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This article is about the book 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.

Characters

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 (Sam Bideford) cannot come, and so the cruise is threatened until Peter Duck, an elderly seaman who wants to see 'blue water once again, offers to come along as an A.B. or able seaman. 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)

  1. Quayside
  2. Red-Haired Boy
  3. Trial Trip, Washing the Anchor, Peter Duck Spins His Yarn, And Wraps It Up
  4. Outward Bound, First Night at Sea
  5. Beachy Head to the Wight
  6. Captain Flint's Fidgets
  7. Blind Man's Buff, Decision, Quit of the Viper
  8. Bill Finds His Place
  9. Bill Finds His Place
  10. Bill Finds His Place
  11. (then a period of unknown length) The Madieras at Dusk, Trade Wind


  1. Land Ho!
  2. Island Morning, Blazed Trail, Duckhaven, Goodbye To the Wild Cat
  3. Goodbye To the Wild Cat, Swallow's Voyage, Digger's Camp
  4. Diggers at Work
  5. Diggers at Work
  6. Threatening Weather, Great Guns, Dirty Work
  7. The Finding of the Treasure, Spanish Galleon, Dirty Work, The Only Hope, Whose Steps In the Dark?, All Aboard Once More
  8. Waterspout, "Bonies" and "Mallies"
  9. (and onward) "Spanish Ladies"

Cross-references and 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.

References to and in other books in the Swallows and Amazons series place Peter Duck between Swallows and Amazons and Swallowdale, therefore in late 1929 or early 1930:

  • John was a little nervous at sailing "Swallow" in strange waters and for the first time for nearly a year (PD2).
  • Captain Flint had a grand new chapter to add to his book "Mixed Moss" ... as Nancy told him: Think of the chapter you can put in the next edition of "Mixed Moss" (PD35,36).
  • Roger is still the Ship's Boy; Hullo Roger, not yet tired of being a ship's boy says Captain Flint (PD1).
  • The most recent time the Swallows had sailed Swallow at the Lake was from Horseshoe Cove, an apparent reference to the end of SA: "And the last time we sailed her was in Lowestoft," she said. "And before that on the lake," said John. "We never thought when we were sailing home from Horseshoe Cove that this year we'd be landing her on a desert island."
  • John had taught Titty to sail the previous summer: "The only thing to remember in going about is not to change your mind half way." [said by Captain Flint] John grinned. He had said that himself to Titty last summer, when teaching her to sail. (PD23. Note: Daddy is said in SA1 to have taught Titty and Roger to sail, perhaps in Falmouth, in 1928)
  • During the storm on Crab Island, the storm on Wild Cat Island the previous summer is recalled: Remember what happened last summer? (PD24).

The writing of Peter Duck

Described in 'Their Own Story'. Also:

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 fifty, sixty, or maybe seventy years ago (PD5). If it was 50 years ago, then 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

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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This page uses content from Guide to Swallows and Amazons series by kind permission of Bill Wright.
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