Summary “Captain Grant’s Children” Verna

On June 26, 1864, the crew of the Duncan yacht, owned by Lord Edward Glenarvan, the most prominent member of the Royal Thames Yacht Club and a wealthy Scottish landowner, catches the shark in the Irish Sea, in the belly of which finds a bottle with a note in three languages: English, German and French. The note briefly states that during the collapse of the “British” three rescued – Captain Grant and two sailors, that they landed on some land; the latitude and longitude is indicated, but it is impossible to understand what this longitude is – the figure has blurred. The note says that the rescued are on the thirty-seventh degree of the eleventh minute of the southern latitude. Longitude is unknown. Therefore, to search for Captain Grant and his companions must be somewhere on the thirty-seventh parallel. The British Admiralty refuses to equip the rescue expedition, but Lord Glenarvan and his wife decide to do everything possible to find Captain Grant. They get

acquainted with the children of Harry Grant – sixteen-year-old Mary and twelve-year-old Robert. The yacht is equipped for long voyages, in which the lord’s wife, Helen Glenarvan, a very kind and courageous young woman, and the children of Captain Grant, want to take part. The expedition also involved Major McNabbs, a man of about fifty, modest, silent and good-natured, a close relative of Glenarvan; the thirty-year-old captain of Duncan, John Mangles, a cousin of Glenarvan, a man of courage, kindness, and energy; Assistant Captain Tom Austin, an old sailor who deserves full trust, and twenty-three crew members, all Scots, as well as their master. They get acquainted with the children of Harry Grant – sixteen-year-old Mary and twelve-year-old Robert. The yacht is equipped for long voyages, in which the lord’s wife, Helen Glenarvan, a very kind and courageous young woman, and the children of Captain Grant, want to take part. The expedition also involved Major McNabbs, a man of about fifty, modest, silent and good-natured, a close relative of Glenarvan; the thirty-year-old captain of Duncan, John Mangles, a cousin of Glenarvan, a man of courage, kindness, and energy; Assistant Captain Tom Austin, an old sailor who deserves full trust, and twenty-three crew members, all Scots, as well as their master. They get acquainted with the children of Harry Grant – sixteen-year-old Mary and twelve-year-old Robert. The yacht is equipped for long voyages, in which the lord’s wife, Helen Glenarvan, a very kind and courageous young woman, and the children of Captain Grant, want to take part. The expedition also involved Major McNabbs, a man of about fifty, modest, silent and good-natured, a close relative of Glenarvan; the thirty-year-old captain of Duncan, John Mangles, a cousin of Glenarvan, a man of courage, kindness, and energy; Assistant Captain Tom Austin, an old sailor who deserves full trust, and twenty-three crew members, all Scots, as well as their master. a very kind and courageous young woman, and the children of Captain Grant. The expedition also involved Major McNabbs, a man of about fifty, modest, silent and good-natured, a close relative of Glenarvan; the thirty-year-old captain of Duncan, John Mangles, a cousin of Glenarvan, a man of courage, kindness, and energy; Assistant Captain Tom Austin, an old sailor who deserves full trust, and twenty-three crew members, all Scots, as well as their master. a very kind and courageous young woman, and the children of Captain Grant. The expedition also involved Major McNabbs, a man of about fifty, modest, silent and good-natured, a close relative of Glenarvan; the thirty-year-old captain of Duncan, John Mangles, a cousin of Glenarvan, a man of courage, kindness, and energy; Assistant Captain Tom Austin, an old sailor who deserves full trust, and twenty-three crew members, all Scots, as well as their master.

August 25, “Duncan” goes to sea from Glasgow. The next day it turns out that there is another passenger on board. They are the secretary of the Paris Geographical Society Frenchman Jacques Paganel. In his characteristic absent-mindedness, he, the day before the departure of Duncan, confused the ships (for he wanted to sail to India on the ship “Scotland”), climbed into the cabin and slept there exactly exactly thirty-six hours to better transfer the pitching, and did not go on deck until second day of travel. When Paganel learns that he is sailing to South America instead of India, he is first covered by despair, but then, learning about the purpose of the expedition, he decides to make changes in his plans and swim with everyone.

After crossing the Atlantic Ocean and passing through the Strait of Magellan, Duncan is in the Pacific Ocean and heads to the shores of Patagonia, where, according to some assumptions, the message was first interpreted like this: Captain Grant languishes in captivity with the Indians.

Duncan’s passengers – Lord Glenarvan, Major McNabbs, Paganel, Robert and three sailors – land on the west coast of Patagonia, while Helen Glenarvan and Mary, under the tutelage of John Mangles, remain on a sailboat that must round the continent and wait for travelers on the east coast, at Cape Corrientes.

Glenarvan and his companions pass through the whole of Patagonia, following the thirty-seventh parallel. In this journey, incredible adventures take place with them. During the earthquake in Chile, Robert disappears. A few days of searching end badly – a child can not be found anywhere. When a small detachment, having lost all hope of finding it, is already about to set off, travelers suddenly see a condor, which in its powerful paws carries Robert and begins to soar with him into the skies. McNabbs already wants to shoot a bird when suddenly someone else’s shot is ahead of him. The wounded bird, like a parachute, on its mighty wings down Robert. It turns out that this shot produced a native named Talcave. He becomes their guide through the plains of Argentina, and in the future also a true friend.

In the pampas, travelers are threatened with death from thirst. Talcave, Glenarvan and Robert, whose horses are not yet very tired, go in search of water and outstrip the others. At the river at night they are attacked by a flock of red wolves. Three travelers are threatened with imminent death. Then Robert jumps on the fleet-footed Tauka, Talkawa’s horse, and, at the risk of being torn by wolves, carries the flock away from Glenarvan and Talcave. He manages to avoid death. He joins the Paganel group and meets again in the morning with the rescued Glenarvan and Talcave.

Soon after, in the lowland the detachment will survive the flooding because of the flooding of rivers. Putnikam manages to climb a sprawling nut tree, which the brown stream could not tear out of the ground. On it they arrange a halt, even they make a fire. At night, the hurricane nevertheless pulls out a tree, and on it people manage to swim out on land.

Paganel comes up with the idea that originally Captain Grant’s note was misinterpreted and that it was not about Patagonia, but about Australia. He very convincingly convinces the others of the correctness of his conclusion, and the travelers decide to return to the ship to continue their voyage to the shores of Australia. So they do.

They examine, but in vain, the two islands lying along the way – Tristan da Cunha and Amsterdam. Then, “Duncan” is approaching Cape Bernoulli, located on the Australian coast. Glenarvan landed on land. A few miles from the shore stands the farm of an Irishman, who hospitably welcomes travelers. Lord Glenarvan tells the Irishman what brought him to these parts, and asks if he has any information about the English three-mast ship “Britain”, which crashed about two years ago somewhere off the western coast of Australia.

The Irishman never heard of a drowned ship, but, to the great surprise of all those present, one of his employees, named Ayrton, interferes into the conversation. He states that if Captain Grant is still alive, he is on Australian soil. His documents and the story certify that he served as a boatswain on the “Britain”. Ayrton says that he lost sight of the captain at a time when the ship crashed against the coastal reefs. Until now, he was convinced that from the whole team of “Britain” he had only escaped. True, Ayrton claims that the ship did not crash near the western coasts but off the eastern coast of Australia, and if Captain Grant is still alive, as evidenced by the note, he is in captivity with the natives somewhere on the east coast.

Ayrton speaks with an attractive sincerity. In his words it is difficult to doubt. In addition, the Irishman, for whom he served, vouches for him. Lord Glenarvan believes Ayrton and, on his advice, decides to cross Australia on the thirty-seventh parallel. Glenarvan, his wife, the children of Captain Grant, the major, the geographer, Captain Mangle and several sailors, gathered in a small detachment, set off on the road led by Ayrton. “Duncan”, which received some damage in the case, is heading for Melbourne, where it is planned to carry out repairs. The crew of the yacht, led by Captain Tom Austin’s assistant there, must await the orders of Glenarvan.

Women leave in a wagon harnessed by six bulls, and men – on horseback. During the trip, travelers travel past gold-bearing mines, admire the Australian flora and fauna. Initially, the journey takes place in fairly comfortable conditions, along a populated area. However, one of the horses breaks the horseshoe. Ayrton goes after the blacksmith, and he puts a new horseshoe with a shamrock – a sign of the cattle breeding site Black Point. Soon a small detachment is already on its way. Travelers are witnessing the results of a crime committed on the Kemden Bridge. All the cars, except for the last one, collapsed into the river due to the fact that the rails were not brought together. The last car was robbed, scorched mutilated corpses were lying around everywhere. The police are inclined to believe,

Soon Ayrton leads a detachment into the forest. Travelers are forced to stop indefinitely, because in front of them there is a stormy river that can be forded only when it returns to normal. In the meantime, because of an incomprehensible disease, all bulls and horses perish, except for that which was shoed by a shamrock. One evening, Major McNabbs sees some people in the shade of the trees. Without telling a word to anybody, he goes to the reconnaissance. It turns out that these are convicts; he creeps up to them and eavesdrops on their conversation, from which it becomes evident that Ben Joyce and Ayrton are one person, and his gang stayed with him around the whole journey of Glenarvan’s detachment along the mainland, focusing on the horse’s track from the horseshoe of Black Point. Returning to his friends, the major for the time being does not tell them about his discovery. Ayrton persuades Lord Glenarvan to order Duncan from Melbourne to go to the east coast, where the bandits would easily take possession of the yacht. The traitor is almost handed an order to the assistant captain, but then the major expose him and Ayrton has to flee. Before he disappears, he will wound Glenarvan in his hand. After a while, the travelers decide to send another messenger to Melbourne. Instead of the wounded Glenarvan, the order is written by Paganel. One of the sailors goes on a journey. However, Ben Joyce seriously injures the sailor, takes his letter from him and goes to Melbourne himself. His gang crosses the river on a bridge that is nearby, and then burns it so that Glenarvan can not use it. The detachment waits for the river level to drop, then he builds a raft and crosses the raft through a calm river. After reaching the coast, Glenarvan understands that Ben Joyce’s gang has already captured “Duncan” and, after interrupting the team, went on it in an unknown direction. Everyone comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to stop the search, because there is nothing to accomplish, and to return to Europe. However, it turns out that the ship, going to Europe, may have to wait a very long time. Then travelers decide to swim to Auckland, which is in New Zealand: from there the flights to Europe are regular. In a small boat with an eternally drunk captain and sailors, after experiencing a storm, during which the ship sails, Glenarvan and his friends nevertheless reach the shores of New Zealand. after interrupting the team, went on it in an unknown direction. Everyone comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to stop the search, because there is nothing to accomplish, and to return to Europe. However, it turns out that the ship, going to Europe, may have to wait a very long time. Then travelers decide to swim to Auckland, which is in New Zealand: from there the flights to Europe are regular. In a small boat with an eternally drunk captain and sailors, after experiencing a storm, during which the ship sails, Glenarvan and his friends nevertheless reach the shores of New Zealand. after interrupting the team, went on it in an unknown direction. Everyone comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to stop the search, because there is nothing to accomplish, and to return to Europe. However, it turns out that the ship, going to Europe, may have to wait a very long time. Then travelers decide to swim to Auckland, which is in New Zealand: from there the flights to Europe are regular. In a small boat with an eternally drunk captain and sailors, after experiencing a storm, during which the ship sails, Glenarvan and his friends nevertheless reach the shores of New Zealand. that in New Zealand: from there the flights to Europe are regular. In a small boat with an eternally drunk captain and sailors, after experiencing a storm, during which the ship sails, Glenarvan and his friends nevertheless reach the shores of New Zealand. that in New Zealand: from there the flights to Europe are regular. In a small boat with an eternally drunk captain and sailors, after experiencing a storm, during which the ship sails, Glenarvan and his friends nevertheless reach the shores of New Zealand.

There they are captured by the cannibalistic natives who are going to kill them. However, thanks to Robert’s ingenuity, they manage to escape from captivity. A few days later they reach the east coast of New Zealand and see a pie at the shore, and a little further – a group of natives. The travelers sit in a pie, but the natives pursue them in several boats. The travelers are in despair. After what they had to survive in captivity, they prefer to die, but do not give up. Suddenly, in the distance, Glenarvan sees “Duncan” with his own crew on board, which helps him to break away from his pursuers. Travelers are puzzled why “Duncan” is located on the eastern shores of New Zealand. Tom Austin shows an order written by the hand of scattered Paganel, who instead of writing “Australia”, wrote “New Zealand”. Due to Paganel’s mistake, Ayrton’s plans collapsed. He decided to rebel. He was locked up. In addition to his will, Ayrton sails on the Duncan along with those he wanted to deceive.

Glenarvan tries to convince Ayrton to give true information about the death of Britain. The repeated requests and persistence of Lady Glenarvan do their job. Ayrton agrees to tell everything he knows, and in exchange for this he asks that he be dropped off on some uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. Glenarvan accepts his offer. It turns out that Ayrton left the “Britannia” before the crash. He was landed by Harry Grant in Australia for attempting to organize a mutiny. The history of Ayrton does not shed any light on the whereabouts of Captain Grant. However, Glenarvan keeps his word. “Duncan” floats farther, and here in the distance is shown the island of Tabor. On it and decided to leave Ayrton. However, on this scrap of land, lying on the thirty-seventh parallel, a miracle happens: it turns out that it was here that Captain Grant and his two sailors found shelter. Instead, Ayrton remains on the island to be able to repent and atone for their crimes. Glenarvan promises that someday he will return.

A “Duncan” safely returns to Scotland. Mary Grant soon becomes engaged to John Mangles, with whom during her joint journey she was bound by a tender feeling. Paganel marries the major’s cousin. Robert, like his father, becomes a brave sailor.