Omeros

The narrative shifts to the 18th century. In the Hague in the Netherlands, a midshipman named Plunkett is gathering intelligence about the Dutch ships and merchants for his native England. The midshipman is Dennis Plunkett’s ancestor. Inspecting the ships, he thinks about how “were it not for the war he might have loved the place” (78). He rides to the harbor in a carriage alongside a farmer and caged chickens. In the harbor, he writes down everything he believes will be useful for his superior, Admiral Rodney. When the night watch nearly catches him spying, he feels like the hares he hunted in his youth. His intelligence gathering helps; after the Dutch are defeated “on the islet facing Martinique” (81), Admiral Rodney builds a great fort.

The narrative skips ahead to a battle between the British and French over Saint Lucia. A group of enslaved people is ordered by the British soldiers to hoist a cannon into place. One of the enslaved men is Afolabe, a distant ancestor of Achille. When Afolabe helps to turn the tide of the battle, the British admiral renames him Achille, which he “let[s] himself be called” (83).