Captains CourageousHarvey Cheyne is the over-indulged son of a millionaire. When he falls overboard from an ocean liner he is rescued by a Portuguese fisherman and, initially against his will, joins the crew of the We're Here for a summer. Through the medium of an exciting adventure story, Captains Courageous (1897) deals with a boy who, like Mowgli in The Jungle Book, is thrown into an entirely alien environment. The superstitious, magical world of the sea and the tough, orderly, physical world of the boat form a backdrop to Harvey's regeneration. Kipling describes the fascinating skills of the schooner fishermen who would soon be made redundant by the twentieth century, and makes the ship function as a convincing model for a society engaged in a difficult and dangerous task. The introduction to this edition examines its place among other maritime novels and among Kipling's own work, and explanatory notes clarify the seafaring terms and historical and geographical references. |
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abaout Abishai agin ain't anchor aout araound ashore bait berth boat boom Boston bunk cabin cable Cape Captains Courageous catch cook Counahan crew cried d'you Dad's Dan's dead deck Disko Troop dollars dory eyes father fish fleet foc'sle fore fried pies fwhat Gloucester goin Grand Banks Guess ha'af hand haow Harve Harvey Harvey Cheyne Harvey's haul head heard Heave hook Inwood Ireson jedgments Jonah Jungle Book kinder Kipling's liner Long Jack looked Manuel Mary Ambree mast Miss Kinzey naow never Nova Scotia oakum oilskins overboard Penn Platt rigging rope round Rudyard Kipling sail salt schooner ship shouted skipper St Malo story talk tell There's thet Thet's things told Tom Platt trawl Uncle Salters Virgin voice wha-at What's wind windlass young feller