Although Coot Club is set in the Norfolk Broads, Swallows and Amazons is actually set in the Lake District, as were several of Arthur Ransome's books. If memory serves me correctly, John, Susan, Titty and Roger, the crew of "Swallow", are four of the main characters in Swallows and Aamazons and do not actually appear in Coot Club - however, I stand ready to be corrected if I am mistaken. The other two main characters were Nancy, whose real name was Ruth, a name she hated, and Peggy, who were the crew of "Amazon".
Hi Jim Barley,
You are right that the crew of Swallow do not actually appear in Coot Club. However they and the crew of the Amazon (and you are right about their names) are referred to by Dick and Dorothea Cullum, the two children who provide the link between Coot Club and Swallows and Amazons, (having met the Walkers and Blacketts in 'Winter Holiday' - which is set on Coniston - and who then meet the Coot Club - Tom Dudgeon and gang - while staying on-board Teasel at Horning/Ranworth).
Furthermore, Peter Duck (the character and story) was made up (mainly by Titty, with help from the others) while the Swallows and Amazons where stuck on a house boat near Lowestoft with Uncle Jim (Captain Flint) during their holidays. The holiday took place sometime in the winter after the events in the original book and is mentioned in Swallowdale (when Titty and Roger discover Peter Ducks cave) - it is described by some critics as an "existential" novel.
While not the Norfolk Broads, 'We didn't mean to go to sea' is also initially set in East Anglia, at Pin Mill near Harwich (the scene drawn by Arthur Ransome of the pub and slipway at Pin Mill is still recognisable today).
Kind regards
Huw (who is currently going through his second childhood by reading the complete set from cover to cover - up to We didn't mean to go to sea and loving every minute).
Hi Huw Sayer
Many thanks for the confirmation - while we are about it, I believe that "Secret Water" also wasn't set in the Norfolk Broads, and actually set in the Essex marshes in the Walton-on-the-Naze area. Perhaps you will correct me if I am wrong - I am relying on memory for all this, last having read the books some fifty years ago!
Best wishes
Jim Barley
Hi Jim
Will let you know when I get to that book - can't remember reading it when I was young (not sure I got through the whole series then but age fuddles the memory somewhat). I do know that Great Northern is set somewhere off Scotland.
Huw
PS: Well worth reading again after 50 years.
Hi again Jim Barley
Just finished 'We didn't mean to go to sea' - what a cracking great story (the Dutch come out of it very well) - and now on to 'Secret Water', which as you rightly remember is set in the natural harbour behind Walton-on-the-Naze - and it features both the Swallows and the Amazons plus the Eels (a local tribe) as they go on the Secret Archipelago Expedition.
Looking ahead to the next book - 'Big Six' - I see this is the other Coot Club story - once again set on the Norfolk Broads (Northern rivers only this time) - so am looking forward to getting back on to home waters.
I also understand that Arthur Ransome started (but never finished) a collection of short stories, which were published after his death under the title 'Coots in the North and other stories' - I don't have a copy of this but will attempt to get one and will let you know what it is like.
Finally, for the pedantic, I note that I referred to 'Great Northern' - when in fact I should have remembered that the title is a question - so, 'Great Northern?'.
Happy sailing.
Further to my blog posting yesterday about the great flood of 1912 (http://new.edp24.co.uk/cs/blogs/adman/archive/2008/05/19/1236959.aspx) I have come across reference to another great flood sometime in the late 1800's.
The reference is in Arthur Ransome's 'Big Six', which is part of the Swallows and Amazons series and the second story to be set in Norfolk and feature the Coot Club. Early on in the book Tom Dudgeon and the crew of the Death or Glory meet up with an 78 year old eel fisherman. While waiting for the eel run to start just above Horning, he tells them stories from his life including "the great flood of some 50 years before".
Now Arthur Ransome liked to weave fact with his fiction - so I suspect this reference is not simply made up but refers to a real event. It was obviously significant enough to be called 'the great flood'. The question is - when was it and are there any contemporary reports?
Although first published in 1940, I think (from references in the other books in the series) that 'Big Six' is set in about 1935 - so the flood would have been sometime around 1885.
Does anyone have anymore information on this event? If so please post it here. Thank you.
Jibooms and bobstays!
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