We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea
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| We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea | |
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| Author | Arthur Ransome |
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| Cover artist | Arthur Ransome |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Swallows and Amazons |
| Genre(s) | Children's books |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
| Publication date | 1937 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-613-77239-3 |
| Preceded by | Pigeon Post |
| Followed by | Secret Water |
We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea is the seventh book in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of children's books. It was published in 1937. In this book, the Swallows (Walker family) are the only recurring characters. They are staying in a new location, Pin Mill on the River Orwell upstream from the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich.
The book features a small sailing cutter, the Goblin, which is almost identical to Ransome's own boat Nancy Blackett. This book also features accurate geography unlike the Lakes books. Ransome sailed Nancy Blackett across to Flushing by the same route as part of his research for the book.
[edit] Plot summary
The Walkers help Jim Brading moor his sailing cutter Goblin when he misses the buoy. In return he invites them to go sailing aboard Goblin. Their mother agrees provided that they stay within the estuary of the rivers Orwell and Stour and do not pass the Beach End buoy at the mouth of the rivers, and do not 'go out to sea'. These conditions are partly imposed as their father, after many years of absence, is expected to return by ferry at any minute via the continent.
On this small cruise, on the second morning during a calm, after using the engine for some time, the petrol runs out and Jim rows ashore in the yacht's dinghy (before the fog unexpectedly arrives) from the anchored 'Goblin to buy more but does not return. Some hours later, after hearing the anchor drag the Walkers realise that the tide has risen and the anchor chain is now too short and they are drifting, the anchor is lost in an attempt to put out more chain and the yacht drifts out to sea. They decide that it is safer; to hoist the sails and go to sea rather than stay near the shore in the sandbanks and shoals of the estuary and risk being wrecked in the fog. But the wind rises and it becomes impossible for them to turn around once the fog lifts.
They sail all night in extremely hazardous conditions and finally pick up a Dutch pilot and arrive in Flushing in the Netherlands (Holland). There, John Walker sees their father leaving on a ferry to Harwich, but the father manages to jump ship after seeing John at the last minute and meets them and the pilot and eventually organizes the return trip. On returning to Harwich, they meet Jim Brading in his dinghy looking for his missing yacht. It turns out he had been unconscious in hospital, suffering from concussion after being involved in a collision with a bus.
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