[page 12]

8.

8.

On the 26th we had another wonderful sight: flying fish were whirling about our ship; these fish are eight to ten inches[25] in length and possess two large fins; as long as they are wet, these fish can fly, but as soon as the fins are dry they fall back into the water[26]! The reason for this is that another variety of fish, called the sea bream or the golden trout[27], which can reach four to five feet in length, and which are a beautiful sky blue, prey upon them. Because of those fish, the flying fish avoid being in the water in order to protect themselves from the sea breams.

Den 26ten hatten wir wiedrum ein herliches Schauspiel mit den fliegenden Fische, welche Herden weiß wie die Vögel um unser Schiff herum flogen : diese Fische seyn in der Größe von 8 biß 10 Zoll lang Sie haben 2 breite Flußfedren und solang dieselbige naß seyn können sie fliehen, sobald sie aber trocken werden fallen sie nieder ! Die Ursache ist weil eine andre Art Fische ihnen nach dem Leben stehn mit Namens Dorates oder Gold-Forellen, welche in der Grösse biß 4, 5 Schuhe lang seyn, und die schönste himmelblaue Farbe haben. Wegen diesen Fischen thun sich die fliehende Fische aus dem Wasser flüchten um Sicherheit zu haben von den Dorates.

On the 6th of June, we had the most powerful storm yet, and it was one misfortune after the next; were he in such peril, the most faithless of men would pray to God to save him[28]. But as soon as the fair weather returned, we again heard cursing and swearing from all around. Someone looking for his clothing over here — which he had lost during the storm–some other looking over there.

Den 6ten Juny bekamen wir einen Sturm so starck als noch einmal, so daß wiedrum Elend über Elend war daß wann man den aller gottlosesten Menschen in diese Gefahr setzen thäte müßte er doch zu Gott ruffen, daß er ihn solte erretten. Sobald aber wiedrum gut Wetter ware hörete man schon das Fluchen und Schwören wiedrum in allen Ecken. Einer suchte seine Kleider hie, der andre dort, welche sie durch den Sturm verlohren hatten.

On the 8th, we came upon other fish that were as big as monsters, called dolphins[29], halcyons[30] and zonatorias[31], which greatly amused us all. The same day we also came upon a few grey kingfishers. On the 9th, we passed the Canary Islands[32]; we saw many clusters of cuttlefish eggs in this region. That the seafaring people should lack in faith is nothing of a surprise, I was myself subject to a scarcity of religious fervor and to heartache during the voyage.

Den 8ten traffen wir wiedrum ungeheure große Fische an mit Namens Souffleur, Alsion und Zonatoria welche uns alle Zeitvertreib machten. Den nemlichen Tag traffen wir auch einige graue Eis-Vögel an. Den 9ten passierten wir die Canarische Inslen, wir traffen in dieser Gegend viele Meer-Trauben an. Weil es bey der See-Nation gottlos hergeht ist sich nicht zu verwundern dann ich befande mich selbsten wärender See-Fahrt etwas gottloß und verdrießlich.

[réclame]

Eines

https://gallica.bnf.fr/iiif/ark:/12148/btv1b10110846m/f7/pct:0,0,50,100/,700/0/native.jpg

Strasbourg, Médiathèque André Malraux, ms f 15, p. 12.

[agrandir]

 Notes

25. The inch is among the old units of measurement based on the human body. Like the foot, its value varied from one region to another. Most often it is estimated to be 2.7 cm.
26. Cf. Anonymous, Poissons volants des Antilles, engraving, v. 1658. Extract from Raymiond Breton and Charles de Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale des îles Antilles, enrichie de plusieurs belles figures de raretés les plus considérables qui y sont décrites, Rotterdam, A. Leers, 1658, p. 168 [reproduction en ligne - Gallica] [catalogue de la Bnu]
27. Cf. Krüger and J.F. Henning, Sparus Aurata, colored engraving, late 18th century. Extract from Marcus Elieser Bloch, Ichtyologie ou histoire naturelle générale et particulière des poissons, Berlin, author’s home, 1795-1797, pl. 266 [reproduction en ligne - Gallica].
28. Faith at sea has been the subject of an abundant literature. After Shakespeare, the English spoke of a “sea change” that touched each emigrant whose points of reference had changed. The crossing contributed to the creation of a new identity. A bit further on, Flohr mentions an unusual lack of religious fervor during the crossing, all the while thanking God for having brought him to America safe and sound. Sailors, being far from life on land, turned to superstitions, looking out for omens that announced whether the crossing would go well or not.
29. The bottlenose dolphin is a mammal that belongs to the Cetacea order and the Delphinidae family. The Dutch explorer and sailor Jacob Le Maire (1585-1610) describes it in his Voyages: “The Bottlenose Dolphin, almost the same as the Whale, but much smaller, expels water in the same way, but from a single place, which is above its snout, instead of from two”: Javob Le Maire, Les Voyages du sieur Le Maire aux isles Canaries, Cap-Verd, Sénégal, et Gambie, sous Monsieur Dancourt, directeur général de la Campagne Roïale d’Affrique, Paris, chez Jacques Collombat, 1695, p. 110-111. Cf. Charles Picquet, Grand Souffleur, Marsouin franc, taille-douce, v. 1801. Extract from Zorgdrager Cornelis Gijsbertsz, Histroire des pêches et des établissements des Hollondois dans les mers du Nord, trad. Bernard de Reste, grav. Picquet, vol. 1, Paris, Veuve Nyon, an IX [1801], pl. dép. n°VIII, en reg. p. 203 [reproduction en ligne - Gallica].
30. Contrary to what Flohr wrote, the halcyon cannot be considered as being one of the “fish that were as big as monsters”. Our traveler most likely made an error in transcribing the names of the animals. The name halcyon (“alsion” in the original German edition, and “alcyon” in the French translation) refers to a mythical bird in Antiquity. The legends surrounding the halcyon bird go all the way back to Antiquity; Plato, Aristotle, Ovid, and Julien de Samosate all mention the story of Alcyone, transformed into a bird and wandering the seas in search of her husband Ceyx who had died at sea. Jacques Christophe Valmont de Bomare, in his Dictionnaire raisonné universel d’histoire naturelle (1791), summarizes the different observations made on the halcyon of Antiquity: “they say that this bird has the color and form of a martin; it has webbed feet, like ducks: the extremity of its wings are of a sunny yellow. Halcyons hardly travel unless in groups, & usually only appear during storms: they follow ships, fly very fast one or two feet above the water, & crossing around one another; sometimes they graze the water, & live only at sea. For sure the Kingfishers, and especially the Sailors, respect the halcyons so much that they dare not kill one of them”. The halcyon is most often identified as a kingfisher, but Valmont de Bomare notes that he is also perceived as a tern or seaweed. Legends surrounding this bird were circulated by sailors: “Some sailors guarantee [...] that halcyons drag their nests all the way to the seashore, & that when an offshore wind comes, they lift their wing that serves them like a sail, the wind carries the little vessel offshore, & and they sail like this on their nests in the middle of the waters”. Crossing this bird at sea was considered as the sign of a calm sea: the Dictionnaire de l’Académie française (1765) adds that “halcyon days” are the seven days that precede and follow the winter solstice during which, according to the legend, the halcyon builds its nest, the virtue of which being that the sea is rendered completely calm. In Honoré Lacombe de Prézel’s Dictionnaire iconologique (1758) he specifies that the halcyon is a symbol of peace and tranquility. Valmont de Bomare notes that for numerous authors the bird’s nest, which is composed of bits of fish flesh or polyps, resembles the sea polyp called alcyon. Naturalists define this polyp in a vague way: “body or substance found in the seas”.
31. No fish or marine species has the name “zonatoria”. In his travel account, Flohr seems to report things he heard without actually having verified the exactitude of the information. The word “zonatoria” seems to be a combination of the Latin “zona” meaning “belt” and “toria”, which could be a transformation of the term “doria”. “Doria” does not exist in Latin. It is most likely a latinization of the French word “doré” (Translation note: golden), conferring a scientific aspect to the designation. There is no such fish as “golden-belted fish”, but the “silver-belted fish” (Translation note: in French “ceinture d’argent” or “ceinture argentée”) does exist. The silver-belted fish belongs to the trichiure genus and is also called lepture. Lacépède, in his Histoire naturelle des poissons, writes that: “their stretched and compressed bodies resemble the blade of a sword, or, if you will, a ribbon; and that is why the lepture, which adds to this physical structure the color and radiance of silver, was named the silver-belted fish” (Lacépède, Histoire naturelle des poissons, an VIII, p. 182). However, the lepture trichiure is a freshwater fish. A species of them exists that lives in the “seas of the India” (ibid., p. 190), and that is known for being able to generate electrical current to protect itself, but “instead of displaying gold and silver to decorate [the lepture], it has only dull colors; it is brown and spotted” (ibid., p. 190). To summarize, the fish that Flohr claims to have seen could be a visual equivalent of a lepture trichiure living in the maritime environment.
32. The Canary Islands are an the Atlantic archipelago situated 150 km off the coast of Africa, south of Morocco, and 1,000 km from the coast of Spain and had been under Spanish sovereignty since the 15th century. It is difficult to determine what Flohr meant when he notes they “passed the Canary Islands”. Whatever the case, neither Guillaume de Deux-Ponts nor Claude Blanchard mentions the Canary Islands in their respective journals, except to mention the “clusters of cuttlefish eggs” of which Flohr speaks that for Blanchard are (p. 21) “seaweed, kelp, grass that detaches itself from the undersea rocks or from the Canary Islands, it has small seeds in the shape of a cluster of grapes, the sea is covered with it”.