We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea

CHARACTERS Swallows--John, Susan, Titty, Roger Walker
Jim Brading
Mother [Mary Walker], Daddy [Commander [Captain?...see Mysteries page] Ted Walker], Bridget Walker, Sinbad the kitten, Miss Powell
Frank the boatman, (boatbuilder), (old man scraping spars), (Ellwright...whose boat was salved), (Jim's Uncle Bob and aunt), young carpenter from the boatshed, telegram boy, officer on the steamer, Dutch fishermen, the pilot and the other man in the pilot boat, various Dutch kids, Dutchman in motor-boat, locksmen, Dutch harbourmaster, (Capt Curledge), bus conductor, (Bill the bus driver), Harwich harbourmaster, mate on ferryboat, Bob the ferry skipper, George and the other Customs officer
 
SETTING Pin Mill, North Sea, Flushing (Holland)
 
TIME August 1932
 
BOATS borrowed dinghy Goblin
Imp
Frank's dinghy
(Coronilla)
cruisers & yachts in Pin Mill harbour
ferry
lightships--(Galloper), (Outer Gabbard), the Cork, the Sunk, the North Hinder
passenger steamers--(to Holland), (to Denmark), middle of the night, to Harwich
Emily
Rosemary of Harwich
Dutch fishing boats
motor-boat in Dutch harbour
Dutch battleship in harbour
4-masted barque Pommern
(tug)
Customs launch at Harwich
naval cutters, whalers, and gigs
various cargo steamers, barges, etc.
 
TIMELINE

(numbers are days, names are chapter titles)

1

[Tuesday]
A Bowline Knot • Sleepy Skipper

2 morning

[Wednesday]
"We've All Promised"

2 afternoon

"We've All Promised" • Down the River

2 evening

Down the River • Sleeping Afloat

2 night

Sleeping Afloat

3 morning

[Thursday]
"Nothing Can Possibly Happen" • "He's Been an Awful Long Time..."

3 afternoon

"He's Been an Awful Long Time..." • The Beach End Buoy • Drifting Blind • Out to Sea • Whose Fault Now?

3 evening

Whose Fault Now? • A Cure For Sea-Sickness

3 night

Woolworth Plate • At Pin Mill • Keeping Awake

4 morning

[Friday]
At Pin Mill • Dawn at Sea • Shipwrecked Sailor • Land Ho! What Land? • Signal for a Pilot • Grown-Up Noises Below • Surprises All Round • In a Foreign Port

4 afternoon

Dutch Afternoon • Happier Voyage

4 evening

Happier Voyage

4 night

Happier Voyage

5 morning

[Saturday]
Happier Voyage • Lost! Two Days and a Boat • "Nothing to Declare..." • Coil Down
 
NOTES • The Walkers had come to Pin Mill to stay at Alma Cottage the evening before day 1.

• Daddy is to be stationed at Shotley, and is on his way home from China (a 12 day trip); he is in Berlin on day 3; it has been a long time since the kids have seen him.

• Jim Brading had been at Rugby until last term, and got a scholarship and is off to Oxford in another month.

• Jim's Uncle Bob is coming Monday (2 days after end of this book) to try for Scotland with Jim on Goblin.

• Roger has a penny whistle and was taught to play it by a boy at school.

• Nancy, Peggy, and the D.'s are all at the Lake.

• Susan had not sailed with Daddy as John had going out of Falmouth Harbour in a little fishing boat.

• The Parrot was not there and Gibber was at the Zoo (permanently?).

• The Walker's oilies have different coloured tabs--Titty's is green, Susan's is brown, no mention of what colour the boys' are.

• The burgee on Goblin is blue, red, and white.

• Goblin is 4.86 tons registered, 7 tons Thames, #16856.

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