Content Warning: This episode contains instances of homophobia, violent bigotry, and racism. A week out of port, Maddox navigates new relationships and old. The captain questions Maddox's past judgment and shares suspicions he has of Leon. A storm brews on the horizon.
A tale of queer love and mutiny on the high seas! Tune into the Voyage of the August, a nine-episode serial radio drama chronicling the final voyage of a merchant ship bound for England in 1717, whose crew takes their fate into their own hands. The story centers around the August’s first mate, Robert Maddox, a well-respected officer with frustrated ambitions; Dr. Leon de Isla, a surgeon with an unhappy past who follows Maddox to sea for reasons of the heart; and Sophia Montague, the willful daughter of the shipping line’s owner. Exploring 18th century nautical culture, queer history, and shipboard conflict, this work of historical fiction will be be released in nine weekly installments starting August 1st, 2020. Find episodes weekly on our website and also on the Electric Lite Collective Youtube channel.
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Cast (in order of appearance)
Caraid O'Brien as the Intro Voiceover
Sebas Ward as Robert Maddox
Tiz Rome as Leon Francesca de Isla and Harold Blackwall
Daniel Haas as Richard Montague
CJ Humphries as Ambrose Teague
Minna Gorry-Hines as Cecil Laurence
Ernie Alugas as James Douglas
Memphis Washington as Sophia Montague
Katie Faust-Little as Silvia Montague
Special thanks to Jim Wald, Will Ryan, and Ezekiel Baskin.
Voyage of the August is written, directed, and sound designed by Wynn MacKenzie and Sean French-Byrne, with shanties arranged and directed by Wynn MacKenzie and acoustic tracks written and performed by Sebas Ward. Sound effects courtesy of the community of freesound.org.
Full Attributions:
“Heavy Footsteps.wav” by yadronoff of Freesound.org
“porto 22-05-14 waves during a storm, wind .1.wav” by bpayri of Freesound.org
“Shivering Chandelier.wav” by yandronoff of Freesound.org
“malexmedia_woodbangB.wav” by malexmedia of Freesound.org
“Door Creak” by coosemek of Freesound.org
“Kocking door and open door.wav” by rivernile7 of Freesound.org
“Seven Bells,Ship Time.wav” by Benboncan of Freesound.org
“Big Splash.wav” by darcydunes of Freesound.org
Episode Three: Corruption
The deck of the August, about a week out from Boston and well underway.
A voice calling watch. The ship’s bell rings once. The seagulls fade away.
(Normal ship ambience); the creaking of boards, the wind, the call of sailors. The ship’s watch bell rings once, the first bell of the afternoon watch (12:30PM)
The distant sound of whales over water; spouts blowing, whale calls.
DOUGLAS runs up to MADDOX.
DOUGLAS: Mr. Maddox, sir?
MADDOX: Mr. Douglas. I’m looking at your leviathans. Some spouts in the water, larboard to stern.
DOUGLAS: Do you think they’re an omen, sir?
MADDOX: I wager it’s too early to tell. They’re not sharks, at least.
DOUGLAS: I heard back in Boston that dolphins are good luck.
MADDOX: Well, I’ve never had a voyage cursed by dolphins or whales, to be sure, but I reckon the whalers know better than we.
DOUGLAS: I think they’re a good sort of leviathan.
Pause. Both DOUGLAS and MADDOX gaze out to sea, reverent of the beauty of it all.
MADDOX: Shouldn’t you be seeing to your duty, Mr. Douglas?
DOUGLAS: Oh! Oh, sir, um, the Captain wanted to speak with you, sir.
MADDOX: Ah, again? I better give the old man his due, then.
DOUGLAS: (significantly) Good luck, sir.
MADDOX laughs at DOUGLAS’ sincerity.
The creak of the footfalls across the deck as Maddox walks to the back of the ship, to the Captain’s cabin. The sounds of the crew, (normal outdoor ship ambience.)
The sound of a knock as MADDOX knocks on the captain’s door.
BLACKWALL: (gruffly, muffled through the door) Come in.
The door swings open and closed. Switch to normal indoor ship ambience, captain’s cabin; the sound of the ocean and the crew is muffled. There is the soft rattle of odds and ends rolling about with the motion of the ship inside of drawers, maybe the soft clink of a chandelier.
BLACKWALL: Ah, Mr. Maddox. Come sit. Always forget how damned tall you are.
MADDOX: Yes, sir.
BLACKWALL: (rustling papers around) How is the crew? I trust we have not been at sea long enough to see any great conflict.
MADDOX: Crew’s in fine fettle, Captain. Some that are sick, per usual, but Le--Mr. De Isla has them taken care of.
BLACKWALL: Sick? With what?
MADDOX: The usual crop of illnesses for sailors just left lands, the doctor says.
BLACKWALL: Ah--De Isla. God damn Jacobsen for a pox-ridden fool- getting married and leaving me.
(Beat.)
MADDOX: (uncomfortably) Very good, sir.
BLACKWALL: The Service never would have let a foreigner serve. But the crew seem to have taken to him.
MADDOX: I would hope so, sir.
BLACKWALL: They trust your judgment quite a bit, I’ve observed.
MADDOX: I’ve seen what can happen on a ship without a surgeon.
BLACKWALL: You were on the Falmouth, yes?
MADDOX: Yes, sir. I never want to see the like of it again.
BLACKWALL: Montague wrote to me of you, after the...tragedy of the Falmouth. He assured me you were a man of integrity, and steered her true even under the most...unfortunate circumstances
MADDOX: Oh, aye, unfortunate indeed. He took sick a day or two out from shore, and within the week he was too ill to captain. I had to step in.
BLACKWALL: And then the captain died.
MADDOX: That he did. I thank God that we were able to keep her sailing until America, and that I only took ill after we made landfall.
BLACKWALL: Mr. Maddox, any sane man would have turned about and returned to England, to sort out the issue with the insurance companies and the owner of the ship. The loss of a captain is no small thing.
MADDOX: Well--I, I suppose we thought--
BLACKWALL: I trust I will not have to entertain such a lapse of sense on this ship, Mr. Maddox.
MADDOX: (with difficulty) No, sir. You will not.
(Beat.)
MADDOX: Sir, was there something else about the crew?
BLACKWALL: (all friendliness again) Yes, Mr. Maddox, Mr. Smith brought to my attention a disturbing rumor, and I wanted to get your estimation of it. What’s your opinion of Mr. De Isla? I know you came to know him in Boston.
MADDOX: Yes sir, he’s tended to me many a time and I believe I owe him my life. He’s a fine surgeon, and an honest man. I wouldn’t put much stock in the crew’s mutterings, especially when it comes to a medical man. You know sailors.
BLACKWALL: (casually calculated) They say he’s a sodomite.
(Beat. BLACKWALL is staring intensely at MADDOX, gauging his reaction to this.)
BLACKWALL: (still casual) I have half a mind to put him off at Portsmith. We can’t have men like that aboard a ship. They forget their place.
MADDOX: (terse) Trust me, Captain. Far better to have a foreign surgeon than no surgeon. The crew will be fine.
(Beat.)
BLACKWALL: Very well. In this matter I trust you know better than I. Thank you, Mr. Maddox. You are dismissed.
MADDOX: Yes, sir.
Footsteps across wood. Door opening and closing. (Switch to normal outdoor ship ambience.)
SOPHIA: Mr. Maddox!
A clear voice cuts through the sound of the wind, waves, and sails.
MADDOX: Good eve, Miss Sophia. How goes it? Where is Mrs. Montague?
SOPHIA: (tongue in cheek) It goes well, Mr. Maddox. If I may beg a moment of your time, dear sir..?
MADDOX: (going with the joke) Only if you do not cause me to miss my next engagement, this moment is yours.
SOPHIA: Mother is feeling quite unwell, and is in the care of your good Dr. Francisco de Isla. The sea does not agree with her, nor she with it.
MADDOX: (not sorry) I’m sorry to hear that.
SOPHIA: And I was wondering, sir, what is the purpose of all the scrubbing? Every time I’m en route to England or America half the crew seems perpetually engaged in rolling stones across the deck.
MADDOX: Idle hands are the devil’s playthings, miss. Besides, she sails better if we give her a good shine; it puts her in a fair mood, to be shown care.
SOPHIA: (joking) Do not tease me! I’m a woman of the world now. I am not so young as to be taken in by your superstitions and stories.
MADDOX: (laughing) No, very true. It’s hard not to see the wee girl I knew last we sailed together. In truth, the sea water would rot the wood if we did not scrub in the salt and seal the timbers with oakum and tar.
SOPHIA: Thank you for indulging my curiosity. It seems I may get something other than tales out of you yet, Mr Maddox.
MADDOX: Of course, Miss Sophia. And now I insist you return to your cabin, at least until Mrs. Montague is well enough to accompany you on deck.
SOPHIA: Mr. Maddox, I cannot think of a more suitable chaperone than yourself.
MADDOX: (apologetically) I know you are indeed a woman of the world, but it still borders on impropriety. I won’t abide mutiny under my watch.
MADDOX: (shouting, more distantly, in his regular voice) Mr. Douglas! Escort Miss Sophia belowdecks directly.
DOUGLAS: Aye sir. Directly.
SOPHIA and DOUGLAS walk away, introducing themselves to each other and chatting.
MADDOX sighs. (Normal outdoor ship ambience) The sound of the sea fills the space for a moment, until the sound of MADDOX walking belowdecks can be heard. (Normal indoor ship ambience,) the sound of sailors talking and laughing, the creak of ropes as hammocks sway and cargo strains against its knots.
The sound of Leon talking to a sailor can be heard.
LEON: Take this draught; it should ease the cough. Go back to your hammock for now; I’ll tell Mr. Maddox to put you on the sick list.
Maddox knocks on the frame of the doorway.
LEON: Speak of the devil.
MADDOX: (joking) Another slacker to add to the list? Many more and I won’t even have the men to tack a line.
LEON: Trust me with my duties, and I’ll trust you with yours, Maddox.
(Beat.)
SAILOR: Sir?
MADDOX: Return to your berth, Tom, if the good doctor wills it.
SAILOR: (with a cough) Yes, sir.
The sound of footsteps is heard as the SAILOR leaves. MADDOX and LEON are alone in the sickbay.
MADDOX: May I have a moment of your confidentiality?
LEON: (dryly) I take it you don’t need to be bled.
MADDOX: (serious) No, but might be a matter of some sensitivity.
LEON: (serious) What troubles you, Maddox?
MADDOX: I just spoke with the captain about the men who are sick.
LEON: I trust all was well…? He may come down a bit hard on discipline, but he can’t begrudge sick men their rest.
MADDOX: No, it wasn’t that, it was regarding you.
LEON: What regarding me?
MADDOX: He was full of all manner of vitriol, but…
LEON is silent, waiting for MADDOX to complete the thought.
(Beat.)
MADDOX: It is not… something one would say lightly.
LEON: Come to the point, Maddox. You’re not going to shock me. I’ve been around sailors for years now, I know them inside and out.
MADDOX: (laughs) I see you’ve picked up our tradition of puns.
LEON: The point, man.
MADDOX: (sobering) Smith brought to the captain… rumors of sodomy.
LEON: (forced, casual) I’ve been accused before. Sailors will talk and talk, but rarely do they say anything of true import.
MADDOX: That’s what I said to the captain. But also…
(Beat.)
MADDOX: The captain didn’t choose you; I did. I stand by that decision.
LEON: (after a pause, tenderly) Thank you, Maddox.
The sound of frantic footsteps as a SAILOR rushes into the room. Now that we’ve exited the intimate moment of the conversation, the muffled sound of raised voices can be heard.
SAILOR: Mr. Maddox! You’re needed on deck, sir!
MADDOX: What’s going on?
SAILOR: (urgently) It’s the captain, sir.
This is all MADDOX needs to hear. The sound of footsteps on the stairs as MADDOX, LEON, and the SAILOR hurry up to the deck. (Normal outdoor ship ambience) The sound of yelling and thumping and general violence comes into focus as MADDOX steps up onto deck.
The first thing we hear is DOUGLAS is making surprised and frightened exclamations, and then BLACKWALL yelling hoarsely. There is the sound of wood against wood and stomping steps as BLACKWALL alternately hits the deck and DOUGLAS.
BLACKWALL: No care for decency! No fucking discipline! The whole lot of you the worst kind of bloody insubordinate bastards!
BLACKWALL: The navy wouldn’t suffer fools like you for cannon fodder!
DOUGLAS: Sir, I-
BLACKWALL: Trying to have your way with the owner’s daughter! Insubordination!
DOUGLAS: (clearly very upset) Sir- I didn’t- We were only talking-
BLACKWALL: Talk back to your captain, will you? Should have expected this sort of behavior from common undisciplined rabble.
MADDOX: Captain!
BLACKWALL: (less loudly but with the same intensity) What in damnation do you want?
The sound of Douglas making plaintive noises in the background can be heard, as well as the shifting of sailors’ feet.
MADDOX: Sir, what in God’s name did the boy do? What’s the reason for this?
BLACKWALL: I caught him in the hallway, doubtless trying to take liberties, with Miss Montague.
MADDOX: (aghast) Sir, I ordered him to escort her. Her chaperone is indisposed, and she was above decks alone, which is hardly a place for a young lady.
BLACKWALL: So you trusted her to the care of this reprobate?
(Beat.)
MADDOX: (cold) Might we discuss this in private, sir? I’m sure the bosun can handle this if you wish him to be punished.
BLACKWALL: (losing it briefly, at MADDOX) It’s my ship, goddamn you to hell!
MADDOX: (more intensely) I submit we should speak about this matter in private. Sir.
(Beat.)
The sound of a heavy object falling to the deck, and two pairs of footsteps marching to the captain’s cabin, aft.
Thunder, in the distance.
(Suspenseful outro music closes the episode off.)