 Poster for the first US printing (1894) | |
| Author | Robert Louis Stevenson Lloyd Osbourne |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Adventure fiction,novella |
| Publisher | Heinemann (UK) Smith & Kimball (US) |
Publication date | 1894 |
| Publication place | Scotland |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Text | The Ebb-Tide atWikisource |
The Ebb-Tide. A Trio and a Quartette is an 1894 novella written byRobert Louis Stevenson and his stepsonLloyd Osbourne. It was published the year Stevenson died.
Three beggars operate in the port ofPapeete onTahiti. They are Herrick, a failed English businessman; Davis, an Americansea captain disgraced by the loss of his last ship; and Huish, a dishonestCockney of various employments.
One day an off-courseschooner carrying a cargo ofchampagne fromSan Francisco toSydney arrives in port, its officers having been killed bysmallpox. With no one else willing to risk infection, the U.S. consul employs Davis to take over the ship for the remainder of its voyage. Davis brings the other two men, along with a plan to steal the ship and navigate it toPeru, where they will sell the cargo and vessel and disappear with the money.
Once at sea, Davis and Huish start drinking the cargo and spend almost all of their time intoxicated. Herrick, whose conscience is severely troubled by the plan but feels he has no other way to escape poverty, is left alone to manage the ship and three native crew members, despite having no seafaring experience.
Several days later the would-be thieves discover they have been victims of a fraud: most of the cargo is not champagne but merely bottles of water. Evidently the shipper and the previous captain had intended to sink the ship deliberately and claim the full value of the "champagne" oninsurance.
Now sober, Davis discovers that his rushed preparations and drunkenness leave the ship with insufficient food to reach Peru. The only port they can reach without starving is Papeete, where they would surely be imprisoned for their actions.
They sight an unknown island, where they discover an upper-class Englishman named Attwater. Attwater, a devout Christian, has been harvestingpearls here for many years with the help of several dozen native workers, all except four of whom have recently also died of smallpox.
The three men hatch a new plan to kill Attwater and take his pearls, but Herrick's guilt-stricken demeanour and Huish's drunken ramblings soon betray them. Attwater and his servants force them back onto the ship at gunpoint. Unable to live with himself, Herrick jumps overboard and tries to drown himself. Failing even in this, he swims to the shore and throws himself on Attwater's mercy.
The next day, Huish proposes a final plan which shocks even the unscrupulous Davis: they will go to meet Attwater under aflag of truce, and Huish will disable him bythrowing acid in his face. Attwater is suspicious, realises what is going on, and forces Huish to fatally spread the vitriol on himself. Attwater threatens to kill Davis as well, but forgives him and tells him,"Go, and sin no more."
Two weeks later, the surviving men prepare to leave the island as Attwater's own ship approaches. Davis is now repentant and fervently religious to an almost crazed degree, and he urges theatheist Herrick to join him in his faith.
The lengthy voyage of the stolen ship has been described as "a microcosm of imperialist society, directed by greedy but incompetent whites, the labour supplied by long-suffering natives who fulfil their duties without orders and are true to the missionary faith which the Europeans make no pretence of respecting".[1]
The strange and memorable character of Attwater, ruthlessly violent while talking always of Jesus' forgiveness, who alternately repels and fascinates the other characters, reflects Stevenson's own conflicted feelings about Christianity.[1]
The novella was adapted into the filmsEbb Tide (1922),Ebb Tide (1937), andAdventure Island (1947),Le Reflux (film) (1965), as well as a 1959 episode ofITV Play of the Week and a 1998 television film starringRobbie Coltrane.
The Ebb-Tide public domain audiobook atLibriVox