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Raiders of the Lost Barque

by Steven Duff

142 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #00-0244; ISBN 1-55212-578-5; US$16.50, C$18.95, EUR13.50, £9.50

An adventure set in Georgian Bay, Canada, centering on marine and boating activity.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpts      catalogue info

About the Book Raiders of the Lost Barque is an adventure story for young readers set in Georgian Bay, Canada. The primary characters are the Hudson Family (Calvin, Alice, and Betsy), the Andrews family (Doug and Wally, fraternal twins known locally as the Hardy Boys), and the Vermeer family: Kathleen, Hannah, and Michael, who functions as narrator and illustrator; and Opa, the family patriarch and grandfather. The story chronicles two summers at Horse Island and a running feud with Mr. Allenbury, a new, wealthy, powerful, and generally obnoxious island neighbour. Mr. Allenbury is the C.E.O. of both Drugs 'R' Us and the Plantation Tobacco Company. He also has other diverse and illegal business interests which gradually emerge during the story. Opa is a remarried widower who owns both a cottage and a classic forty-foot cruiser, Mazeppa. An annual custom is a cruise on Mazeppa, but in the interlude between the two summers, Opa, in the wake of divorcing his second wife, is forced by financial pressure to sell his boat. Because of the tremendous family affection for Mazeppa, her sale is a major emotional catastrophe. The situation is compounded by the discovery that she has been purchased by a movie production company with plans to feature her in a movie called Thundering Rum-Runners and ultimately blow her up. The Hardy Boys, while investigating a suspected fraud, discover Mazeppa's whereabouts, and they and the Vermeer and Hudson children decide to rescue the "Lost Barque" in a night-time raid, taking her to a place of safety arranged by some natives the children have befriended. The production company turns out to be yet another Allenbury enterprise, but because of a long string of illegal escapades, Mr. Allenbury is caught fleeing to Bermuda, tried, and imprisoned. Mazeppa is returned to Opa and all ends well. There are other adventures in the story of less magnitude as well, and consideration also of the atmosphere and traditions surrounding the Canadian custom of "cottaging". Although the two summers in the tale are of 1995 and 1996, there is a strong element of nostalgia that should appeal to older readers.

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About the Author Steven Duff is a retired high-school music teacher who now devotes his time to writing, painting, drawing, studying Canadian history, volunteering with the Salvation Army, and looking after his collection of classic wooden boats. He has previously published two adult historical novels, In the Land of the People Apart and The Wanderer's Storm-Song; Raiders of the Lost Barque is Mr. Duff's first work for young readers and is a nostalgic salute to the books of Arthur Ransome which he read as a youngster. Steven Duff has two daughters and two grandchildren and lives with his wife Debra and Rascal, the family cat, on Long Lake near Parry Sound, Ontario. When not at home, Mr. Duff may be found exploring the Great Lakes in his yacht Turangalila.

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Excerpt 1

"Care and Feeding" of the family treasure, the cruiser Mazeppa...

Before school was let out and the official holidays began, our half (Calvin would say three-sevenths) of the Magnificent Seven spent another weekend up north, not at the island, but at the Sound Boatworks in Parry Sound to do maintenance on Opa's pride and joy (and ours too), a great black beast of a cruiser called Mazeppa.

There is something I need to explain about ourselves, the Hudsons, and the Andrewses, whom you still have to meet. In our families, there is a certain holiness about wooden boats; the Hudsons and the Andrewses each own two, along with a couple of aluminum boats for practicality, but Opa will have nothing to do with anything not wood. He calls aluminum "tin" and fibreglass "the F-stuff" or, and this is a bit gross, but he said it, "frozen snot".

What I am leading up to is that Mazeppa is wood and Mazeppa is big; hence Mazeppa is a real armful to take care of. One of our spring-time traditions, then, was to spent a weekend at the Sound Boatworks, helping Opa do whatever painting and varnishing was necessary. We camped aboard in sleeping bags and Opa took us to restaurants for our meals.

We were almost as fond of Parry Sound as we were of Horse Island. It was a place of happy associations, of breakfast at Lill's Place, Chinese food at the Boston Cafe, threats to dunk Hannah in the green horse-trough at the main intersection. Even though our Parry Sound weekend was for working, it was still fun.

Excerpt 2

Mazappa has been purchased for a film by an illigitimate film production company. The children in the story have learned that she is to be blown up in the movie - this is where they rescue the "Lost Barque" in a night operation...

I felt for the hundredth time in my pocket for Mazeppa's ignition keys. They clinked reassuringly; the one for the starboard engine I had flagged with a bit of masking tape to aid me in the dark.

Doug cut the Honda and switched to the electric trolling motor for the final hundred metres or so. There were lights on in two of the movie production trailers and the sound of laughing and shouting echoed faintly.

"Damn!" whispered Wally vehemently. "Sounds like Miller time."

"Maybe they'll be drunk, like those Spaniards at Cartagena or wherever," helped Calvin. But, drunk or not, they still had that hundred horsepower Mercury.

Helen Louise loomed up, ghostlike, the colour of bones in her movie paint job. Mazeppa was barely visible, secured alongside on her starboard side. We nuzzled silently up to Mazeppa. Since she was secured to another boat rather than the dock, boarding was a tad hard, especially for the Gerbils, who had to be lifted up to deck level. The Dual Air-bags were next, then Calvin, myself, and Wally.

"To your battle stations," whispered Wally. I put the night scope back on and suddenly felt vulnerable in the eerie green glow they cast upon the world. But I need not have worried. To the unaided eye, the Magnificent Seven were swallowed up in the darkness as they went about their appointed tasks. Kathleen went forward in total silence to let slip the forward lines from their deck cleats, Alice aft for the same purpose. With a bit of groping, I fitted the ignition keys into their keyholes and guided Betsy's hand to the light switches. Hannah stood by on the blowers until we were underway, when she would take over as engineer.

We had been so tense for so long, and yet once aboard Mazeppa, we all mellowed out into a sort of icy calm. It was really interesting to compare notes later and find we had all come independently to the same conclusion.

We were incredibly quiet. I never heard a thing from the mooring lines, no knocking sounds or splashes or anything. And Calvin did the same masterful work with the towline to Sylvania.

Gingerly, I drew the chokes out to one-third, or as close as I could judge by feel. I had my hands ready on the keys, ready to start up and praying that all was in good order.

I realized that the lights ashore were starting to change their perspective. Silently and stealthily, Mazeppa was exiting her berth stern first. Suddenly, I wanted to laugh. This was just too cool!

Now I could see lights reflected in the widening gulf of inky water, and Doug was starting to swing us so that Mazeppa would be pointed in the right direction. We were halfway through our swing now, oh, no, a flashlight came wobbling down to the dock! I could hear a woman's laugh, see a play of light along Helen Louise's topsides. The light wobbled tentatively, a curse ripped the darkness. The light wavered towards us, a voice cried "HEY!"

"DefCon One!" bellowed Wally. "Hit it!"

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Catalogue Information

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