1931 was the busiest year in the Swallows and Amazons series.
- A good year for the copper industry
- A bad year for the Hullabaloos, Jim Brading, George Owdon
Events in 1931[]
- Winter - described in Winter Holiday: New visitors, the Ds, come to Dixons' Farm and observe the Swallows and Amazons before befriending them by signalling. A North Polar Expedition is proposed before one of its leaders, Nancy Blackett becomes ill. The Ds triumph in the race for the North Pole.
- Easter - described in Coot Club: The Ds travel to the Norfolk Broads in the hope of learning sailing. They befriend Tom Dudgeon and the Coot Club
Summer term at school[]
- Roger & Titty get their life saving certificates at school in summer term at school (SW2)
- Roger thinks a great deal about engines, has a friend who thinks about nothing else (WD1)
late July - early August[]
events described in Pigeon Post
Numbers are days (but not actual dates) in late July - early August 1932, names are chapter titles.
- Beginning Already • The Plan
- Consulting Slater Bob • Mrs Blackett Makes Conditions
- Pioneers and Stay-at-Homes • News From the Wilderness
- Trek to Tyson's • High Topps • Two Kinds of Camping Places
- Prospecting • Fending Off the Enemy
- Pot of Paint • Can't Anybody Dowse
- Desperation • Titty Makes Up Her Mind To Do It
- Sinking the Well
- Shifting Camp
- The White Spots
- Roger Alone • What's Become of Him?
- Staking Their Claim • Crushing and Panning
- Jack-in-the-Box • Buried Alive • Hurrying Moles • "We've Got to Do It All Ourselves"
- A Run on Blowpipes
- Charcoal-Burners
- Blast Furnace
- Disaster • Smoke Over High Topps • In the Gulch • At Beckfoot • The Natives • The End
(On Day 17, Mrs Blackett tells Dick that his parents will be at Dixon's on the day after tomorrow; Mrs Walker and Bridget will be staying at Beckfoot for a day or two before going to Holly Howe. Daddy (Ted Walker) is in China.)
August[]
Events described in We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea
Numbers are days but not actual dates; days of the week are known; Names are chapter titles.
- (one week earlier) (Monday) (Ted Walker departs China on Daddy's journey
- Day "0" (Monday): (the walkers arrive at Pin Mill) (Day 8 of Daddy's journey)
- Day 1 (Tuesday): A Bowline Knot • Sleepy Skipper
- Day 2 (Wednesday):
- morning: "We've All Promised" • Down the River
- evening: Down the River • Sleeping Afloat
- night: Sleeping Afloat
- Day 3 (Thursday) (Note: Day 11 of Daddy's journey - he is in Berlin)(WD14):
- morning: "Nothing Can Possibly Happen" • "He's Been an Awful Long Time..."
- afternoon: "He's Been an Awful Long Time..." • The Beach End Buoy • Drifting Blind • Out to Sea • Whose Fault Now?
- evening: Whose Fault Now? • A Cure For Sea-Sickness
- night (Note: Daddy is travelling to Flushing from Berlin by night train): Woolworth Plate • At Pin Mill • Keeping Awake
- Day 4 (Friday) (Note: Day 12 of Daddy's journey - he planned to spend all day on North Sea ferry Flushing-Harwich):
- morning: 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
- afternoon: Dutch Afternoon • Happier Voyage
- evening: Happier Voyage
- night: Happier Voyage
- Day 5 (Saturday)
- morning: Happier Voyage • Lost! Two Days and a Boat • "Nothing to Declare..." • Coil Down
- (on the following Monday, it had been planned for Uncle Bob to meet to try for Scotland in Goblin with Jim Brading)
late August or early September[]
Events described in Secret Water
- the Ds have gone home from the Lake, called away to join parents
- Timothy Stedding and Captain Flint at the Lake
- Peggy tells story about what happened at High Topps after Swallows had gone south
Numbers are days (but not actual dates) in late August or early September 1931, names are chapter titles.
- Farewell to Adventure
- Adventure Ahead, Into the Unknown, The Expedition Goes Ashore, Marooned
- First Hint of Savages, Hoofmarks in the Mud, The Mastodon's Lair, Making a Friend of a Savage, The Straits of Magellan, War or Exploration
- Blood and Iodine, Mastodon Island, Witch's Quay, The Mastodon Wishes He Hadn't
- Enemy's Country
- A State of War, Eager Prisoner, Hot on the Trail, All's Well
- Six Boats Explore, The Mastodon Gives a Party
- Red Sea Crossing: Israelites, Civilization, Sinbad's Creek, Red Sea Crossing: Egyptians, Rescue and After, Corroboree
- Packing Up, Northwest Passage, Farewell to the Eels
- later: Molly Blackett is meeting the Amazons in London to get them ready for school
September[]
Events described in The Big Six
before:
- Death and Glory got a cabin over the summer
- Port and Starboard are at school in Paris
- Mrs Barrable has taken a bungalow in the village
(numbers are days but not actual dates in September 1932, names are chapter titles)
- Out of the Dentist's Window
- First Sign of Trouble, Eel Sett at Night
- Misleading Appearances, Darkening Clouds
- Tow Out of Trouble
- The World's Whopper, At the Roaring Donkey, Money to Burn
- Breakfast at Dr Dudgeon's, "We Got to Emigrate"
- Worse and Worse, Two Ways of Looking at the Same Thing, The First Clue, Rival Detectives
- Spreading the Net, News From the Outposts, A Scrap of Flannel
- Unwanted Gift, Dunlop Tyres
- Morning Visitors, Another Coat of Paint, The Villain Leaves His Mark
- The Villain Leaves His Mark, Things Look Black, The Last Chance, A Kid For the Tiger, Setting the Trap, Blinding Flash, Siege of the Death and Glory
- "All the Evidence We Got", In the Dark Room, The Legal Mind
Note:
- The Ds are planning on being there until the end of the holidays and to return at Easter
Winter of 1931-1932[]
· · —
You are standing into danger. This article or section contains conjecture.
- The story of Missee Lee, "based on information provided by the Swallows and Amazons" is told. (See the article Missee Lee for chronology.)
Native events in 1931[]
- 1931 Swallowdale published.
- 1931 A second German expedition to Kanchenjunga, led again by Paul Bauer, attempted the northeast spur before being turned back by bad weather, illnesses, and deaths. The expedition retreats after climbing only a little higher than the 1929 attempt.
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