Swallows and Amazons

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism.

In 1929, seven-year-old Roger, the second youngest of the five Walker children, pretends to be a sailing vessel tacking (moving in a zigzag pattern) against the wind as he runs to his waiting mother. She holds a telegram, the answer to the children’s letters to their father, Commander Walker, who is in Malta, headed to Hong Kong. They begged Father to allow them to sail to and camp on a nearby island. They would have to go by themselves, as their mother is preoccupied with baby Vicky. Their father writes, “BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WONT DROWN” (14), meaning that the children would be better off dead than be incompetent sailors; since they are competent, they will not drown.

The family is on holiday at a farm called Holly Howe, above the lake where the island is located. Roger brings the telegram to the other children: John, age 12 or 13; Susan, age 11 or 12; and Titty, age nine or 10. The children begin planning their trip on the Swallow, the small sailboat that belongs to the farm. They intend to stay on the island until it’s time to go home and resume their schooling.