(urth) Seawrack and the Mother

[Mark Millman]

Folks,

On Tuesday 18 September 2012, David Stockhoff wrote:

> . . . But the larger point is that once again we have two
> parallel plausibilities and little help from the narrator.
> We also have a plain indeterminacy: if Seawrack was
> not the pirate girl, then why does Wolfe put them so
> close together? What happened to the girl and where
> did Seawrack come from? Wolfe does this all the time
> with his characters.
>
> Furthermore, is it too complex to suggest that Babbie
> attacked Seawrack because he recognized her as the
> pirate girl Horn shot at? If he hit her in the arm, Babbie
> would have known who it was, smelled blood, and torn
> it off defending the boat. Her arm could have suffered
> both injuries without messing up anything [this last is
> in partial response to Sergei, whose perspective on
> this scene baffles me though I understand his reaction
> to Leeism]. A gunshot wound would explain why she
> wanted to get on the boat.

And later, Lee Berman wrote (not as a direct reply):

> . . . Regarding Babbie's apparent guilt over Seawrack,
> I dunno. It sounds familiar but I was reading ahead and
> couldn't find where that is described. Seawrack is ini-
> tially afraid of Babbie. But even if it was Babbie who re-
> moved Seawrack's arm rather than Horn's shot, I don't
> see how that changes things much. It still seems like-
> ly that Seawrack was on the "pirate ship" which was
> The Mother and had been following Horn's ship for a
> while before taking permanent residence.

Here's an alternative hypothesis that may explain all of the observed
facts, and may have the additional benefit of shedding light on
Seawrack's name:

The pirate ship is just that:  a pirate ship.  (Whether the Mother may
have any influence over its crew or the crew's actions is another
question.)  Horn's shot kills or knocks overboard the girl pirate, who
(or whose body) is then used by the Mother to create Seawrack, her
agent.  The first time that Seawrack tries to climb on to Horn's
sloop, Babbie attacks her (whether he recognizes her as the pirate
girl isn't important to this idea) and severs her arm.  She returns to
the sea, where the Mother repairs Seawrack to the extent of sealing
the wound, and sends her back to Horn's sloop.

Given Seawrack's name, I suspect that Horn's shot killed the pirate
girl, but it's not, strictly speaking, necessary that it did.

Best,

Mark Millman