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.

Pigeon Post by Arthur Ransome

Written in 1936, three years after the previous book in the series, Pigeon Post tells of the continuing adventures of the Swallows and Amazons, the children made famous in first Swallows and Amazons novel. The sixth of twelve novels written by Arthur Ransome, Pigeon Post is a children’s novel based on the adventures of a group of children in their school holiday.

Pigeon Post sees a return for the series to the Lake District, and a reunion of all of the children; the Swallows (the four Walker children), the Amazons (the two Blacketts) and the Ds (the two Callums). With the boat, the Swallow, being out of action though, the children turn to camping rather than sailing for the holiday activity.

Finding out though Captain Flint, the Blackett’s (Amazons) uncle, has had an unsuccessful prospecting trip to South America, though pushes the children to start investigating old mining works in the Fells for gold. To keep in contact with responsible adults, the children make use of homing pigeons.

As with the other books in the series, in Pigeon Post the Swallows, Amazons and Ds are faced with the dangers that nature can pose; in this case the danger of fire, as a drought had made the Fells tinder dry. Ransome also adds potential danger in the form of a competing prospector, someone the children fear will beat them to the gold.

Despite the lack of sailing, Ransome still manages to bring a great deal of detail into Pigeon Post, not least because he had good knowledge of prospecting, as well as the detailed knowledge he had about the Lake District.

It is, of course, easy to make the comparison with Five Go Off to Camp, a 1946 novel by Enid Blyton. There are few similarities in terms of style and content between the two. Blyton was always perceived for her simplistic writing, the use of basic language and lack of depth, whilst Ransome was always renowned for the detail he put into his work. The two authors were though aiming at slightly different readership, Blyton aiming to please readers of a younger age than Ransome.

The detail offered by Arthur Ransome turns Pigeon post into a relatively long book at 380 pages long, which is one of the reasons why the books tend to be read by teenagers rather than younger children. The story is still enjoyed by many adults, as well as children.

Peter Duck by Arthur Ransome

The children’s book, Peter Duck, is the third book in the Swallows and Amazons series of books by Arthur Ransome. There are twelve books in the series, although none lived up to the fame achieved by the original title, a book which was turned into a cinema release. That though is not to say that Peter Duck is not as good as other Ransome novels, though it is certainly different from the first two books in the series; Swallows and Amazons and Swallowdale.

Peter Duck was originally written in 1932, and there is a subtle change in style with the writing of this third novel, the two previous books had been stories of supposed real life adventure. Peter Duck though is the telling of an adventure made up by the Walker and Blackett children (the Swallows and the Amazons); although as a story it reads well as a stand alone adventure.

Peter Duck Cover - Fair Use

The basic plot of Peter Duck sees the Swallows and Amazons, Captain Flint and an elderly seadog, Peter Duck, setting off in search of buried treasure. This search takes the group from Lowestoft to Crab Island in the Caribbean aboard the schooner, Wild Cat. The Swallows and Amazons though are not the only people looking for the treasure, and the children face dangerous competition in the form of Black Jake and the crew of the Viper.

In the previous adventures, the Swallows and Amazons had been faced by the dangers of the natural world; the Lake and the Moors. In Peter Duck, Ransome introduced a different type of danger in the form of Black Jake and the physical danger he posed. The natural danger had also been made slightly more fantastic with a hurricane and earthquake added to the storyline.

"Peter Duck" at Woodbridge - Chris Holifield - CC-BY-SA-2.0

The added fantasy of Peter Duck detracts little from the storyline, and Ransome continued with his writing style that gave added detail to actions undertaken by the children. These details do make the book quite long, at about 400 pages, but Ransome was probably aiming his books at early teens, so the book length is probably suitable. It is easy enough to compare Peter Duck with the adventures of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, but Ransome’s style and storyline are more sophisticated.

Peter Duck is still in print today, eighty years after its original publication, and remains a good read for both children and adults.

Copyright - First Published 14th February 2012