Alone on a Wide
Wide Sea
michael morpurgo
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2006 HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 77–85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
Copyright © Michael Morpurgo 2006
Michael Morpurgo asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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Source ISBN:
EBook Edition © 2006 ISBN: 9780007369980 Version: 2014-10-02
To Lula Léa and Clare, who helped make this book with me.
My thanks to Alex Whitworth and Peter Crozier, mariners extraordinaire and quite ancient too, whose emails while circumnavigating the world in their yacht Berrimilla in 2004 informed and inspired this story. Thanks also to Graham Barrett and Isabella Whitworth for all their wonderful help and encouragement. And of course I mustn’t forget Samuel Taylor Coleridge…
Contents
Part One: The Story of Arthur Hobhouse
Arthur Hobhouse is a Happening
Three Red Funnels and an Orchestra
Kookaburras, Cockatoos and Kangaroos
Cooper’s Station and Piggy Bacon and God’s Work
“Did We Have the Children Here for This?”
“For She’s a Jolly Good Fellow”
“Couple of Raggedy Little Scarecrows”
Scrambled Eggs and Baked Beans
Part Two: The Voyage of the Kitty Four
What Goes Around, Comes Around
Two Send-offs, and an Albatross
Jelly Blobbers and Red Hot Chili Peppers