In Search of the Castaways Trivia Quiz

Answer: note in a bottle

Mary Grant is played by the original Disney princess, Hayley Mills. The Professor, played by Maurice Chevalier, is the catalyst for the expedition after recovering the note in the bottle from the stomach of a Mako shark.

Answer: walking up the gangplank backwards

The Professor's theory is that the guards will be confused with all the people exiting the ship and not question if Mary and Robert are coming or going. It works, and the siblings hide in the dining room under the party table.

Answer: South America

If I recall, they specifically head to the Andes mountains where the Professor is sure Captain Grant is being held by Indians.

Answer: earthquakes

Unable to speak their language (although the Professor is completely sure he knows what they mean), the guides attempt to motion "shaking" from an earthquake. The Professor, in an attempt to keep Lord Glenarvan continued in the search, lies to him and tells him the guides mean "extreme cold."

Answer: condor

Robert is snatched from a snowy mountain by a condor who is intending to feed him to its young. Robert is saved by an Indian, Thalcave, who shoots the condor in a special way that makes it spiral slowly down to the ground.

Answer: climb a giant tree

The searchers scramble into the branches of a massive tree, almost losing Lord Glenarvan who is the last to make it. Thalcave leaves to get help and the searchers spend days in their tree, fishing, eating bird eggs, and caring for Lord Glenarvan who ends up with a cold.

Answer: Mako shark

The Professor says that Mako sharks are only found in the waters of the Indian Ocean. This isn't exactly true, but you might not notice this as a kid watching the movie. Mako sharks are commonly found in warmer waters, including the Indian Ocean, but they are also found in other warmer waters, such as within the Gulf of Mexico.

For the purpose of this story, the note in the bottle in the Mako shark's stomach made reference to "Indians". This leads the Professor to select New Zealand as the only other place in the Indian ocean it could be, as the Australian Indians are called Aborigines.

Answer: gun running

Averton leaves the searchers in a dingy on the open ocean and he makes off with Lord Glenarvan's ship. The Professor realizes that the natural ocean currents will take them eventually to New Zealand where Captain Grant may be alive. Unfortunately, the Indians on the island shores are hostile, capturing the searchers and imprisoning them in a hut with a half-crazed captive, Bill Gaye.

Answer: swinging Robert by his ankles to safety

Robert is threaded through a small window and swung like a pendulum with a rope bound to his ankles until he is able to reach land. At the time, the Indians are busy performing ritual dances and do not notice until all the searchers have left the jail cell and climbed down a rope to the base of the cliff. The Indians try to follow, but Bill Gaye lights the rope on fire from the bottom.

Answer: Bill Gaye

The children were sure that the note in the bottle was written in their father's hand. However, Bill Gaye admits the reason that he went to sea was that he was a master forger and had put the note in the bottle that was eventually swallowed by a Mako shark, which was eventually found by a fisherman who gave it to the Professor.