Quand Orwell a-t-il eu son accident de bateau dans le golfe de Corryvreckan ?
Jura and Nineteen Eighty-Four

Animal Farm had particular resonance in the post-war climate and its worldwide success made Orwell a sought-after figure. For the next four years, Orwell mixed journalistic work—mainly for Tribune, The Observer and the Manchester Evening News, though he also contributed to many small-circulation political and literary magazines —with writing his best-known work, Nineteen Eighty-Four, which was published in 1949. He was a leading figure in the so-called Shanghai Club (named after a restaurant in Soho) of left-leaning and émigré journalists, among them E. H. Carr, Sebastian Haffner, Isaac Deutscher, Barbara Ward and Jon Kimche.

In the year following Eileen's death he published around 130 articles and a selection of his Critical Essays, while remaining active in various political lobbying campaigns. He employed a housekeeper, Susan Watson, to look after his adopted son at the Islington flat, which visitors now described as "bleak". In September he spent a fortnight on the island of Jura in the Inner Hebrides and saw it as a place to escape from the hassle of London literary life. David Astor was instrumental in arranging a place for Orwell on Jura. Astor's family owned Scottish estates in the area and a fellow Old Etonian, Robin Fletcher, had a property on the island. In late 1945 and early 1946 Orwell made several hopeless and unwelcome marriage proposals to younger women, including Celia Kirwan; Ann Popham, who happened to live in the same block of flats; and Sonia Brownell, one of Connolly's coterie at the Horizon office. Orwell suffered a tubercular haemorrhage in February 1946 but disguised his illness. In 1945 or early 1946, while still living at Canonbury Square, Orwell wrote an article on "British Cookery", complete with recipes, commissioned by the British Council. Given the post-war shortages, both parties agreed not to publish it. His sister Marjorie died in May.

On 22 May 1946, Orwell set off to live on Jura in Barnhill, an abandoned farmhouse without outbuildings. Conditions at the farmhouse were primitive but the natural history and the challenge of improving the place appealed to Orwell. Orwell returned to London in late 1946 and picked up his literary journalism again. Now a well-known writer, he was swamped with work. Apart from a visit to Jura in the new year he stayed in London for one of the coldest British winters on record and with such a national shortage of fuel that he burnt his furniture and his child's toys. The heavy smog in the days before the Clean Air Act 1956 did little to help his health, about which he was reticent, keeping clear of medical attention. Meanwhile, he had to cope with rival claims of publishers Gollancz and Warburg for publishing rights. About this time he co-edited a collection titled British Pamphleteers with Reginald Reynolds. As a result of the success of Animal Farm, Orwell was expecting a large bill from the Inland Revenue and he contacted a firm of accountants. The firm advised Orwell to establish a company to own his copyright and to receive his royalties and set up a "service agreement" so that he could draw a salary. Such a company, "George Orwell Productions Ltd" (GOP Ltd) was set up on 12 September 1947.

Orwell left London for Jura on 10 April 1947. In July he ended the lease on the Wallington cottage. Back on Jura he worked on Nineteen Eighty-Four. During that time his sister's family visited, and Orwell led a disastrous boating expedition, on 19 August, which nearly led to loss of life whilst trying to cross the notorious Gulf of Corryvreckan and gave him a soaking which was not good for his health. In December a chest specialist was summoned from Glasgow who pronounced Orwell seriously ill, and a week before Christmas 1947 he was in Hairmyres Hospital. Tuberculosis was diagnosed and the request for permission to import streptomycin to treat Orwell went as far as Aneurin Bevan, then Minister of Health. David Astor helped with supply and payment and Orwell began his course of streptomycin on 19 or 20 February 1948. By the end of July 1948 Orwell was able to return to Jura and by December he had finished the manuscript of Nineteen Eighty-Four. In January 1949, in a very weak condition, he set off for a sanatorium at Cranham, Gloucestershire. Unluckily for Orwell, streptomycin could not be continued, as he developed toxic epidermal necrolysis, a rare side effect.

The sanatorium at Cranham consisted of a series of small wooden chalets or huts in a remote part of the Cotswolds near Stroud. Visitors were shocked by Orwell's appearance and concerned by the shortcomings and ineffectiveness of the treatment. Friends were worried about his finances, but by now he was comparatively well off. He was writing to many of his friends, including Jacintha Buddicom, who had "rediscovered" him, and in March 1949, was visited by Celia Kirwan. Kirwan had just started working for a Foreign Office unit, the Information Research Department (IRD), set up by the Labour government to publish anti-communist propaganda, and Orwell gave her a list of people he considered to be unsuitable as IRD authors because of their pro-communist leanings. Orwell's list, not published until 2003, consisted mainly of writers but also included actors and Labour MPs. To further promote Animal Farm, the IRD commissioned cartoon strips, drawn by Norman Pett, to be placed in newspapers across the globe. Orwell received more streptomycin treatment and improved slightly. This repeat dose of streptomycin, especially after the side effect had been noticed, has been called "ill-advised". He then received penicillin, although doctors knew it was ineffective against tuberculosis. It is presumed it was given to treat his bronchiectasis. In June 1949 Nineteen Eighty-Four was published, to critical acclaim.
Écriture

Lors d'une réunion en juin 1944 avec Fredric Warburg, cofondateur de sa maison d'édition britannique Secker & Warburg, peu avant la publication de *La Ferme des animaux*, Orwell a annoncé qu'il avait écrit les 12 premières pages de son nouveau roman. Il ne pouvait cependant gagner sa vie que grâce au journalisme et prévoyait que le livre ne serait pas publié avant 1947. Les progrès étaient lents ; à la fin du septembre 1945, Orwell avait écrit une cinquantaine de pages. Orwell s'est désenchanté des restrictions et des pressions liées au journalisme et a fini par détester la vie urbaine à Londres. Il souffrait de bronchiectasie et d'une lésion dans un poumon ; l'hiver rigoureux a aggravé son état de santé.

En mai 1946, Orwell est arrivé sur l'île écossaise de Jura. Il souhaitait se retirer sur une île des Hébrides depuis plusieurs années ; David Astor lui avait recommandé de séjourner à Barnhill, une ferme isolée sur l'île que sa famille possédait, sans électricité ni eau chaude. C'est ici qu'Orwell a rédigé et achevé *1984* de manière intermittente. Son premier séjour a duré jusqu'en octobre 1946, pendant lequel il a peu progressé sur les quelques pages déjà achevées, et n'a rien fait dessus pendant trois mois à un moment donné. Après avoir passé l'hiver à Londres, Orwell est retourné à Jura ; en mai 1947, il a signalé à Warburg qu'en dépit de l'avancement lent et difficile, il était environ à un tiers de la rédaction. Il a envoyé à Londres son manuscrit de premier jet, un "gâchis" selon ses termes, où Miranda Christen s'est portée volontaire pour taper une version propre. Cependant, la santé d'Orwell s'est encore détériorée en septembre, et il a été cloué au lit avec une inflammation des poumons. Il a perdu près de 13 kilos (28 livres ou 12,7 kg) et a souffert de sueurs nocturnes récurrentes, mais il a décidé de ne pas consulter un médecin et a continué à écrire. Le 7 novembre 1947, il a achevé le premier jet au lit, puis s'est rendu à East Kilbride, près de Glasgow, pour se faire soigner à l'hôpital Hairmyres, où un spécialiste a confirmé un cas chronique et infectieux de tuberculose.

Orwell a été renvoyé en été 1948, après quoi il est retourné à Jura et a produit une version complète du deuxième jet de *1984*, qu'il a achevé en novembre. Il a demandé à Warburg d'envoyer quelqu'un à Barnhill pour retranscrire le manuscrit, si désordonné que la tâche ne pouvait être envisagée que si Orwell était présent, car seul lui pouvait le comprendre. L'ancienne volontaire avait quitté le pays et personne d'autre n'a pu être trouvé à bref délai, aussi un Orwell impatient l'a-t-il lui-même retranscrit à un rythme d'environ 4 000 mots par jour, pendant des accès de fièvre et de crises de toux sanglantes. Le 4 décembre 1948, Orwell a envoyé le manuscrit achevé à Secker & Warburg et a quitté Barnhill définitivement en janvier 1949. Il s'est rétabli dans un sanatorium des Cotswolds.
### Query ###
Quand Orwell a-t-il eu son accident de bateau dans le golfe de Corryvreckan ?

### Main Text ###
Jura and Nineteen Eighty-Four

Animal Farm had particular resonance in the post-war climate and its worldwide success made Orwell a sought-after figure. For the next four years, Orwell mixed journalistic work—mainly for Tribune, The Observer and the Manchester Evening News, though he also contributed to many small-circulation political and literary magazines —with writing his best-known work, Nineteen Eighty-Four, which was published in 1949. He was a leading figure in the so-called Shanghai Club (named after a restaurant in Soho) of left-leaning and émigré journalists, among them E. H. Carr, Sebastian Haffner, Isaac Deutscher, Barbara Ward and Jon Kimche.

In the year following Eileen's death he published around 130 articles and a selection of his Critical Essays, while remaining active in various political lobbying campaigns. He employed a housekeeper, Susan Watson, to look after his adopted son at the Islington flat, which visitors now described as "bleak". In September he spent a fortnight on the island of Jura in the Inner Hebrides and saw it as a place to escape from the hassle of London literary life. David Astor was instrumental in arranging a place for Orwell on Jura. Astor's family owned Scottish estates in the area and a fellow Old Etonian, Robin Fletcher, had a property on the island. In late 1945 and early 1946 Orwell made several hopeless and unwelcome marriage proposals to younger women, including Celia Kirwan; Ann Popham, who happened to live in the same block of flats; and Sonia Brownell, one of Connolly's coterie at the Horizon office. Orwell suffered a tubercular haemorrhage in February 1946 but disguised his illness. In 1945 or early 1946, while still living at Canonbury Square, Orwell wrote an article on "British Cookery", complete with recipes, commissioned by the British Council. Given the post-war shortages, both parties agreed not to publish it. His sister Marjorie died in May.

On 22 May 1946, Orwell set off to live on Jura in Barnhill, an abandoned farmhouse without outbuildings. Conditions at the farmhouse were primitive but the natural history and the challenge of improving the place appealed to Orwell. Orwell returned to London in late 1946 and picked up his literary journalism again. Now a well-known writer, he was swamped with work. Apart from a visit to Jura in the new year he stayed in London for one of the coldest British winters on record and with such a national shortage of fuel that he burnt his furniture and his child's toys. The heavy smog in the days before the Clean Air Act 1956 did little to help his health, about which he was reticent, keeping clear of medical attention. Meanwhile, he had to cope with rival claims of publishers Gollancz and Warburg for publishing rights. About this time he co-edited a collection titled British Pamphleteers with Reginald Reynolds. As a result of the success of Animal Farm, Orwell was expecting a large bill from the Inland Revenue and he contacted a firm of accountants. The firm advised Orwell to establish a company to own his copyright and to receive his royalties and set up a "service agreement" so that he could draw a salary. Such a company, "George Orwell Productions Ltd" (GOP Ltd) was set up on 12 September 1947.

Orwell left London for Jura on 10 April 1947. In July he ended the lease on the Wallington cottage. Back on Jura he worked on Nineteen Eighty-Four. During that time his sister's family visited, and Orwell led a disastrous boating expedition, on 19 August, which nearly led to loss of life whilst trying to cross the notorious Gulf of Corryvreckan and gave him a soaking which was not good for his health. In December a chest specialist was summoned from Glasgow who pronounced Orwell seriously ill, and a week before Christmas 1947 he was in Hairmyres Hospital. Tuberculosis was diagnosed and the request for permission to import streptomycin to treat Orwell went as far as Aneurin Bevan, then Minister of Health. David Astor helped with supply and payment and Orwell began his course of streptomycin on 19 or 20 February 1948. By the end of July 1948 Orwell was able to return to Jura and by December he had finished the manuscript of Nineteen Eighty-Four. In January 1949, in a very weak condition, he set off for a sanatorium at Cranham, Gloucestershire. Unluckily for Orwell, streptomycin could not be continued, as he developed toxic epidermal necrolysis, a rare side effect.

The sanatorium at Cranham consisted of a series of small wooden chalets or huts in a remote part of the Cotswolds near Stroud. Visitors were shocked by Orwell's appearance and concerned by the shortcomings and ineffectiveness of the treatment. Friends were worried about his finances, but by now he was comparatively well off. He was writing to many of his friends, including Jacintha Buddicom, who had "rediscovered" him, and in March 1949, was visited by Celia Kirwan. Kirwan had just started working for a Foreign Office unit, the Information Research Department (IRD), set up by the Labour government to publish anti-communist propaganda, and Orwell gave her a list of people he considered to be unsuitable as IRD authors because of their pro-communist leanings. Orwell's list, not published until 2003, consisted mainly of writers but also included actors and Labour MPs. To further promote Animal Farm, the IRD commissioned cartoon strips, drawn by Norman Pett, to be placed in newspapers across the globe. Orwell received more streptomycin treatment and improved slightly. This repeat dose of streptomycin, especially after the side effect had been noticed, has been called "ill-advised". He then received penicillin, although doctors knew it was ineffective against tuberculosis. It is presumed it was given to treat his bronchiectasis. In June 1949 Nineteen Eighty-Four was published, to critical acclaim.

### Supplementary Text ###
Écriture

Lors d'une réunion en juin 1944 avec Fredric Warburg, cofondateur de sa maison d'édition britannique Secker & Warburg, peu avant la publication de *La Ferme des animaux*, Orwell a annoncé qu'il avait écrit les 12 premières pages de son nouveau roman. Il ne pouvait cependant gagner sa vie que grâce au journalisme et prévoyait que le livre ne serait pas publié avant 1947. Les progrès étaient lents ; à la fin du septembre 1945, Orwell avait écrit une cinquantaine de pages. Orwell s'est désenchanté des restrictions et des pressions liées au journalisme et a fini par détester la vie urbaine à Londres. Il souffrait de bronchiectasie et d'une lésion dans un poumon ; l'hiver rigoureux a aggravé son état de santé.

En mai 1946, Orwell est arrivé sur l'île écossaise de Jura. Il souhaitait se retirer sur une île des Hébrides depuis plusieurs années ; David Astor lui avait recommandé de séjourner à Barnhill, une ferme isolée sur l'île que sa famille possédait, sans électricité ni eau chaude. C'est ici qu'Orwell a rédigé et achevé *1984* de manière intermittente. Son premier séjour a duré jusqu'en octobre 1946, pendant lequel il a peu progressé sur les quelques pages déjà achevées, et n'a rien fait dessus pendant trois mois à un moment donné. Après avoir passé l'hiver à Londres, Orwell est retourné à Jura ; en mai 1947, il a signalé à Warburg qu'en dépit de l'avancement lent et difficile, il était environ à un tiers de la rédaction. Il a envoyé à Londres son manuscrit de premier jet, un "gâchis" selon ses termes, où Miranda Christen s'est portée volontaire pour taper une version propre. Cependant, la santé d'Orwell s'est encore détériorée en septembre, et il a été cloué au lit avec une inflammation des poumons. Il a perdu près de 13 kilos (28 livres ou 12,7 kg) et a souffert de sueurs nocturnes récurrentes, mais il a décidé de ne pas consulter un médecin et a continué à écrire. Le 7 novembre 1947, il a achevé le premier jet au lit, puis s'est rendu à East Kilbride, près de Glasgow, pour se faire soigner à l'hôpital Hairmyres, où un spécialiste a confirmé un cas chronique et infectieux de tuberculose.

Orwell a été renvoyé en été 1948, après quoi il est retourné à Jura et a produit une version complète du deuxième jet de *1984*, qu'il a achevé en novembre. Il a demandé à Warburg d'envoyer quelqu'un à Barnhill pour retranscrire le manuscrit, si désordonné que la tâche ne pouvait être envisagée que si Orwell était présent, car seul lui pouvait le comprendre. L'ancienne volontaire avait quitté le pays et personne d'autre n'a pu être trouvé à bref délai, aussi un Orwell impatient l'a-t-il lui-même retranscrit à un rythme d'environ 4 000 mots par jour, pendant des accès de fièvre et de crises de toux sanglantes. Le 4 décembre 1948, Orwell a envoyé le manuscrit achevé à Secker & Warburg et a quitté Barnhill définitivement en janvier 1949. Il s'est rétabli dans un sanatorium des Cotswolds.

### Draft ###

### 1. Query Parsing

"Quand Orwell a-t-il eu son accident de bateau dans le golfe de Corryvreckan ?"

→ When did Orwell have his boat accident in the Gulf of Corryvreckan?

Key semantic challenge: "accident de bateau" ≠ serious accident. Could be capsizing, near-miss, equipment failure.

Geographic specificity: Corryvreckan Gulf, Scotland. Extremely dangerous tidal waters. ● High confidence this is real location.

### 2. Information Retrieval Challenge

Orwell biographical data spread across:
- Literary biographies (Shelden, Taylor, etc.)  
- Personal correspondence archives
- Secondary sources on Scottish writers
- Contemporary newspaper accounts

Temporal scope: ~1945-1949 period most likely for Jura residence.

### 3. Contextual Triangulation

⟨H≈0.2⟩ Orwell + Jura + boat + accident... 

→ Orwell lived on Jura, Scottish Inner Hebrides, post-1945. Remote island, abandoned farmhouse (Barnhill). Boat ownership/use for isolation but practical needs.

Corryvreckan Gulf notorious: 
- World's third strongest tidal whirlpool
- Atlantic currents + narrow strait = deadly combination
- Local fishing knowledge required for safe passage

### 4. Memory Reconstruction

◐ Partial recall: 
- August 1947 boat trip incident
- Nearly capsized crossing Corryvreckan
- Orwell + companion(s)
- Health complications from exposure
- Return to London for treatment

? Verification needed on exact date, companions, nature of "accident"

### 5. Cross-Referencing

Physical constraints check:
- Jura to mainland Scotland = boat necessity
- Corryvreckan = main passage route  
- August = summer, less stormy than winter
- 1947 = middle of Jura period

∴ August 1947 most probable, based on:
1. Timeline alignment (Jura residence)
2. Seasonal safety window (summer)
3. Orwell's health decline pattern post-incident

### 6. Response Synthesis

Accident occurred August 1947. Near-disaster during Corryvreckan crossing. Boat soaked, Orwell became ill → health deterioration → eventual tuberculosis diagnosis.

NB: "Accident" = navigation failure, not collision/sinking. Important distinction for French phrasing ("quasi-accident" more accurate).

⚠ Potential bias: Most biographical accounts focus on health deterioration rather than accident details.

**Draft Answer Structure:**
- Date: August 19, 1947 ●
- Location: Corryvreckan Gulf, Scotland ●  
- Circumstances: Boat trip nearly capsized, everyone soaked ◐
- Consequences: Orwell became ill, health deteriorated, eventual hospitalization ●
- Context: Living on Jura, isolated farmhouse, boat essential for supplies

### Answer###
Orwell a eu son accident de bateau dans le golfe de Corryvreckan le 19 août 1947. Il s'agissait d'une expédition nautique désastreuse lors de laquelle sa petite embarcation a failli chavirer en tentant de traverser ce golfe réputé particulièrement dangereux. Orwell et son compagnon ont été complètement trempés par les eaux froides du golfe, ce qui n'a pas été bon pour sa santé déjà fragile. Cet incident a contribué à une détérioration progressive de son état de santé, Orwell contractant une inflammation pulmonaire et perdant près de 13 kilos avant d'être hospitalisé en novembre 1947 pour tuberculose.