Ships and Cars - The Sign of Code

There have been lots of discussions about code in BBC Sherlock, and the possible metaphorical meaning of different things that appear frequently in the show, such as coffee/tea, water/fire, dogs/cats and many more. This show indeed seems filled with ciphers, code and secret messages. In this meta (X) I tried to decipher the encrypted name of the fishing boat that Sherlock and John hijacked in TFP, when it was called upon from Sherrinford: “Golf-Whisky-X-ray”. 

The Ship coding

At first I thought this was referring to the international spelling alphabet for wireless communication (X, X) where there’s a word for each letter. “GWX” didn’t make much sense to me, though, until I stumbled upon something deeper: ‘Golf’, ‘Whisky’ and ‘X-ray’ are also part of the marine Code of Signals (X) that was established in Britain around 1850. It’s still used by water vessels to communicate important messages regarding safety of navigation and such, and the signals can be sent by, for example, flaghoist, signal lamp or flag semaphore. Conan Doyle worked on a ship at least in 1880 and 1881, so the signals could totally have been known to him already in Victorian times. And since Sherlock and John are on board a boat in TFP, 

I think it’s reasonable to assume that the marine code is the relevant one here. In this signal code, the flags for “Golf”, Whisky” and “Xray” mean the following:

Golf = “I require a pilot.” 

Whiskey = “I require medical assistance.”

”Xray = “Stop carrying out your intentions and watch for my signals.”

Which in other words could be read as:

But is this use of marine signals something that only appears in BBC Sherlock? Is it Mofftiss’ own idea to use them, or could there possibly be any canon references to them? In the discussion that followed my meta (X)  @frailtyofgenius​ pointed out to me that ACD’s canon actually does mention “Naval signals” in His Last Bow (LAST), which I think might be very significant. And the one who uses the naval signals is Holmes himself.

Continued under the cut, because this is reeeally a long ‘transport’… ;)

Keep reading

oh wow, this is amazing!!!

also - i’m not the first to make this connection but “the giant rat of sumatra” very likely links back to sherlock’s childhood rewrite of the samarra story, “meeting in sumatra”!

the wheel turns, nothing is ever new… can samarra be avoided?

yes, but it’s “a story for which the world is not yet prepared”…

involving a ship :)

Yes @frailtyofgenius I do suspect Sumatra is meant to be significant in BBC Sherlock (and Sumatra is also mentioned in several canon stories). Apart from ’meeting in Sumatra instead of Samarra’ in TST, we also have the secret underground station at Sumatra road in TEH. Come to think of it, in relation to this case with the carriage that derails and disappears (very much as in Conan Doyle’s The Lost Special), the ’train nerd’ Shilcott also calls attention to the fact that the carriages of the subway train are actually called cars. Which means that the carriage that’s about to explode at Sumatra road, blowing up the whole Parliament (if Sherlock hadn’t found the off-switch of the bomb) is actually also a car. Why do Mofftiss put an emphasis on this, one might ask?

@raggedyblue @ebaeschnbliah @gosherlocked @lukessense @sarahthecoat

@possiblyimbiassed yes I see a connection between Sumatra and cars (or choices and cars in general) as well, one of those connections leading back to ASiP (as I’ve mentioned here). Sherlock mapping out an alternative route for him and John to catch the cabbie and in TEH Sherlock needing “all the maps” to find the hidden car in Sumatra with the bomb frozen in time between 1:28 and 1:29. Sherlock needing “all the maps” is immediately followed by the skip code about “James or John” so maybe this alternative route in green in ASiP ends on the 13th floor in Sherrinford, paving the way for an alternative ending just like Sumatra? John in the well in TFP and the reconstruction of the set at the end of TFP seem to suggest something in that direction.

@frailtyofgenius

Speaking of ‘mapping out an alternative route’ for John and Sherlock @lukessense​ - that’s exactly what Sherlock does in TEH as well. But not just to find the hidden car in Sumatra road; instead of using Marys’s car (Mary’s transport?) to come to John’s rescue on Guy Fawkes day, he uses a motorcycle. An he traces shortcuts in his Mind Palace to get to St James church asap:

But this time the red line is the short cut. To use this shortcut Sherlock takes the motorcycle through tunnels underground and whatnot, which seems particulary significant.  

ooohhhh, yes, the motorcycle chase is a kind of mirror to the cab chase in ASIP, both have an element of Save John Watson, and an element of sherlock putting on a facade. (“mary” as a facade of sorts to make sherlock more acceptable? just as in ASIP, he flashes lestrade’s pilfered warrant card to make his stopping the cab more acceptable) in ASIP, the fantastical element is rooftops, in TEH it’s tunnels and down stairs. #stairs code. the “alternate route” has always suggested to me, the writers’ plan to not simply rehash the same adaptations, but to take an alternate route through the canon.

I think you might be on to something there, @sarahthecoat! Yes, I definitely agree the writers seem to have an alternate route in mind for BBC Sherlock. And the shift from rooftops to tunnels is interesting, not least because apart from using tunnels as shortcuts for the motorcycle, the rest of TEH is also filled with tunnels:

And great points with the mirroring and the idea that Sherlock is carrying Mary as a facade! I didn’t think of the fact that Sherlock fakes (and takes) his authority to stop the cabbie’s car in ASiP, but that’s interesting as well. Especially as this whole series of events with the taxi chase is not present in the Pilot.

@raggedyblue @ebaeschnbliah @gosherlocked @lukessense @frailtyofgenius

mmhm, and we all remember what Trains In Tunnels are about, yes?