lord of all ships in the catalog of ships, give us a sign, tell us, oh, boatswain, what of this night

[Coffee Break]

Hello everyone. I encountered this expression, "lord of all ships in the catalog of ships, give us a sign, tell us, oh, boatswain, what of this night", but am struggling to understand it. Could you please let me know what it means in the following sentences:

“Look to your right,” she said, having spotted it before I did. And there it was, exactly where we’d left it earlier this morning, anchored smack in the middle of the Hudson, the Prince Oscar, our beacon, our lodestar, our emblem, our double, our namesake, our spellbound word for the things we had no words for—love of my life, my dear, dear Prince Oscar, dear, troubled ship that you are, lord of all ships in the catalog of ships, give us a sign, tell us, oh, boatswain, what of this night, tell us of this land of dreams you ferry passengers to, tell us what’s to become of us, what’s to become of me—can you hear?

- André Aciman, Eight White Nights, Third Night

This is a novel published in the United States of America in 2010. This novel is narrated by the nameless male protagonist. The protagonist meets Clara at a Christmas party in Manhattan. Two days after the party, Clara came to the protagonist's house at 8 o'clock in the morning and drove him to the house of the grandparents of Inky (her childhood friend and ex-boyfriend). During the drive, they spotted a ship named "Prince Oscar" and made a joke with it all day. After spending some hours at their house, they are now driving back to the city, which is when they spot the Prince Oscar ship again.

Here, I wonder what the underlined expression means.

(1) What would it mean that it is the lord of all ships "in the catalog of ships", as if there are some lists of boat names...?

(2) And, would it be okay to understand that "tell us" goes with "what of this night," to mean "speak about anything about this night to us"? (But this is just my guess. )

(3) Also, this is just my small question, but I wonder whether it would be okay to understand that the ship itself is being referred to as "boatswain (ship's officer in charge of equipment and the crew)".

I would very much appreciate your help.

 

[Tarheel]

If, as I suspect, that phrase was made up by the author then context is the only thing you have to go on to determine its meaning. It's a mystery to me.

 

[Coffee Break]

@Tarheel,

Thank you very much for the explanation.
It is indeed a mysterious expression!

In that case, would it be okay to understand grammatically that at least "tell us" is connected to "what of this night" to mean "tell us something about this night"...?

I also wonder whether this ship, Prince Oscar, is the master of all ships in the list (=catalog) of ships, and this ship is also like a boatswain among all ships.

 

[Tarheel]

@Coffee Break Well, it wasn't much of an explanation, but thanks. I think the way you have to look at is this story stands alone and there is nothing else to compare it to. If I were you I wouldn't look too deeply for meanings. Look at the characters as people who say whatever comes to mind whether it makes sense or not.

(Have you read "Moby Dick"? (I'm going to get around to finishing my copy some day.))

 

[Ostap]

(2) And, would it be okay to understand that "tell us" goes with "what of this night," to mean "speak about anything about this night to us"? (But this is just my guess. )

Yes, "what of this night" is the direct object of "tell us", and "oh, boatswain" is who they are addressing.

(1) What would it mean that it is the lord of all ships "in the catalog of ships", as if there are some lists of boat names...?

As if there is a catalog of ships, and Prince Oscar is the king of all ships. Also, it might be an allusion to Jesus (Lord) and his followers (sheep). Might be a pun - ship/sheep.

 

[emsr2d2]

There is a catalogue of ships - Lloyds of London.

 

[Coffee Break]

@Tarheel, @Ostap and @emsr2d2,

Thank you very much for the explanations.
Oh, so there is indeed a catalogue for ships! I learned that there is a thing called "Lloyd's Register" all thanks to you. Probably this company would have a list of ships they own.

And "boatswain" might refer to the ship called Prince Oscar itself, and, because the narrator is thinking that the ship is the lord of all ships, it would make sense that the ship may become the officer in charge of the ship (boatswain).

So I guess this part could be paraphrased as:

lord of all ships in the catalog of ships, give us a sign, tell us, oh, boatswain, what of this night, tell us of this land of dreams you ferry passengers to, tell us what’s to become of us, what’s to become of me
= God of all ships in the list of ships, give us a sign, oh, the officer in charge of ship's rigging and deck crew, tell us something about this night, tell us about the land of dreams, tell us what we are going to change into, and what I am going to change into

Also, in that case, I guess "what" would be a noun having the following meaning! This is my first time seeing "what" being used as a noun like this :

what

Definition, Synonyms, Translations of what by The Free Dictionary

www.thefreedictionary.com

n.
17. the true nature or identity of something, or the sum of its characteristics: the whats and hows of crop rotation.

And it is interesting to know how the wordplay is intended for "ship" in that its pronunciation resembles "sheep"!

(Have you read "Moby Dick"? (I'm going to get around to finishing my copy some day.))

Actually, I have a copy, too, but I haven't really finished yet. I am hoping too that someday I might finish it.

I sincerely appreciate your help, for letting me understand.

 

[5jj]

And it is interesting to know how the wordplay is intended for "ship" in that its pronunciation resembles "sheep"!

I think that's very unlikely.

 

[Tarheel]

@Coffee Break While Lloyd's of London (an insurance underwriter) does indeed have a catalog of ships, it seems more likely that she is in the habit of talking that way. (It's either charming or not).

 

[probus]

Lloyds of London is not a company that owns ships. Lloyds insures ships and their cargoes.

And a boatswain (pronounced BOsun) does not command a ship. The commander is a ship's captain, or in an older style its master. A boatswain is a petty officer, equivalent in rank to a sergeant in an army.