One morning in spring 1942, U-boats from the German Navy attack tankers bringing oil from Lake Maracaibo in nearby Venezuela to Curaçao and its refineries. Life on the island, which had been somewhat idyllic despite the war, begins to change as the U-boat remains offshore and no shipping will come without a naval escort, which the U.S. cannot yet provide. Eleven-year-old Phillip Enright's parents are divided whether to stay on the island or not. His father, an expert in producing aviation gasoline, works at the refinery for Royal Dutch Shell and cannot leave. However, his mother wants to return to her native Virginia.
After the spectacular sinking of a British tanker, his parents decided that Phillip and his mother will leave. Phillip would prefer to stay but has no choice. They risk a passage on a Dutch freighter bound first for Panama and then Miami, even though Phillip's father advises them to fly, Philip's Mother declines because she is scared of flying.
Off the coast of Panama, the freighter is torpedoed, and Phillip is knocked unconscious and separated from his mother by the ship's boom while trying to escape. He wakes up four hours later to find he has been rescued by an old black sailor named Timothy and is sharing a raft with him and Stew Cat, who had belonged to the ship's cook.
Timothy builds a shelter on the raft by using of their clothing and catches flying fish to eat. Since Phillip's mother is prejudiced against black people, and has passed some of those attitudes on to her son, Phillip is wary of Timothy despite his kindness and resents that Timothy treats him like a small child.
After several days, Phillip's head injury causes him to go blind, forcing him to rely on Timothy for his own survival. They eventually find land, an uncharted cay in the dangerous reef area called Devil's Mouth, where they live for many months.
During the stay on the cay, Phillip comes to realize that his prejudice against black people is wrong, and he becomes friends with Timothy. Timothy becomes sick with malaria, and the pair must deal with a hurricane that passes across the island. The storm had torn apart the eighty year old Timothy and slowly but surely Timothy died. However a couple weeks later Phillip is rescued by a boat. Phillip has surgery to his head and when the bandages come off he can see again.
2007-08-25
10:50:41
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5 answers
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asked by
Betty D
1