Grote Opdracht Brides in the Sea

Longtime Erotic Mad Science artist Lucy Fidelis was given the same fictional news story as the other artists and came up with this dynamic illustration which advances the plot. From above, the would-be brides have tumbled into the sea from the storm. From below, something far more ominous appears to be rising…

Does the fictional news story exist in Portuguese as well as in English? But of course!

Na semana passada, equipes controlando um robô de resgate submersível perto da ilha de Motofupo, no sudoeste do Pacífico, fizeram uma descoberta inesperada da placa de identificação e outros destroços que teriam pertencido a um veleiro holandês perdido há mais de um século. O Grote Opdracht partiu de Roterdã no início de 1886, levando um grande quantidade de carga e passageiros para as Índias Orientais Holandesas. Ele fez sua última escala em Cingapura antes de partir para o leste, rumo às ilhas Molucas. Nunca mais se tinha tido notícias dele. O fato de sua placa de identificação ter sido encontrada tão longe de qualquer rota plausível que possa ter seguido sugere que ele talvez tenha sido pego por uma estranha tempestade tropical e percorrido uma longa distância antes de finalmente afundar perto de Motofupo. A perda do Grote Opdracht foi especialmente triste pelo fato de que seus passageiros incluíam diversas mulheres holandesas e flamengas solteiras, que viajavam para o leste para se casarem com colonos holandeses que trabalhavam nas Molucas. Essa tragédia foi tema de uma balada popular holandesa do fim do século 19: “Mijn geliefde meisje slaapt in de zuidelijke zee.” (“Minha amada dorme no mar do sul.”)

Lucy can be found on DeviantArt and also maintains a professional site. She is normally open for commissions.

As with the other illustrations, I have made this one available in its full resolution.

Apprendre le français VIII: Appât Page 7

PAGE 7 (Four panels)

Panel 1: Enzo in a suit, standing at the front door of an Italian cinema, proudly gesturing with his cane at a promotional placard which reads “Venite a vedere una bellissima ragazza dei tropici venir mangiata viva in un orribile rituale pagano!“

CAPTION – PSEUDO-NARRATION (1): The Scelleratini brothers had hoped, on their return to Italy, to make a small fortune exhibiting their remarkable footage to the public.

Translation (1): Les frères Scelleratini espéraient qu’à leur retour en Italie ils puissent gagner une petite fortune en projetant leur film remarquable.

Panel 2: KING VICTOR EMMANUEL III sitting at an ornate desk in his royal study, signing a piece of paper.

CAPTION – PSEUDO-NARRATION (2): Unfortunately for them, their film was banned by an edict signed by King Victor Emmanuel III himself. The Lord Chancellor in England and the Chief Prefect of Police in France took similar actions.

Translation (2): Malheureusement pour eux, leur film fut interdit par un décret signé par le roi Victor Emmanuel III lui-même. Le lord Chancelier en Angleterre et le préfet de police en chef en France prirent des mesures semblables.

CAPTION – PSEUDO-NARRATION (3): Both Scelleratini brothers would die in poverty.

Translation (3): Les frères Scelleratini moururent dans la pauvreté.

Panel 3: BENITO MUSSOLINI, sitting in his private cinema, watching something. Mussolini’s face is illuminated by reflected light from the screen. He looks disgusted and outraged.

CAPTION – PSEUDO-NARRATION (4): In 1927, Italy’s Fascist Grand Council would declare the film a menace to public morality and order all copies of it destroyed.

Translation (4): En 1927, le Grand conseil de l’Italie fasciste déclara que le film constitue une menace pour la morale et l’ordre public, en ordonnant que toutes les copies soient détruites.

CAPTION – PSEUDO-NARRATION (5): What the Scelleratini brothers documented would pass out of memory…

Translation (5): Plus personne ne se souviendrait de ce que les frères Scelleratini avaient documenté.

Panel 4: Exterior view of the Cineteca di Bologna (drawn or incorporated as a “comicked up” photograph).

CAPTION – PSEUDO-NARRATION (6): But at least one print of the film escaped the destruction order, and in 1977, a researcher found that print in the archives of the Cineteca di Bologna, where it had been misfiled, possibly on purpose.

Translation (6): Mais au moins une bobine du film échappa à la destruction et, en 1977, un chercheur la retrouva dans les archives de la Cineteca di Bologna où elle avait été mal classée, peut-être volontairement.

Appât (Français/Version longue page)
Appât (Français/Version slider)

Brides on the Grote Opdracht

As a little celebration of the appearance of a Portuguese-language version of Bait I gave the two Brazilian artists in my regular rotation the first crack at coming up with an illustration to match the following fictional news story:

Crews operating a submersible salvage robot near the Southwest Pacific island of Motofupo made an unexpected discovery last week of the nameplate and other debris believed to have belonged to a Dutch sailing ship lost over a century ago. The Grote Opdracht had sailed from Rotterdam in early 1886 taking various cargo and passengers to the Dutch East Indies. She had made her last port of call at Singapore before sailing east with an intended destination in the Molucca Islands. She was never heard from again. That her nameplate was found so far from any plausible course she might have followed suggests that she might have been caught in a freak tropical storm and driven a long distance before finally foundering near Motofupo. The loss of the Grote Opdracht was made especially poignant by the fact that her passenger consist included several young unmarried Dutch and Flemish women, who were traveling east to be brides of Dutch colonial civil servants working in the Moluccas. This tragedy was the subject of a popular if mournful late nineteenth-century Dutch ballad “Mijn geliefde meisje slaapt in de zuidelijke zee.” (“My beloved girl sleeps in the southern sea.”).

Rafael Suzarte went first, and came up with the illustration above. Our young lovelies are still on shipboard, but there is clearly trouble brewing. He put considerable attention into the detail of this one, and I encourage you to download it for more detailed viewing.

Rafael has a professional website and can be found on Instagram. If you like his work, I encourage you to support him on Patreon, as I do.

Apprendre le français VII: Appât Page 6

PAGE 6 (Four panels)

(Note : These panels should be in sepia)

Panel 1: View of the Bride in the water, swimming upright but entirely below the surface (we can just see her as blurry outlines).

CAPTION – PSEUDO-NARRATION (1): The Scelleratini brothers’ film technology might have been primitive, but it captured something remarkable.

Translation (1): Les frères Scelleratini filmaient d’une façon primitive, mais ils capturèrent quelque chose de remarquable.

Panel 2: View of the Bride, still in the water, with a few tentacles reaching out from the depths to touch her.

CAPTION – PSEUDO-NARRATION (2): It was something like an alien encounter…

Translation (2): Cela ressemblait à une rencontre avec un extra-terrestre…

Panel 3: The Bride now enmeshed in a roiling mass of tentacles.

CAPTION – PSEUDO-NARRATION (3): …or even a mating.

Translation (3): …ou même à un accouplement.

Panel 4; The surface of the waters. The Bride is no longer visible. A few bubbles are breaking through the surface.

CAPTION – PSEUDO-NARRATION (4): It was an encounter from which one of the parties would never return.

Translation (4): C’était une rencontre où l’une des parties ne reviendrait jamais.

Appât (Français/Version longue page)
Appât (Français/Version slider)

A Isca (Bait in Portuguese)

Creative Commons License
Esse trabalho é licenciado sob uma Licença Creative Commons Atribuição-NãoComercial-CompartilhaIgual 4.0 Internacional.
Resumo da licença em português.

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