“A sailor chooses the wind that takes the ship from a safe
port. Ah, yes, but once you're abroad, as you have seen, winds have a mind of
their own. Be careful, Charlotte, careful of the wind you choose.”
I first found The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (by Avi, published 1991) in one of the flimsy plastic spinner racks in the Young Adult section of the public library in Grand Island, Nebraska. It was a paperback with a drawing of Charlotte standing confidently on the deck of an old wooden ship, wearing a blue and white dress, her dark brown hair tossed by the wind.
Charlotte started her journey on the shores of Liverpool, England in the summer of 1832. She had just completed her final years at an all-girls finishing school. She was to sail across the Atlantic, and meet her parents and younger siblings in Boston.
Once aboard, she immediately became very good friends with the man in charge: Captain Jaggery. Despite the common belief of a woman being bad luck at sea, he welcomed her, and treated her as a friend. He never tired of telling Charlotte everything about his vessel, the Seahawk.
He told her to inform him of any mutinous activity she saw on board the ship.
She also befriended a kind crewmember, Zachariah, and he gave her a dagger, for her protection. (She was the only female on board the ship.)
Charlotte was blinded initially, to who the captain truly was, "Not even the same lowering mist I'd observed when I first came from my cabin could dampen my soaring spirits. Captain Jaggery was a brilliant sun and I, a Juno moon, basked in reflected glory."
But she soon discovered that he was a cruel and evil man. He whipped Zachariah so badly that he died.
For some reason (I don't quite remember what it was) Charlotte is seen by the Jaggery as being the cause of Zachariah's death. Jaggery declared that Charlotte had to take his place among the crew.
In order to prove her worthiness to everyone, she had to climb the highest mast on the ship, and return to the deck without falling into the sea, or smashing to her death on the deck below.
She accomplished this task, slowly, narrowly escaping with her life. But she did it, she never gave up.
The captain angrily tossed her belongings below deck to the crew quarters. It was dark and wet and smelly. They slept next to the cargo. The crew created a tiny corner with some old canvas so that she had some privacy.
From that day forward, Charlotte was a crew member. It was extremely tough work. They taught her how to repair the sales, how to coil the ropes, how to use her knife. She learned to climb to every spot on the ship. She was sunburned. She chopped off her long unruly hair. The ropes ran nimbly through her hands, taking her skin with it. She started wearing their old clothes. She got used to functioning on very little sleep. She became one of them. She proved her worth many times over, and was fully accepted into their ranks.
She grew stronger. She developed her own strength, both in her body, and in her mind.
A hurricane hit, and amid the chaos and hubbub, Charlotte saw someone she recognized. It was Zachariah. She hadn't known it, but he had been hiding in the brig, ever since his horrible lashing.
Most of them lived through the hurricane. The ship was badly damaged, but they were still alive. Most of them.
Someone had stabbed Mr. Hollybrass, the first mate, during the storm. His cold and lifeless body was discovered near the Captain's quarters. Charlotte's dagger was lodged deep in his chest.
There was a trial.
There was a mutiny.
Captain Jaggery chased Charlotte around the Seahawk, attempting to kill her because she had taken part in the mutiny. There was a sea swell, the ship dipped into the dark water; the jolt knocked Jaggery off the deck and into the sea. She made a feeble attempt to rescue him.
But he was lost.
The crew voted unanimously for her to become their new captain. She accepted graciously. But since she didn't have the practical knowledge needed, Zachariah became her first mate.
When the ship arrived safely in the Boston harbor, (in order to return to her previously "normal" life) Charlotte found some of her dresses, and put one on. Her family made disparaging remarks about the horrid state of her work-worn hands, her chopped hair, and the untidiness of her clothing. In the early morning hours of her first day home with her family, she quietly removed her dress, and her corset; she put on the clothes she'd worn on the ship, and sneaked out.
She returned to the harbor, to the Seahawk, her home.
As in most of my favorite books, Charlotte provides a strong female character - a strong, transforming female character. She started her journey as a young, naive, helpless schoolgirl, and she emerged on the other side, stronger, resilient, and independent. She transformed who she was supposed to be. Rather, I think she always was that person: through the trials and adventures she experienced, she became who she really was.
"But before I begin relating what happened, you must know
something about me as I was in the year 1832 - when these events transpired. At
the time my name was Charlotte Doyle. And though I have kept the name, I am not
– for reasons you will soon discover – the same Charlotte Doyle."
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