Capitanes intrépidos (1896)

A classic coming of age story, set at sea. It's a simple timeless classic full of the prejudices of the era and the author but still well deserving to be read. ( )

A spoiled, rich boy falls overboard and is rescued by a New England fishing vessel. Not believing his tales of his father’s wealth and promises of reward, the vessel’s captain continues with his season. The crew teaches the boy the value of hard work, the pride to be found in jobs well done, and help him learn his own worth is not tied to any worldly wealth.

Upon their return to home port, the young man is reunited with his parents, where his formerly distant father sees him in a new light and his mother is no longer allowed to shelter him from life.

An enjoyable tale that reminds me how much I like Kipling as an author. ( )

This book is not one that I read when I was young, but I wish I would have. This is another rip-roaring adventure written by none other than the great Rudyard Kipling. This book is an amazing sea story, but it is so much more. It is also a great coming-of-age story about a young 15 year-old boy by the name of Harvey Cheyne. Everything in Harvey's short life up to now is all opulence and excesses. His father is a multi-millionaire who denies his only child nothing. His life is like a fairy-tale, but it has taught Harvey nothing about being a man, having to work for a living, or how to get along with other men and boys and certainly not taught him to be unselfish and caring. When he falls overboard from a big ship into the Atlantic ocean, and then is picked up by a man who can hardly speak English and is taken to a fishing boat called the We're Here, Harvey's education begins. On this little fishing boat Harvey meets some life-long friends, and a captain who will teach him all he needs to know to be a man. So begins Harvey's life lessons. He will learn to "wet his salt" before the journey is done. The captain's son Don becomes Harvey's best friend and mentor, and in the three months he spends on the We're Here, he learns a heap about fishing off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. And all is told in Rudyard Kipling's wonderful language and his beautiful descriptive writing. I have always been fond of all manner of sea stories, and loved to read about ships and boats throughout the ages, but I think I got to know the little We're Here better than in most of my sea stories. That is Rudyard Kipling's talent. He makes everything come alive in his stories. The local dialect was a bit difficult to grasp at first, but the men on board this little fishing boat came alive to me. It is so good to read an old classic once in a while. Nothing can bring me out of a reading slump like a book like this can. Perfect! ( )

This classic seafaring coming-of-age tale takes place in 1897 in the North Atlantic. Harvey Cheyne, fifteen-year-old son of a millionaire railroad tycoon, is soft, rich and spoiled. While on vacation with his mother, he gets seasick and falls overboard the ocean liner. Coming to, he finds himself on a pile of dead fish in a fishing dory, saved by a Portuguese fisherman. He is brought to the We're Here, a Gloucester schooner. Captain Disko Troop doesn't believe his far-fetched tales of money and grandeur, instead thinking he hit his head when he fell and was crazy. With nothing but the clothes on his back, inadequate as they were for the job at hand, Harvey is forced to work for his food and passage until the fishing season ends and the ship returns home.

I loved this well-written classic tale, and the message it contains. The only thing about it to complain of is the ill-fitting title, which does not do the book justice. For the longest time before reading the book, I was under the impression it was about courageous captains, not a rich-boy learning what it's like to work. Five stars. ( )

I was coming of age (1962) ... whatever that means. So this book was appropriate. Plot is simple: spoiled, rich 15-year-old boy pulled from sea onto fishing schooner. He leaves the boat as a man. Dialogue was a bit challenging with fishermen lingo but I got through it. Good book with good message.

Quote from one of my favorite and important books I have read:

“Like many other unfortunate young people, Harvey had never in all his life received a direct order—never, at least, without long, and sometimes tearful, explanations of the advantages of obedience and the reasons for the request.” ( )