moonraker

[Joel S. Berson]

I'm shocked, shocked, that gambling ... no, that the OED3 (Dec. 2002)
does not have the sense of "moonraker" as a "wrecker" or accomplice
of a wrecker.  That's my association.  But apparently it's hard to prove.

"wrecker", n.1., sense 1.a., "One who causes shipwreck, exp. for
purposes of plunder by showing luring lights or false signals; a
person who makes a business of watching for and plundering wrecked
vessels; also, one who wrongfully seizes or appropriates wreck washed ashore."

I searched for "moonraker" + ("pirate" or "piracy" or "wrecker".), in
GBooks through 1969.  There are too many instances of "moonraker" by
itself in this period for my taste, including one or more horses and Herefords.

1)  A golden age of authors: a publisher's recollection - Page 98,
William Webster Ellsworth - 1919.  GBooks, downloadable.

"It was 'The Cruise of the Pirate Ship Moonraker,' written by Mr. F.
Marshall White, ..."  [or perhaps E. M. White]

[Here "moonraker" is the name of a ship, so I don't know what
underlying sense is intended.  But the association with pirates is
suggestive.  This apparently is a short story; I have not been able
to track it down.]

2)  _Moonraker: or, The female pirate and her friends_, by F.
Tennsyson Jesse, London, W. Heinemann, ltd. [1927]; New York, A. A.
Knopf, 1927.

[I don't know whether "moonraker" appears in the text: or how it is
defined, but presumably the usage is personal, not the name of a
ship.  GBooks gives a snippet only of the title.  The book seems not
to be on-line.]

3)  The Spectator, Vol. 138 (1927).  GBooks snippet.

"It is curious enough that two books each bearing the title Moonraker
should appear almost simultaneously. ... for her Moonraker is a
pirate brigantinc. No one is better qualified to write of the way of
a ship in the sea. ... "

[The second author (the first being Jesse) apparently is David
Fincham, "Moonraker, and other Poems", 1926.  (WorldCat)]  I haven't
found this on-line either.]

4)  The Saturday review, vol. 13 (1935, according to GBooks), says
that Jesse's book "lays part of its scene in Haiti and introduces
Toussaint L'Ouverture."  GBooks, snippet.

[There are perhaps a dozen other GBooks snippets mentioning Jesse's book.]

5)  My impression may have come from Daphne du Maurier's "Jamaica
Inn", but I don't know whether from the book or some filmed version
(which of course affects the dating but not the meaning).  Also not on-line.

So given George's 1838 quotation (which is about the time of much
wrecking on the Devon and Cornwall coasts, I think) --

"We have heard of moon-rakers about Rockaway Beach, but no land
pirates in the interior of the island since the revolutionary war'" --

I take this to mean that there have been wreckers on the Rockaway
shore (at some not too distant time), but no significant robbery
(stage-coach holdups) since the Revolution.

I might or might not follow up and read "Moonraker: or, The female
pirate and her friends" and "Jamaica Inn".

Joel

At 4/14/2011 04:37 PM, victor steinbok wrote:
>I had no problem searching for "moonraker" (no hyphen):
>
> >  1. A native of the county of Wiltshire, in England.
> >  2. Naut. A sail set above the skysail. Cf. moonsail n. at moon
> n.1 Compounds 2, raffee n.
>
>[etc.]
>
>On Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 4:15 PM, George Thompson
><george.thompson at nyu.edu> wrote:
> >
> > I: [a stage coach is robbed near Patchogue, L. I.]
> > We have heard of moon-rakers about Rockaway Beach, but no land
> pirates in the interior of the island since the revolutionary
> war.  Evening Star, April 13, 1838, p. 2, col. 3
>...

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