“How glad to be on a ship.” Lawrence’s Savage Pilgrimage at Sea

Abstract

As Lawrence wrote in Sea and Sardinia (1921) “How glad to be on a ship! What a golden hour for the heart of man! Ah if one could sail for ever, on a small quiet, lonely ship, from land to land and isle to isle, and saunter through the spaces of this lovely world, always through the spaces of this lovely world.” (SS 47.27 – 31). He wrote those words as a record of his response to the sea on a steamer travelling from Sicily to Sardinia in January 1921. They are a good example of how conflicted he was about his use of technology. This essay will outline Lawrence’s principal journeys by sea, a significant feature of and expense in his life, how they were necessary to enable him to undertake his “savage pilgrimage” and what Lawrence wrote on board ship, providing examples of the people he met on board ship, and how they and his experience of the sea as opposed to his experiences on land helped or featured in some of his best work.