Changes: The Red Sea Sharks

Revision as of 20:45, 1 May 2020

The Red Sea Sharks is the nineteenth title of The Adventures of Tintin. Its original French title is Coke en stock ("coke in stock") a codename used by the villainous antagonists of the story for African slaves.

The Red Sea Sharks is notable for bringing together a large number of characters from previous Tintin adventures, going all the way back to Cigars of the Pharaoh.

Plot

In Brussels, Tintin and Captain Haddock bump into an old acquaintance, General Alcazar. Returning to Marlinspike Hall, they find that another acquaintance, the Emir of Khemed, Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab, has been overthrown by his nemesis Sheikh Bab El Ehr, and that the Emir has accordingly sent his son, the disobedient Abdullah, to stay at Marlinspike for his own protection. The police detectives Thomson and Thompson visit, informing Tintin that Alcazar is seeking to purchase military aircraft from J. M. Dawson. Investigating further, Tintin discovers that Dawson has also sold military aircraft to Bab El Ehr, but an alarm clock that Abdullah placed in his coat goes off, and although he escapes unscathed, Dawson realises Tintin is meddling in his affairs.

Realising that the only way to be rid of Abdullah is to restore the Emir's control of Khemed, Tintin, Haddock, and their dog Snowy travel to the Middle Eastern country. Simultaneously, Dawson arranges for somebody to place a bomb inside the plane's cargo hold, and officials deny the three any access to the country. While flying back from Khemed, the trio narrowly survive the bomb, and are able to slip into the city of Wadeshah unobserved. There they meet an old friend, the Portuguese merchant Oliveira da Figueira, who helps them to escape the city and ride on horseback to the Emir's hideout. During the journey, they evade armoured cars and fighter planes ordered to intercept them by "Mull Pasha", who is actually Tintin's old antagonist, Dr. Müller, when the fighter jets mistakenly destroy the armoured vehicles after the pilots believe that the ground units are enemy forces.

The Emir welcomes Tintin and Haddock, revealing that there is an ongoing slave trade through Khemed that is operated by the international businessman the Marquis di Gorgonzola, who falsely offers transport to African Muslims on the pilgrimage to Mecca and then sells them into slavery. Tintin, Haddock and Snowy leave for the Red Sea coast and board a sambuk for Mecca. They are attacked by fighter planes before Tintin shoots one down and rescues its mercenary Estonian pilot, Piotr Skut. The four are picked up by di Gorgonzola's yacht, the Scheherazade, but are soon offloaded onto the SS Ramona, a tramp steamer. It then transpires that Di Gorgonzola is in fact another of Tintin's old adversaries, Roberto Rastapopoulos. The Ramona is one of Rastapopoulos' slave trading ships, and when a fire breaks out aboard it during the night, the ship's commander Allan and his crew flee, leaving Tintin, Haddock, Snowy and Skut aboard along with a consignment of African slaves.

With Haddock taking on the ship's captaincy, they are successfully able to extinguish the fire. However, Rastapopoulos orders a U-boat to destroy the Ramona, with the ship taking evasive manoeuvres to survive, ultimately being rescued by the cruiser USS Los Angeles. The Los Angeles chases down the Scheherazade and attempts to capture di Gorgonzola, but he fakes his own death and escapes via a mini-submarine. Tintin, Haddock and Snowy return to Belgium and learn that the Emir has recaptured Khemed and that Abdullah can return home. Their relaxation is cut short by Jolyon Wagg, who has arranged to use Marlinspike for an auto rally.

Appearances

Characters

Locations

Khemed
- Wadesdah
Saudi Arabia
- Mecca (mentioned)
- Jidda (mentioned)
Djibouti
Eritrea
- Dahlak Kebir Island (mentioned)
Marlinspike
- Marlinspike Hall
Hotel Bristol

Organizations

Arabair

Vehicles

Ramona
Scheherazade
USS Los Angeles
Two distinct, unnamed sambuks.

The Adventures of Tintin
LS \| TC \| TA \| CP \| BL \| BE \| BI \| KO \| CG \| SS \| SU \| RR \| SC \| PS \| LB \| DM \| EM \| CA \| RS \| TT \| CE \| FS \| TP \| AA \| guide to abbreviations

@@ Line 46: / Line 46: @@
 *[[Khemed]]
 **[[Wadesdah]]
+*Saudi Arabia
+** Mecca (mentioned)
+**Jidda (mentioned)
+*Djibouti
+*Eritrea
+** Dahlak Kebir Island (mentioned)
 *[[Marlinspike]]
 **[[Marlinspike Hall]]
@@ Line 57: / Line 63: @@
 *''[[Scheherazade]]''
 *''[[USS Los Angeles]]''
+* Two distinct, unnamed sambuks.
 {{taot}}