Amsterdam is the setting of Washington Black and Tanna Goff’s search for Peter Haas, and a hinge between their developing aquatic exhibition and their pursuit of Titch. Its canals and wet streets frame a journey that produces no reunion: Peter learns that Titch visited Amsterdam and left long before, but gives Washington an instrument that may help him continue the search. The expedition also yields a preserved two-headed porpoise, a possible centrepiece for Ocean House.

The search for Peter Haas

The search begins with a clue in a letter addressed to Robert Solander: Titch’s handwriting and a return address in Amsterdam, in care of Peter Haas. Washington and Tanna recognize the name as potentially belonging to Peter House, the assistant associated with Titch in the Arctic. The uncertainty over Haas and House gives the address particular weight: it may connect Titch’s past travels to someone Washington has been trying to find.

On a rainy afternoon, Washington and Tanna walk the cobbled streets beside the Prinsengracht, worried that Peter may be dead. The canal water reflects a dull, oil-like light, while the rain drains colour from the streets. The city is not merely a stop on their route; its close, water-bound geography suits a quest whose clues have travelled through letters and whose intended destination remains uncertain.

The porpoise and the exhibition

Before reaching Peter’s address, Washington and Tanna visit Kees Visser’s small laboratory by the harbour. Visser has prepared a specimen: two harbour porpoises, conjoined in the womb and sharing a single body. Under a flickering lantern, the black, rubbery remains appear both disturbing and astonishing. The pair gather the preserved creature into a purpose-made receptacle and return it to their hotel after discussing how it might be kept for the long term.

The specimen gives the Amsterdam journey a second outcome beyond the search for Titch. When Washington and Tanna bring it back to London, Goff is too absorbed by the creature to respond first with anger at their deception. He calls its beauty inseparable from its ugliness; the group then considers preservation and display. If the octopus from Nova Scotia does not recover, the two-headed porpoise may become Ocean House’s centrepiece. Amsterdam thus supplies a striking example of the unusual life the exhibition aims to make visible and intelligible.

Titch’s absence and Peter’s gift

At the address, Peter’s younger son says that no letters from Washington arrived. Peter then confirms that Titch came to Amsterdam roughly a year and a half earlier, stayed for several weeks, and has long since gone. The news frustrates the hoped-for reunion without resolving where Titch went next. Amsterdam reveals that Titch had been there, but not why he came or where he can now be found.

Before Washington and Tanna leave, Peter brings out a large wooden case. He asks them to give it to Titch if they seek him, explaining that it may be useful; Washington objects that they are not going to Morocco and urges Peter to keep it. Peter insists that the fine instrument would be wasted in his own care and that his son is no scientist. The case consequently passes into Washington’s keeping, turning the failed visit into a material link to the next stage of the search.

A waypoint between projects

Amsterdam sits at the intersection of two pursuits: Washington and Tanna are looking for Titch, while their work increasingly gathers specimens for a permanent aquatic exhibition. They leave without finding the man they sought, but with an instrument intended for him and a carefully preserved animal that may serve Ocean House. The city’s significance lies in this mixture of absence and acquisition: Titch remains out of reach, while the exhibition’s collection gains a remarkable new possibility.