In this latest adventure (following Pigeon Post, winner of the Carnegie
Medal), the Walker family has come to Harwich to wait for Commander
Walker's return. As usual, the children can't stay away from boats, and
this time they meet young Jim Brading, skipper of the well-found sloop
Goblin. But fun turns to high drama when the anchor drags, and the four
young sailors find themselves drifting out to sea - sweeping across to
Holland in the midst of a full gale! As in all of Ransome's books, the
emphasis is on self reliance, courage, and resourcefulness. We Didn't
Mean to Go to Sea is a story to warm any mariner's heart. Full of
nautical lore and adventure, it will appeal to young armchair sailors
and seasoned salts alike. "The seventh of the Arthur Ransome books, and
I really think it is the best." -Sunday Times "Perhaps the best of all .
. . Told with all the wealth of practical detail and satisfying sense of
reality which make Mr. Ransome so unfailingly successful." -Punch