The Water Dog, Other Characters, and Settings in A Life on Water
A Life on Water features scenes on the Water Dog, an old trawler refitted as a research vessel.
Ardis led Carlos and Xisco to a berth near the top of the pier.
"It’s a converted fishing trawler. It’s seaworthy and will get us where we’re going.”
They saw “RV Cão de Água” decorated in script on the bow. On the stern below the name of the boat, plain block letters said “Setubal.”
“Welcome to the Research Vessel Water Dog.” She translated the boat’s name literally. “The name pays tribute to the HMS Beagle, the ship on which Charles Darwin sailed to the Galapagos Islands and wrote much of the Origin of Species.”
Naming ships after dogs was a British Navy tradition. Adopting this tradition, Ardis chose the name of a much-loved breed of dog that swims well and was popular with fishermen: the Portuguese Water Dog.
In Waters off the Coast of Portugal, A Life on Water (Chapter 25)
On the Water Dog, Ardis, Carlos, and Xisco visit Atlantic ports, including Setúbal and Vila Nova de Milfontes on their way to the Algarve, where they visit Sagres and Lagos.
The joy of relating with once-abundant marine life is a predominant theme in the scenes on the Water Dog.
Other Main Characters
A Life on Water explores the challenges characters face in their quest for agency, recognition, and love. The protagonist, Ardis Lowney, must come to terms with her ambivalence about her role as a spy. Other pages on this site have conveyed her challenges. This page provides more information about the other main characters.
Xisco, age 18, a garoto in the north of Portugal, meets Sam Meyer, a Polish mining engineer who facilitates Xisco’s discovery of his heritage as a Marrano Jew, a sect that practices in secret. Before Xisco even sees the ocean, Sam runs into conflict with the PVDE and the Gestapo (the Portuguese and German secret police). With CÉPHISE, Xisco adopts the quest of Judaism—how to achieve the unity of God.
Monseñhor Carlos, age 31, tall, olive complexion, wrestles with the absurd via the books of Ecclesiastes and Job. An orphan, Carlos makes a life in the Catholic Church as a priest. He falls in love with Laurenza, a nun, while studying in Rome. On behalf of the Church, he sells wolfram to the Nazis. Carlos must choose between Laurenza and his ambition to promote the 1917 Miracles of Fatima.
Important Minor Characters
A full cast of characters facilitates the story, including cameo appearances by Prime Minister Antonio Salazar and Cardinal Manuel Cerejeira, two leading public figures of the day who were long-time friends.
Samuel Meyer was inspired by a real person named Samuel Schultz who discovered Marrano Jews in a village less than twelve kilometres from Sonim in 1929.
Manfred Wiesentrauser, a German diplomat in Lisbon, embodies the role of antagonist, while trying very hard to be a friend.
Laurenza, a member of the Daughters of Charity, studies in Rome and works in an orphanage.
Céphise is a Jewish refugee from France, where she worked for Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul-general in Bordeaux who issued visas and passports to refugees fleeing Nazi Germany.
Settings
The story is centred in Lisbon, the nation's capital. In the 1940s, Lisbon was the gateway in and out of Europe for refugees and royalty alike, and naturally was a hotbed for spies.
A major part of the story is set in Trás-os-Montes, a region in the north of Portugal, in a village called Sonim.
A beach by the name of Praia das Amoeiras, located on the coast north of Lisbon at Santa Cruz, figures prominently.
Other settings include Rome and Anagni, Italy, and Vancouver and Toronto, Canada, including Camp X, a WWII training camp for Allied operatives.
An Afterword
The events and details in the story reflect historical facts. An afterword acknowledges anachronisms. Other characters and the plot are fictional.