| The Red Sea Sharks (Coke en stock) |
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 Cover of the English edition |
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| Publisher | Casterman |
|---|---|
| Date | 1958 |
| Series | The Adventures of Tintin (Les aventures de Tintin) |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Hergé |
| Artist(s) | Hergé |
| Original publication | |
| Published in | Tintin |
| Date(s) of publication | October 31, 1956 - January 1, 1958 |
| Language | French |
| ISBN | ISBN 2-203-00118-6 |
| Translation | |
| Publisher | Methuen |
| Date | 1960 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-316-35848-7 |
| Translator(s) | Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | The Calculus Affair, 1956 |
| Followed by | Tintin in Tibet, 1960 |
The Red Sea Sharks is the nineteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums written and illustrated by Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero. Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in Comic books and Children's literature. Year 1958 ( MCMLVIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Adventures of Tintin (Les Aventures de Tintin is a series of Comic strips created by Belgian artist Hergé, the pen name of Georges Remi Georges Prosper Remi ( May 22, 1907 - March 3, 1983) better known by the Pen name Hergé, was a Belgian Georges Prosper Remi ( May 22, 1907 - March 3, 1983) better known by the Pen name Hergé, was a Belgian Le journal de Tintin (in its French-speaking version Kuifje ( Dutch-speaking version was a weekly Belgian comics magazine Events 445 BC – Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 91 NLTse Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 1958 ( MCMLVIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Methuen Publishing Ltd is a British Publishing house and publishes in the areas of Theatre and Drama. The Calculus Affair ( French: L'Affaire Tournesol) is the eighteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Tintin in Tibet ( Tintin au Tibet) is one of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums written and illustrated by Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Adventures of Tintin (Les Aventures de Tintin is a series of Comic strips created by Belgian artist Hergé, the pen name of Georges Remi Georges Prosper Remi ( May 22, 1907 - March 3, 1983) better known by the Pen name Hergé, was a Belgian Tintin and Snowy (original French language names Tintin et Milou) a journalist and his canine companion are a pair of adventurers who travel around the Its original French title is Coke en stock ("coke in stock") referring to a slang term for African slaves.
The Red Sea Sharks is the first Tintin adventure to bring together a large number of previously seen characters: General Alcazar (The Broken Ear), Emir Ben Kalish Ezab and Abdullah (Land of Black Gold), Rastapopoulos and Oliveira da Figueira(Cigars of the Pharaoh), Dawson (The Blue Lotus), Allan (The Crab with the Golden Claws), and Dr. J.W. Müller (The Black Island). General Alcazar is a character in The Adventures of Tintin series of classic Comic books drawn and written by Hergé. The Broken Ear ( French: L'Oreille cassée) is the sixth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip Emir ( Arabic: ar أمير;, female أميرة; emira;) ( Farsi and Urdu: امیر) Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab and Abdullah ( Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab et Abdallah) are characters from The Adventures of Tintin series of classic Comic books Land of Black Gold ( French: Tintin au pays de l'or noir) is the fifteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of Roberto Rastapopoulos (Greek Ροβέρτος Ρασταπόπουλος) is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin series of Comic books Oliveira de Figueira is a Fictional character from The Adventures of Tintin series of Comic books, written and drawn by Hergé. Cigars of the Pharaoh ( Les Cigares du pharaon) is one of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums written and illustrated The Blue Lotus ( Le Lotus bleu) first published in 1936, is one of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip Allan Thompson is a character from The Adventures of Tintin series of classic Comic books drawn and written by Hergé. The Crab with the Golden Claws ( French: Le Crabe aux pinces d'or) is the ninth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series Doctor J W Müller is a fictional character from The Adventures of Tintin series of classic Comic books drawn and written by Hergé. The Black Island ( French: L'Île Noire) is the seventh of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip
Contents |
The storyline
The Red Sea Sharks is an adventure in which Tintin investigates the supporters of Sheikh Bab El Ehr's overthrow of Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab, the Emir of Khemed. Sheikh, also rendered as Sheik, Cheikh, Shaikh, and other variants ( Arabic:, shaykh Sheikh Bab El Ehr is a fictional character from The Adventures of Tintin series of classic Comic books Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab and Abdullah ( Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab et Abdallah) are characters from The Adventures of Tintin series of classic Comic books Emir ( Arabic: ar أمير;, female أميرة; emira;) ( Farsi and Urdu: امیر)
After watching a movie, Tintin and Captain Haddock round a corner and bump into General Alcazar, who drops his wallet. General Alcazar is a character in The Adventures of Tintin series of classic Comic books drawn and written by Hergé. A wallet, or billfold, is a small flat case used to carry personal items such as Cash, Credit cards and identification documents such as a Driver's Tintin attempts to return it, but the hotel he claimed to be staying at has never heard of him, and when Tintin calls a phone number found in his wallet, the man refuses to talk to him. A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging usually on a short-term basis When Tintin and Haddock return home, they discover that the Emir's bratty, impossibly spoiled son Abdullah has been sent there for protection, along with a colourful entourage of servants and dignitaries who have established a bedouin-bivouac in the great hall of Marlinspike Hall. Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab and Abdullah ( Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab et Abdallah) are characters from The Adventures of Tintin series of classic Comic books Marlinspike Hall ( Le château de Moulinsart in the original French - Belgian) is Captain Haddock 's Country house in
Thomson and Thompson inform Tintin that they know of his meeting with Alcazar due to their investigation of an arms dealer called Dawson. Thomson and Thompson ( Dupond et Dupont) are a pair of detectives in Hergé 's classic European comic strip The Adventures They then tell him the name of the real hotel where the General is staying. At the hotel, Tintin and Haddock see Alcazar talking with Dawson, whom Tintin recognises as an enemy he met in The Blue Lotus. The Blue Lotus ( Le Lotus bleu) first published in 1936, is one of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip
Haddock returns the wallet to Alcazar, while Tintin follows Dawson and overhears him discussing how successful his sale of De Havilland Mosquitoes were in starting a coup d'état in Khemed. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Tintin decides to go to Khemed and rescue the emir, who has been overthrown by Sheikh Bab El Ehr. Sheikh, also rendered as Sheik, Cheikh, Shaikh, and other variants ( Arabic:, shaykh Sheikh Bab El Ehr is a fictional character from The Adventures of Tintin series of classic Comic books Reluctantly, as usual, the Captain agrees to go along, partly because he knows it's his only chance of getting rid of Abdullah, whose practical jokes are getting too much for him. ‘Abdullāh ( ar عبد الله "servant of God" also spelled Abdullah, Abd Allah, Abdallah, and Abdalla) is
Meanwhile, Dawson, realising that Tintin is again meddling in his affairs, resolves to take desperate measures.
At Wadesdah Airport in Khemed, Tintin and Haddock are turned back by customs, while someone (presumably an agent of Dawson) plants a bomb on the plane to "take care of them". The bombing is foiled by an engine fire, which forces the plane to crash-land minutes before the bomb goes off. A deus ex machina ( lat. ˈdeːus eks ˈmaːkʰina literally "god from a/the machine" is an improbable Realizing that they best take a lower profile, Tintin and Haddock walk away from the crash site and slip in unobserved at night into Wadesdah. There they meet another old friend, the talkative Portuguese merchant Oliveira da Figueira. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Oliveira de Figueira is a Fictional character from The Adventures of Tintin series of Comic books, written and drawn by Hergé. He helps them escape the city by dressing up as veil-wearing women. A burqa (also Transliterated burkha, burka or burqua) is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic traditions for the Once outside they meet a guide with horses and ride to the Emir's hideout (modelled on the ancient Jordanian city of Petra). Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (الأردنّ al-Urdunn) is an Arab country in Southwest Asia spanning the southern Petra (from "petra" rock in Greek; Arabic: البتراء Al-Batrāʾ) is an archaeological site in the Arabah
Their escape is reported however, and a leading figure in the new regime sends out a squad of armoured cars and Mosquitos to intercept them. The officer is Mull Pasha who is in fact Doctor Müller, an adversary whom Tintin fought against in The Black Island and Land of Black Gold. Doctor J W Müller is a fictional character from The Adventures of Tintin series of classic Comic books drawn and written by Hergé. The Black Island ( French: L'Île Noire) is the seventh of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip Land of Black Gold ( French: Tintin au pays de l'or noir) is the fifteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of Thanks to a military miscommunication, the Mosquitos attack their own armoured cars instead of Tintin and his friends.
The Emir tells them about the ongoing slave trade run by the Marquis di Gorgonzola, an international businessman with whom the Emir had a falling out several months ago. The history of slavery uncovers many different forms of human exploitation across many cultures throughout history The Marquis uses the pilgrimage to Mecca to capture and enslave African Muslim travellers. The Hajj (حج is a pilgrimage to Mecca (Makkah It is the largest annual pilgrimage in the world A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion Tintin and Haddock leave for the Red Sea coast and board a boat for Mecca to investigate. The Red Sea is a Salt water Inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. They are attacked by the Mosquitos again; Tintin manages to down one with a German StG-44, but their schooner receives critical damage and they end up shipwrecked aboard a raft, along with Piotr Skut, the pilot of the downed plane. Piotr Skut ( Piotr Szut) is a character from The Adventures of Tintin series of classic Comic books drawn and written by Hergé They are then picked up by di Gorgonzola's yacht, the Scheherazade, which happens to pass by, but di Gorgonzola isolates them from his guests and offloads them the next night to the SS Ramona, a tramp steamer. A Ship engaged in the tramp trade is one which does not have a fixed schedule or published ports of call Unbeknownst to Tintin and Haddock, the Ramona is one of di Gorgonzola's own ships, used in the slave trade.
That night they are locked into their cabin by Allan, Haddock's former first mate, who commands the Ramona. Allan Thompson is a character from The Adventures of Tintin series of classic Comic books drawn and written by Hergé. The Crab with the Golden Claws ( French: Le Crabe aux pinces d'or) is the ninth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series A fire breaks out on the Ramona and the crew abandons ship. Tintin and Haddock force their cabin door open and manage to put out the fire, not realizing that the front of the ship was loaded with munitions. They then free a number of black African men (who speak Yoruba) from a rear hold and discover that they had paid for the voyage to Mecca, but were intended to be sold as slaves instead. Yoruba (native name èdè Yorùbá, 'the Yoruba language' is a Dialect continuum of West Africa with over 25 million speakers Mecca ˈmɛkə also spelled Makkah ˈmækə (in full Makkah Al-Mukarramah (Arabic mækːæ(t ælmʊkarˑamæ مكّة المكرمة, literally Honored Haddock attempts to explain the situation to them. Initially, many of them don't understand, or refuse to, thinking Haddock is lying. After some discussion, the men come around; an older member group recalls how some men from his village never returned from the Hajj. The Hajj (حج is a pilgrimage to Mecca (Makkah It is the largest annual pilgrimage in the world The Africans agree to help Haddock sail the ship to neutral territory in Djibouti, while Tintin and Skut attempt to fix the radio, which had been smashed. Djibouti ( جيبوتي Jībūtī, Somali: Jabuuti) officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the
Tintin finds a slip of paper in the radio room with an order to deliver "coke", and is puzzled. In shipping, "coke" would normally refer to a coal-derived fuel, but none is being carried (this is prior to the use of "coke" to mean "cocaine"). Coke is a solid Carbonaceous material derived from Destructive distillation of low-ash low-sulfur Bituminous coal. Cocaine ( benzoylmethyl ecgonine) is a Crystalline Tropane Alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the Coca plant They are then approached by a dhow and take aboard an Arab who wishes to inspect the coke, puzzling Haddock, who claims they have none. A dhow ( Arabic, دهو) is a traditional Arab sailing vessel with one or more Lateen Sails They are primarily used along The man then turns about and starts examining the physical strength of one of the Africans. With the nature of the term coke, a codename for slaves, clear to him, Haddock furiously confronts the Arab. The inspected black African manages to thwart the Arab's attempt to stab the Captain, and the slaver is thrown off the ship.
Di Gorgonzola (who is actually Rastapopoulos, the leader of the international drug smugglers from Cigars of the Pharaoh and The Blue Lotus) finds out from the Arab that Haddock has taken control of the ship, and sends a submarine to attack them. Roberto Rastapopoulos (Greek Ροβέρτος Ρασταπόπουλος) is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin series of Comic books Cigars of the Pharaoh ( Les Cigares du pharaon) is one of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums written and illustrated The Blue Lotus ( Le Lotus bleu) first published in 1936, is one of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip A submarine is a Watercraft that can operate independently below water as distinct from a Submersible that has only limited underwater capability Tintin spots the submarine by accident just prior to attack. Haddock manages to outmanuever a number of torpedoes, but all appears lost when the engines of the ship get stuck in half reverse. The modern torpedo (historically called an automotive automobile locomotive or fish torpedo is a self-propelled explosive Projectile weapon launched above or below At this point the Ramona is saved by the arrival of aircraft from a nearby US cruiser, the USS Los Angeles, whose crew had been radioed by Tintin. In media USS Los Angeles was featured in the classic Tintin comic book The Red Sea Sharks written and drawn by Hergé. The submarine makes one more attempt to destroy the Ramona by attaching a limpet mine to the front of the boat beside the explosives, but this is foiled when the diver is hit by the Ramona's anchor. A naval mine is a self-contained Explosive device placed in water to destroy Ships or Submarines Unlike Depth charges mines are deposited A shark swallows the mine and swims away.
When the Los Angeles attempts to arrest di Gorgonzola afterwards, he fakes his own death by allowing a motorboat which he steers from his yacht to the cruiser to sink while he escapes in an inbuilt mini-submarine. Thinking him dead, Tintin, Haddock and Skut return to Europe to international acclaim for their efforts in exposing the slave traders. Soon afterwards, the Emir recaptures control of Khemed.
Notes
- When Haddock falls asleep in the desert and won't wake up, Tintin takes a flask of rum from out of his bag. Rum is a Distilled beverage made from Sugarcane by-products such as Molasses and sugarcane Juice by a process of fermentation This wakes Haddock up and, after drinking the lot, he agrees to press on. Tintin remarks that the rum is for "emergencies" — but it is not specified if it is for medicinal purposes or getting Haddock to co-operate. Medicine is the art and science of healing It encompasses a range of Health care practices evolved to maintain and restore Human Health by the Tintin does use alcohol to bring Haddock round to his way of thinking in The Shooting Star and Tintin in Tibet. The Shooting Star is the tenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Tintin in Tibet ( Tintin au Tibet) is one of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums written and illustrated by
- When Tintin asks Senhor Oliveira about why the Emir got angry with Arabair, Oliveira stumbles a bit, probably hiding the rather embarrassing reason. It turns out that Abdullah wanted to see the Arabair planes loop-the-loop before landing and Arabair refused for reasons that Abdullah's naive father, the Emir, saw as trivial. This prompted him to threaten to end Arabair's use of the flight path and expose their involvement in the slave trade. Tintin resolves to bring Arabair down anyway because of its involvement in slave trading.
Racist Criticism
The Red Sea Sharks has been criticised for its stereotypical portrayal of Africans, both in appearance and behaviour; although obviously good-hearted, the black characters are shown as being somewhat childish and simple. At one point Captain Haddock rails at their obduracy, calling them "addle-pated lumps of anthracite", although he is arguably being his colorful self rather than exhibiting deep-seated racism. Anthracite ( Greek Ανθρακίτης literally "a type of coal" from Anthrax, coal is a hard compact variety of mineral Coal that has a high In the author's defence, Hergé obviously had contempt for slavery, as evidenced by the scene in which Captain Haddock hurls obscenities at an Arab trying to buy a slave.
External links
- The Red Sea Sharks at Tintinologist. org
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