- This article is about the book Peter Duck. For the character, see Mr Duck. For the yacht see Peter Duck.
Peter Duck is a metafictional book in the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome. It was first published in 1932 and is about the Swallows and Amazons sailing to Crab Island with Captain Flint and Peter Duck to recover buried treasure. During the voyage the Wild Cat (Captain Flint's boat) is chased by another vessel, the Viper, whose piratical crew are also intending to recover the treasure.
Sources
The appearance, sailing background and many of the characteristics of Peter Duck are based on Captain Sehmel, an Estonian sailor who accompanied Ransome on a cruise aboard his yacht Racundra in the Baltic Sea, as documented in Ransome's sailing book, Racundra's First Cruise.
Ransome used as a major resource for Peter Duck a book by one of his favourite sailing authors, EF Knight, The cruise of the "Alerte". This describes a treasure seeking expedition on the volcanic island of Trindade, off Brazil (sometimes known as "Trinidad" but not to be confused with the larger Caribbean island of that name). Trindade has many features in common with Peter Duck's Crab Island, including mountains, landslides, jungles and loathsome land crabs.
Chronology
By publication date, Peter Duck is the third book in the series, but the story was created by the Swallows and Amazons while staying on a Norfolk wherry, with Captain Flint in the winter between the first two books. Two early chapters, called 'Their Own Story describing this creation process taking place on board the Polly Ann were written by Arthur Ransome before he started Swallowdale. This opening was discarded from the final version of the book when it was published after Swallowdale. However, Peter Duck is mentioned in Swallowdale as Titty's imaginary friend.
Characters
- Swallows (John, Susan, Titty, Roger [7 1/2 yrs. old] Walker)
- Amazons (Nancy, Peggy Blackett)
- Captain Flint
- Mr Duck
- Red-haired Bill
- Black Jake
- minor characters: Black Jake's brother George, Fighting Mogandy, Simeon Boon, "the bruiser from 'Ketch as Ketch Can'", Polly the parrot, Gibber the monkey
Boats
Wild Cat, Swallow, Viper, Wild Cat's dinghy, (Peter Duck's wherry Arrow of Norwich)
- Also three (?) dinghys of the Viper; the one sunk by the Wild Cat's anchor in port, the one they pick up Red-haired Bill from, and one (two?) they use at Crab Island.
Plot summary
The Swallows and Amazons are in Lowestoft, preparing for a cruise aboard a schooner, Wild Cat, with Captain Flint. Unfortunately another adult crewmember cannot come and so the cruise is threatened until Peter Duck, an elderly seaman, offers to come along to help. In the harbour a larger black schooner, the Viper is fitting out for a voyage and Peter Duck's presence aboard the Wild Cat interests Black Jake, the Viper’s captain. Peter Duck spins a yarn about a treasure that he saw being buried long ago, when marooned on a desert island in the Caribbean Sea, and which Black Jake wants to find. When the Wild Cat sails, the Viper is quick to follow and trails her down the English Channel, at one point threatening to board her in the night. In a fog off Land's End, the crew of the Wild Cat give the Viper the slip but pick up the Viper’s cabin boy, Bill, who has been set adrift to try and fool the Wild Cat’s crew with false signals. They continue across the Atlantic Ocean to Crab Island where they spend several weeks searching in vain for Peter Duck's treasure.
When a hurricane blows up, Peter Duck and Captain Flint take the Wild Cat out to sea to ride out the storm, leaving the Swallows and Amazons ashore. There is an earthquake during the storm and when the schooner returns, all the paths to the treasure-hunting area are blocked by landslides and fallen trees. However, a fallen palm tree exposes a small box, Peter Duck's treasure, which the children recover. They decide to sail round to the anchorage as the land route is blocked.
While Captain Flint attempts to cross the island to rescue the Swallows and Amazons, the Viper arrives and Peter Duck and Bill are captured. The crew of the Viper also go ashore look for the treasure. The children rescue Peter Duck and Bill and then the Wild Cat sails back to the other side and pick up Captain Flint just before Black Jake arrives. They attempt to sail away from the island but the wind dies and the Viper looks like catching them when they are saved by a waterspout. They return home safely without further incident. The treasure proves to be a collection of pearls.
Timeline
(numbers are days, but not actual dates, names are chapter titles)
- Quayside
- Red-Haired Boy
- Trial Trip, Washing the Anchor, Peter Duck Spins His Yarn, And Wraps It Up
- Outward Bound, First Night at Sea
- Beachy Head to the Wight
- Captain Flint's Fidgets
- Blind Man's Buff, Decision, Quit of the Viper
- Bill Finds His Place
- Bill Finds His Place
- Bill Finds His Place
- (then a period of unknown length) The Madieras at Dusk, Trade Wind
- Land Ho!
- Island Morning, Blazed Trail, Duckhaven, Goodbye To the Wild Cat
- Goodbye To the Wild Cat, Swallow's Voyage, Digger's Camp
- Diggers at Work
- Diggers at Work
- Threatening Weather, Great Guns, Dirty Work
- The Finding of the Treasure, Spanish Galleon, Dirty Work, The Only Hope, Whose Steps In the Dark?, All Aboard Once More
- Waterspout, "Bonies" and "Mallies"
- (and onward) "Spanish Ladies"
Cross-references and chronology
References to other books in the Swallows and Amazons series:
- John was a little nervous at sailing "Swallow" in strange waters and for the first time for nearly a year (WH2).
Notes
- Peter Duck is the first of the Peter Duck stories told by the holidaying Swallows and Amazons with Captain Flint during winter evenings
- Susan had gotten her first aid box that Christmas
- Sam Bideford was the extra adult who was supposed to crew but could not make it
- red-haired Bill is not as big as John but a good deal bigger than Roger, he is not as old as Nancy
- The Amazons had been aboard a bit less than a week before the Swallows and the beginning of the book
- Peter Duck had been shipwrecked about 60 years before (about 1870)
References
- Arthur Ransome and Capt. Flint's Trunk by Christina Hardyment, 1984, ISBN 0-224-02590-2 includes the two discarded chapters with the back story of the creation of Peter Duck by the Swallows and Amazons.
| Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series | |||||
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Swallows and Amazons | 'Their Own Story' | Swallowdale | Peter Duck | Winter Holiday | Coot Club | Pigeon Post | We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea | The Big Six | Secret Water | Missee Lee | The Picts and the Martyrs | 'Coots in the North' | Great Northern?
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