Scribd
Upload
2K views2 pages

We Are Not Afraid To Die Common Notes

1. A businessman took his family on a round-the-world voyage like Captain Cook did 200 years prior. They spent 16 years preparing and took a 30-ton wooden boat called Wave Walker. 2. There were 6 people total - the family of 4 and 2 additional crew members. They sailed over 105,000 km to Cape Town in South Africa. 3. In early January, huge waves and high winds created a dangerous storm. A large wave threw the narrator overboard but he was able to grab onto the boat and get back onboard.

Uploaded by

Sreeranjani Vijayakumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
2K views2 pages

We Are Not Afraid To Die Common Notes

1. A businessman took his family on a round-the-world voyage like Captain Cook did 200 years prior. They spent 16 years preparing and took a 30-ton wooden boat called Wave Walker. 2. There were 6 people total - the family of 4 and 2 additional crew members. They sailed over 105,000 km to Cape Town in South Africa. 3. In early January, huge waves and high winds created a dangerous storm. A large wave threw the narrator overboard but he was able to grab onto the boat and get back onboard.

Uploaded by

Sreeranjani Vijayakumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

VELAMMAL VIDYALAYA

PARUTHIPATTU,AVADI
ENGLISH COMMON NOTES
CLASS:XI
WE’RE NOT AFRAID TO DIE IF WE ALL CAN BE TOGETHER

1.Who was the narrator? What adventurous task did he take on?
The narrator was a thirty-seven-year-old businessman, who along with his family, set from
Plymouth, England, on a round-the-world voyage like Captain James Cook had done 200
years earlier in a 30-ton wooden-hulled boat.

2.How did they prepare for this onerous task?


For sixteen years, they spent all their leisure time improving their seafaring skills in British
waters. They bought a boat, Wave walker, a 23-metre, 30-ton wooden-hulled vessel that had
been professionally built. They spent months fitting it out and testing it in the roughest
weather that they could find.

3.How many people were there in the boat?


The four of them the narrator, his wife Mary, son Jonathan, and daughter Suzanne sailed for
105,000 kilometres to the west coast of Africa to Cape Town. They took on two crewmen
with them an American, Larry Vigil, and a Swiss, Herb Seigler, before settling sail on the
southern Indian Ocean.

4.What ordeal awaited them on 2 January?


After they celebrated Christmas, the weather changed for the worse. On the early morning of
2 January, the waves became huge. As the ship rose to the top of each wave, they could see
the vast sea rolling towards them. The wind seemed to be howling.

5.What measures did they take to counter this ordeal?


They dropped the storm jib and lashed a heavy mooring rope in a loop across the stem to
slow the boat, and then double-lashed everything, went through their life-raft drill, attached
lifelines, put on oilskins and life jackets.

6.What happened when they tried to ride over the wave?

When they tried to ride over the wave, there was a loud blast that shook the deck. Water
gushed over the ship, the narrator’s head hit the wheel and he was thrown overboard into the
water. He accepted his impending death, and while he was losing consciousness, he felt
peaceful.

7.How did the narrator get back to the ship after having been thrown into the sea?

After the narrator felt he was losing consciousness, his head suddenly popped out of the
water. A few metres away, he saw Wavewalker, nearly overturned. Then, a wave threw it
upright. He grabbed the guardrails and sailed through the air into Wavewalker’s main boom.
The waves tossed him onto the deck like a rag doll.

8.After the water level receded, what was their next concern? What did they decide to
do?
Having survived fifteen hours since the wave hit, the narrator checked the charts and
calculated that there were two small islands a few hundred kilometres to the east. One of
them was lie Amsterdam. Knowing Wavewalker would not hold for much longer, they aimed
to reach the island.

9.“But our respite was short-lived.” Why does the narrator say so?
By 4 January, they ate their first meal in almost two days after pumping out most of the
water. But their breather was short-lived. Soon after, black clouds gathered and the wind rose
to 40 knots; the sea kept getting higher. The weather deteriorated and by dawn on 5 January,
the situation turned hopeless, again.

10.What did Jon say that left the narrator speechless?


When the narrator tried to comfort and reassure the children, Jon said that they were not
afraid of dying if all four of them could be together. The narrator could find no words to
respond, but he left the children’s cabin determined to fight the sea with everything he had.

11.Why did the narrator feel that he was not the best captain? What was the surprise in
store for him?
When Jon called him the best daddy in the whole world and the best captain, the narrator was
dejected for not being able to locate the island, so he refuted the statement. The truth was that
the island was just in front of them.

12.Why did the narrator feel that it was the most beautiful island?
The narrator saw lie Amsterdam. It was an unwelcoming piece of volcanic rock, with little
vegetation, but to them it was the most beautiful island in the world because it held for them
the hope of their survival.

II LONG ANSWER

1.The children braved the situation more maturely than their years. Discuss.

The children, certainly braved the situation more maturely than their years. Sue had her head
hit and swollen, worryingly. She had two huge black eyes, and a deep cut on her arm. She did
not make much of her injuries because she did not want to worry her father when he was
trying to save them. Jon, the narrator’s six-year- old son, assured him that they were not
afraid of dying if the family could all be together.
When Sue’s head injury worsened with her blackened eyes narrowed to slits, she held on to
her spirit and gave the narrator a card with drawn caricatures of Mary and him with the
words: ‘Here are some funny people. Did they make you laugh? I laughed a lot as well. ’ The
underlying message of love and positive hope overwhelmed the narrator. He was touched
with the thoughtfulness of a seven-year-old girl, who did not want her parents to worry about
a head injury, and that of the boy who was not afraid to die.

You might also like