We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea by Arthur Ransome

Arthur Ransome is regarded as one of the best English children’s authors of all time. Writing in the 1930s and 1940s, Ransome is most famous for his production of twelve children’s novels in a series known as the Swallows and Amazons series. We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea was the seventh book in this series; Ransome had discovered a style and formula which was popular with children, with little evolution since the first novel of the series, Swallows and Amazons.

The work of Arthur Ransome is most closely associated with the Lake District, but throughout the Swallows and Amazons series, Ransome did make use of other locations. In We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea, the characters go to the River Orwell on the Suffolk/Essex border. This book also focuses on the Swallows; John, Susan, Titty and Roger Walker, with little mention of the Amazons or Ds, the other children being at the Lake.

We Didn't Mean to go to Sea - Fair Use

The name of the book in essence gives a synopsis of the story’s theme. Whilst waiting for their father to return from overseas the Walker children are given permission to sail on board the Goblin, a cutter owned by Jim Brading, an older boy of university age. This permission only extends to the boat being operated in the river’s estuary. Accidents occur and the four Walker children find themselves alone onboard the Goblin, adrift in the North Sea. The novel deals with the actions taken by the Swallows and also how they cope with the situation.

As is expected of any Arthur Ransome novel, We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea is filled with details about sailing and makes use of nautical terms. Ransome makes use of his extensive knowledge of sailing, as well as his own personal knowledge of sailing onboard a cutter in the North Sea.

These details do mean that, for a children’s book, We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea is quite long at over four hundred words. However, these same details can also act as an education in nautical matters, and it is often said that Ransome is writing for his readership, rather than dumbing down for them. Written in 1937 it is possible to say We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea is dated, and of course times have changed. This though doesn’t stop this Swallows and Amazon novel from enthralling children, and bringing back countless adults to re-read the book.