Book Review: Those Snake Island Kids

A modern take on Arthur Ransome’s "Swallows and Amazons"

Article by Jennifer Muscott

WHEN TASMANIAN resident Holly Puckering introduced herself as new DCA member #4071 in our Journal Dinghy Cruising, she wrote:

“There are no local dinghy cruising clubs where we are, so a number of like-minded families have banded together and created a social group called The Snake Island Dinghy Cruising Club. The club is named firstly after Snake Island off North Bruny Island, which is south of Hobart. The second reason for the name is that one of our members, Jon Tucker, has written a children’s book called Those Snake Island Kids. Jon writes :

Although this is essentially a work of fiction, it is based on true events and real places. Snake Island exists, uninhabited, exactly as on Jess’s (one of the characters) maps. The historical details are accurate, treasure hunters are still looking for the missing gold, and even the story of a group of teenage campers being marooned during a storm is real…”  Read on.

2nd edition 9 Sept. 2018

Paperback : 172 pages

ISBN-10 0980835348

ISBN-13 978-0980835342

Measures 6 inches x 0.7 x 8.75 inches

“JAKE HAD BUILT HIS OWN PIRATE SHIP and tomorrow would be sailing it to a deserted island. At least he hoped it would be deserted. Not like last time, when there was a mob of kayakers having a picnic. It was only a little ship, but when you are twelve you don’t need a particularly big boat. He had once been told that any sailing boat deserved to be called a ship, even just a small Optimist sailing dinghy like his.”

So begins this modern take on Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons. It is set in the southeast of Tasmania and features a family who sail in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. They have an H28 yacht which they use regularly to explore the sheltered waters that lie between Bruny Island and the mainland. On this occasion the destination is Snake Island, which lies just off the west coast of Bruny Island. The three children, Jake, Jess and Fin, are to be allowed to camp ashore alone, but even more excitingly, Jake is going to sail himself there in the little Optimist he has just built. This will be her maiden voyage and the longest he has undertaken but happily he is being escorted by his parents on the family yacht.

Jake had decided to call himself Black Jake, Terror of the Channel but halfway across the channel he did not feel quite so brave! The boat needed bailing, the spray had washed sunscreen in his eyes, his hand was cramped from gripping the tiller so tightly and his lifejacket was scratching the back of his neck. This kind of detail, which can be found throughout the book, makes it seem very realistic and familiar to anyone who sails a small boat and is still learning the ropes. They all arrive safely at Snake Island and the children’s adventure begins.

Fin is mad keen on fishing so spends every moment he can doing that. Jess is determined to map the island to practise her navigation skills and Jake plans to hunt for buried treasure. As you might expect, the storyline evolves so that the children are properly marooned without their parents to hand, and there is a grumpy adult who accuses them of things they haven’t done. However, new friends are made when another family anchor their yacht nearby and their children are allowed to join the island camp.

The excitement builds when they see a stranger wandering about the island with a map and a gun. What could he be up to? Then a storm rolls in and the other parents have to find a safer anchorage quickly.

No time to get the children back to the yacht.

“Of course we are all right,” the children tell them, thanks to the modern wonders of VHF radio and a mobile phone. No spare battery packs though, which adds to the tension! The stranger turns out to be completely friendly and on an environmental mission to save some small birds that inhabit the island from the ravages of feral cats. The storm brings much drama to their final night on the island and Jake becomes a hero by sailing his little dinghy across to Bruny Island to fetch help for the conservationist, who has been injured.

It is a splendid story full of sailing interest and realistic excitement. The publishers quite rightly suggest the book is suitable for the age range 9-99 years. As in Ransome’s books, the challenges faced by the children bring out their individual strengths and they find that together they are able to overcome them. The book is extremely well written and is enhanced by Jon Tucker’s hand-drawn illustrations and maps. However, you will probably find yourself reaching for an atlas or Google Maps to understand the geography and context of the story better and end up knowing more about this corner of Tasmania than you did before! —JM

Jon and Barbara Tucker on New Zealand Maid in Otago Boat Harbour, taken by Linda Robertson for the Otago Times

The author

Jon and Barbara Tucker have spent forty years of voyaging and living on board their gaff ketch New Zealand Maid, and raising five sons in the process. They started building her when they were teenage sweethearts living next door to each other. Now they live partly on their ketch and partly in their Eco house on a Tasmanian Island.

A short video of Jon (as cabin boy!) and his sons sailing Snow Petrel into Antarctic waters can be easily accessed on Amazon. •SCA•