An Old Captivity Trivia Quiz

Answer: Train

As with some of Nevil Shute's other novels, the story is told in hindsight. The hero, Donald Ross, was travelling by train to collect a flying boat from Brindisi for Imperial Airways. His train was stranded in the Jura when a goods train was derailed ahead of them. He fell into conversation with a psychiatrist, who was travelling to Rome for a consultation.

Answer: An Oxford don

Ross assumed that it would be a well organised expedition of young men, and expected that he might be the oldest participant. He was somewhat taken aback to meet an Oxford don in his fifties, who knew nothing about what would be required to produce an aerial survey of a possible Viking settlement.

Answer: The competence of the pilot

Alix thought that, at 59, her father should be taking care of himself and letting a younger man do the hard work. She was appalled that the estimated cost of the expedition was £12,000 - her friend flew to Rome recently for only £15, a greater distance than Greenland. She thought the pilot was trying to rush them into a decision so that he could make money.

Answer: Southampton

The Lockwoods joined Ross in Southampton ready for the departure of the expedition. Alix was horrified by the aircraft's colour, vivid orange, but was silenced by the explanation that it would be much easier to spot if something happened and a search party was sent out to look for them.

Answer: Sleeping tablets

With sole responsibility for all the organisation of the expedition, as well as maintaining the aircraft and piloting it, Ross was suffering from stress and having trouble sleeping. He asked for aspirin, but the chemist didn't have any. Instead he recommended some German tablets called troxigin.

Answer: The man broke his leg during the journey

Jameson had fallen and broken his thigh during a storm a week earlier. The governor had arranged for all the equipment to be placed in a house which they could use, but he would not allow Jameson to land at Julianehaab, as he would need to stay in the hospital all winter till another ship could take him away again, and the hospital was for Greenlanders. Ross and the Lockwoods understood the reasoning, and also realised that Jameson couldn't help them while he was laid up.

They decided that they could manage the photography by themselves, although Ross would have an even heavier workload without Jameson's help with the aircraft. Alix learned how to operate the camera, and they took some test strips.

The governor had a well-equipped darkroom, so they were able to show the results to Jameson, as the boat passed through again on its return to Copenhagen.

The photographer gave them some advice on how to improve the pictures.

Answer: Because of the old people

Ajago and Mayark insisted that they would sleep in the next valley instead of the sandy cove chosen by Ross and the Lockwoods. The only running water was the stream in the sandy cove. There was plenty of thin scrub that would burn, although there was only one stunted tree. The next cove had a rocky bottom, and so could have damaged the floats of the seaplane. Despite the pilot's insistence that the old people could have no power over men who could fly in the sky, the Eskimos were adamant.

Lockwood thought they were frightened by tradition surrounding the fate of the Norwegian colony which had lasted around four hundred years, but had died out when the boats stopped arriving in the fifteenth century. After that the Norsemen intermarried with the Eskimos, and the settlement at Brattalid was abandoned.

Answer: The pilot was taken ill

Ross was unable to sleep for regular hours while they were at Brattalid, because he needed to keep an eye on the seaplane as it settled on the beach with the falling tide. He took more of his tablets, and finally fell into a deep sleep for thirty-six hours. The Eskimos said it proved their point about the bad campsite, and Mayark went home. Ajago stayed. He helped Lockwood tie the seaplane down above the high water mark. Then they all moved the camp to the Eskimos' preferred rocky cove, Ross being transported on a stretcher manufactured by Ajago. Ajago told Lockwood that Ross had gone on a journey with the people who used to live there.

After Ross woke up again, the whole party went back to Julianehaab. Ross was told by the doctor to rest for several days. The photographic survey was completed in a couple of flights from Julianehaab. To try and get it out of his mind, Ross told Lockwood what he had dreamt about while he was asleep for so long.

He was a young Scot, Haki, who had been kidnapped by the Norsemen, when he met another Scot, a girl called Hekja. They were chosen to go to Greenland to help set up Leif's colony there. Later they were sent on a voyage of discovery to the west, and discovered a milder and more fertile place. Haki determined to ask Leif if he and Hekja could stay there and raise a family.

Answer: The camera

The camera would be shipped back to England on the next available boat. The sleeping bags were put into the aircraft along with all the films of the survey and the emergency rations. Most of the contents of the medicine chest were given to the doctor. Ajago, the Eskimo, was delighted to receive the tinned food.

The governor was given all the surplus photographic supplies. Surprisingly, there is no mention of what happened to the camping equipment; presumably it was shipped to England with the camera.

Answer: A carved stone

Ross remembered the hill from his dream, and was not surprised to find the stone there. It was basalt, so must have been brought from elsewhere; it could have come from Brattalid. Removing the soil from the stone revealed the inscription (as close as I can get to the Runic symbols):-
*+YI
*MYI+
It was the stone carved by Tyrker and Leif, with Haki's and Hekja's names, just as Ross had described it to Lockwood when telling him about the dream.