Peter Duck Trivia Quiz

Answer: An old seaman

Peter Duck is an elderly retired able-bodied seaman who hangs around the Inner Harbour at Lowestoft. When Uncle Jim's friend who was to accompany the Swallows and Amazons on their sea-journey cannot make the trip, Peter Duck offers to sail with them in his place.

It is his story about watching pirates bury a treasure when he was a young sailor that inspires them to sail to the Caribbean in search of the treasure.

Answer: Lowestoft

Lowestoft lies at the mouth of the River Waveney system in Suffolk. It was traditionally a fishing town, but now depends more on tourism. The ports at Harwich and Felixstowe form the setting of "We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea", and Great Yarmouth figures in "Coot Club". Ramsgate, unlike the other choices, does not lie in East Anglia but in Kent.

Answer: Viper

All four ships appear in Ransome's books. "Scarab" is the name of the Callums' boat in "The Picts and the Martyrs", "Sea Bear" appears in "Great Northern", and "Goblin" is the name of Jim Brading's boat in "We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea". "Viper" is owned and captained by the appropriately named villain, Black Jake.

Answer: Bill

Bill is the red-haired cabin boy from the Viper, who has been purposely set adrift in a dinghy with a foghorn to fool the crew of the Wild Cat as to the whereabouts of the Viper. Bill will become an important part of the crew of the Wild Cat. At the close of the story Peter Duck adopts Bill and takes him to live with his daughter in Beccles.

Answer: Madeira

The natural way for a sailing ship to travel from England to the Caribbean is to sail south-southwest to the Canaries and Madeira and from there take the North-East Trades across the Atlantic. As they approach Madeira, the Viper is spotted in the distance and they decide to sail directly across the Atlantic to shake off their pursuers.

Answer: Crab Island

All these islands appear in the "Swallows and Amazon" stories. "Wild Cat Island" is where the Swallows camp in "Swallows and Amazons" and provides the name of their schooner in this adventure, "Cormorant Island" is also in that story, while "Mastodon Island" is part of the geography in "Secret Water". What Peter Duck remembers most of all about the island is that there were crabs everywhere, hence the name.

Answer: Bill

After days of sailing across the Atlantic, they finally sight land. Bill's usual post was the top of the foremast and thus he is the first to glimpse the island low on the horizon. In his honour the anchorage on the west side of the island is named "Bill's Landing".

Answer: Underneath a tall palm tree near the eastern shore

Peter Duck as a cabin-boy survived a shipwreck and landed on the eastern shore of Crab Island. There he survived on spring water, coconuts, and crabs, taking refuge from the crabs at night in a palm tree. From there he watched two seamen burying a box at the foot of his tree.

Answer: Earthquake

The crew of the Wild Cat watch as a bright copper-coloured cloud advances from the south, bringing a stinging dust-storm and fierce winds, and finally an earthquake shakes the island. They find when they emerge that many palm trees have been brought down by the force of the storm, exposing a box among the roots of the tallest tree.

The box is found to contain bags of various sorts of pearls.

Answer: A waterspout engulfs the pursuers' ship

As they flee the island with treasure, pursued by the Viper, the trade-winds drop, their engine fails, and the Viper gets closer and closer. A black cloud on the western horizon develops into a waterspout which overwhelms the pursuing ship. Through the telescope Roger sees the ship swept up into the funnel of the waterspout.