Allusions/references To Actual History, Geography and Current Science
In addition to the part of the story set in the fictional past the author references a number of actual historic people and events including:
- The Cumberland - a Union frigate sunk in 1862 by the Confederate ironclad Merrimack (known as the Virginia) The Cumberland was the first ship ever destroyed by an armored ship. She put up a terrific fight and in the end the Merrimack rammed the Cumberland sending her to the bottom with her flag still flying. As the Merrimack backed away her wedge-shaped ram caught inside the frigate and broke off.
- Augustine Volcano which is the most active volcano in Alaska and was named by Captain Cook in 1778.
- LeMat revolvers
- Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip on the Mississippi in New Orleans. Admiral Farragut ran the forts during his capture of New Orleans for the Union in 1862.
- Authors Horatio Alger and Sax Rohmer.
- The terra-cotta Warriors who guarded tomb of China's early emperor Ch'in Shih Huang Ti.
- Lloyd's of London
- The French liner Normandie which burned and rolled over in New York Harbor.
- Colonel Moammar Qadhafi
- The Watergate Scandal
- SDECE - France's intelligence service
- Don Quixote
Read more about this topic: Deep Six (novel)
Famous quotes containing the words actual, geography, current and/or science:
“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“Ktaadn, near which we were to pass the next day, is said to mean “Highest Land.” So much geography is there in their names.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Through this broad street, restless ever,
Ebbs and flows a human tide,
Wave on wave a living river;
Wealth and fashion side by side;
Toiler, idler, slave and master, in the same quick current glide.”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)
“Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey-cage.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)