1907 August The Son Of Tarzan

DATE:   August 17, 1907                                                                                                              EVENT:  Thirty minutes after Jack departed from visiting Akut, unknowingly Tarzan shows up and finally works out a deal to purchase Akut.                                                                              SOURCE:  "It was during this interview that a plan occurred to Paulvitch, and as a result of it he agreed to accept a certain fabulous sum for the ape, and upon receipt of the money to deliver the beast to a vessel that was sailing south from Dover for Africa two days later." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. August 17 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB.                    

J. Allen St. John

DATE:  August 18, 1907

EVENT:  Jack overheard Tarzan tell Jane about purchasing Akut/Ajax with plans to send him back to Africa.

SOURCE:  "As chance would have it, Tarzan's son overheard his father relating to the boy's mother the steps he was taking to return Akut safely to his new jungle home," ERB-Son Of Tarzan. August 18 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB.

CHAT: Here, we find out Jack is on vacation from school. "She was obdurate, and at last the lad appeared to acquiesce in his mother's decision that the ape must be returned to Africa and the boy to school, from which he had been absent on vacation." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. 

    English summer vacation starts late in July and lasts six weeks.

The Son Of Tarzan

                                                                                                                                                       

DATE:  August 19, 1907, through August 30, 1907

EVENT:  Unknowing to his parents Jack devised a plan, bought supplies, bought ship tickets to west coast Africa, etc., to take Akut home to the jungle himself.

SOURCE:  "He did not attempt to visit Paulvitch's room again that day, but instead busied himself in other ways." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. August 19 through 30 are working dates only and are not provided by ERB.

The Son Of Tarzan

DATE:  morning August 31, 1907

EVENT:  Jack sneaks in a visit to Akut after Tarzan's visit.
SOURCE:  "The next morning after giving his father time to precede him and conclude his business with Paulvitch, the lad hastened to the Russian's room." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
CHAT:  It is here that we find Jack's vacation is over and it is time to return to school. "You see," he went on, "there will be no danger of detection since I am supposed to be leaving on an afternoon train for school. Then I can take Ajax, to Dover, you see, and arrive at school only a day late." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. August 31 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB. It was concluded by the fact that it was time for Jack to return to school. Since school starts on Monday, September 1. Jack would catch the train on Sunday the day before, so he could get settled.

Newspaper Serial

DATE:  afternoon August 31, 1907
EVENT:  Tarzan and Jane put Jack aboard the train bound for school.
SOURCE:  "That afternoon Lord and Lady Greystoke bid their son goodbye and saw him safely settled in a first-class compartment of the railway carriage that would set him down at school in a few hours." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. August 31 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB.

The Son Of Tarzan

DATE:  dusk August 31, 1907
EVENT:  Once his parents were out of sight Jack got off the train and took a cab to Paulvitch's address.
SOURCE:  "It was dusk when he arrived." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. August 31 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB.

Newspaper Serial

DATE:  night August 31, 1907
EVENT:  Paulvitch attacks Jack and Akut kills the Russian. The ape helps the boy escape, and the two flee.
SOURCE:  "For two hours under the instructions of the former the ape worked upon the knots that secured his friend's wrist." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. August 31 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB.

J. Allen St. John

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Over the past forty-five years, Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There, the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory) instead of the more accepted date, May 1888.

James Michael Moody also authorizes the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022, and Swordsman On Unium, published on July 15, 2024.

1907 July The Son Of Tarzan

DATE:  June 20, 1907      

EVENT:  The Marjorie W. arrives in England.      

SOURCE:  "And so at length, the Marjorie W. came to England, and there the officers and the scientists, filled with compassion for the pitiful wreck of a man they had rescued from the jungles, furnished Paulvitch with funds and bid him and his Ajax/Akut, Godspeed." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. 

CHAT:  Marjorie  W's sailing time? Unfortunately, I couldn't find a specific historical record detailing the travel from Luanda, Portuguese Angola to Dover, England in 1907. However, we can estimate the journey based on the transportation methods and conditions of the era.

• The most likely mode of transportation would have been steamship. These vessels were significantly faster and more reliable than sailing ships, but the journey still took weeks.
• The Atlantic Ocean could be unpredictable, especially in certain seasons. Storms, rough seas, and mechanical issues could delay the journey.

Given the distances involved and the transportation methods of the time, a reasonable estimate for the journey from Luanda, Portuguese Angola, to Dover, England in 1907 would be between four to six weeks. This timeframe could vary depending on weather conditions, the specific route taken, port stops, and any unforeseen delays.

    For a working date, I used six weeks which is conservative. That allows for some extra time adjustment should it be needed.  

The Son Of Tarzan

DATE:  June 20, 1907

EVENT:  Upon arrival in England Paulvitch took Akut/Ajax, to England to a certain famous animal trainer.

SOURCE:  "In London Paulvitch went directly with his prize to a certain famous animal trainer." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.

The Son Of Tarzan

DATE:  9:30 at night July 27, 1907

EVENT:  Jack tied up his tutor, Mr. Harold Moore, and visited the music hall to see Akut/Ajax.

SOURCE:  "So, when he opened the boy's door at about half after nine, he was greatly excited, though not entirely surprised to find the future Lord Greystoke fully dressed for the street and about to crawl from his open bedroom window." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
CHAT:  ERB tells us Jack is at home in London, and not at school. This means Tarzan's son is most likely on summer vacation. Although ERB does not say so, Jack probably boards at his school. ERB tells us Jack rides a train to school. When Jack takes Akut/Ajax to Africa it takes Tarzan and Jane several days to find out their son was not at school. If Jack was coming home nightly he could not have disappeared for several days without being detected. July 27 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB. I envision Jack getting out of school on Friday, July 26. At school, Jack had learned about Akut/Ajax, the ape, and the scheduled show for Saturday night.
    On page twenty-one of the Ballentine edition, a "closed car" is mentioned. Can a car of this description exist in 1907? The first truly closed car I could find was the Cadillac prototype commissioned by Henry Leland for himself in 1906. He had the Detroit coach builders Seavers and Erdman build it for him. In 1907, that prototype became the first fully enclosed Cadillac built in any number. It was a single-cylinder Model M coupe.
    By 1906 there were numerous cars such as Star, Knox, Mercedes, and many others with cloth convertible tops. The 1906 Delauney-Bellevillel may not have been considered a closed car but it had a solid roof and a windshield. It had no side doors, however. On page twenty-three of the Ballantine edition the car description "limousine" is used. Was this modern word suitable in 1907? The word "limousine" originated from the Limousine region of France where shepherds would use an oversized, hooded garment to protect themselves from the weather. The first use of the word Limousine used as the term for an automobile that I could find was the 1906 Cadillac built for Henry Leland.

 

Russ Manning

DATE:  July 28, 1907
EVENT:  Tarzan visited Akut.
SOURCE: "Tarzan visited Akut the following day." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. July 28 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB.

J. Allen St. John

DATE:  July 30, 1907
EVEN:  Jack goes to visit Akut.
SOURCE:  "He had the address, however, which the trainer had given his father, and two days later he found the opportunity to elude his new tutor - who had replaced the terrified Mr. Moore - and after a considerable search through a section of London which he had never before visited he found the smelly little quarters of the pock-marked old man." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. July 30 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB.
CHAT:   Again ERB informs us that Paulvitch was held captive in Africa for ten years. "In former years Paulvitch had been a fastidious scoundrel but ten years of hideous life among the cannibals of Africa had eradicated the last vestige of niceness from his habits." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.

The Son Of Tarzan

DATE:  July 31, 1907, through August 16, 1907
EVENT:  Jack sneaks regularly to visit Akut without his parents knowing it.
SOURCE:  "And so Paulvitch encouraged the boy to come and see him often and always he played upon the lad's craving for tales of the savage world with which Paulvitch was all too familiar." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. July 31 to August 16 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB.
CHAT:  Exactly how long this period was the author left unsaid, but he does tell us Jack took up the Mangani language very quickly. He was mostly a mimic and language genius like his father. "He left him alone with Akut much, and it was not long until he was surprised to learn that the boy could make the great beast understand him - that he had actually learned many of the words of the primitive language of the anthropoids." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.

The Son Of Tarzan

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Over the past forty-five years, Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There, the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory) instead of the more accepted date, May 1888.

James Michael Moody also authorizes the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022, and Swordsman On Unium, published on July 15, 2024.

1907 June The Son Of Tarzan

DATE:  June 20, 1907                                                                                                              EVENT:  The Marjorie W. arrives in England.                                                                              SOURCE:  "And so at length, the Marjorie W. came to England, and there the officers and the scientists, filled with compassion for the pitiful wreck of a man they had rescued from the jungles, furnished Paulvitch with funds and bid him and his Ajax/Akut, Godspeed." ERB-The  Son Of Tarzan.                                                                                                                            CHAT:  Marjorie W's sailing time? Unfortunately, I couldn't find a specific historical record detailing the exact sea travel time from Luanda, Portuguese Angola to Dover, England in 1907. However, we can estimate the journey based on the transportation methods and conditions of the era.

• The most likely mode of transportation would have been steamship. These vessels were significantly faster and more reliable than sailing ships, but the journey still took weeks.
• The Atlantic Ocean could be unpredictable, especially in certain seasons. Storms, rough seas, port stops, and mechanical issues could delay the journey.

Given the distances involved and the transportation methods of the time, a reasonable estimate for the journey from Luanda, Portuguese Angola, to Dover, England in 1907 would be between four to six weeks. For a working date, I used six weeks which is conservative. That allows for some extra time adjustment should it be needed.   

The Son Of Tarzan

DATE:  June 20, 1907

EVENT:  Upon arrival in England Paulvitch took Akut/Ajax, to England to a certain famous animal trainer.

SOURCE:  "In London Paulvitch went directly with his prize to a certain famous animal trainer." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.

Frank Frazetta

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Over the past forty-five years, Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There, the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory) instead of the more accepted date, May 1888.

James Michael Moody also authorizes the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022, and Swordsman On Unium, published on July 15, 2024.

1907 April The Son Of Tarzan

DATE:  April 18, 1907, through November 5, 1907

EVENT:  Carl Jenseen, and Sven Malbihn form a band of one hundred or more thieves and plunder the jungles just south of the Sahara.

SOURCE:  "The European governments in whose possessions they worked had long sought them; but, working their way slowly out of the north they had learned many things in the no-man's-land south of the Sahara which gave them immunity from capture through every avenue of escape that were unknown to those who pursued them." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.

Newspaper Serial-5 chapter 5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Over the past forty-five years, Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There, the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory) instead of the more accepted date, May 1888.

James Michael Moody also authorizes the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022, and Swordsman On Unium, published on July 15, 2024.

1907 March The Son Of Tarzan

DATE:  March 18, 1907                                                                                                                EVENT:  A long boat of the Majorie W., while floating down the broad Ugambi, discovered Alexis Paulvitich, still in his thirties, on the river bank.                                                                  SOURCE:  "Once on board the Majorie W. the stranger told his rescuers a pitiful tale of privation, hardships, and torture, extending over a period of ten years." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. 

    "It had been ten years since the Russian had escaped the fate of his friend, the arch-fiend Rokoff, and not once, but many times during those ten years had Paulvitich cursed the fate that had given to Nicholas Rokoff's death and immunity from suffering while it had meted to him the hideous terrors of an existence infinitely worse than the death that persistently refused to claim him." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.

    "Though still in his thirties, Alexis Paulvitch could easily have passed for eighty." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.  

Tarzan's Africa

DATE:  March 21, 1907

EVENT:  After rescuing Paulvitch the Majorie W., which had been chartered by scientists, left the African coast and anchored at Jungle Island. There Paulvitch found the ape Akut, who he renamed Ajax.

SOURCE:  In The Beasts Of Tarzan chapter two Rokoff marooned Tarzan on Jungle Island and in chapter three it took the Kincaid three days to reach the coast. I used those same three days for the return journey.

The Son Of Tarzan

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Over the past forty-five years, Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There, the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory) instead of the more accepted date, May 1888.

James Michael Moody also authorizes the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022, and Swordsman On Unium, published on July 15, 2024.

1906 August The Son Of Tarzan

DATE:  August 18, 1906                                                                                                              EVENT: Jeanne Jacot/ Meriem, now ten years old, lives in a native village. A black woman named Malbunu looks after her for her new father, Sheik Amor ben Khatour.                              SOURCE:  "Playing before one of the Arab tents was a little girl of ten - a black-haired, black-eyed little girl who, with her nut-brown skin and graceful carriage looked every inch a daughter of the desert." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.                                                                           

    "There was, for example, the old black hag who looked after her, Mabunu - toothless, filthy and ill tempered." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.                                                                              

CHAT: ERB offers quite a bit of information about this village. "In the heart of the jungle, 

hidden away upon the banks of a small unexplored tributary of a large river that empties into the Atlantic not so far from the equator, lay a small, heavily palisaded village. Twenty palm-thatched, beehive huts sheltered its black population, while a half-dozen goat skin tents in the center of the clearing housed the score of Arabs who found shelter here while, by trading and raiding, they collected the cargoes which their ships of the desert bore northward twice each year to the market at Timbuktu." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.

The Son Of Tarzan

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Over the past forty-five years, Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There, the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory) instead of the more accepted date, May 1888.

James Michael Moody also authorizes the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022, and Swordsman On Unium, published on July 15, 2024.

1904 August The Son Of Tarzan

DATE:  August 18, 1904

EVENT:  A kindly disposed slave gave Jeanne, whom she now called Meriem, a doll, which she named Geeka.

SOURCE:  "Her little fingers were busily engaged in fashioning a skirt of grasses for a much-disheveled doll which a kindly disposed slave had made for her a year or two before." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.

CHAT:  ERB states "a year or two" you pick. Any date in between would agree with ERB's presented information. I chose a conservative "two" as a working date. The kindly disposed slave who made Meriem's doll was named Geeka. "When my brother and I were slaves in the village of the Sheik my brother made that thing for the Sheik's little daughter - yet she played with it always and called it after my brother, whose name is Geeka." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.

J. Allen St. John

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Over the past forty-five years, Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There, the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory) instead of the more accepted date, May 1888.

James Michael Moody also authorizes the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022, and Swordsman On Unium, published on July 15, 2024.