We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea
Ratings3
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings3
Average rating4.3
While on vacation in East Anglia, four children, whose previous sailing experience is limited to dinghies, accidentally drift out to the North Sea after the rising tide causes their cutter to drag anchor.
Series
7 primary books8 released booksSwallows and Amazons is a 8-book series with 7 primary works first released in 1930 with contributions by Arthur Ransome.
Reviews with the most likes.
After a gentle start (there are seven chapters of preparation before anything out of the ordinary happens), this turns into an exciting story, in which four children find themselves unintentionally sailing a yacht across the North Sea, at night and in bad weather.
There are no baddies in this story: its heroes battle against the elements and their own limitations. But it's quite an epic struggle in which they're at real risk of death.
Readers should be warned that this is a sea story written by a sailing enthusiast: non-sailors may find that the blow-by-blow account tells them more than they wanted to know about sailing.
Also note before reading that it dates from 1937, so it's somewhat old-fashioned in general. The world before the Second World War was significantly different from the world we know now.
A story like this couldn't plausibly be set in modern times, because at least two of the children would have mobile phones, which would wreck the whole plot.
