Quote 22
"I have spent the whole day," said [Holmes], "over Lloyd's registers and files of the old papers, following the future career of every vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February of 1883. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were reported there during those months. Of these, one, the Lone Star, instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to one of the states of the Union" (Orange.170).
Lloyd's Register is a very early, sea-based version of Standard and Poor's, basically: it's a rating agency that decides how safe and how well-made a ship is based on a variety of factors. This idea that we should have international classification systems for ships, and that there should be safety standards at all, is the result of rising investment in boats during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Merchants wanted to know whether the boats they were sponsoring to sail the seven seas would be worth the money. And that's economic modernization right there – the rise of capitalism brings us Lloyd's Register. And the rise of Lloyd's Register brings us Captain James Calhoun and the various postmarks of the five orange pips.
Quote 23
"Danger! What danger do you foresee?"
Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a telegram would bring me down to your help." (Beeches.74-5)
These Holmes narratives are taking place pre-widespread telephone (which seems amazing to think of now – it's like the Stone Age or something). But he does have access to telegrams. This new technology allows Holmes to react with a degree of urgency to emergencies. Without this form of communication, the Holmes story either (a) would not take place in such a wide range of locations, or (b) would be much, much slower.