Captains Courageous is an 1897 novel, by Rudyard Kipling, that follows the adventures of fifteen year old Harvey Cheyne Jr., the arrogant and spoiled son of a railroad tycoon. Washed overboard from a transatlantic steamship and rescued by fishermen on the Grand Banks, Harvey cannot persuade them to take him ashore, nor convince them of his wealth. However, the Captain of the We're Here, Disko Troop, offers him a job as part of the crew until they return to port. With no other choice, Harvey accepts. See also: 1896 in literature, other events of 1897, 1898 in literature, list of years in literature. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... This article is about the British author. ... This is the top-level page of WikiProject trains Rail tracks Rail transport refers to the land transport of passengers and goods along railways or railroads. ... Categories: Stub ... Map showing the Grand Banks Historic map of the Grand Banks. ...

There follows a series of trials and adventures where the boy learns to adjust to his rough new life, and with the help of his friend, the captain's son, Dan Troop, he makes fine progress. Eventually, the schooner returns to port and Harvey wires his parents. They rush to the fishing town and find to their amazement that their child has become an industrious, serious and considerate young man. Two-masted fishing schooner A schooner (IPA: ) is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts. ...

Harvey's mother rewards the seaman who initially rescued Harvey and Harvey's father rewards Captain Troop by hiring Dan to work on his prestigious tea clipper fleet. As for Harvey, his father is delighted at his son's new maturity and their relationship dramatically improves even as Harvey decides to begin his career with his father's shipping lines. A model of a vessel of the clipper type, the four-masted barque named Belle Étoile A clipper was a very fast multiple-masted sailing ship of the 19th century. ...

Disko Troop got his forename because he was born on board his fathers ship when it was iced in near Disko Island on the west coast of Greenland. A given name specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name. ... Disko Island lies off the west coast of Greenland in Davis Strait at a latitude of less than 70° North, and to the north of Disko Bay. ...

Features that may confuse younger readers

• A massive amount of non-standard English spelling, used to represent dialect speech in the conversations.
• Words used in obsolete uses: e.g. "trawl" to mean "long-lining".
• As with some other of Kipling's books, "nigger" used many times without being derogatory.
• "Troops" used to mean "Disko Troop's family" rather than "soldiers".

A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language characteristic of a particular group of the languages speakers. ... Categories: Fisheries science | Fishing | Stub ... Long-lining is a type of commercial fishing using a very long line with many baited hooks attached along its length. ... // Nigger is a racial slur used to refer to dark-skinned people, especially those of African ancestry. ... A word or phrase is pejorative or derogatory (sometimes misspelled perjorative) if it expresses contempt or disapproval; dyslogistic (noun: dyslogism) is used synonymously (antonyms: meliorative, eulogistic, noun eulogism). ... Modern soldiers. ...

Influences

• Mentions of elephants were likeliest derived from Kipling's experiances in India.
• In the text "the great green closed over him, and he went quietly to sleep", "the great green" is an Ancient Egyptian name for the open sea.

Genera and Species Loxodonta Loxodonta cyclotis Loxodonta africana Elephas Elephas maximus Elephas antiquus † Elephas beyeri † Elephas celebensis † Elephas cypriotes † Elephas ekorensis † Elephas falconeri † Elephas iolensis † Elephas planifrons † Elephas platycephalus † Elephas recki † Stegodon † Mammuthus † Elephantidae (the elephants) is a family of pachyderm, and the only remaining family in the order Proboscidea... Rudyard Kipling, British author Joseph Rudyard Kipling (December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936) was a British author and poet, born in India. ... Map of Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt was the civilization of the Nile Valley between about 3000 BC and the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. As a civilization based on irrigation it is the quintessential example of an hydraulic empire. ...

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

In 1937, Louis D. Lighton produced a movie based on the novel, directed by Victor Fleming and starring Spencer Tracy, Freddie Bartholomew, Lionel Barrymore, Melvyn Douglas, Mickey Rooney, and John Carradine. Tracy won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his work in this film. 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Victor Fleming (February 23, 1883 - January 6, 1949) (sometimes Vic Fleming) was an American film director. ... Spencer Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor who appeared in 74 films from 1930 to 1967. ... promotional photo for Captains Courageous (1937) Freddie Bartholomew (March 28, 1924 – January 23, 1992) was a British child actor, director and producer popular in 1930s Hollywood films. ... Lionel Barrymore Herbert Lionel Blyth (April 28, 1878 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – November 15, 1954 in Van Nuys, California) was an American actor of stage, radio and film. ... Image:MelvynDouglas. ... Actor Mickey Rooney speaks at the Pentagon in 2000 during a ceremony honoring the USO. Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule, Jr. ... John Carradine (February 5, 1906 - November 27, 1988) was an American actor, best known for his roles in horror films and Westerns. ... The Academy Award for Best Actor is one of the awards given to actors working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. ...

Derivative usages

"Captain Courageous" in the singular is sometimes used as praise for a leader of a group or team, e.g. [1] [2] [3].

External links

• Captains Courageous, available at Project Gutenberg.
• Introduction to the novel at Kipling Org
• Note on the text at Kipling Org