Raymond Sheppard and Tarka The Otter in Newnes Pictorial Knowledge

Christine Sheppard's files of cuttings, and clippings of her father's work, included an interesting challenge for me. Christine believed her father had illustrated "Tarka the Otter" the famous book by Henry Williamson (1932) and possibly "Salar the Salmon" by the same author (1935), but my communications with both the Henry Williamson Society and the Charles Tunnicliffe Society yielded a blank. When I finally saw the latter title I could see again how much Tunnicliffe and Raymond Sheppard's works resembled one another - remember they illustrated The Old Man and the Sea together.

A reference to Tarka came up on the Bridgeman Art Library some years ago and stated the image appeared in Waverley's "Book of Knowledge". But I never found it there. However the current reference on Bridgeman states it appeared in Newnes Pictorial Knowledge which is correct!

After much digging around and following sales on eBay and other places I found the volumes, of the 10 volume set, in which Sheppard's work appeared.And wonderfully I didn't waste my money on 10 volumes for nothing! Allow me to share what I've discovered.

 I've written a full article on the set and their history on my other blog. In later articles I am writing about other artists I've tried to identify and credit throughout the set. But back to Raymond Sheppard. I have no way of knowing when a picture was produced by Sheppard or when it first saw print, as the publisher tended - quite reasonably in an encyclopedic set - to re-use pictures. The internal evidence for the set I now own shows this particular edition was published after May 1957, but again Sheppard (who died in 21 April 1958) may have drawn these items much earlier.  

Newnes Pictorial Knowledge Volume 6, page 401

Volume Six contents include "The world and its work – The story of some great industries" which includes among others "Agriculture – producing food from the land". The caption beneath the six images reads:

ANIMALS THAT GIVE US WOOL AND HAIR
The fine Merino Sheep (top, left) comes from Australia. It is really a Spanish Sheep, introduced into Australia from South Africa in 1797. On the right is an English Southdown Sheep. The Shepherd lives on the steppes or grasslands of central Asia, and below him are the dark Alpaca and white Llama of Peru. The silky hair of the Angora Goat from Asia Minor (bottom, left) gives us mohair, from which articles ranging from bootlaces to velvet are made, while to the right is the long-bearded Barbary Sheep of the semi-desert tracts of North Africa. [Emboldening mine]

Newnes Pictorial Knowledge Volume 7, page 251

In Volume Seven, the collection of articles are quite widespread (full listing here) but we are focussing on "Literature through the ages – Great books and their writers" and specifically "Notable nature Writers".  The caption below "Raiders in the Poultry Run" above states:

The illustration above depicts a well-remembered incident from "Wild Life in a Southern County" by Richard Jefferies. It depicts how thieving jackdaws visit the poultry run and steal food put down for the fowls. "Four or five jackdaws will perch on the post and rails," one may read, "intent on the tempting morsels; sitting with their heads a little to one side and peering over. Suddenly one thinks he sees an opportunity; Down he hops and takes a peck." 

The whole text of this incident is lovely, so here it is for your pleasure to see how Sheppard captured the author's words

The jackdaws, which—so soon as the rooks pack after nesting and fly in large flocks—are always with them, may be distinguished by their smaller size and the quicker beats of their wings, even when not uttering their well-known cry. Jackdaws will visit the hen-coops if not close to the house, and help themselves to the food meant for the fowls. Poultry are often kept in rickyards, a field or two distant from the homestead, and it is then amusing to watch the impudent attempts of the jackdaws at robbery. Four or five will perch on the post and rails, intent on the tempting morsels: sitting with their heads a little on one side and peering over. Suddenly one thinks he sees an opportunity. Down he hops, and takes a peck, but before he has hardly seized it a hen darts across, running at him with beak extended like lance in rest. Instantly he is up on the rail again, and the impetus of the hen's charge carries her right under him. Then, while her back is turned, down hops a second and helps himself freely. Out rushes another hen, and up goes the jackdaw. A pause ensues for a few minutes: presently a third black rascal dashes right into the midst of the fowls, picks up a morsel, and rises again before they can attack him. The way in which the jackdaw dodge the hens, though alighting among them, and as it were for the moment surrounded, is very clever; and it is laughable to see the cool impudence with which he perches again on the rail, and looks down demurely, not a whit abashed, on the feathered housewife he has just been doing his best
to rob. 

Newnes Pictorial Knowledge Volume 7, page 254

 And then a few pages later we see Sheppard's drawing of "Tarka The Otter"! I was so excited to have found this as it's one of many pieces I knew had been published but not where. Little things keep this old man happy!

The context is the following text which I thought worth reproducing:

Henry Williamson [born 1897]

Among those writers from Gilbert White to Richard Jefferies who have loved the English countryside and all its creatures, Henry Williamson will surely take a high place. His love of Nature, combined with his poet's imagination and his skill as a writer, enables him to bring to all who will read the charms of the moor and fen and meadow, and to follow him in the adventures over land and water of some creature of the wilds as in "Tarka the Otter."
Yet the actual writing of this book was done under many handicaps. Williamson himself has told us in "Devon Holiday" how he had difficulty in paying the small rent of his cottage in Devon. His wife was ill and during the day he did the housework and cooking then carried on with his writing in the kitchen "while the baby cried in the crook of my left arm." Much of the work was written after midnight and after the writing came revision. Not until he had completed the seventeenth version of "Tarka" was he satisfied.
It was the magic of this book that brought him fame in 1927; in the following year this story of Dartmoor and Exmoor was awarded the Hawthornden Prize for Literature.
Most of his earlier books were written around the country of the Two Rivers, the Taw and the Torridge in Devon, but he has also written a more practical book, "Story of a Norfolk Farm," published in 1941. Later publications of his include "The Phaisan Bird" [sic] (1948) and "Tales of Moorland and Estuary" (1953). 

 Obviously we now know that Williamson died in 1977 and this piece must have been written after 1953. After the afore-mentioned work he wrote four books in our time period (after 1953 and before 1957) but none in the 'rural' genre mentioned.

Volume Eight's contents range from the seas, heavens, human body and other topics. The one of special interest to us featured in a earlier blog article - but I've shown them here in order to keep things logical - I hope! The specific section in which these plates appeared is "Pastimes at home and out of doors" and the "Angler's Art".

Newnes Pictorial Knowledge Volume 8, page 264a

 

Newnes Pictorial Knowledge Volume 8, page 264b

Newnes Pictorial Knowledge Volume 8, page 264c

Newnes Pictorial Knowledge Volume 8, page 264d

Raymond Sheppard and Landscapes

 I enjoyed searching through the images last time, which Christine Sheppard kindly shared with me, so let's do it again. This time I'm concentrating on landscape watercolours.

 The first few, I suspect, are in France as Sheppard visited there and drew parts of Ardèche. If anyone recognises the places from these images, please do let me know.

Rocky outcrop with strong wind and men (ochre colours)

Rocky outcrops with village in valley (ink and wash)

Rocky outcrops with buildings (dark wash)

 The next batch are very English, in my opinion, showing fields with boundaries of fence posts and/or barbed wire plus some trees and a clearing. I love Sheppard's use of colour perspective - showing lighter colours at the back of the paintings. Living on the edge of the Fens I notice the hills in these images!

Field with barbed wire

Field with fence posts

Trees and clearing

 Then we have some more countryside scenes including what might be the woodland near to where he lived, Stanmore Common (another named place in other artwork). 

 

A lane leading to cliffs

Church tower in a rural setting

Misty woodland

A house in a woodland

Notice in the church scene above he has gone to the trouble of showing us the church yet covered it with the branches of a young sapling! But the woodland scenes really convey that soft light, dappled through the canopy. Gorgeous work.

Finally, for now, three studies that show a variety of methods. The first a watercolour wash; the second  a snow scene and lastly a study in orang - perhaps a sunset?

A park scene - but where?

An English snow scene called "Sunlit Distance, 1947"

Trees and lane - in orange

 

Raymond Sheppard sketches: Flora

 I'm sitting on a wealth of sketches and drawings on my computer which Christine Sheppard very kindly shared with me. Rather than look at my published collections of books, magazines etc., I thought this time I'd share some wonderful sketches of flora by Raymond Sheppard.

Less for me to write and more for you to see and adore!

Chinese Fountain Palm - (Livistona Chinensis)

Himalayan Dwarf Fishtail Palm (Wallichia Densiflora, Himalyas)

Asoka tree (Saraca Indica)

I did wonder with the illustrations above whether Sheppard was doing research for a publication so went looking at the obvious: Jim Corbett books. And in Man-Eaters of Kumaon we see a boar under - what looks to me to be - a Himalayan Dwarf Fishtail Palm, but I'm no horticulturist!

Man-Eaters of Kumaon, p.187

 There's one colour piece in the 'flora' folder which shows the Sabal Bermudana, or "Blackburnianum Bermuda" as Sheppard has it. I love the light touch, identifying colours, shapes and how the leaves join the trunk.

 Sabal Bermudana

 Then we move a bit closer to home

 

"Small evergreen weighted with snow"

"Tree trunk"

"Burnham Beeches"

"Beeches"

I spent a pleasurable hour scouring all my scanned images and couldn't find an evergreen laden with snow - most snow scenes being in polar regions. 

The pen and ink and watercolour of the tree trunk is a beautiful study of overlapping bark 

The beech tree studies are delightfully simple outlines with shadows giving them their grandiose bulk. As the Woodland Trust tells us about the site Burnham Beeches:

There has probably been woodland on the site since the end of the last ice age. One of the three Scheduled Ancient Monuments on the site shows inhabitation as early as the Iron Age. It is characterised by a mixture of ancient woodland, wood pasture, coppice, ponds and streams, grassland, mire and heathland. The most prominent features are the veteran Beech and Oak pollarded trees that provide a stable habitat for many rare and endangered deadwood species 

 I hope you enjoyed this article as much as I did in putting it together.

Further Everybody's illustrations by Raymond Sheppard

Today's article is about women whose names have been captured in history but who perhaps are not so well remembered now.  

Everybody's 18 December 1954 (pp34-35) "First Lady of South Africa" by D. L. Hobman

Everybody's 18 December 1954 (pp34-35)
"Poetess, diarist, hostess, friend of the famous –
Anne travelled to remote Boer farms with her husband
in a creaking ox-wagon. She has become one of the most
remarkable women in British history"

The first illustration by Raymond Sheppard for this article is the fascinating tale of Lady Anne Barnard. The oval portrait shown here is credited on Encyclopedia Britannica as being "after a miniature by Richard Cosway" and the National Portrait gallery has it as "Walker and Cockerell after Cosway" which seems to be a more complete reference.  They also have the portrait of Andrew Barnard "by Charles Turner, after Sir Thomas Lawrence, mezzotint, published 1809"

The double page spread by Sheppard shows Anne and husband trekking across South Africa. The article starts:

TWO pretty Scottish sisters, accustomed to sharing every secret, exchanged confidences about the man with whom Margaret, the more beautiful of the two, had fallen in love. Anne, the elder, more gifted sister, was full of sympathy, but not so their parents when the affair became known. The suitor was consequently sent overseas and instead, according to eighteenth century fashion, a match was arranged on Margaret's behalf. Alexander Fordyce was a wealthy banker, considerably older than the bride. He took her away to live in London and Anne was left sad and alone. In order to console herself she made up a poem about a young girl married to an old man, to be sung to a well-known melody, instead of the improper words sung to it before. The last verse ran:

I gang like a ghaist, and I carena' much to spin, I darena' think o' Jamie, for that would be a sin. But I'll do my best a gude wife to be, For O, Robin Gray, he is kind to me.

This song, Auld Robin Gray, soon became wildly popular and was used later as the subject for a play, an opera, and even a pantomime. Yet in spite of such immediate and lasting popularity nobody knew who had written Auld Robin Gray until Anne, shortly before her death, admitted authorship in a letter to Sir Walter Scott. She told him that she had felt melancholy and had tried to amuse herself "by attempting a few poetical trifles ... At our fireside and amongst our neighbours Auld Robin Gray was always called for. I was pleased in secret with the approbation it met with; but such was my dread of being suspected of writing anything, perceiving the shyness it created in those who could write nothing, that I carefully kept my own secret." Such was the modesty of Lady Anne Lindsay, born in Fifeshire on December 8, 1750. She was the eldest of the eleven children of the fifth Earl of Balcarres.

When she finally married at 42, the groom was 30 years of age. Her husband's acceptance of the job of Secretary to the Governor (whose wife did not accompany him to South Africa) meant in 1797 the couple were part of the scene where Dutchmen reluctantly accepted British rule. She soon shone and enticed the children of the Boers to social occasions and won many hearts.  

The authoress of this article led an interesting life herself - Wikipedia again comes to my rescue.
 

Everybody's 2 April 1955 "Betty Mouat's adventure" by J. M. Scott (p.16)

Everybody's 2 April 1955 (p.16)
"'Columbine' was drifting fast before the strong wind. And night was coming on"

Rather than just point to Wikipedia - which does have a page on Betty's adventure, I'd recommend Claire White's outline with a song too about Betty, which is delightful. Betty Mouat, from Shetland, was the sole passenger sailing to Lerwick in order to sell her knitwear. Unfortunately the storms in the North Sea took the boat and the captain was washed overboard. Poor Betty - then aged c. 61, was alone on a boat tossed here and there at the whim of the weather. It took 8 lonely days in which she used all her supplies - a bottle of milk and two biscuits. Finally she made the rocks off the coast of Norway and was rescued by fishermen. Her name is commemorated by a plaque in Lepsøya but her return to Edinburgh via Hull, meant her fame was widespread. Betty's  journey certainly captured the public's imagination in 1886 and Queen Victoria was involved too!

I think Sheppard captures the roaring wind and waves that washed over the boat, and his image of Betty holding on - determined to survive - works really well. The angle of the piece adds vertiginous feelings for the viewer.

Everybody's magazine continued

 

Everybody's 24 April 1954 p.25
"The trout rushed hither and yon... and leapt skywards after June bugs and mayflies"

I've updated Playing For The School as I've been sent the cover, which was indeed drawn by Raymond Sheppard 

Anyway today's assortment of images are from the weekly magazine Everybody's, published in the UK - with Raymond Sheppard illustrating many articles and stories during the 1950s. The first is from:

Everybody's 24 April 1954 (p.25) "The chastisement of Horsey" by Kerry Wood. 

The "true story is about a bull-frog, a big fish and a Mr. G. G. Brown, known as Horsey" starts the tale. We learn of how the frog, knowing he must be very careful not to wash himself near the deep pool where the trout monster lives, keeps himself stuck to the high rock. But along comes a Mr. Brown to fish on his land which includes "Snob Creek". The frog and the trout have a harmonious relationship - if the frog misses a fly, it dips down and gets caught by the trout. They are grateful to each other. The tale ends with Mr, Brown catching the large frog in his hands and trying to wash it over the deep pool. The trout springs and bites into Mr. Brown's hand which releases the frog! Mr. Brown took up horseshoe pitching instead of fishing.

Edgar Allardyce Wood C.M. (2 June 1907 — 25 July 1998) - Kerry Wood was his pen-name - was a Canadian who wrote many books and articles published around the English-speaking world.   

Short bibliography

Christine Sheppard shared these sketches by her father and I love the quickness of Sheppard's line work in some of these - reminding me of his advice when drawing moving animals and birds, don't worry they are not like still life, but they will most likely return to the same position at some point.

Pencil sketches of frogs - Raymond Sheppard

Everybody's 31 July 1954 "Desert Aristocrats" by Joseph Braddock

Everybody's 31 July 1954 p20

The illustration above illustrates  a large group of Arab hounds (Saluki) and a separate illustration of an Arab rider on a rearing horse. The article by Braddock tells of the history of how the Arabs bred horses so finely as well as the hunting Saluki - this is to accompany a show at the Roehampton Club, London where both would appear in 1954.

Everybody's 21 August 1954 "Ghost ships of the arctic" by Larry Forrester 

 

Everybody's 21 August 1954 p14

"The explorers staggered into a blizzard and oblivion. Their ships may still be afloat" is the title above Raymond Sheppard's drawing showing a group of men forcing their way headlong through a blizzard, with one of the men on crutches! The tale is that of HMS Terror and HMS Erebus as they tried navigating the Northwest passage. The article also has a photo of Sir John Franklin and also a picture of the Erebus stuck in pack ice by T. Picken (after I E Davis). The next page has a copy of "the bottle paper" which was found in a cylinder plus a mezzotint of Sir Leopold McClintock If you don't know the story, Wikipedia has an excellent overview and the BBC dramatised it with The Terror starring Ciarán Hinds. The two missing ships were not found until 2014 and 2016 - 170 years after they set out!

It appears that Larry Forrester, (1924-1988) wrote at least 7 books and more popular were his screenplays - see Mubi for more details which confirm he wrote several early ITC TV production episodes and more famously the 1967 film "Tora! Tora! Tora!"

• Unsolved Mysteries: A collection of weird problems-from the past. Edited by Valentine Dyall, London: Hutchinson, 1954
• Fly for your Life: The story of R. R. Stanford Tuck, London: Frederick Muller, 1956
• Skymen: heroes of fifty years of flying. London: Collins, 1961
• A Girl called Fathom. London: Heinemann, 1967 [See Wikipedia]
• Battle of the April storm. London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1969
• Three great air stories: Reach for the sky; Skymen; The man in the hot seat. London: Collins, 1970
• Diamond Beach: A novel. London: Harrap, 1973

But could he also have written the story for a Star Trek: The Next Generation magazine (vol. 4, April 1988) "The Battle" adapted from the TV script by Herbert Wright, with the story by Larry Forrester?

Next time: I'd like to show more Everybody's illustrations

===============================

The Kerry Wood photo and bibliography are taken from Something about the author by Anne Commire, Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research, 1980 

 

The Modern Encyclopædia for Children & Nature Lover's Companion

 

I recently acquired an encyclopedia published by Odhams in 1948. The Modern Encyclopædia for Children. I spotted the signature of the image in the bottom right of the page showing 4 portrait images and immediately recognised Raymond Sheppard's style.

These are the four captions:

• Indian Leaf Butterflies, one with folded wings
• Seychelles Leaf Insect blends with the leaves
• Striped Angel Fish merge with water plants
• Ptarmigan's colouring matches the hillside

 But did Sheppard do all four? I could accept the bottom two but the top two?

The good news is I have some -sort of - proof he did. Christine Sheppard kindly sent me sketches and amongst them is this page of both a leaf insect and a butterfly. Interestingly the butterfly has a hint of vibrant cobalt which the published piece does not - the reason I enhanced the colours so you could see it. Indian Leaf Butterflies have those distinctive points to their wings as well as the cobalt colour. 

Leaf Insect + Butterfly (strengthened colours)

 Then we also have another study of a leaf insect.

Leaf Insect study

Amongst the studies I have there are unfortunately no Angel fish of Ptarmigan.

Whilst writing about this single page in a 640 page book, I thought I'd add another book with just one page by Raymond Sheppard as I was looking for ptarmigan images, but unfortunately this is another member of the family!

Nature Lover's Companion, p.65b

 Nature Lover's Companion    

Nature Lover's Companion, cover by Tunnicliffe

This book, also by Odhams was published in 1949. On the colour page opposite page 65, we have this amazing piece showing "Birds of Prey" - including the kestrel, common buzzard, golden eagle (striking down red grouse) Peregrine, Sparrow Hawk (chasing goldfinch), Merlin, Barn Owl, Montague's Harrier (Male), and an Osprey - all in one image! It's a great book with all illustrations being credited for a change - lots of Badmin and Stanley Herbert but only one Sheppard page. 

The Children's Nature Book

This book was also reprinted as The Children's Nature Book in 1958 with the same cover - different title obviously -  and the contents were the same - just the contents pages inverted!

If you want to see more illustrations from The Modern Encyclopædia for Children, have a look at my other blog.

Crusader Series Part Seven Raymond Sheppard and George Bell

 

Sahara Adventure - Cover by Raymond Sheppard.

Part One Algerian Adventure + Index
Part Two Avocet Island + Dangerous Journey
Part Three Men O' the Mists + The Riddle of Monk's Island
Part Four The Deserted City + Rustlers at Bar-Two Ranch + Highveld Mystery
Part Five Fen Laughs Last + Ivory Poachers
Part Six Mystery of Middle Tree Island

I'm enjoying reading these 50 page schoolbooks as the stories are great fun - mostly boys' adventures, and today I want to look at two by author George Bell. With a common name like his, I've tried guessing what else he wrote but have completely drawn a blank. If anyone out there knows who he was, what he wrote and when he lived, I'd be grateful to know. I can only be sure of two books he wrote and both are from the Crusader series by Blackie and Son! A very short career if it was just two books. Is George a pseudonym? Could George be Georgina? 

SAHARA ADVENTURE by George Bell, and illustrated by Raymond Sheppard. [London: Blackie & Son, 1955 [Crusader series No. 20]] is the story of the Deakin family who head to South Africa over land via Algiers. From there to Cairo they encounter the Foreign Legion who are searching for gun-runners. After being allowed to continue they go on, only to breakdown having lost their water supplies en route. They flag a car down and are shocked to see the man has a rifle!

Sahara Adventure
"He saw that the man was holding a rifle"

They ask the man to tell someone from the next village to return with water and whilst waiting the two children head off and start throwing rocks at a target they set up. Mr Deakin feels someone is watching them and just about to call the children realises they have disappeared! Searching for them he hears a slight echo and Dick and Alice have discovered a cave with water in it. They take cans of water back to their lorry, all the time noticing the discreetly hidden man. 

Sahara Adventure p. 14
"Dick leaned over the edge and rippled the calm water"

They head off in the dark to the nearest village where they are surrounded as they change a tyre that looks to be going flat and the strange man appears again. He lives in a house above the village and gets his servant to fix the tyre for them and invites them to a meal where Signore Torre asks them all sorts of questions about their plans and stops. Alice and Dick want to know about the well they found in a cave and Torre tells them it must be Roman and he knew nothing about its existence.

After a night's sleep in their van, they set off. Dick became suspicious when he saw Torre's car not speeding past but following them at a distance. Mr Deakin remembers he must fill up with petrol at Phillipeville and cannot find his wallet or passports. They decide to confront Torre and see his car has turned up a hill road. They follow and see a hole below some rocks and head down on foot.

Sahara Adventure p. 31
“I'm going down there,” said her father at once

They soon discover boxes piled up and there was Signor Torre who claimed to be investigating a Roman well he'd been told about. The Deakins knew he was lying and Dick took the opportunity to knock Torre into the water while his Father knocked out Ahmed the servant. He comes round and grabs the gun which Torre wielded.  

Sahara Adventure p. 49
He moved suddenly taking a running dive at Torre

Then Alice thwarts Ahmed by kicking the gun into the water but Ahmed helps himself to another gun from the boxes. As the family are tied up, suddenly there is the the sound of boots coming down the steps. Dick cries out "The Foreign Legion!". Torre has hidden his gun and Ahmed dropped something as Mrs Deakin saw him and stabbed him with her knitting needles! It was their wallet. Torres pointed his gun at them all - including the Arab - telling him if he hadn't been too greedy they could have got away with their game and that he planned to entomb them all. One of the Legion shot the gun from his hand. It was all over. The man the family saw watching them was a legion spy who alerted the captain to the family's plight.

The Stowaway

THE STOWAWAY by George Bell and illustrated by Raymond Sheppard. [London: Blackie & Son, 1955  [Crusader series No. 17]]

The SS Dalesman is on the way up the coast of South America when hit by an enormous storm. the wheelhouse is smashed and they lose one engine. They battle the storm and young Peter takes on the duties of a donkeyman - a naval rating who does various jobs - in this case, working the sea anchor. A wall of water crashed over the ship and Peter held tight but was knocked breathless. He and another member of the crew decided they needed to get the engine working so they left the sea anchor to do its work. Peter was caught by another giant wave which smashed upon the lifeboat throwing it in two parts overboard. 

Peter realised there was someone in the shattered lifeboat and he went to help. The tangled ropes and wreckage were slipping overboard and Peter grabbed the thin brown arm.

The Stowaway Frontispiece
He was hanging onto a small brown boy

Pedro, the small boy is heading back to Salvador and rather than tell the Captain, Peter hides Pedro in a bunk bed. Mac, the engineer shares a cabin with Peter and spots the boy but decides after 3 days of no sleep he was seeing things. They put into Salvador for repairs and parts, where Pedro impersonates some of the begging 'bumboat' sailors hoping to sell fruit and he leaves. 

The Stowaway p.13
A policeman came out of the shadow near the bridge

Mac and Peter need to look for spares and think of evading the police but are stopped and confined to their cabin by the revolutionary police. However Pedro pops through the porthole and Peter sends him on a errand to the company's warehouse for some piston rings. 

The Stowaway p.32
He slid down a mooring rope to a small boat below

Pedro is successful and he returned to his boat promising to return the following night. The rings fitted perfectly, and Peter had another idea. He shared his thoughts with the Captain and mac who agreed it was worth a shot. The next day, the crew acting casual, the Police Chief arrived and claimed to have evidence of smuggling. Just then there was shooting coming from the port, the Police Chief ordered his men to suppress this rebellion. Suddenly the Chief was grabbed and bound and gagged by the crew. 

The Stowaway p.49
“I'll take this,” said the second mate

On shore Pedro was throwing fireworks in the open doorways of the company warehouse. The Police began shooting at each other not realising there were no shooters in the warehouse. The ship pulled away, a signal being sent to all ships about the revolution. Soon a Brazilian destroyer put down the revolution and celebrations were had.