In Charleston, South Carolina (same introductory panorama shot as Williamsburg a few weeks back) to load up some luxuries for Rebecca, Daniel and Israel find themselves harboring a stowaway on their wagon. A runaway Royal Navy sailor, Willy Crawford (Martin Horsey) wants to move inland after tangential involvement in a mutiny to Boonesborough and start a new life. Dan and family are obliging, but on Willy's heels are another conniving mariner (Wilfrid Hyde-White) and a party of Royal Marines.
An around-the-fort outing with an international flavor. UK-born Martin Horsey was another yeoman in the Beatles-British Invasion wave that washed over Hollywood, finding some decent 1960's roles, then exiting before stopping by for cup-of-coffee jobs in the 1990's and 21st century. He's a genial innocent here, playing against Hyde-White's foil. Hyde-White, another British character actor, usually played genial aristocratic types in "My Fair Lady," the 1980's "Buck Rogers," and other venues. He is probably enjoying playing against type here as an old salt who bullies and blackmails Willy, but the contest is too unequal to be engaging. A short way in we start hoping Dan will acquaint his face with a musket butt.
Historically, the episode plants itself on a modicum of fact, then throws context to the wind. The episode date os 1794 plus, postdating the 1794 Jay Treaty governing post-Revolution US-UK relations. The Royal Marines inform Dan that they are looking for the mutineer pursuant to treaty Article 27. In real life, Article 27 regulated extradition for murder and forgery. But also in real life, neither side took much interest in enforcing the other's naval discipline, and what friction arose came from UK impressment of US sailors for the Napoleonic Wars. Getting beyond that, any British patrol going ashore in the US to look for runaways post-Revolution would have enjoyed a very short life expectancy, much less been able to trek to Boonesborough.
Redcoat report - a squad of four, but the Royal Marines are flight-of-fancy uniformed. Revolutionary-era RM's wore white facing and tricornered hats; here they have again fallen heir to the Royal American Regiment's blue facings and cavalry helmets more properly belonging to the 1st Dragoons of the Napoleonic era.
Not the most satisfying of denouements this week and Dan's role is fairly marginal, but a bit more innovative for a bottle episode than dredging up one more wandering trapper.
An around-the-fort outing with an international flavor. UK-born Martin Horsey was another yeoman in the Beatles-British Invasion wave that washed over Hollywood, finding some decent 1960's roles, then exiting before stopping by for cup-of-coffee jobs in the 1990's and 21st century. He's a genial innocent here, playing against Hyde-White's foil. Hyde-White, another British character actor, usually played genial aristocratic types in "My Fair Lady," the 1980's "Buck Rogers," and other venues. He is probably enjoying playing against type here as an old salt who bullies and blackmails Willy, but the contest is too unequal to be engaging. A short way in we start hoping Dan will acquaint his face with a musket butt.
Historically, the episode plants itself on a modicum of fact, then throws context to the wind. The episode date os 1794 plus, postdating the 1794 Jay Treaty governing post-Revolution US-UK relations. The Royal Marines inform Dan that they are looking for the mutineer pursuant to treaty Article 27. In real life, Article 27 regulated extradition for murder and forgery. But also in real life, neither side took much interest in enforcing the other's naval discipline, and what friction arose came from UK impressment of US sailors for the Napoleonic Wars. Getting beyond that, any British patrol going ashore in the US to look for runaways post-Revolution would have enjoyed a very short life expectancy, much less been able to trek to Boonesborough.
Redcoat report - a squad of four, but the Royal Marines are flight-of-fancy uniformed. Revolutionary-era RM's wore white facing and tricornered hats; here they have again fallen heir to the Royal American Regiment's blue facings and cavalry helmets more properly belonging to the 1st Dragoons of the Napoleonic era.
Not the most satisfying of denouements this week and Dan's role is fairly marginal, but a bit more innovative for a bottle episode than dredging up one more wandering trapper.
