Captains Courageous

Sea storiesBildungsromansChildren of the rich -- FictionSaltwater fishing -- FictionFishing boats -- FictionTeenage boys -- FictionRescues -- FictionFishers -- FictionCaptain Courageous by Rudyard Kipling is the story of a 15-year-old boy named Harvey Cheyne Jr. the spoiled son of a wealthy railroad tycoon. He is on an ocean liner bound for Europe when he falls overboard and is rescued by a group of cod fisherman off the coast of Newfoundland. Harvey tries to get the fisherman to take him back to port but they refuse to do it. He also tells them that he is wealthy and his father will pay for the trip back but the fisherman dont believe him. When Harvey accuses the captain Disko Troop of taking his money the captain is angry and punches him but then makes Harvey join the crew and work as a fisherman for the remainder of their trip. Under the tutelage of a rough and tough crew of fisherman and with the assistance of Dan the captains son Harvey doffs his spoiled little rich boy attitude and learns some manners and the value of hard work. He learns to be a good fisherman and to respect the crew. He also appreciates that they value him for his dedication and contribution to the crew and not for his money. When the fishing schooner returns to port Harvey wires his parents and they retrieve their son in Gloucester Massachusetts where the schooner arrived in port. Harveys parents reward the fisherman who saved her son from the water they offer Dan a job as the officer of a railroad fleet and they send their son to Stanford where he will learn what he needs to know to take over his fathers railroad fleet.----------------------------------Joseph Rudyard Kipling was a journalist short-story writer poet and novelist.Kipling''s works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894) Kim (1901) and many short stories including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). His poems include Mandalay (1890) Gunga Din (1890) The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919) The White Man''s Burden (1899) and If (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children''s books are classics of children''s literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting a versatile and luminous narrative gift.Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom in both prose and verse in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known. In 1907 at the age of 41 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood both of which he declined.