People and Books

Ya know how a lot of the people in the books were based on real people? Were the Eels based on real people?? Secret Water is one of my favorites, and when I was rereading it, I realized that I don't really know anything about it.

Most of the biographical books about Ransome will give you the answers (though some of the books are hard work for teenagers and better suited to older adults).

I haven't got the books to hand, so I wont give any details now in case I make a mistake, but there was a real family Ransome knew when they lived near Pin Mill, a real Lapwing, and real children who may have inspired the Eels.

Here's a link to a map/aerial photo of the real place: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=walton-on-the-naze&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=13.418145,27.817383&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Walton,+Essex,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.872252,1.257763&spn=0.054689,0.173721&t=h&z=13

As the 'Lapwing', the Eels' yacht, belonged to Col. Busk, it is logical to suppose that some of the Eels were based on the Busk's children, augmented by those modelled on George and Josephine Russell, who crewed for AR in his exploratory sail to Hamford Water.  Of course, this is pure speculation, and all of the Eels may have been totally imaginary.

David

In fact, the Eels were very definitely the Busks. About 10 years ago, I met Daisy's daughter, who was working here in Havant.