Pages 488-491

This page-by-page annotation is organized by sections, as delineated by the seven squares (sprockets) which separate each section. The page numbers for this page-by-page annotation are for the original Viking edition (760 pages). Editions by other publishers vary in pagination — the newer Penguin editions are 776 pages; the Bantam edition is 886 pages.

Contributors: Please use a 760-page edition (either the original Viking edition with the orange cover or the Penguin USA edition with the blue cover and rocket diagram — there are plenty on Ebay for around $10) or search the Google edition for the correct page number. Readers: To calculate the Bantam edition use this formula: Bantam page # x 1.165. Before p.50 it's about a page earlier; as you get later in the book, add a page.

Finally, profound thanks to Prof. Don Larsson for providing the foundation for this page-by-page annotation.

Page 489

489.19-20 Brazilian oilcases . . . Ft. Lamy
A reminder of the air route by which Pirate got his bananas at 5.35-36. The "flotsam" described here suggests that the ships or planes carrying Pirate's organic, life-affirming cargo have been destroyed.

Pynchon was in the Navy for a spell and "single up all lines" is a common nautical term. Ships are docked with lines doubled — that is, with two sets of ropes or chains holding the vessel to the dock. To "single up all lines" is to remove the redundant second lines in preparation to make way.

"Single up all lines" appears in V., p.11; The Crying of Lot 49, p.31; Mason & Dixon, pp.258 and 260; and Against the Day, p.3.