Chapter 1: On the River

The Walkers arrive in Pin Mill the day before. They are here to meet their father, Commander
Walker who is coming back from China.
John Walker and his other siblings Susan, Titty, and Roger are rowing a rowboat when they
meet Jim Brading. John helps Jim to tie the rope of his yacht to the buoy.
To thank John, Jim then invites the children to his yacht. His yacht is named ‘Goblin’. When Mrs.
Walker sees Jim, she invites him over for supper at Alma Cottage. The next day Jim asks Mrs.
Walker again to take the children in his yacht on a river cruise. Mrs. Walker is a little reluctant
but Jim promises that they will not sail past the Beach End Bouy. Mrs. Walker says okay.

Chapter 2: In Harbour

John and Susan take turn to steer the Goblin. Jim suggests they anchor off Shotley Pier and go
ashore to call Mrs. Walker. After the Goblin is stopped, Jim tells the children that there are
many shoals outside and it is easy to run aground. At night, the Goblin suddenly rolls violently.
Jim tells them that it is because of the big ship that goes from England to Holland everyday.
The next morning, they hear a warning from the Cork Lightship telling them about a fog out at
sea. They then hear a sound like a deep bell from the Beach End Bouy. They should not go past
the bouy so they have to turn back. But, there is no wind to sail the yacht so they have to use
the engine. Then, the engine stops because there is no petrol. Jim anchors the boat and
decided to go ashore to get some petrol. He leaves the children in the yacht and gets John to
take charge.
After that, a fog comes. The children cannot see the end of the land and the sea is near by.
After six hours, Jim has not returned. They become worried. Suddenly, the ship starts moving
because the anchor has come off from the bottom of the sea.

Chapter 3: Drifting out to Sea

John tries to check but he cannot see anything because of the fog. John realizes the anchor is
too short to reach the bottom of the sea because it is high tide now. After trying hard to pull
more chain out, the whole chain disappears in the sea. They try to work with a second chain but
there are two parts and they do not know how to put them together.

The tide pulls them past the Beach End buoy. John tries to think back what Jim has told him
about being careful with the shoals. They almost hit a buoy so they put up the sails and steer
the yacht. To stay safe, they are now out at the sea! Susan is worried because they have
promised their mother not to go out to the sea.
However, John decides to go on out to the sea to get away from the shoals. They cannot turn
back due to the fog. At the same time, Titty and Susan become seasick. John feels bad for them.
Chapter 4: A Stormy Night

The Goblin is now out at sea. Two hours later, the fog starts to go way but the rain comes with
strong winds. A lot of water runs off the cabin roof into the cockpit. Susan and John decide to
turn back but something bad happens. The wind and waves crash over the bows and splash on
the cabin roof and the children.

John tries to steer but the wind is too strong. When he finally turns the yacht away from the
wind, they are forced to sail back to the open sea. There is a lot of water in the yacht, they have
to use a pump to pump the water out. Then, John makes the sail smaller so that it moves
slower.
The children feel safer now. John orders Roger to sound the foghorn so that the ferry will not
hit them.
That day, Mrs. Walkers receives a telegram from Commander Walker that he will arrive in
England soon. She wonders if the children will come back in time.

Chapter 5: Sinbad and the Pilot

The wind is now calm. The children are safe. Susan helps John to steer the yacht. In the
morning, Susan suggests turning back to Harwich (near to Pin Mill), but John disagrees. He
wants to go to the harbour in Holland and send a telegram to Mother and Jim to tell them
where they are. On the way to the harbour , they see a cat on a box and rescue it. They name it
‘Sinbad’ Then, they see a pilot ship. They use a blue and white flag to get the pilot ship to help
them. Because there is no adult in the yacht, John comes up with a plan. He asks his other
siblings to pretend as adults and act like there is a party down in the cabin. The pilot guides the
Goblin to Flushing (a port in Holland). There, John sees his father and calls out to him from the
ferry. The pilot then helps the Goblin to stop at a buoy safely.

Chapter 6: Arriving in Holland

The pilot is surprised to find that there is no adult in the yacht. Then, they father comes to meet
them. The pilot gives them charts for the North Sea so that they can sail back home. The
children tell their father that Mother and Jim do not know about what has happened to them.
Father sends a telegram to his friend to Shotley and asks his friend to send a telegram to
Mother so that Mother will think that the children have sent a telegram from Shotley.
They buy some supplies for their journey and five pairs of Dutch wooden shoes to bring back
home. The children are happy that their Father is with them.
 Chapter 7: Coming Home

The next morning, they pass the Sunk Lightship and see the Beach End Buoy. The children are
happy that they are near home.
Jim wakes up in the hospital. He had an accident. He is worried about the children, as he has
promised Mrs. Walker. He hurries to the harbour and the Goblin is no longer there. He is more
worried now and decides to tell Mrs. Walker about it. Suddenly, someone tells him that the
Goblin is coming in from the Cork lightship. He rows out to see the yacht. They children are
happy to see Jim. They go back to the Harwich Harbour to get customs check.

Susan prepares dinner for the whole family as the Goblin is reaching Pin Mill. Then, they see
Mother and Bridget come to meet them in a dinghy. When Mother goes on board, she starts to
question them about their promise to come back earlier and the bandages on Jim’s head. Then,
Father appears from the cabin and Mother thinks that they have met him in Harwich. When she
finds out that they have come back from the sea, Mother gets upset with Jim because he breaks
his promise. Father tells Mother that it is not Jim’s fault, he then leaves with her and explain to
her about everything that has happened. He wants her to know that the children did not mean
to go to sea.

Character Traits/Moral Values/Messages/Theme

Examples Evidence/Evidences
· Jim is knowledgeable about the
Character Traits
yacht and the sea. He shows the
-Knowledgeable/ brave/responsible
children how to steer the yacht. He
tells them the shoal can be Moral Values
dangerous for them as they could
1. Jim teaches – We should share our knowledge
run ashore. He also shows them the
John and the with others.
shoals using charts.
siblings about the · At night, the Goblin rolls – We should take care of people who
yacht and the sea. violently. The children are worried are younger than us.
but Jim assures them it is the big
Themes
ship that goes from England to
Holland everyday -value of knowledge/
bravery/responsibility

· When the children are out at the
sea, the rain starts to fall. Big winds
and waves crash over the bows and
– We should be responsible when we
splash on the cabin roof and the
2. John fights children. Although John feels tired
against the storm. and the weather is not helping him, –
he does not stop fighting against the
storm. He tries his hardest to steer
the yacht to the right direction. He
wants to keep his siblings safe.
After finding his children at Flushing
in Holland, Commander Walker
takes responsibility to send telegram
to Mrs. Walker, bring the children to
eat at a café and buy supplies for
3. Commander
Walker brings the their journey back home.
children back to
Harwich. Commander Walker takes over to
sail to Goblin. He steers the yacht
because he knows John is tired. He is
also not mad at the children for what
happens.
· Jim has an accident when he
4. Jim Brading leaves the children and goes to get
worries about the petrol. When he wakes up he is very
Character Traits
– brave/responsible /
loving
Moral Values
are put in charge of something.
We should not panic when we are
facing difficulties.
– We should do our best to protect
the people we love.
Themes
– love for family/ bravery/responsibility
Character Traits
– responsible /loving/ considerate
Moral Values
– We should be responsible for our
children’s safety.
– We should love our family
members.
– We should be considerate and try to
understand when something wrong
happened to our children.
Themes
– love for family/ responsibility for family
Character Traits
– responsible
children and keeps worried about the children. He
his promise to leaves the hospital to go find them
Moral Values
take care of them. even though his head is still in pain.
He feels sorry to about what – We should be responsible for the
happens and he intends to apologise things we do.
to Mrs. Walker.
– We should keep our promise.

Themes
– love for family/ bravery/responsibility

Character Traits
– Brave/responsible

· After the tide pulls them out of
5. John makes the the Beach End Buoy, they are forced
decision to to go to put on sails to avoid hitting the
sea. buoys. After that, John decides to go
out to sea so that they can get away
from the shoals.
Moral Values
– We should be responsible when we
are put in charge of something.
– We should not panic when we are
facing difficulties.

Themes
– Bravery/responsibility

Character Traits
– Responsible/loving
· When the Goblin is out at sea.
Susan is worried. She is worried that
Mother will think they did not keep Moral Values
6. Susan is worried their promise.
about their – We should be responsible to keep
our promise.
Mother · After they meet Father, Susan
reminds her dad to send the – We should not make our parents
telegram to Mother and she also worried about us.
makes sure that the telegram is sent.

Themes
 – love for family/ responsibility

Character Traits
– caring/loving

· When the children have to go
7. John is worried
out to sea to avoid the shoals, Susan
about his siblings. and Roger get seasick. John feel bad
for them and is worried about them.
Moral Values
– We should love our family.
– We should do our best to protect
the people we love.

Themes
– love for family/responsibility