‘But you’ll be marooned fair and square…’
As the 8th book in the classic children’s series of Swallows and Amazons, Secret Water was written by Arthur Ransome.
The Swallows (John, Susan, Titty, Roger, Bridget and Sinbad) are marooned on an island. They start mapping the Secret Archipelago, watching for the distant sail of a relief ship called Goblin. However, slippery savages lurk nearby on desert islands and in shipwrecks. Will the map be completed? Will the Goblin return? Will the savages be friend or foe?
The Swallows (apart from Sinbad), Amazons (Nancy and Peggy) and the Swallow’s mother appear in all other books in the series except Coot Club. Meanwhile, Commander Walker made his first appearance in the previous book, We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea, despite being mentioned in most of the other books. Similarly, Sinbad—the ship’s kitten—only appeared in the previous book. However, this book introduces several new main characters: Daisy, Dum, Dee and the Mastodon are the savages.
During the book, John is the one most concerned about the map and is angered by Roger and Titty seemingly make him waste hours searching for them instead of finishing the map. The author shows that Titty can easily get consumed by drawing: when drawing the map, Titty is blind to a savage sneaking into the middle of the camp to steal a totem. Despite not being the oldest, Susan is the most concerned about everyone else. When Titty, Roger and Bridget go missing, John says that they put ‘Susan in a stew’. Meanwhile, Nancy is desperate for war, joining the savages so that the two sides are equal and skipping mapping in order to prepare herself and the savages for battle.
Two entwined major themes are responsibility and guilt. The Swallows’ parents allow them to be by themselves because they trust John and Susan to be responsible for their younger siblings. When visiting the town, John and Susan send Titty, Roger, Bridget and Sinbad ahead, prioritising their safety. Titty later feels guilty about mapping a creek instead of going straight to the island as John and Susan instructed. In chapter XX, ‘All’s Well’, the Mastodon feels guilty about betraying savages and explorers. The other savages tell him to get rid of the explorers, but he had already befriended them instead. On the other hand, the explorers were marooned and needed help mapping, but he couldn’t help them without betraying the savages. Another pair of themes are exploring and sailing. During most of the book, the Swallows and Amazons explore by sailing. Also, each boat has a rough map for the crew to trace land on.
Just like all previous books in the series, Secret Water is set in the past and present: our past is the author’s present. The main location that the book is set in is the Secret Archipelago.
My two favourite parts of the book are the exploring and the description of mapping. I found it interesting to find out how bearings were used to find the location of things and draw a compass. However, if I had been much younger, I would probably not have enjoyed the book due to the lack of humour. Therefore, I would recommend this book to those 10 years and over who are budding explorers.
