73 pages • 2 hours read
Jean Lee LathamCarry On, Mr. Bowditch
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1955A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “The Almanac”
Sam Smith and Mr. Bentley—a brilliant young clergyman who has taken an interest in Nat—both drop into the chandlery from time to time. Mr. Hodges has given Nat a notebook, which he uses to write down everything he learns during the day. He seems to learn something new every day, and he fills up one notebook after another.
Sam Smith starts teaching Nat navigation, and before long he has a notebook all about navigation. One day, Mr. Ropes asks Nat to go over to his house, find the encyclopedia and write down what it says about “the start of surveying”. (56) All Mr. Ropes wants to know is that the science of surveying was believed to have been developed in Egypt, but Nat tries to find the beginning by understanding all the science and math that surveying is based on.
When he is sixteen, Nat figures out how to create an almanac. He is working on an almanac for the years 1789 to 1823 when a stranger comes into the chandlery and overhears Nat talking to Ben about the almanac. The stranger introduces himself as Mr. Morris. He says that Nat should go to Harvard. When he learns that Nat is indentured, he gives Nat his address and tells him to write to him if anything happens that would free him from his indenture. Mr. Morris would give Nat a job tutoring his children so he could attend college.
Chapters 8 Summary “Lock, Stock, and Bookkeeper”
One day, when Hab’s ship is in port, he drops into the chandlery and proposes that Nat go with him to see the family. Nat says he has to ask permission from Mr. Hodges. Hab is startled until he remembers that Nat is indentured. He remarks that although Mr. Hodges is kind, being indentured is still like being in jail.
Nat has been reading the encyclopedia straight through from beginning to end, but he remarks to Doctor Bentley that the encyclopedia doesn’t get enough detail about anything. He wishes he had an entire book on every subject, like astronomy, for instance.
Doctor Bentley gives Nat a copy of Isaac Newton’s book on astronomy, but the book is in Latin, and Nat can’t read it. Doctor Bentley gives Nat a Latin dictionary and grammar and a copy of the New Testament in Latin. It takes him several months, but Nat is eventually able to read enough Latin to begin translating the astronomy book.
One day as he is walking through town, Nat overhears someone remark that Ropes and Hodges are planning to sell the chandlery to Samuel Ward. Nat realizes that if they sell the chandlery, his indenture will be broken; he will be able to go to Harvard.
Later that day, when he is alone in the chandlery, Samuel Ward comes in. Ward jokes that he has bought the chandlery “lock, stock and bookkeeper.” (67) Nat realizes that he has been sold along with the business as if he were just a piece of property. He will have to work four more years, and by the time he is free, it will be too late to attend Harvard.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Anchor to Windward”
Nat returns to his room at Mr. Hodges’s house, realizing that he will have to leave and live with Samuel Ward, but Mr. Hodges tells him that he has arranged with Mr. Ward for Nat to continue living where he is.
The next summer, Nat’s sister Lizza visits Nat at the chandlery and tells him that their oldest sister Mary is upset because David Martin wants to marry her. Mary is in love with him, but she doesn’t want to marry a sailor because sailing is such a dangerous job, and she doesn’t want to be a widow.
Nat persuades Mary to marry David. At a housewarming party for the new couple, Nat meets Captain Boardman's daughter Elizabeth. She remarks that Nat seems older than his years because of his brains and that Mary will be happy because she knows how to be. Later, Lizza describes Elizabeth as having “eyes in the back of her heart.” (73)
When Nat gets back to his room that night, he thinks to himself that it seems lonelier than it has ever been. He goes to the window and watches the stars and thinks about what his mother said about the stars making worldly problems seem small.
A few years later, Doctor Prince drops in at the chandlery. Elizabeth Boardman is there, and Doctor Prince jokingly asks her why Nat reads Latin. She says thoughtfully that it is because of his brain; reading Latin quiets it like stitching samplers. When she has gone, Doctor Prince invites Nat to visit the Salem Philosophical Library, a collection of books on math and science. Doctor Prince says that the library was started with the books that were found on the prize ship Mars—the ship taken by the Pilgrim on which Tom Perry sailed. The books are from the private library of the Irish scientist, Doctor Kirwan. The members of the library have agreed that Nat should be able to read any books he wants.
That same day, Nat’s sister Lizza falls on the stairs and is badly injured. She dies holding Nat’s hand. Afterward, David tells Nat that Mary is worried about him. Nat snaps at David that he is fine. He is going home to read Latin, “It’s good for restless brains—keeps them quiet, like stitching samplers.” (77) David says, “I’ll tell [Mary] about the Latin. It sounds like a good anchor to windward. People that can use their brains are lucky. You’ll never abandon ship, Nat.” (77)
The next day, Elizabeth Boardman brings Nat an old book, grubby and dusty from being in her attic. When he opens it, he sees it is in Latin.
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
Nat is an autodidact, meaning someone who is self-taught. For example, Nat teaches himself algebra. Then he teaches himself Latin so that he can learn astronomy. Teaching himself doesn’t mean he had no help at all. Sam Smith teaches him about navigation and surveying, and learned men like Doctor Prince and Mr. Bentley take an interest in him and give him access to books.
One thing the author leaves out of this book is the fact that during his time at the chandlery, Nat also designed and built things. For example, he built a wooden sundial and “quite a' curious barometer” (Memoir of Nathaniel Bowditch) that hung on the wall of the chandlery as well as “several dials and curious instruments for measuring the weather, &c.” (Nat the Navigator); several of his biographers also mentioned that as he grew older, he was known for his fair and impartial judgment, and people often came to the chancellery to ask his advice and settle disagreements.
Nat is unusually good at math, and he reads quickly and remembers what he reads (although his sons report that his memory for names and faces was terrible). That makes him interesting, but what makes him admirable is the fact that he works hard, and he doesn’t let bad luck break his spirit. What is admirable about Nat is that he gets out his oars and sails by ash breeze.
When Hab talks about indenture as being like jail, that may be an exaggeration. The real Nathaniel Bowditch wrote in his journals that he sometimes went fishing with other boys or to social events and even lectures in Boston where he would have had to take a day off from work. He was a member of a boys club assembled to discuss a variety of subjects, and he was highly regarded by the other members. He was also, for a time, involved in a music club in which he played the flute (Nat the Navigator). For Nat, indenture may have been like being a teenager who has to get his chores done and check with an adult before he does something fun.
The scene in which Nat learns that his contract has been sold along with the business is painful, though. Ward, as the author tells it, clearly thought he was being clever when he said he had bought the business “lock, stock and bookkeeper” (67), but although he is being rude and insensitive, there is no reason to think that he doesn’t see Nat as a person. There is also no reason to think that Ropes and Hodges think of Nat as property or would have talked about him that way. They have always treated him like family. Other biographers describe this incident as Nat going to work for a different employer. From their descriptions, it seems actually to have been a voluntary change on Nat’s part. The author may have invented the scene in order to illustrate to the reader some of the worst elements of the practice of indenture.
Concerning the library of Dr. Kirwan, which formed the foundation of the philosophical library, Dr. Prince offered to pay Dr. Kirwan for the books, but Dr. Kirwan respectfully declined payment, saying that he was pleased his valuable library had found such a good home (Memoir of Nathaniel Bowditch).
Nat has many influential men in his life making sure he gets an education and learns a trade, but he is also surrounded by women who share a different kind of wisdom with him. They particularly teach them how to manage his emotions. His mother taught him that looking up at the stars would make his earthly problems seem smaller and more manageable. Lizza describes Elizabeth Boardman as having “eyes in the back of her heart”, meaning that she has an intuitive understanding of other people. Elizabeth is able to see how Nat’s love of math and Latin is like other activities that people use to soothe restless minds.
The scene in which Nat gets lost in the encyclopedia is an example of the way he thinks differently from other people. Mr. Ropes actually wants to know where the science of surveying first started, but he doesn’t state that precisely. Nat tries to answer the question literally with the information that seems important to him. Later, he will respond the same way to other questions, showing that the way Nat thinks is a little differently from most other people. That difference is one of the things that makes Nathaniel Bowditch such a dynamic character.
