Here we are with the last adventure of the Summer of 1932, a very busy summer. It occurs in parallel with Secret Water, roughly, as we know the Ds have left the lake but we don't know exactly when they arrive at the Broads, but both stories must conclude before school term begins.
As a youth detective story, like Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys, it's a good book. As a Swallows and Amazons adventure story, it's a swing and a miss for me. Hardly any adventure in boats, hardly any adventure, full stop. Also the villain is obvious before even turning the first page, if you read Coot Club. Ok, maybe Pigeon Post didn't have much in the way of boats either, but (a) it's at the lake, and (b) it has the Swallows and the Amazons, and (c) the mystery surrounding Squashy Hat is much better than the mystery regarding who is the villain in The Big Six and (d) Nancy. Also gold mining is cool, painting a chimney and photography, not so much. Maybe before photography wasn't ubiquitous as it is now. To be sure, having a camera as a kid was a big deal, and so was solving mysteries, but The Big Six just doesn't resonate with me.
This time I will document the ages of the Death and Glories. I still feel they are not really as well fleshed out as all the other characters in Ransome's books, excepting maybe Dum and Dee who hardly speak and don't seem to have real names, but can't talk about The Big Six without the D&Gs.
Coot Club was Easter, so this is about six months later and they could all be the same ages, but in the absence of documentation to the contrary, I assume everyone had a birthday in summer, as usual.
We have this note from Ransome about ages for the unfinished 1933 novel, which has to be the core of Coots in the North
1933 R 10, T12, S 14, J 15, D[Dorothea?] 13, D 12, N 15, P 14 Pete 10, Bill 11, Joe 12
That puts Joe = Dick, with Bill and Pete each successively a year younger.
One of the main reasons I don't care much for the stories on the Broads is that they spend all their time either in or around houses. There's not enough wild adventure for me. I don't believe there is a single campfire in either one. In The Big Six the Death and Glories sleep in their boat every night, and everyone else sleeps at home. Ships cast off at night will be recorded in the day before.
| Day | Major events | Boats cast off |
| 1 | Tooth outed | Horning motor cruiser |
| 2 | Eeling | Horning yacht |
| 3 | Smoking eels | None |
| 4 | Move to Potter Heigham | Various at Potter |
| 5 | Pike Fishing
Back to Horning Dick and Dot arrive |
Sir Garnet at Horning |
| 6 | Move to Ranworth | Various at Ranworth |
| 7 | Move to Wilderness
Scotland Yard established |
None |
| 8 | Visiting outposts
Someone at the chimney |
None |
| 9 | Shackles lot #1 found
Chimney painting |
None |
| 10 | Chimney painting again | None |
| 11 | Shackles lot #2 found
Photo trap set |
Catchalot |
| 12 | Evidence and conviction | None |
| Months later | The fish displayed | None |
Closing thoughts.
Yawn. I can't believe Coots in the North (or whatever the book was going to be titled) had the Death and Glories rather than the Eels going to the lakes district. They are so dull in comparison to the Eels. I suppose there is value in the fact that they are literally the only blue-collar families among all of the main characters... but if I cared about that honestly I'd read Oliver Twist instead.
Without Ransome having Dorothea explain the origins of the name The Big Six I would have no idea to what it was referring.