Friday, November 23, 2007
The poor little red ship
The picture that appears along with this story about the Explorer sinking in Antarctic waters has an extraordinarily science-fictional feel. I can't remember whether or not I cut it in the end, but somewhere in my new novel the main character looks at a picture and thinks about how photography is the medium most likely to give you a glimpse of an alternate universe...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Jenny, I too was struck by the beauty and unearthliness of that photo, and the pathos of the little ship's end. The picture is difficult to read; the ship looks as though it were cut out and pasted on to the surrounding icefield. Did you see the comment reported in the Times, from a seaman now working on the Natl Geo ship but who had sailed on the Explorer, to the effect that he "can't believe we won't be seeing her again"?
ReplyDeleteYes, pathos is exactly the word...
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of the battleship Yamato (a.k.a. Argo) from the S.F.-ish Star Blazers series.
ReplyDeleteI was a tourist on that ship in 85-86 and again in 86-87 in those same waters....never thought I'd see this end to her....what must the rest of this story be?
ReplyDelete