STORI ES AN D A M EETING

The boys lowcrcd the

sail in total silcnce nnd
Harvcy spent ali his free
time duting the next few
days leaming how to
repai r it. Soon. the wealthy
businessman 's arrogant
son discovered he was
very good at sewing !
Later, Dan said to
Harvey, "lt's OK. 1 learnt
to steer a boat a few years
ago, and I made the same
mistake! "
After that, Harvey
Harvey was very good at sewing!
didn't feel so bad.

STORIES AND A MEETING

CHAPTER8
During the next few weeks, the weather often changed.
Sometimes, it was clear and the men did a lot of fishing. Then,
there was a lot of work cleaning and salting the fish. At other
times, it was stormy, so they just concentrated on not drowning,
and told stories.
Disko told stories about his whaling voyages, years ago.
"Sometimes, when we killed a huge whale, its blood shot 15
metres into the air!" he said. His eyes shone at the memory of the
adventure. "But it is very dangerous," he continued, "because an
angry whale can destroy a boat. lt can break it into small pieces.
Once, a furious whale destroyed severa! boats. For three days,
twelve hundred meo were waiting on the ice for somebody to
rescue them."
Long Jack preferred ghost stories. Toe meo listened silently
to his horrifying tales of spirits. "Dark spirits without teeth
appear to men looking for crabs on the beach," he said, "and

25
 CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS

after that, the men become blind and can 't work any more. Men
without a grave also become ghosts - hairy ghosts with two arms
on each side of their body. They make your heart stop beating ...
and on Fire Island, near New York, dead pirates appear at night.
They guard hidden treasures and bite your face ... "
Salters' stories were usually about farming. He was a farmer
many years ago and he was always very passionate about
natural fertilizers. He wanted to prove they were healthier than
chemicals. He even liked the smell !
"It cleans your nose," he said.
The men smiled at this because they were accustomed to
Salters' strange personality.
One foggy day, they heard a very loud siren. It sounded like
a sick elephant.
"Ah! That's a big ship," said Long Jack. The We're Here
rang its bell three times to let the ship know they were there.
Suddenly, the enormous ship emerged from the fog with men
standing on its deck, waving. It was a large cattle ship and it
smelled like a thousand cows !
"What do you feed your cows?" Uncle Salters shouted.
"Feed them better food, and they won't smell sobad!"
The group on the big ship laughed. "Where <lid you find this
hairy idiot?" they shouted to Disko. "A farmer at sea - that's a
good joke!"
"Stop, Salters!" Disko said, embarrassed. "Don't give these
men advice and don't start a fight."
"Where are you from?" Tom Platt shouted to the men in the
other ship.
"We're Frenchmen from St Malo!" cried the men. "Where are
we exactly? We can't see the stars because of the clouds."
"Ah! They want to know their latitude," said Disko. "Dan, go
and check where we are exactly," he instructed his son.
Dan returned with the co-ordinates and Disko shouted them
to the Frenchmen.
"Merci! Merci!" the Frenchmen shouted and waved again.

26
 ANOTHER ACCIDENT

"Hey! We need tobacco!" Disko called. "Have you gol any?"

The Frenchmen laughed. "Of course, of course!" they
answered. "We'II give you tobacco and you give us chocolate.
We ate ali our chocolate."
The men traded for a few minutes. Then, Harvey went out
in a dory with severa! tins of chocolate, and carne back a short
while later with several tins of tobacco. The men on the We're
Here ali gathered around him, enthusiastically, like pirates
dividing their treasure! Everybody was very happy.

CHAPTER9 ANOTHER ACCIDENT

Toe We 're Here continued its journey north. The dories were
out nearly every <lay, along the eastern part of the Grand Banks,
fishing regularly. They were getting close to the Virgin Rock,
the most northern point of their voyage and a wonderful place
for fishing.
Toen there was heavy fog again, so they dropped their
anchor and waited. There were many passenger ships in the area
and it was too dangerous to continue sailing.
Harvey and Dan went on deck and Disko gave Harvey the
bell. "Ring it, ring it all the time," he said. "The ships must know
we're here. They don't always see the smaller boats near them."
Harvey rang the bell as loudly as he could. In the distance,
he heard the deep sound of a passenger ship siren. Those ships
were very fast. They could go at 30 kilometres an hour and they
could easily destroy a small boat in their way.
"They can slow down very easily," said Dan, "but that
doesn't help us when we're all at the bottom of the sea. Ring,
Harvey! lt's moving fast!"
Suddenly, Harvey sensed something was moving very near
them. He looked up and saw the side of an enormous passenger
ship. It was like a wall right next to the boat! Harvey could
see the blue paint and the small round windows in the side. 1t
moved forward with a terrifying hiss. Toen, it blew steam into

27
 CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS

Harvey's face and hot water from the motor fell onto the deck
of the We're Here.
The little fishing boat
trembled as the passenger ship
disappeared in the fog . Harvey
was ready to faint or be sick,
or both. Then, he heard a loud
crack, like a tree breaking in
two, and Dan shouted, "Hey !
The boat is sinking!"

The passenger ship blew steam into Harvey 's face.

"Our boat?" Harvey cried.
"No, another boat!" Dan answered. "Ring the bell, Harvey!
We're going to look. Maybe we can help them."
They lowered a dory into the water. In a moment, ali the
men, except Harvey and Penn, were participating in the rescue.
A broken mast floated by and then an empty dory. Then, they
saw something else face down. It was the body of a fisherman.
Penn's face became white.
"Oh, no!" Harvey exclaimed, desperately.
Fifteen minutes later, the men returned to the boat.
"It was the Jennie Cushman," said Dan, hysterical. "Toe

28
 THE VIRGIN ROCK

passenger ship crashed right into it, and it's now in pieces not
far away. Dad rescued the captain, Jason Olley. We couldn 't find
anybody else - his son was missing, too .... Oh, Harvey, Harvey,
it's tenible." Dan covered his face with his hands and cried, as the
men carried the grey-haired captain on board.
"Disko. why did you save me?" said Captain Olley. "I
lost everything . . . my son, my men, ali the fish, my boat,
everything."
"I don't know how to console you," said Disko sadly. "You
should lie down, Jason."
The men were very sad, too. They went below deck silently
and put on dry clothes. Then they all had a warm drink.
Suddenly, they heard a bell ringing from a green boat nearby.
"Hey, Disko! Did you hear about the Jennie Cushman?"
called a voice from the boat.
"Yes. We've got Jason Olley here," Disko told the captain of
the green boat. "We couldn't find anybody else alive ... "
Then, they all hada surprise. "We found somebody, too," said
the other captain. "He was floating on a big piece of wood."
"Who is it?" Disko asked him.
"lt's Jason Olley's son," said the other captain. "He's got
sorne cuts on his head, but he's ali right. Please, send Jason to
us, we'll take care of him and his son."
Disko ran down the ladder to Jason. "Your son's alive! He's
alive!" he shouted.
Jason ran up to the deck, his face full of hope. He thanked the
men, and then Tom Platt rowed him to the green boat.
"God was kind," said Disko. "His son is alive. But it's very
sad about the other fishermen!"

CHAPTER 10 THE VIRGIN ROCK

The men worked hard for the next few days. Sometimes, the
weather was bad, so they worked in the hold, making space for
more fish.

29
 CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS

At last. one moming. Disko shouted. 'Hurry, boys! We just

anived at our last stop!"
lt was an amazing sight. The red sunrise coloured the sails of
about a hundred anchored boats. They rose and fell on the sea, like
in a dance. You could hear the noise of men shouting and singing
for miles around. And ali the time, more boats were arriving.

Jt was an amazing sight.

30
 THE VIRGIN ROCK

"There are about a thousand men here," Dan said to Harvey,

"and over there is the Virgin Rock."
He pointed toan open space of greenish sea.
"It's an enorrnous rock just under the surface of the sea,"
Dan explained, "and it's a marvellous fishing area. Seaweed
covers the rock and lots of fish come to find food there. So all the
fishing boats come and fill their hold to the top with fish, before
they start the joumey home."
The We 're Here sailed past the boats and Disko waved at
many friends. Many questions and answers flew back and
forth. Everybody seemed to know about Harvey, the boy from
the luxury passenger ship.
"Is he a good fisherman yet?" they asked. "Or is he still an
arrogant little rich boy?"
Disko dropped anchor in a good place, and then ali the dories
went out to fish, joining hundreds of other dories near the Virgin
Rock. It was like a competition - everybody wanted the best
place to catch as many fish as possible. You could hear every
language there - Portuguese, Italian, French, Gaelic and more.
Ali the men joked, sang and laughed at each other.
"The whales come here to find food," Dan explained to
Harvey. "When they approach, they blow very hard, and that
pushes all the small fish up to the surface. Then the whales eat
them. The cod love these small fish too, so they also come here,
and we catch the cod. Here they come!"
The sea became cloudy and dark, and then the small fish
rose to the surface together with millions of little air bubbles.
Within seconds, the cod began to jump from the water to catch
their favourite dinner. Then, the dories started to catch the fish
with their nets.
All day long, the dories went back and forth to the boats with
fish. In the evening, the men could hardly keep their eyes open,
but they couldn't go to sleep before they cleaned and salted the
day's catch.
In the evening of the second day, Dan carne to Harvey.

31
 CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS

He was holding a leather

belt with a knife fixed to the
back. The knife hada curious
brass handle.
·'Look at this, Harvey,"
he said. "lsn't it marvellous?
l just bought it from the
captain of a French boat."
"Wow! That's beautiful,"
Harvey said. ''I' 11 give you a
dollar for it, when I get my
salary. No, l'11 give you two
dollars!" The knife had a curious brass handle.
"Do you really like it?" Dan
asked, shyly. "I got it for you, Harvey, because we're friends,
and you ha ven 't got a knife. Will you accept it?"
Harvey was very excited.
"Of course l'11 accept it, Dan," he said. ''I'll keep it for the
rest of my life!"

CHAPTER 11 THE WINNER

On the fourth day, the We're Here hada race with the Parry
Norman for the last few loads of fish. They were so close that
the men on other boats made bets on the winning boat.
But then, a man on the Parry Norman hurt his arm and
couldn't go fishing, so the We're Here went into first place.
"There's no space in the hold for any more fish!" Harvey
said at midday. "It's full now!"
But Disko and Tom Platt pushed the fish down with big
stones, and made space for more.
Early in the morning of the fifth day, Disko declared, "We
can't fit another sardine into the hold!"
All the men cheered happily. Then they started to put up the
main sail, ready to retum home.

32
 THE WINNER

The men on the other boats saw this and started to come to
the We 're Here in their dories, bringing letters for the boat to take
home to their families.
"Good luck to you!" they said. "This is the fifth time Disko's
boat is the first to leave. He's a fine seaman!"
At midday, Disko put up the boat's flag. This was the
privilege of the first boat to leave for home. Then, the We're
Here sailed past all the other boats in a victory parade, with
ali the men waving and cheering. Manuel's accordion and Long
Jack's violin provided the music for the special winner's song.
Men threw the last letters onto the deck, and all the men threw
their caps in the air. lt was time to sail back to Massachusetts.
On the way home, Harvey enjoyed the crashing waves
and the winds pushing the clouds across the sky. He loved the
marvellous red sunrise, the view of moming fog disappearing
in the sun, and the sparkling of the sea in the moonlight. All the
men began to dream about home.
"My mum will come for me," Dan said to Harvey. "I
suppose you'll stay with us until you notify your parents
that your're alive. They can meet you at my house."
"They will be so happy that I'm alive," Harvey answered.
"They must be very sad without you," said Dan. "But soon
everything will be OK. And
l'11 be happy too, because
l'11 see Hattie!"
They were now very
close Harvey could
see Gloucester Harbour,
Massachusetts. A couple of
hours later, Disko led the
We're Here to a pier and
somebody threw them a
rope. Then, Harvey sat down
by the wheel and cried.
Harvey sat down by the wheel and cried.

33
 CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS

CHAPTER 12 MR & MRS CHEYNE TRAVEL EAST

After her son 's tragic disappearance, Mrs Cheyne took the
next ship back to the United States and sent a telegram to her
husband. He immediately travelled to the East Coast to meet hi s
despairing wife. Nothing could console her and he didn ' t know
what to do. He took her to their house in San Diego, on the West
Coast, but he didn't have any energy for work, and he thought
about selling his business.
One Saturday moming in September, Mr Cheyne's assistant
carne running with a telegram in his hand. He looked shocked.
He gave the telegram to Mr Cheyne and his hand trembled.
The telegram said:
I'm alivel A fishing boat saved me. Great
times fishing on the Grand Banks. Ali
is well. Waiting in Gloucester, Mass., at
the house of Disko Troop. Love you both.
Harvey
Mr Cheyne dropped the telegram and tried to breathe deeply.
He couldn't believe it.
He ran upstairs to his wife. "Harvey's alive!" he shouted. "We
gota telegram from him. He's in Gloucester, Massachusetts."
At first, Mrs Cheyne cried because she didn't believe him.
Then she cried because she believed him ! Mr Cheyne embraced
her and cried, too.
"It's a miracle !" they both said. "It's unbelievable!"
"Milsom!" Mr Cheyne shouted down the stairs to h_is
assistant. "We're going to the East Coast. I want a private trarn
to Boston immediately. Get everything ready !"
Milsom immediately started to look at the train timetables.
He wanted to find the fastest route.
"Miss Kinsey " he said to his secretary. "Please seo<l ª
' · the
telegram to Los Angeles. Mr Cheyne's private train carnage,
eonstance, 1s . there. The railwaymen must attac h 1·r to the first
trai n going east."
34 j
,,
 MR & MRS CHEYNE TRAVEL EAST

Miss Kinsey sent the following telegram:

Send private carria.ge with train driver and
sta.ff to San Diego. Prepare to leave Sunday.
Connect in Chicago, Tuesday, far New York.
Attach car to fast train from New York to
Bastan. Must arrive Wednesday! Cheyne

"Milsom!" Mr Cheyne called again. "Please al so send a

telegram to my son. He must meet us in Boston."
Telegrams left and arrived. One arrived from Los Angeles
and another from Chicago.
The workers were confused. What was happening?
Mr and Mrs Cheyne laughed.
"Tell them the truth!" said Mr Cheyne, amused. "Our son is
alive and coming home!
They left San Diego early the next moming. Mrs Cheyne
was so impatient and she didn't want to remove her hat!
"If I keep my hat on my head, the time will seem shorter!"
she exclaimed. "Please tell the train driver to hurry !"
"Try to sleep, my dear," said her husband, trying to calm her.
But he was impatient, too.
In Chicago, somebody threw a newspaper into their carriage.
It had a photograph of Harvey and an interview with their boy.
Mrs Cheyne read every word and was silent for a while.
The joumey from coast to coast was 3,780 km. It took three
days, fifteen and a half hours. Harvey was waiting for them at
the train station.
After a lot of emotion, most people - and all boys - demand
food. The Cheyne family hada great celebration in their prívate
carriage. Harvey ate, drank and told his parents about all his sea
adventures, and his mother held his hand. The trains roared in
and out of the station, but they paid no attention to any of them.
Harvey's skin was darker now, after three months at sea.
His hands were rough and hard, and a smell of fi sh hung on his
clothes.
35
 CAPTAINS CoURAGEOUS

"I worked really hard," Harvey told his p~ents. "I know how
. d clean them put up the satis and steer a boat
to cate h f1s11 an · , . .
d lots of other things. The captatn patd me $10 a month!
... an h 1,,
There's a lot of work in $10 a mont . " . . "'
"I began with $8 a month, my boy, sa1d hts father. I 11 tell
you ali about it one day."
Mr Cheyne looked at his son carefully. ,, . .
"Harvey isn 't the same person any more, he sa1d to h1mself.
"He's a responsible young man now. Disko Troop taught my son
how to become a man. "

CHAPTER 13 MR & MRS CHEYNE MEET IIARVEY'S FRIENDS

After dinner, Mr and Mrs Cheyne were tired and decided to

go to bed.
"I must get up early tomorrow," Harvey said. "I must work.
We must finish removing the fish from the boat and weighing
them. Disko just sold his cargo to the biggest fish-seller in
Gloucester, and I can't let the others work alone. I'm one of
them now."
The next moming, Harvey left at 4 am. His parents went to
the boat later. They wanted to see Harvey working.
Everybody was busy on the We're Here. Disko stood on the
deck, supervising Manuel, Penn and Uncle Salters down in the
hold below. Long Jack and Tom Platt filled baskets with fish. Dan
moved the baskets onto the dock. Harvey was on the dock with the
fish-dealer, weighing the fish and writing in his notebook.
Finally, the hold was empty, it was all over. Harvey went
on deck to give Disko the final numbers, shouting, "Two tons
ninety-seven and we're finished!"
Mr Cheyne was standing near Dan, watching his son. "Who's
that boy?" he asked Dan, his eyes never leaving Harvey's face.
"Well, he's our extra cargo!" Dan answered. "That's Harvey.
We found him in the sea. He fell from a luxury passenger ship,
but now he's a fishem1an."

36
 MR & MRs CHEYNE M EET HARVEY ' s FRIENDS

"Does he earn his salary?" Mrs Cheyne asked , with a smile.

Dan smiled. "You can ask my dad," he said. "He's the
captain. Dad!" he called Disko. "Does Harvey really earn his
salary? This lady wants to know."
"Helio! " Disko called to Mr and Mrs Cheyne. "Do you want
to come up?"
"Come, my dear," Mr Cheyne said to his wife, "let's go on
board, so you can see for yourself."
Mr and Mrs Cheyne went onto the boat.
"So you're interested in Harvey?" Disko asked them.
"Maybe you're looking for a worker. Well, he's a good boy and
he is very obedient. You can see his numbers over there - he's
good at maths."
Disko continued talking about Harvey, but Dan ran below
deck.
"Jack, Jack," he whispered. "Harvey's parents are here and
Dad doesn't realise it's them! His mum's beautiful and bis dad
looks really rich !"
"Wow!" said Long Jack. "So it was ali true! I didn't believe
that Harvey was a millionaire's son."
"Come and see," said Dan. "Dad didn't believe him either .. .
and that was a big mistake!"
Dan and Long Jack ran on deck to listen to the conversation.
They arrivedjust in time to hear Mr Cheyne say, "Well, I'm glad
you're pleased with the boy, because ... he's my son."
Disko's mouth fell open. "Oh my, oh my! " he exclaimed,
looking confused. "Harvey told us sorne stories about bis rich
family, but I thought he was a bit crazy! I'm sorry, Harvey," he
continued, "I didn't believe you."
Harvey laughed. He really liked Disko - he was a wonderful
seaman, but he could also admit his mistakes.
"That's ali right," he said to Disko. "You didn ' t know I was
telling the truth!"
After that, Mrs Cheyne wanted to meet ali the roen on
board, and to thank them for helping her son. She wanted to hug

37
 CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS

Manuel - because he saved her son from the sea. Then she kissed
Dan on both cheeks, and he became very red.
"l heard you were my son's partner and friend," she said to
him. "How can I thank you enough?"
There were tears in Mrs Cheyne's eyes. Dan winked at
Harvey - that's how mothers are, he seemed to say.
"Please," she said, after she dried her eyes. "I would like to
invite you all to have lunch with us in our private train carriage.
Toen you'll believe Harvey isn't crazy!"
Toe men were very happy and they all went to have a
delicious meal in the Constance.
Only Mr Cheyne and Disko remained on the boat, because
Mr Cheyne wanted to speak to the captain of the We 're Here,
man to man.

CHAPTER 14 A NEW BEGINNING

In the cabin of the We're Here, the two fathers sat drinking
strong coffee. They looked at one another with serious
expressions. "I hope Harvey's dad doesn't offer me money,"
Disko thought to himself. He was a proud man.
Mr Cheyne was thinking, "Money can't pay my debt to
Disko. He saved my son's life. Disko is a special person, and
Harvey learned a lot from him. He's now a responsible young
man, instead of the arrogant boy he was in the past."
Toen Mr Cheyne had an idea.
"What are you planning for Dan's future?" he asked Disko.
"Dan will be a seaman, just like me," Disko answered. "And
one day, the We're Here will be his. I'm nota man for railways
like you, Mr Cheyne. Salt water is good enough for us."
"I can give him lots of salt water, and he can work to become
the captain of a big ship," Mr Cheyne said.
"Oh?" said Disko, surprised. "But you're a railway king.
Harvey told me that, but I didn't believe him."
"Well, we all make mistakes," said Mr Cheyne, drinking the

38
•
 A NEW BEGINNING

"What are you planning far Dan s future?" asked Mr Cheyne.

good, strong coffee. "But I also own a fleet of tea-ships. They
go from San Francisco to Yokohama, Japan. I've got six strong
ships made of iron. Each one weighs about 1,700 tons - they're
very saie. "
"Well!" Disko exclaimed. "Harvey didn't tell me that!"
"He didn't know," Mr Cheyne said, with a smile. "I only
bought them this summer - it's the Blue M Shipping Company.
Morgan and McQuade owned them."
"That's incredible!" Disko exclaimed. "I know that company!
My friend, Phil Airheart, went to work for them six years ago!
He worked in the San lose. They're well-made ships, he says."
"Airheart is the captain of the San lose now," Mr Cheyne
said. "Will you lend me Dan for a couple of years? Can you
trust Airheart to teach him ?"
"It's a risk taking such a young boy ... " Disko said,
hesitating.
39
 CAPTAIN S C O URAGEOU S

"You did more than that for me ... " Mr Che y ne answered. " I
promise you , I' 11 take care of your boy, just like you took carc
of mine. l'11 make him work hard, too, to earn hi s money and
promotions - just like you did with Harvey. And you won't be
separated from Dan," he continued. "Whenever you want to see
him, l'11 arrange the journey for you and Mrs Troop. It won't
cost you anything."
Disko thought about it, and then he agreed.
"Dan will be very excited!" he said to Mr Cheyne. "This is a
great opportunity for him!"
"Good! " said Mr Cheyne. "After the winter, l'11 make
arrangements. Dan will come to the West Coast and start work.
Harvey will be excited, too. He and Dan are good friends now,
he told me that."
Harvey was very happy with the news. He wanted to work
on the sea, too. He wasn't interested in the railways.
''1'11 still work with Dan after I finish my studies!" he said to
himself. "So my adventure isn't over."
In the following days, he spent a lot of time with his father -
they were more like friends now.
"Dad, did you make many mistakes in your youth?" Harvey
asked his father during one of their walks in the town.
"Of course I <lid," Mr Cheyne answered. "I made money
and then I lost it. My story is the story of the New West of the
United States. I was an orphan and I'm a self-made man. I
worked with my hands, I rode on horseback, I walked hundreds
of miles on foot, and I became a boss. Then, I lost everything
and started again. I moved from state to state and took any job I
could get. I worked with cattle, mines and other things too, and
I learned all the time. That's the secret. Never give up and never
stop learning."

40
 Two YEARS LATER

EPILOGUE Two YEARS LATER

On the West Coast of America, a young man was walking

through the fog in the evening. Another young man carne
towards him from the opposite direction.
"Hello, Harvey!" said one.
"Hello, Dan!" said Harvey. "I can't believe it's you. What's
new with you?"
"I'm the captain's right-hand man now," Dan told Harvey,
proudly. "And Hattie is coming to visit me soon. She doesn't
hate boys any more - she likes me a lot ! What' s your news
Harvey, did you finish studying yet?"
"Yes, I did," Harvey answered. "And I'm coming into the
business in the autumn."
"On my ship?" Dan asked, quickly.
"Yes!" Harvey answered. "I will be responsible for the
cargo. lt won't be like the We 're Here, but for us it will be like
old times!"
The two young men laughed and shook hands.
"Just like old times," Dan said, "but it's also a new beginning
for both of us! We're going to be fine!"

"It's also a new beginning for both of us!" Dan said.

41