We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea

We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea is the seventh book in the Swallows and Amazons series. It was published in 1937 and set in August 1931. In this book, the Swallows 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.

Characters

• Swallows John, Susan, Titty, Roger, Bridget Walker
• Jim Brading
• Mary Walker
• Commander Ted Walker
• Miss Powell
• Sinbad the kitten
• the Flushing Pilot
• minor characters (those in parentheses are "offstage"): Frank the boatman, (boatbuilder), (old man scraping spars), (Ellwright...whose boat was salved), (Tom; one of the crew of the Emily), (Jim's Uncle Bob and medicinal Aunt), young carpenter from the boatshed, telegram boy, officer on the steamer, Dutch fishermen, the other man in the pilot boat, various Dutch kids, Dutchman in motor-boat, locksmen, Dutch harbourmaster, animal at the telegraph counter (in the cage), waiter at café, (Capt Curledge at Shotley, who sends a telegram for them), bus conductor, (Bill the bus driver), nurse (and doctor) at hospital, Harwich harbourmaster, mate on ferryboat, Bob the ferry skipper, George and the other Customs officer

Boats

borrowed dinghy, Goblin, Imp, Frank's dinghy, Coronilla, cruisers & yachts in Pin Mill harbour, Harwich Harbour ferry, lightships Galloper, Outer Gabbard, Cork, Sunk, North Hinder, yacht Emily, Rosemary of Harwich, motor-boat in Dutch harbour, Dutch battleship in harbour, four-masted barque Pommern and tug, Customs launch at Harwich, naval cutters, whalers, and gigs, various cargo steamers, barges, etc.

Plot summary

The Swallows 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 do not pass the Beach End buoy at the mouth of the rivers, and do not 'go out to sea'.

Jim agrees to these conditions. However, on the second morning during a calm, after using the engine for some time, the petrol runs out; Jim rows ashore in the yacht's dinghy to buy more, but does not return. Fog drifts into the harbour. Some time later, the anchor starts dragging, John realises that the tide has risen and he should have let out more anchor chain and they are drifting. He attempts to let out more chain but the chain runs out too quickly and the anchor is lost. The Goblin drifts past the Beach End into the North Sea. John decides, against Susan's conscience that it is safer to hoist the sails and go farther out to sea rather than stay near the shore and risk being wrecked in the sandbanks and shoals in the fog. Their intention is to put about and return to the shore when they can see clearly. As the night continues, the wind rises and it becomes impossible for them to turn around once the fog lifts.

They continue to run before the wind throughout the night. The following morning, they find themselves approaching a coast which they realise is the Netherlands not France; John thought the fishing boats and pilot boats are Dutch. Roger says that the ensign is red, white and blue ie French, but Titty says that the French red, white and blue go up and down not crosswise.

They arrive safely in Flushing after picking up a a Dutch pilot; they did not want to ask for help before in case the Goblin was seized for salvage because of "all of us being so beastly young" (WD19). Jim Brading had a horror story about Ellright's yacht being seized for salvage by some longshore sharks, and says to never take a tow from anyone or let them aboard (WD5).

John sees their father embarking on a steam ferry bound for Harwich, but he jumps ship, joins his family and organizes the return voyage aboard Goblin. On returning to the Harwich estuary, the Goblin and her crew meet Jim Brading, who is looking for his missing yacht. Jim had been unconscious in hospital, suffering from concussion after being involved in a collision with a motor bus.

Cross-references and chronology

We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea is cross-referenced to other books in the Swallows and Amazons series:

• a pewter mug on the Holly Howe mantlepiece (WD16): SA or SD or WH
• Peter Duck is referenced by Titty, reminding Roger of the foghorn signal: "Three hoots ... Sailing vessel with the wind aft. Remember Peter Duck?" (italicised like this in source) (WD10)
• It'll be like that night on the lake in Swallow when we counted a hundred first on one tack and then the other ..... the wild night in the dark on the lake had been two whole years ago (WD11): SA
• Titty suggests sending a postcard to the Amazons and the Ds at Beckfoot (WD3): this implies that the Amazons and Ds are still holidaying together following the events described in Pigeon Post
• WD takes place in the summer following Winter Holiday: John recalls signalling and Nancy's pumkin face in the last winter holidays (WD15)

Timeline

Numbers are days (but not actual dates) in August 1931 (...warm August sun... WD3 and long August night (at Pin Mill) WD14); days of the week are known for this story. Names are chapter titles.

• (Before the story: Roger had been discussing engines a great deal at school, Jim completed school at Rugby, Jim has been sailing in the South for 10 days (with a man to assist); Daddy left China about 7 days before the start of the story on a 12-day train journey, perhaps on a Monday)
• ("day 0") (Monday): (before the book starts, the Walker family arrived at Pin Mill: Only the evening before they had come down the deep green lane .... Last night they had slept for the first time at Alma Cottage (WD1). Two days ago ... we were in the train say Titty and Roger while Jim said he was in the Downs wishing for a wind (WD4)).
• Day 1 (Tuesday. Tide getting on for low water at 6pm -WD1): 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) (Daddy is in Berlin):
  • morning (7am; dead low tide at 8.16am): "Nothing Can Possibly Happen" • "He's Been an Awful Long Time..."
  • afternoon (High tide is at 2pm, barometer down three-tenths): "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: Woolworth Plate • At Pin Mill • Keeping Awake
• Day 4 (Friday, high water predicted to be at four o'clock...in time for tea - WD3):
  • 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, expected day of arrival of Ted Walker -WD1 )
  • morning: Happier Voyage • Lost! Two Days and a Boat • "Nothing to Declare..." • Coil Down
• ("day 8") (Monday): (Jim's Uncle Bob's planned arrival to join Jim on Goblin two days after the end of the book): I've got my uncle coming on Monday and we're going to have a try for Scotland (WD1).
• "in a month": Jim to start university at Oxford (WD1).

Wind direction and point of sail

'All but OB': correct point of sail (broad reach on a starboard tack) shown.

the Puffin cover of We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea showing Goblin on port tack (even the sidelights are coloured to maintain the deception)

John after making sail on Goblin steers North-east (WD9) following the tide out to the Cork lightship. In WD10 the wind is described as dead aft (therefore from the south-west, as they are heading north-east). When they reach Cork, they jibe and head south-east and a little bit east (WD10), therefore on a broad reach with the sail on starboard tack. They maintain this point of sail through the entire voyage to Holland (give or take the odd attempt at turning back and kitten rescue). The fog signal used (three hoots: sailing vessel with the wind abaft the beam) does not change as they jibe, because steering south-east and a little bit east in a sou'wester, the wind remains very slightly abaft the beam. (Fog signals are an imprecise clue to exact wind direction in a sailing yarn.) Goblin is correctly depicted with her sails on starboard tack in the illustrations 'All but OB', 'Night encounter', 'The loom of a lighthouse' and 'Signal for a pilot'. The chapter-end drawing after 'Shipwrecked sailor' (WD17) shows her sails on port tack, but also with both foresails, so this is obviously a "stock photo" for use anywhere in the book. But the biggest error of all is in the colour version of 'All but OB' used on the Puffin cover throughout the 1970s. This picture is run in mirror image (and incidentally extended upwards by four extra masthoops worth of mast and rigging): it seems the publishers needed some clear sky for the title text so either made the North Sea storm a nor'easter or else had the Swallows sailing from Holland to Harwich!

• See also Wikipedia: Tack (sailing) to explain what is meant by "port tack", "starboard tack" above

Notes

• The Walkers had come to Pin Mill to stay at Alma Cottage the evening before Day 1 (that is, on Monday)
• the Ds have gone home from the Lake, called away to join parents (SW1); they had left just after the Swallows had gone south (that is, just before the events of WD) (SW11).
• Daddy is to be stationed at Shotley and is on his way home from China, a 12 day trip (WD23); he is in Berlin on Day 3 (WD 'At Pin Mill'); it has been a long time since the kids have seen him.
• Jim Brading had been at Rugby until last term, and got a scholarship and is off to Oxford in another month (WD1)
• Jim's Uncle Bob is coming Monday (2 days after end of this book) to try for Scotland with Jim on Goblin.
• Roger has a penny whistle and was taught to play it by a boy at school (that is, before the events described in PP).
• Nancy, Peggy, and the Ds are all at the Lake.
• Susan had not sailed with Daddy as John had going out of Falmouth Harbour in a little fishing boat.
• Polly the parrot was not there, and Gibber was at the Zoo (permanently?)
• Peter Duck is referenced by Titty, reminding Roger of the foghorn signal: Three hoots ... Sailing vessel with the wind aft. Remember Peter Duck? (WD10)
• Goblin is 4.86 tons registered, 7 tons Thames, #16856.
• It is implied that Daddy left his luggage aboard the Flushing-Harwich steamer: they bought a toothbrush for him in Flushing along with the doll, wooden shoes and cigars. (WD23)

Trivia

• The Walker's oilskins have different coloured tabs: Titty's is green, Susan's is brown, no mention of what colour the boys' are.
• The burgee on Goblin is blue, red, and white.
• Daddy left his luggage on the ferry when he made a pierhead jump at Flushing: they bought a toothbrush for him along with the doll and wooden shoes (WD 'Dutch Afternoon')

Decoys and red herrings

• in the illustration 'AHOY! AHOY!' where Daddy is shown hailing John from the North Sea steamer, Goblin's staysail is shown lowered and bundled on the foredeck; the text describes John lowering the staysail and furling the jib a little after this incident, while the pilot is steering toward the mooring buoy (WD20).
• There is an anachronism in WD24, "The tall wireless masts at Bawdsey ...." were part of the new secret British coastal radar system and were not installed until 1936; well after the book, which is set in 1931.

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