Short note on turn turtle (antedating and interdating)

Sun Nov 20 09:47:12 UTC 2011

OED has two "turn-turtle" entries--a nonce word adjective and a verb.
Both entries lack sufficient examples, but for different reasons.

Under turn- combination:
> turn-turtle adj. (/nonce-wd./) in which one turns turtle and dies.
> 1951 D. Thomas in /World Rev./ Oct. 66   Dolphins dive in their
> turnturtle dust.

Under turtle n.2:
> 2. to turn turtle.
> a. /lit./ To catch turtle by throwing them on their backs.
> 1689 H. Pitman /Relation Great Sufferings/ 20   They going ashore on
> the Main to turn Turtle, were set upon by the Indians.
> 1861 P. B. Du Chaillu /Explor. Equatorial Afr./ iv. 25   Turtle
> frequent the shores, and are 'turned' in considerable numbers.
> 1867 W. H. Smyth /Sailor's Word-bk./, /To turn a turtle/, to take the
> animal by seizing a flipper, and throwing him on his back, which
> renders him quite helpless.
>
>  b. /fig./ (in earlier use to turn the turtle.) To turn over, capsize,
> be upset. (See also quot. 1818^2 .)
> 1818 'A. Burton' /Adventures Johnny Newcome/ II. 69   John..in the
> next week..would take Twice calling, to be once awake; They turned the
> turtle, cut him down.
> 1818 'A. Burton' /Adventures Johnny Newcome/ II. 254 /Turn the
> turtle/, to get under a hammock, and lift it up in the middle, thus
> pitching the sleeper out on one side of it.
> 1830 /United Service Jrnl./ June 709   The chance on some equally
> squally night of 'turning the turtle', as Jack facetiously calls
> upsetting.
> 1842 F. Marryat /Percival Keene/ III. iii. 59   But 'turning the
> turtle' is not making a quick passage, except to the other world.
> 1843 F. Marryat /Narr. Trav. M. Violet/ III. x. 196   The canoe turned
> the turtle with them.
> 1860 /All Year Round/ 28 July 384   If the wind catches that 'ere,
> she'll turn turtle at once.
> 1896 /Daily News/ 2 July 9/1   An engine and two trucks had turned
> turtle on the embankment.

The gap between the Pitman document and the rest suggests that something
is missing. Add to that that, aside from Pitman, the instances of the
figurative meaning appear to show up earlier and it's doubly suspicious.
But take a closer look at the Pitman text (at least, in a later edition).

http://goo.gl/yxrPI
An English Garner. Stuart Tracts. 1603-1693. Introduction by C. H.
Firth. New York (Dutton) reprint of the 1877-90 London edition. [The
reprint is at least from 1897, but there is no date on the volume.
Actually, the 1903-4 edition was published A.C. Constable & Co., so this
must be the 1964 facsimile reprint of the 1903 edition.]
A Relation of the great suffering and strange adventures of Henry
Pitman, Chirurgeon to the Duke of Monmouth, containing an account ...
Licensed on June 13th, 1689. London: 1689
20 June 1689. p. 453
> These privateers at first were very kind to us, and gave us some of
> their provisions: and related to us the story of their adventures;
> which, to the best of my memory, was thus:
>
> That they formerly belonged to one Captain Yanche, Commander of a
> Privateer of 48 guns, that designed to plunder a Spanish town by the
> Gulf of Florida, called St. Augustine. And in order thereunto, he sent
> 30 of them out into the Gulf of Florida, to take canoes from the
> Indians; for the more convenient and speedy landing of their men. But
> they going ashore on the Main to turn turtle [/i.e., on their
> backs/]/, /were set upon by the Indians, and two of them killed on the
> place. However, at length, they put the Indians to flight; and some
> time afterwards, took two or three canoes, and one Indian prisoner:
> who conducted them to his own and his father's plantations, on
> condition they would afterwards set him free ; where they stored
> themselves with provisions and other necessaries. But it cost them
> dear. For their Quartermaster and one more of the company were
> poisoned, by their unwary eating of casader [/cassava/] roots.

The square-bracketed stuff (in italics) is editorial comments, not in
the original text.

A few pages later, the actual practice is described, so that there can
be little doubt as to the reference.

p. 457
> But to return from this digression. The privateers had no sooner left
> us, but we found ourselves, of necessity, obliged to seek out for
> provisions. Being led by the example of those four privateers that
> stayed behind; we walked along the sea shore to watch for tortoises or
> turtle: which when they came up out of the sea to lay their eggs in
> the sand, we turned on their backs. And they being incapable of
> turning themselves again, we let them remain so till the day
> following, or until we had conveniency of killing them: for if they
> were sufficiently defended from the heat of the sun by a shade, which
> we usually built over them, they would live several days out of the water.
>
> And thus we walked to and fro in the night-time, to turn turtle; and
> in the day-time, we were employed in killing them: whose flesh was the
> chiefest of our diet, being roasted by the fire on wooden spits. And
> sometimes when we designed a festival, we left some part of the flesh
> on the calapatch and calapee, that is, the back and breast
> shells;which we roasted, by setting them upright in two forked sticks
> thrust into the sand, before a large fire.

So there is little doubt as to the meaning of the act. IMO, it's not
"catching" turtles, but rather restraining them, but it's close enough.
The question is, why a nearly 200 year gap?

Well, there is no good reason other than no one looked--Pitman was
obviously well known to the N.E.D. editors (although I have not checked
the first and second OED editions as to when the reference appeared).
There are 2000 raw ghits for "turn turtle" in GB prior to 1800 (I'll
skip the post-1800 finds, at first). The actual number is much
lower--only 19, but it still requires a careful going over to see if
both a. and b. can be found.

http://goo.gl/M1eCF
Collection of Voyages and Travels: some now first printed from original.
By Awnsham Churchill. Volume 6. London: 1745[?] [1686/1693]
A Relation of Three Year Sufferings of Robert Everard, Upon the Coast of
Assad near Madagascar, In a Voyage to India in the Year 1686. And His
Wonderful Preservation and Deliverance, and Arrival in London, Anno
1693. [Ascension Island.] p. 280/1
> Afterwards six or eight hands were put ashore to turn turtle, which
> was brought aboard at twice; and then the captain sent the boat ashore
> with a letter in a bottle, to be put in the same place where the other
> was taken out; and having remain'd here about 30 hours, we got up our
> anchor, and made the best of our way for /Barbadoes. /

This both antedates and post-dates Pitman. But there is only one copy of
the 1745 volume listed in WorldCat (in some Bavarian archive).

Ben Johnson gets a different look (and Ben Johnson is not from 1756
either!).

http://goo.gl/LvlQP
The Works of Ben Jonson. Volume 7. London: 1756
The Case Is Altered [c. 1597--printed 1609]. Act 3. Scene 1. p. 350
> /Ang. /Nay, then you're fond,
> And want that strength of judgment and election .
> That mould be attendant on your years and form.
> Will you, because your lord is taken prisoner,
> Blubber and weep, and keep a peevish stir,
> As though you would turn turtle with the news.
> Come, come, be wise. 'Sblood say your lord should die,
> And you go mar your face as you begin,
> What would you do, trow? who would care for you?

Whoa! This one, despite the late collected-works volume, antedates all
other quotes. And is there any doubt that the meaning here is b.?

http://goo.gl/Eg02H
Extracts of Letters from Arthur Phillip, Esq., Governor of New South
Wales, to Lord Sydney; To which is Annexed a Description of Norfolk
Islands, by Philip Gidley King, Esq. And an Account of Expences Incurred
in Transporting Convicts to New South Wales. London: 1791
Extracts of a Letter from Governor Phillip to the Right Honorable Lord
Sydney, dated Sydney Cove, 12th February 1790. p. 6
> Early in January 1790 the Supply again sailed for Norfolk Island with
> more convicts; and in her passage left a small party on Lord Howe
> Island, to turn turtle ; but in fifteen days only three were taken; so
> that no great advantages will at present accrue from thence. The
> island has fresh water, but no good anchoring ground.

Again, a dual date (1790/1791), but much later. This one appeared in
print in several 1791 periodicals and in the Parliamentary Register. In
fact, this passage along accounts for more than half of pre-1800 hits.

Moving into the next century, there are a couple more.

http://goo.gl/NFQQB
Naufragia or Historical Memoirs of Shipwrecks and of the Providential
Deliverance of Vessels. By James Stanier Clarke. London: 1805
Chapter 6 (p. 366). Shipwreck of Captain Flinders and Lieutenant Fowler
of His Majesty's Armed Vessel, Porpoise, and of Mr. Park, Commander of
the Ship Cato, on a Coral Reef, a represented in the Frontispiece
Proceedings of the Crews of the Porpoise and Cato, on the Sand Bank,
chiefly from Lieutenant Fowler's Jornal. September 19, 1803. p. 400
> Before Noon, the next Day, I sent off the Master, Mr. /Aikin, /and a
> Party to the Island, victualled for a week, to turn Turtle. The
> Evening brought us light breezes with fine pleasant Weather; and the
> Cutter came back with a couple of Turtle, which we served out as before.

The Porpoise and the Cato struck "Wreck Reef" on August 17, 1803. Cato
was lost, rescuing all but three men, but Porpoise beached, with the
entire complement remaining on shore to be rescued, while the captain
took the cutter to get help.

http://goo.gl/5Ycfl
The Athenaeum. Volume 4(20). August 1, 1808
Journal of a Voyage from New South Wales to England. By a Lady. p. 101
> A party of gentlemen, with some seamen from each ship, stayed on shore
> all night to turn turtle.

What I find fascinating is that most of the reports are from the Indian
Ocean or from Australia, not from the Americas. And Ben Johnson's
mention puts an interesting spin on it--especially since it antedates
the standard term in naval journals by nearly 100 years. The
metaphorical use of "to turn turtle" implies inability to rectify
oneself, so the idea of turning turtles to immobilize them is certainly
old--and it has to be older than the metaphor. It is interesting that
there are so few hits in GB, but that they are scattered over such a
long period of time.

     VS-)

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