Page "H.M.S. Pinafore" Paragraph 8
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The success of The Sorcerer paved the way for another collaboration by Gilbert and Sullivan.
Carte agreed on terms for a new opera with the Comedy Opera Company, and Gilbert began work on H. M. S.
Pinafore before the end of 1877.
Gilbert's father had been a naval surgeon, and the nautical theme of the opera appealed to him.
He drew on several of his earlier " Bab Ballad " poems ( many of which also have nautical themes ), including " Captain Reece " ( 1868 ) and " General John " ( 1867 ).
Some of the characters also have prototypes in the ballads: Dick Deadeye is based on a character in " Woman's Gratitude " ( 1869 ); an early version of Ralph Rackstraw can be seen in " Joe Go-Lightly " ( 1867 ), with its sailor madly in love with the daughter of someone who far outranks him ; and Little Buttercup is taken almost wholesale from " The Bumboat Woman's Story " ( 1870 ).
On 27 December 1877, while Sullivan was on holiday on the French Riviera, Gilbert sent him a plot sketch accompanied by the following note:
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