Original subtitles

No, leave that on the deck.

Ah, yes, yes.

Poor little fish, though.

Run along now.

See that it gets fresh water twice a day and plenty of green vegetables, won't

you?

Adobe take this, though.

Right immediately.

You can set sail.

Just lay the rugs on the floor. I'll have the ship's carpenter tack them down

later. No, no, put the leopard skin on my bunk.

You'd better put something over the third cage or the monkey will go for it.

Your second thought, you'd better keep the monkey in the fo 'c'sle.

Careful with those drums.

Right.

Let's get this chest open.

You can come out now, my beauty. We're on our way.

When I promised your father to give you a passage home, I made no undertakings

about goods and chattels. My dear fellow, I merely... A certain amount of

baggage I expected for this.

The rest of your belongings have been trouble enough.

Monkey that's already run amok in the rigging.

Squawking birds.

Get rid of her.

Overballs.

Well, I'm not putting back to Lorinda.

Don't distress yourself, my darling.

Nasty big sailor. Won't harm you.

Now, look here, O 'Neden.

Mr. O 'Neden, to you, lad.

It'd be such a pity if my father's company had to look elsewhere for its

shippers, wouldn't it?

After all, she don't eat much.

And it is such a very long voyage home, don't you know?

For all of us.

What are you going to do with her when we do get home? Well, I can hardly take

her to London, can I?

I doubt she'd cut much of a figure in St. James's. And I fear dear Mama would

not take to her at all. So, what do you propose to do, Mr. Blanchard? We put her

on another ship, my dear fellow.

I'm sure she can be relied upon to work her passage, as it were.

Won't you, my beauty?

It's not as if I mean to hog her to myself.

If you or Baines should feel the need, especially you, Mr. O 'Neden, as the

master here.

How's it called?

Droits de seigneur?

You can't help but admire his nerves.

My dear sir, indeed.

Gentry ways.

His father is a lord.

Sir, that's all.

And I did first.

Services to the liberal interest.

And some donation to party funds, I dare say.

That's always been the way of the rich.

Twenty years ago, that lad's father was nothing but a tutney -eapney broker in

the city of London.

Now his company's got a foothold in every Newport trading station from Suez

Singapore.

And we just fetch and carry for him.

You can't tell me you'd rather have a string of companies in the city than a

shipping line, sir?

Man can grow tired of the sea, you know, Baines.

Oh, dear.

Were we singing so loudly that we didn't hear you knock?

You teach her strange songs, Mr Blanchard. She's been teaching me.

Her husband was a Yorkshireman.

Yes, name of Hadfield.

For wedded wife's sakey, me misses Hadfield.

He was a cotton planter in Pilon until the harvest failed in 69.

Went to Africa to try his luck there.

Moved inland in the wake of the missionaries and discovered Alice's

building a church on the banks of a river.

Now, since Livingston had told them to prepare for the coming of the Lord...

he was the first white man they'd seen since Livingston, it's hardly surprising

that he was taken for the Messiah.

And in this capacity was able to interpret Christianity very much as it

him.

Married himself to all the prettier girls. Me missy that field.

Then settled down to growing cotton. Not, I'm afraid, very successfully.

Plenty work in field.

Farm country for cotton. Buona se.

But too far away from the trading post, old girl.

To carry cotton 50 miles down jungle paths to the sea.

A little got through the year before last, but since then, nothing.

Then, Buona go away, Alice, right?

We make canoe for him. He paddle down river and not come back.

Isn't she delectable?

I look for him everywhere.

Which is why she's not averse to travelling, Anidin. Tell me, does

that your father's company handle have to come over land on the back? of

natives. How else?

Well, you'll never open up the interior that way. Well, there'll be a railway

one day.

In the meanwhile, as long as there are plenty of natives to pump the ivory and

skins to us, and no shortage of ships like yours to carry them home, we're

sitting pretty, aren't we?

T .T.

What river?

The one that comes down to Larindi from the northeast.

Don't know its name. Doubt if it has one.

You see how close it is to the old slave rooms?

Ah, now.

There were a trading post up here.

The natives wouldn't have to lump their skins and ivories right down to Larindi.

What's that got to do with us?

I want you to see if that river is navigable.

Huh? Aye.

I'll put you off at Conakry.

You'll find a boat back to Larendy.

And, uh, by the way, I want you to take young Alice with you.

Alice? Aye. She lives somewhere up there.

I want you to see her home.

James's ship is sighted. Oh, is it? Good.

I'll go down in the carriage later and meet him.

He promised to bring me some ostrich feathers back.

Whatever for?

They're all the rage in London on hats and fans.

No one's even heard of them in Liverpool.

Will you be coming to the quay yourself?

No, he's not my brother.

You're usually keen enough to welcome him?

Yes, well, as long as he had a safe voyage.

Elizabeth, I think you ought to know that James asked me to marry him.

So, he did get around to it then.

Well, when is the happy day?

I turned him down.

But it's a gift, my dear fellow. Oh, thank you. But I won't deprive you of

How about the chest, then?

Blanchard, why do you bring all this rubbish aboard? You don't really want

Souvenirs always look so shabby when you get them home, don't you think?

Can't I even interest you in the parrot?

No.

You could train it to talk.

Hello, James.

Ah, Elizabeth.

Did you remember the plume?

The what? The ostrich feather.

Oh, James, it wasn't much to ask.

Good morning. Good morning. Oh, stretch feathers, yes, of course. Elizabeth, I

have something much better for you. Just follow me now.

Can I not interest you in a leopard skin, hey? Or a squawking parrot, hmm?

Or some African drums?

For your musical evenings. I'm sure my sister will appreciate your gifts. Mr

Blanchard here has been managing the Blanchard trading office in Lorinda for

last two years and brought back half of Africa with him.

Mr Blanchard?

Do you always come aboard to welcome your brother home?

Oh, sisters can be just as devoted as wives, which is why my brother will

marry again.

A confirmed bachelor, if ever there was one. Is that not so, James?

So, it's hardly surprising that a man so self -sufficient should have little use

for peripheries like this. If you would do me the honour of accepting them. Oh,

I'm sure she would.

Sister Elizabeth never goes anywhere on foot.

Your carriage awaits you on the quayside, no doubt, eh? So, goodbye, Mr.

Blanchard. I'm sure my sister will take good care of you and all your booty.

Thank you, Mr. O 'Neill.

So nice to have you back, James. Welcome home.

James, what's this I hear about Captain Damon?

Say, you left him behind.

And if you have, you'll have to break it to his sister. She's waiting up there

on the quay. Tell her not to worry. Captain Baines is moving with the times.

He's got his first command of a steamship.

Right, I'll take her.

Let's just hope she don't blow up.

She'll get up with Jungle River.

With a handful of provisions and a woman.

A black woman, too.

Half naked, I've no doubt.

What are you going to tell his sister?

Is it his virtue or his life that you fear for, eh? It's us.

We can't afford to lose, Captain Baines. Look, if Dr Livingstone can cross a

whole continent with just a Bible in his hand, I'm sure we needn't fear for

Captain Baines.

What's he going up the river for, anyway?

Find out if it's navigable.

We're going to set up an Anedan trading post in the interior.

An Anedan trading post? We'll find out if we can get cargoes down the river.

Now, if we can, then the natives will bring their skins and ivory to us, and

we'll carry them away from under the noses of the French and the Portuguese

the Dutch, and in particular the Blanchard Trading Company.

What prospect is there in ivory anyway?

Oh, come, much more than ivory to come out of Africa.

Look.

There's cotton can be grown on that river. Now, think of the market for that

Lancashire. Oh, so we're mill owners now, are we? Well, there's other things

come out of South Africa.

Gold, diamonds.

Oh, miners, too.

Right.

Riches. Just waiting there to be dug out and discovered.

Plentiful supply of cheap black labour. Why bring the profits back for the

Blanchard family?

I'll keep the profits for meself.

There are others to be considered, James.

You mean my daughter?

Charlotte? Well, you've ignored her since the day she was born.

I'll not ignore her future.

She'll not be like Anne.

She'll be rich enough to marry whomever she pleases.

Oh, it's just a pipe dream, James.

Look, it'll cost a lot of money to set up an Eden trading station.

Well, then I'll find the money. If needs be, I'll sell some of the ships.

Keep that fire going as I show you. I'll shovel you in and never let go.

Leopard skin does look well, doesn't it? Don't you think so, Caroline?

And the parrot's so delightful.

I'm so glad it amuses you, Miss O 'Neill.

Mrs. Fraser.

My name.

But I assumed... I was single? Yes.

Mr. Fraser and I live apart.

I'm so sorry. Oh, not at all.

So, you see, I am perfectly free to accept gifts from... Admirers?

I was merely going to say gentlemen.

My son will adore him.

Your son?

William. Yes, he's quite a young man now.

My name's William as well.

Well, isn't that a coincidence? Did you hear that, Caroline?

Yes. Well, it's quite a common name.

Tell me, Mr Blanchard, would a woman with a somewhat unfortunate marriage

her find that a barrier to polite society in London?

Not if she's as attractive as you are, Mrs Fraser.

You flatter.

And certainly not if she's introduced by the right people.

Such as?

I know my mother would take you at once.

Have you never been to London?

A dangerous place for a woman of virtue, I understand.

Not if she's with the right people, mixes in the right circles.

Yes, but how could one ensure that that would happen? My mother would see to it

that you came to no harm.

Does she hold soirees?

But of course.

And her Thursday afternoons are famous.

If you should ever feel inclined to do us the honour of visiting us, Mrs

Have you seen Sir Henry Irving as Charles I?

I'm sorry? The London letter of the Liverpool Post says everyone talks of

His finest role since the Bells. I'm afraid I've been in Africa for the last

years. Oh, I should so love to go to London.

Why not?

A box at the Lyceum tomorrow night?

Mr Blanchard!

Oh, Elizabeth, I am so sorry.

You'll have to go and change now, won't you?

Dream, if you like, oh, kneading of Africa.

A great future for us all, perhaps.

Well, meanwhile, you'll be ill -advised to give short trip to the present.

Biddle has been hawking that coal contract around.

What? Well, it's up for renewal next month, isn't it?

Well, you'll find nobody cheaper.

No, and that's just why I didn't mention it before.

But if he should manage, you wouldn't be selling your ships to finance a company

in Africa. You'd just be selling them.

I can look after myself, Caroline. Do allow me some fun.

He really would carry you off to London if he could.

Let him.

I'd love to see Irving from a box at the Lyceum, attend Soiree's ride in Rotten

Rose.

Launched into London society.

I'd even enjoy meeting his mama.

Since she'd take to me so immediately.

Oh, you don't believe any of that, do you? Does it sound as if I do?

But make a pretense of doing so and I can get all I want from him, I fancy.

Anyway, let us suppose his intentions are strictly dishonourable. As they

certainly are.

Haven't you often told me to take a lover?

Captain Fogarty.

Who's this, sir?

Allow me to introduce you.

Mr. William Blanchard, Captain Fogarty.

Well, Daniel, have you come to see the boy?

Hello, Jane.

Did you have a good voyage?

I thought we might have supper together.

Welcome home.

Captain Fogarty sometimes sails for my brother James.

Oh.

Mr. Blanchard is from London, Daniel.

When's he going back?

Soon. In fact, this evening.

Don't go on my account. Under the circumstances, I think... On the

I almost leave, I've obviously called it an inconvenient time.

I'm considering a trip to London myself.

Mr Blanchard is of the opinion that it isn't a dangerous place for a woman,

provided she moves in the right circles.

Mr Blanchard, does your invitation to take me to London still stand?

Yes, indeed.

Then give me an hour to pack and I'll be ready to leave with you.

Miss Biddle.

Oh, Leonore. There's something that I wanted to ask you.

Yes?

Why is... Why is your father looking elsewhere for someone to carry his coal?

I've never let him down. His coal's always been delivered without delay.

No, I'm sure he has no complaints on that school.

What then?

I've come to depend on that contract.

He'll find nobody cheaper. But plenty as cheap, and if he has nothing to lose by

making a change... Oh, James, you could be such a big man, but you must widen

your horizon.

That's just what I'm thinking of doing.

You've spent too long at sea. You're not a master now. You're an owner.

You should leave the sailing to others now.

Settle down and remarry.

Until you do, you'll never gain the success you wish for yourself.

You were telling me yourself that you were thinking of marrying, and... Ever

since, I...

I've been waiting for you to ask me.

Excuse me.

Ah, Fogarty. I've been wanting to talk to you.

Of course he's running off to London with that ass you brought back from

I'm going to London, eh?

Is that all you can say? Any advice that I give to Elizabeth, she invariably

does the opposite. You don't know what's liable to become of her, don't you? Oh,

if she insists on going to London, then my sympathies lie entirely with her. If

she goes to London, she's going to end up with a... How would you like to

manager of the O 'Neill line, eh? Running off to London with a man she

even know!

What did you say?

I'm offering you the post of Marine Superintendent.

What are you up to now, O 'Neill?

Tomorrow you sail in the Charlotte Roads, do you not? Well, before you go,

should very much like to know if you are interested.

You see, I'm thinking of giving up the running of the shipping line.

Why? To go to Africa.

Church clock.

I've never heard so many striking at once.

The City of London has 27 churches, all in one square mile.

I had no idea it was such a holy place.

To be honest, nor did I.

Whose are these robes you've brought me to?

They're surely not your family's, resident.

No, indeed.

This is a small place I keep in the city to be convenient for my father's

office. So when do I meet your family?

Just as soon as Mama sends a carriage to fetch us.

I'll write her a note.

I hope I won't disgrace you in Belgrave Square.

I must get some new dresses.

You look quite endearing as you are.

I can hardly meet your family in this.

As soon as you finish your note, we shall go to the dress shops, William.

I should think we'll have time before your mother's carriage comes, don't you?

Wanna want bread?

Aye, I do.

But this thing won't steer itself.

You want food?

No.

Me?

No.

What does Barna want?

To get you and this steam -driven earth out of my sight and I get back to the

cabin.

They were always here.

It was just around the corner.

Get the filmmaker.

These sheets are badly cheap.

James, I want...

James!

James,

are you on board?

James.

Ah, have you seen James?

He's not in his house.

Nor here.

Perhaps he's gone to the harbour office.

What's your opinion of this African venture?

Madness. When I think of Baines, with all his experience of the sea, being

in an African swamp, well, to go down with your ship's one thing, but not to

eaten by crocodiles.

Ah, Jane, there you are. Well, now, have you made your decision yet?

Well, don't tell till this afternoon. There's time for more considering yet. I

only want to know whether to inquire elsewhere or not.

Well, this afternoon.

What's the decision?

Well, while I'm away, I shall require somebody else to be running the company.

Fogarty has the practical experience.

Ah. But hardly the concern for the success of the company that someone in

family would have.

Look, Robert.

They'll have left the running of the company to you, a ship that never go to

for fear of getting wet. Oh, very well, James. Go your own way.

End up like that cotton planter, Hadfield.

I've been making some inquiries.

Hadfield was a planter in India at one time. I know that.

Was he not successful?

In India, very.

But once he went to Africa, nobody ever heard of him again.

That's the kind of place it is, James, a place you're going to and never come

out of.

I'm not a drinking man.

Not me.

Get their hatch covers off, you scabs!

Well, of course that Bill knew about cotton. What I want to know is how much

a plantation he had on that river.

Oh, well.

No doubt Captain Burns will find that out. Oh, no matter what I say... Oh,

Mrs. Bartley.

James?

James, I've been hearing the stranger through, miss.

May I talk to you?

Oh, I'll be going.

No, there's no need for you to leave on my account. I expect you two want to be

left alone together.

I have a council meeting to attend.

Yeah, well, I have to see Pockety as well, he said this afternoon. And you're

not sailing ever again, though, I hear.

You have to be like other owners, sitting behind a desk in an office with

in glass cases.

Oh, it's so unlikely, James.

Oh, well.

It took home eventually anyway, didn't it?

Yes, indeed.

But why at this particular time?

I think this one, don't you, William?

Or this?

Why not them all?

What a good idea.

Have them sent round, would you?

What's the address, William?

5A Paternoster Court.

No, your family's residence.

Oh, well, you must know Lady Blanchard Belgravia.

Perhaps it would be best if we took them with us. Have the bill sent to the

Blanchard Trading Company.

Have I time to have a dress made for tomorrow night?

Not by tonight?

There's no performance tonight. I sent your man round to the Lyceum to find

Sir Henry Irving pays tomorrow. I've reserved a box.

So, we're free this evening, then?

Yes.

I thought perhaps the Cremorne Gardens, Chelsea.

I'm told the dancing is quite delightful and the pagoda quite beautiful.

But what do you know of Africa?

What did Livingstone know?

Speak, or Burton, or Rhodes. Compare yourself with them.

What a better reason for being there, a sense of mission, a calling.

Aye, well, I've a calling, too.

Money. Aye.

The profits, just lying there, waiting to be put up. Yes, once you've cleared

the jungle and drained the swamp. I can wield a shovel with the best of them.

You're a seaman, not a dame. No, come on, what gives you the right to come

questioning me, Mrs Maudsley?

James, really, I... Think I don't know about the hardships?

Privations? I've had them all my life.

But I think... Oh, I'm one of you had them, eh?

Come on here to question me, judge me.

A man can want to change.

Fresh start.

What's it to do with you anyway?

I think it's entirely to do with me.

It's just why I'm so concerned.

You've got to get your head down, sir.

It's the only way, sir.

All you ever wanted when Anne died was to be alone.

In her case, in a ship in the middle of the ocean.

Now, when I let you down, it's a sweaty hole in the middle of the African

jungle. You think you know me, don't you?

You're running away.

Deny it if you can. I'm not answerable to anybody.

Some way to lick your wounds.

Oh, I wasn't aware that I was even bleeding.

Are you not, James?

Assure me of that and I will ask you no more questions. I only want to be sure.

What? And for you to be sure.

To turn a shipping line that can't expand anymore into a thriving trading

company. I see no retreat in that. Why can't it expand anymore?

Because the ocean now belongs to steamships.

When Anne was alive, that was my vision for the Anita Line.

I saw it very clearly.

Now Anne's dead.

Her only memorial's one steamship in a fleet of obsolescent sailing vessels,

I'm not missing my second chance. You haven't missed the first one yet.

They look clever as if you must, but to build more steam sheets. Oh, to what

purpose?

There would be no question of Africa if I'd agreed to be your wife.

James, I'm sure in time you'll meet someone else.

Please don't be patronizing. I just don't want you to throw everything away

you've built up because of me. I don't throw anything away here. I was brought

up very provident. You don't think I'd throw away everything that I've worked

and strived for just because you turned me down in marriage?

Yes.

What do you want, Miss Biddulph?

There is an article in this magazine which I thought you'd like to read.

It's about that river in Africa.

Sleeping sickness?

What kind of fever is that?

You feel weary and you want to sleep, so you do, and in the end you die.

Dr. Livingston says... I can read.

Says what?

He explains how some of his bearers made camp by this river one night, and the

next day they all dropped down one by one, went to sleep for good.

He says that there are no native villagers within miles of this river.

The natives call the sickness Ngana.

How did you come across this article?

At the Chamber of Commerce. I was asking about that Yorkshireman you mentioned,

Hadfield. I thought it was a cotton plant or something might have been known

about him. I mentioned the river and they showed me this. Well, how does he

that it's the same river?

Well, look at the beginning.

Upstream from Lorindy.

Why were you so interested?

I thought it would help.

If James goes to Africa, he'll need all the help we can give him.

If James goes to Africa, he will go alone.

It is hardly the place for a woman.

No, indeed, it would take a very devoted woman to follow a man out there.

Such women can be found, I suppose.

James won't have far to look.

Sleeping sickness, eh? Yes, and problems of transport, labour, finance. I'll not

be deterred. That's why my father believed in you.

He didn't seem to yesterday.

A company in Africa. He'd be prepared to invest in that, he says.

And on what condition?

None, James.

How damned awkward.

My man says Mama left for the country yesterday.

How inconvenient.

Shut up the house? Afraid so.

Well, your father?

Gone too. Didn't know I was back in town.

What a shame.

So, what to do?

Go after them. To Wiltshire?

Well, is it far?

Almost as far as Liverpool.

No, my dear, we'll just have to make the best of it until they get back.

Where?

Why, here, of course.

No choice, old girl.

But there is only one bedroom. Where will you sleep? Oh, don't worry about

I'll sleep on the sofa.

It'll be a lot more comfortable than your brother's ship.

It might be even more comfortable in a hotel.

Oh, I doubt it.

Anyway, it's only for one night.

Why? What happens tomorrow after the play?

Ah, the play.

You know, you really should have told me that you were reserving a box.

You see, it's the annual dinner of the Merchant Venturer's Company tomorrow

night, which I know my father would expect me to attend.

If he knew you were in town.

As he should, don't you think?

Unless I kept my return a secret, I suppose.

Well, do, William, do.

I'd find it worth it, would I?

That is for you to decide.

Oh, no, my darling. That is for you to decide.

Oh, I forgot.

My man says that dressmaker's here.

A final fitting for that exquisite gown you ordered.

Shall I have her come up?

Or not?

Tell her to come up?

What else?

Don't you want to know my decision?

You can wait until tomorrow.

Second thought, eh?

At least till I see Captain Baines.

I wouldn't do it just for a wage.

I want a share of the profits.

Really? Some of us may not like you all needing, but you're the devil's own

luck.

Let go for it!

insurmountable falls, sleeping sickness, mud banks. Captain Banks is almost as

much of a Jeremiah as you are.

Obstacles exist to be overcome.

I doubt if even James can overcome a waterfall.

Well, perhaps there's another channel to the river, a void in the falls. Aye,

and perhaps there's a hoist to lift your ship up over them. Well, Leonora's

father seems to think it's a good venture. He hasn't seen that telegraph.

can't get your cotton down to the river, then there's no... My father will

invest in the venture anyhow to give up because of a waterfall.

You see?

Only you and Caroline think it's madness.

Apart from myself, of course.

Jane! So you see some sense at last, are you? Thank God. Good night, Robert.

Oh, hi.

Oh, good night.

Do you really think it's madness?

For me?

Yes.

Well, you were talking the other day.

No, Caroline thinks it's just a mistake.

Escape from what?

Well, you remember I told you I was thinking of getting married again.

Yes.

But you couldn't quite bring yourself to propose to me, so you're running off to

Africa instead.

No, no, no, that's not what I meant. Oh, James, are the bonds of matrimony

really so restricting?

I told you there are women who are prepared to go out to Africa with you

share in your adventures, make no demands at all.

I don't think of marriage as a slavery. Otherwise, I would not have asked

Caroline to marry me.

Would I?

You are Caroline?

Yes.

When?

Before my last voyage.

She refused.

She thinks I only wanted to go because I was too upset to stay here.

I won't be going. My father will be home from his club soon.

He likes me to be there when he's... Laura, I had to tell you.

Well, it's no concern of mine. Forgive me if I found that rather hard to

believe, naturally. I don't expect your father to carry on financing me. He'll

probably not even want to carry on with the coal contract.

Oh, I see.

I'm to tell my father not to give you a coal contract because you'd rather marry

Caroline Maudsley than me?

Don't you think I've been insulted enough?

Elizabeth.

How's William? Oh, he's fine. He missed you, of course.

How are you? Did you have a good time?

I look over the wall.

And did the view come up to expectations?

Yes, it was exactly as I expected it.

And you're glad to be home?

No, Caroline, I am not glad to be home.

Not in the least.

Am I glad to be home, sir?

Africa.

Leave it to the missionaries.

It's one place on this earth that even God gave up on.

You're well out of it, sir.

Well out of it.

Stick to what you know and be thankful.

That's my advice.

Good night, sir.

Good night, Baines.