Trice Forgotten 5 - Trawl

Shahan Hamza as Siva

Gigi Zahir as Noor

Ashley Goh as Inez

Food & malnutrition

Discussions of: Medical care & medicine, animal death

Mentions of: Guilt

SFX: Sustained high pitched SFX, continuous low tones, retching, stomach noises, metallic clanking, squelching (fish), wind & waves, creaking

### Transcript

Official transcript (PDF)
Unofficial transcript (webpage)

## *Herring & Marnock Esq’s Dictionary of Nautical and Pyratical Terms, 1849:*

**trawl**:
a manner of fishing involving the towing of submerged nets; laborious

## Summary

In which a schemer arrives, a net is constructed, and something long dead is hunted.

## Plot

The episode begins with Noor taking care of Alestes. She calls out for Baker several times but he is in the sick bay with Siva. The whole crew, apart from Noor, who does not eat animal produce, appears to be sick from the fish Baker purchased in the previous episode. As Alestes accuses Noor of poisoning her, Inez shows up.

In the sick bay, Inez teases Baker for not trusting them about the fish. Inez claims to have a proposition for the crew and admits that she has been watching them for a while now and that she did not know what to do about the goldmine she found. Alestes barges in and ask her about the gold she mentioned. Inez starts to talk about a fish but given the current health issues that the crew is facing, Alestes stops them. Inez says that they will ask the soldiers on the Exchange if they are interested. This reminds Siva of William Blair, who is currently on the Exchange. Siva explains that William is on a field expedition and Inez concludes that they would not be interested in the money. As Inez tries to leave Alestes holds them back and asks how much money the fish is worth.

On deck of the Netaoansom Siva, Noor and Inez are using rope and weights to build a device to cath the fish, a coelacanth. Upon Noor's inquiry, Inez explains that the trawl needs to go to a specific dept to cath the fish. According to Inez, it is important to note the exact location since the data is worth a lot of money. A life specimen would be an unparalleled scienticfic discovery. Inez then shows a painting to Noor and Siva and they both admire it. However, she complains that she has not managed to get the shimmer of the scales right. Noor recalls a painter who used silverdust and honey for his paintings. Inez resolves to give this method a try. Inez goes on to explain that recent fossil evidence indicates that the coelacanth might be the link between the fish and the four-legged land animal. However, scientists believe that it has gone extinct but Inez believes that she has seen one.

Later in the afternoon, the crew (minus Alestes) pulls the trawl back up. Alestes, who is still indisposed due to fish poisoning, asks if they caught anything but so far they have not found the coelacanth. Baker plans to pick the best fish and release the rest but Noor arugues that they have filled multiple barrels already so they want to release the fish. Noor then asks Siva to help them free the fish. Siva asks for a break but the rest of the crew insists on continuing.

Five days later, the crew is still trawling. Siva complains about his blisters, while Noor reminisces about their brother Amr who used to be so eager to prove his worth that he always pulled the nets too hard, almost causing everyone to fall into the water. Baker says that as a young man, he would have gotten along well with Noor's brother. The crew decides too call it a day because the sun is setting.

On the sixth day, Noor asks about the ships name and it's meaning. Baker goes on to tell them about the Creation story. After everything was created, Mother earth(Oetsigitpogooin) created a Person: Glooscap. One day, he walks to the water and encounters a young man. He says that he is Glooscap's nephew Netaoansom, created by the wind Widjosin and the help of the Life-Giver, the Shadow-Giver and Mother Earth. He says that he has the vision and strenght to guide Glooscap and help his grandmother. Glooscap is happy to meet his nephew and tells him to gather the fish to have a welcoming feast with his uncle and grandmother. The Netaoansom is named after this story since it has the strenght and vision of the young who follow. It is a reminder that how one lives their life affects the following generations. Baker adds that Alestes picked the name.

At night, Alestes calls for help. It is revelaed, that Alestes has secretly been rod-fishing. She caught a big fish and assumes that it is a tuna. Noor helps her catch the fish. As it turns out it is not a tuna but the coelacanth. To Inez' disappointment, the fish is still young but they assume that the insides will sell for a lot of money. Siva insists that they cannot kill the fish and Noor agrees that they should not. Even Baker is opposed to killing it and even proposes to release it since it is still a child. Inez tries to convince him but he insists that they should not harm the fish in case it is the last of its kind. Inez asks if this ethos worked on his previous jobs. Baker gets angry about this but Alestes interjects that it would be fairly easy to catch another fish and make them breed. Inez still wants to cut it up to research but Siva worries about the fish's loving family. Alestes then decides that *her* fish is to be kept alive. Inez tries to argue more but Noor tells her to focus on perfecting the scales on her drawings first. She decides to stay on the ship and demands a wage equal to Baker's, a private compartment and a written contract. Siva and Noor realize that they should also get a contract. Alestes welcomes Inez to the crew.

Baker visits Alestes' cabin at night to apologize for making her ill with the fish he bought. He insists on being publicly punished to uphold Alestes' image. He argues that if she is lenient on him, Inez will not see Alestes as a captain. To Baker's surprise, Alestes is glad that Inez joined them and she likes the entertainment. She now understands the desire and him (Gammon) better. They talk about how having a real crew might be nice but that this is a converastion for another time, when Alestes has recovered.