At the age of 17, Lowry shipped out as a deckhand on the Blue Funnel Line steamer S.S. Pyrrhus rather than attend Cambridge University, as had been planned for him by his cotton broker father. His voyage lasted only four months, and both his departure and return were noted in Liverpool's Daily Mail.
He was already entered at Cambridge for a year or so hence. He had not, however, the slightest intention of going there. The prospect of it, for some reason, he dreaded only less than being stuck meantime at some crammer's. – UTV, 160.
In Under the Volcano, Hugh Firmin reminisces about signing on board the S.S. Philoctetes (also a Blue Funnel Line steamer) in a fit of optimism, perhaps after reading too much Jack London.
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Hugh had previously visited every newspaper office within a radius of thirty miles ... and informed them precisely of his intention to sail on the Philoctetes, counting on the prominence of his family ... to make the story, and hence supply the needed publicity – UTV, 161. Above: Liverpool Daily Mail, May 14, 1927. [Cited in "Fighting the Albatross of Self: A Genetic Study of the Literary Work of Malcolm Lowry", Victor Doyen, PhD diss. 1973.] |
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| Then all at once, when he was cleaning out, say, the petty officer's bathroom, some very young seaman might grow mysteriously obsequious and say something like: 'Do you realize, mate, you're working for us, when we should be working for you?' – UTV, 163.
Malcolm Lowry, England, circa 1929. Photo: Courtesy W. Lowry. [Cited in "Fighting the Albatross of Self: A Genetic Study of the Literary Work of Malcolm Lowry", Victor Doyen, PhD diss. 1973.] |
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Pyrrhus (2) - Workman, Clark and Co. Ltd., Belfast; 1924, 7,603gt, 455 feet. Pictured in August 1935.
And yet there was something youthful and beautiful about her, like an illusion that will never die, but always remains hull-down on the horizon. It was said she was capable of seven knots. – UTV, 170. Above photo: Blue Funnel Line, Ships in Focus Publications, 1998. Below photo: S.S. Pyrrhus entering Birkenhead Docks. Source: British Library, via Malcolm Lowry: From Mersey to the World (2009). |
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Philoctetes (1) - Scotts' Shipbuilding and Engineering Co. Ltd., Greenock; 1922, 11,446gt, 512 feet. Pictured in July 1934.
Even the ship looked like a fantastic mobile football field. – UTV, 165. (Photo: Blue Funnel Line, Ships in Focus Publications, 1998) |
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During these last hard weeks he played his guitar seldom. It seemed he was getting along splendidly. So spendidly that, before docking, his shipmates insisted on packing his bag for him. As it turned out, with stale bread. – UTV, 172. Above: Liverpool Daily Mail, September 30, 1927. [Cited in "Fighting the Albatross of Self: A Genetic Study of the Literary Work of Malcolm Lowry", Victor Doyen, PhD diss. 1973.] Left: Article from the Liverpool Echo, 12 May 1927. [Via Malcolm Lowry: From Mersey to the World (2009).] |
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