One of my top five. The sixth, to be precise. I love the idea of mapping a tidal estuary, I love the idea of a father setting up this adventure for his kids, I am so happy to have another book with the Swallows and Amazons together, and I very much love Nancy turning savage under Daisy's influence. I think these two would be an unholy terror of adventure, and I regret that we don't get another book featuring the Lapwings. Daisy is like a wilder and yet softer version of Nancy. Wilder, because she wants the interlopers driven away before even trying to assess their worth as mates, and softer because she "had a sore finger for about a week" (p143) after having her finger pricked for the Eel blood swapping, and Don says he doubted she would have done it again. Nancy would never complain about a sore finger. But Nancy wouldn't dismiss newcomers without meeting them, as we know from Swallows and Amazons, and again from Secret Water: "If it was only us," said Nancy at last, "We'd go straight for their camp, bang an arrow into the middle of their fire and see what happened." (p218). Nancy, on the other hand, does not worry about being a softer and more civil person around adults, whereas Daisy seems to want her parents to think she is an angel. They know better, of course.
It is interesting how astutely Nancy grasped the significance of the blood swapping for the Mastodon and the importance of being part of the savage tribe. The blood swapping becomes a major factor in Don's anxiety and the conflict between the groups, and while Nancy recognized the importance of it immediately, and in fact suggested it, the Swallows seem pretty ignorant of that whole dynamic. I think Nancy understands tribalism and the Swallows really just expect everyone to be friends no matter what. While Dick and Dorothea didn't in any way challenge the power or social dynamic when introduced to the Swallows and Amazons, the Eels are another thing entirely. This book does a lot to expound on the differences between the two.
You can tell as well from how strongly Daisy reacts to learning of the 'invaders' that she carries just as much authority as Nancy does. From Don's reaction to Daisy's reaction, it's clear she is as much a powerhouse of influence as Nancy. Dum and Dee seem to have a very good, if understated, sense of humor about them as well. I very much regret we only get one book with the Lapwings. I don't know if a story involving the Eels and Amazons, without the balancing effect of the Swallows would work or not, but it would certainly be entertaining. Nancy and Peggy are invited on a cruise aboard Lapwing, but are shipwrecked and Daisy and Nancy are called upon to be mature and responsible and save the crew; a Peter Duck story? Perhaps.
The area in which the book takes place is a very real spot: Hamford Water National Nature Reserve. It's just south of Harwich. Another place I will have to visit someday, although having lived for years on and around the shore of the Bay of Fundy, tidal bores and mudflats are something with which I am well acquainted. Blomidon, in Nova Scotia, was one of my favorite places when I was young, so much so that it was where I proposed to my wife. To put the Bay of Fundy into perspective for you, Hamford Water sees 3.8m tidal range, i.e. the surface of the water at high and low tides are 3.8m apart, vertically. The Bay of Fundy sees a 14.5m range, and has been as high as 16.3m. My wife and I, when walking the beach around Blomidon cape, once went too far and could not get back before the tide came in. We were forced to climb what are very nearly cliffs to escape. Exciting stuff. Tides are sneaky; I could easily empathize with Titty and Roger in getting caught.
I feel like this book is Ted Walker's answer to John not being able to navigate by chart in We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea. It was apparent in that book that he recognized a lack in the Swallows' ability to navigate and that they only managed to avoid sinking the Goblin on a shoal by chance. So he's devised a safe but real educational course in taking bearings and translating them to and from a chart. The best lessons are those that kids don't realize they are learning. For my part, I did orienteering in Boy Scounts as a youngster, so the concepts of triangulation with bearings that the Swallows used seemed perfectly logical to me, although they were new to Nancy and Peggy. That said, I still have a hell of a time reading nautical charts, and plotting a course and trying to follow it, at night, without a GPS would be far beyond me. Which is to say, I'm sure I would put Goblin aground on a shoal even after Captain Walker's lessons. But having just read an account of the Dunkirk Evacuation and the Little Ships of Dunkirk, clearly night navigation in small boats with nothing but a chart and compass (or even just dead reckoning) was standard fare for sailors in that time. To say nothing of doing it while under fire from German forces.
Why do I include ages for the Eels if I didn't for the Coots, especially when the Coots feature in two books to the Eel's one? Because I like the Eels better, and it's my webpage. I can't even remember the names of the Death and Glories (Joe, Pete, and... Bob? Bill? Yes, it's Bill. I'm reading The Big Six as I write this and I still couldn't remember. They are such generic characters with almost no individual personality in Coot Club, although The Big Six improves them).
Bridget's age is very much a foggy area. She turned two in Swallows and Amazons, she was three in Swallowdale, which is odd since it occurred before the date at which she turned two in Swallows and Amazons, which would mean she turned four by the time that summer was over, and then the subsequent summer, when Secret Water happens, she could be five, or even six. Combined with the original 1929/1930 issue, it's imposible to say exactly how old she is, and Ransome's notes don't seem to specify either. I think she must be at least six for it to even be conceivable that she can go along with the Swallows on this adventure. She's a murky character as well, given that her birthday cake in Swallows and Amazons had 'Victoria' written on it, but Vicky was apparently only a nickname which is entirely dropped by Secret Water.
On the ages of the Eels.
- Don is "Bigger than Roger though not as tall as John" (p92). Don is also stronger than the other Eels, from the coroboree battle.
- We know that Dum and Dee are not twins but could still be born in the same year, but "the larger of the two boys" (p252) suggests at least a year difference. Dum is the larger of the two. We never actually learn their real names.
- Daisy is the smallest Eel, but is also in command. I don't think she is younger than Dum and Dee, I think she is older, just smaller. She and Nancy get along too well for her to be much younger.
- I don't believe that the ages of the Lapwings match the ages of the Busk family siblings on which they are based. Too many references to Dum and Dee being very similar for them to be three years different in age.
I don't feel that adding Bridget contributed much to the story; at her age she's a bit like Polly or Gibber, more of a distraction and a limiting factor than anything. She's too young to contribute, and serves only as a source of resistance and something to be managed by the other characters, which puts more of a strain on responsible parties like Susan who have to resist people like Nancy on Bridget's behalf in things like the blood swapping. I have tried to take kids that young camping for one night in a place with flush toilets nearby and still had it go badly. It's just too young. She does make a good sacrifice though. Perhaps she is there so for once Titty and Roger have to be responsible for someone younger than themselves, but asking pre-teens to care for a small child in a tidal estuary is a bit much, I think.
The timing is just days after We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea.
I am not sure that 'night spent location' is really relevant for this one. I think I will instead track high tide, since it's quite crucial to the events in the story. Low tide is always a bit more than 6 hours offset from high tide. Unless the text says otherwise, we'll calculate based on last known mention +50 minutes per day, and reset our counting anytime the text gives us an update.
| Day | Major events | Daytime high tide |
| 1 | Plans dashed | Not mentioned |
| 2 | Marooned! | 14:15 (p19) |
| 3 | Survey of Swallow I.
The Mastodon Amazons arrive |
15:05 |
| 4 | Blood brothers and sisters
Survey of Mastodon I. Survey of Witch's Quay channel |
15:36 (p147) |
| 5 | Survey of Flint I.
Survey of Amazon Creek |
16:30 (p206) |
| 6 | Survey north islands
Savage kidnapping |
17:20 |
| 7 | Survey Mango islands
Party at Speedy |
18:10 |
| 8 | Crossing the Red Sea
Savage attach Corroboree |
19:00 |
| 9 | Survey the north
Return to civilization |
07:25 |
The high tide times seem pretty off where they are documented, but only the 4th day is actually reported from a tide table, the rest are either calculated, or given as 'about' or 'approximately' in the text. But the given times of 14:15 on day 2 and 15:36 on day 4 make no sense whatsoever.
Closing thoughts.
Akarabgandabarak!
Peggy is about the least piraty pirate who ever pirated. But she tries, and I love her for it.
"Two females indeed!"
"What are we going to do?"
"Get her back" - John
"Bust those Eels" - Nancy
I think it's a bit ironic that John was terribly worried about whether or not Blackberry and Peewitland were islands, given that his father outright told him they were when he was dropping them off, "That's one, right ahead. And that's another, over there. And this is the island you're going to be marooned on." (p32). He could only see Blackberry, Peewitland, and Swallow islands at that point, although I suppose he could have been referring to Tern but they were well past that at the time. But I think we can forgive John his forgetting, it was a busy day. He had to properly map them anyway.
In We Didn't Mean... Ransome used 'tyers' for the wrappings put around the gathered sail when it is lowered. In Secret Water he uses 'tiers'. Who cares? Probably nobody other than me, and I would call them gaskets.
Lapwing is based in Colnsea. "They come round from Colnsea in a yacht" (p103). Where is Colnsea? Google sure doesn't know. I can't find anyone online who has actually addressed the question of where the Lapwings live. Tarboard was puzzled and if they don't know, nobody does. The best guess is somewhere in or close to Colne Point just southwest of Clacton-on-Sea.
I don't normally like linking to off site pages as I cannot guarantee their longevity, but nor do I want to steal other's content. This is an excellent page from All Things Ransome which details, among others, the inspiration for the Eels.