to the health of each true-hearted lass
We'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors
We'll rant and we'll roar along the salt seas
Until we strike soundings in the Channel of Old England
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues

 

 

 

John Taylor Arms - Evening, East River, New York, 1919

Eau-forte et aquatinte
 

 

(1) Il en existe évidemment plusieurs versions. La plus connue du grand public, c'est celle que fredonne Robert Shaw dans Les dents de la mer, avant de se faire bouffer par le requin.