Swallows and Amazons

Published in 1930, Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome is a classic British children’s adventure tale that follows the exploits of the four Walker siblings during their summer holiday in England’s Lake District. Permitted by their parents to sail to and stay on an island by themselves, they form a relationship with another set of sailing siblings, the Blackett sisters. The Blackett and Walker children immerse themselves in imaginative play, pretending to be intrepid explorers and uniting to get the attention of the Blackett girls’ negligent uncle.

This guide refers to the Godine Storyteller paperback edition published by David R. Godine in 1985.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of racism. In particular, the text references racist stereotypes of Indigenous peoples.

Language Note: The source material contains outdated and offensive language referring to Indigenous peoples; such language is replicated in the guide only in quotations.

Plot Summary

In 1929, the five Walker siblings are on holiday with their mother in a fictional lake town in England’s Lake District. Mother receives a telegram from Father, a commander in the British Navy who is absent throughout the novel, granting the four eldest children permission to sail to and camp alone on a nearby island.

Seven-year-old Roger brings the telegram to his three older siblings: John, age 12 or 13; Susan, age 11 or 12; and Titty, age nine or 10. Baby Vicky will stay at home with Mother and the nurse. The children begin planning their trip aboard the Swallow. John declares himself the “Master” of the Swallow; Susan is the “Mate,” Titty the “Able-seaman,” and Roger the “Ship’s Boy.”

Mother, an expert sailor herself, helps them prepare. The children cast off, flying a flag with a swallow. They pass a man who is writing on the deck of a houseboat. Titty wonders if he is a retired pirate, especially when his pet parrot appears. They near the island and land on a bay with a beach.

The children discover the remains of a cooking fire. After making their camp and setting up tents, John and Titty sail the Swallow into a harbor. Susan makes dinner, and Mother arrives with more supplies via Mr. Jackson’s boat. Mother has arranged for the local Dixon Farm to supply the children with milk every day.

The children explore the island and find another one nearby, which they name Cormorant Island for its bird population. They name various places on the island and surrounding places, like Houseboat Bay, but they don’t name the island in case whoever left the fireplace behind has already named it.

They see another sailboat, the Amazon, approach Houseboat Bay. After a brief skirmish involving a firecracker, this boat sails straight to the island. It is helmed by two girls dressed like boys in short pants and caps. As they near the island, the girls aboard the Amazon raise a pirate flag. They turn and head to the mainland. The Swallow crew gives chase but loses the Amazon.

When John fetches the milk the next day, Mrs. Dixon tells him that Jim Turner, the owner of the houseboat, believes that the children have been meddling with his houseboat. She advises John to leave the man alone. Back at camp, an arrow strikes the children’s saucepan. The children search for their enemy and find the two girls from the Amazon kneeling inside the Swallow crew’s tents.

The older girl is Nancy Blackett, captain of the Amazon, and her sister, Peggy, is the mate. Nancy is around John’s age; Peggy is younger. They become friends and share the island, which the Blackett girls (referred to as the “Amazons”) have named Wild Cat Island. Their common enemy is Jim, who is the Blackett girls’ uncle. He used to be friendly but has turned cold this summer while he is writing a memoir about his travels. They decide that they will capture his ship one day and make him walk the plank. Nancy proposes a toast to the Swallows (the Walker siblings) and Amazons.

The children plan a battle to see which of the two sailboats will be the flagship of the fleet. John rigs up lights to guide the Swallow into the harbor at night. There is no wind the next day, and the Walkers decide to visit the charcoal burners on the nearby hillside. These men pass along a message meant for Jim: to lock up his houseboat because people are wondering what is on it. However, when the children return to camp, there is an unfriendly note from Jim in John’s tent warning him to stay away from the houseboat.

John rows to the houseboat to pass on the warning, but Jim angrily tells him to stop setting off fireworks. John professes his innocence and rows away. Back at camp, Mother visits and reminds them that in one week, they must return home and resume school.

The next day, Titty stays on the island while her siblings try to capture the Amazon. They plan to wait near the Blacketts’ boathouse until dark and then make their move. However, the Blacketts moved their boat. Back on the island, Titty lights the lanterns to guide the Swallows back to the harbor and hears the Blacketts beach their boat. She realizes that she has the chance to capture it: She rows it to the other side of the island and falls asleep. When she wakes up, she hears some men burying a heavy box on nearby Cormorant Island. John and the others return to camp after a difficult sail in the dark and congratulate Titty on capturing the rival boat.

The Blackett girls, stranded on the island since Titty took their boat, surrender and explain that they have permission to camp on the island for a few days. John visits Mother to confess about his nighttime sail, promising never to do it again. When Titty mentions the “pirates” she heard burying treasure the previous night, the others tell her that she must have been dreaming.

A policeman arrives the next day to accuse the children of boarding the houseboat. The Blacketts show up, and since they have a family connection to the policeman, Nancy shames him into leaving. She reveals that the houseboat has been burgled and that Jim’s manuscript has been stolen. Titty guesses that the burglars were the men she heard when she was in the Amazon.

Nancy rows to the houseboat to tell her uncle that John is innocent: Nancy herself set the firecracker on the roof of the boat. Jim has a change of heart and immediately rows to the island to apologize to John. He also agrees to a war with all the children the next day. The children have a fine battle with Jim and force him to walk the plank.

The next day is the children’s last chance for an adventure. Titty and Roger return to Cormorant to look for the buried treasure while the others go fishing. Titty unexpectedly finds a heavy box under a stone. The others arrive, and Jim opens the box, which holds his typewriter and missing manuscript. He gives Titty his parrot as thanks.

During a violent nighttime storm, the children tell each other adventure stories. In the morning, as the two mothers arrive to help transport the supplies, the Swallows and Amazons plan to reunite on the island the next summer. As they part, each crew cheers for the other.