Final

All in all, I thought the book was boring because the author did too much telling and not enough showing. I thought the book could have been more historically accurate if they made the pirates more vicious.

Chapter 20: The Gypsy Camp

In this chapter, Jim chooses to spend the night with some friendly gypsies. They honored him because he had a little red hair, which they believed was good luck. He was stuck with them for three days, before he met Marah, who was dieing when Jim saw him last. Marah rescued Jim the next day, and Jim went on to live with Marah in Jamaica as an adult. I liked the ending.

Chapters 18 and 19

Chapter 18, Tracked, starts out with the woman at the hotel telling him to leave-it is no longer safe in the hotel. She sends him to the stable, where he hides, until he finds out that the night riders are coming after him. He also hears that he could be hanged, so he goes up into the loft. Then, he walks through the pigeon house as the Preventatives are knocking down the door into the stable. Jim runs out of the back of the pigeon house and down a country road until he runs into a barn, where he hides and spends the night. The next day, he comes back to the hotel, only to find it empty, and heads off to London.
In chapter 19, The Road to London, Jim walks towards London, but after walking just four out of 70 miles, he is robbed by gypsies. As he keeps walking, he meets someone at a tollbooth, who is suspicious. He claims to be a gypsy who can sing ballads. He is fed dinner, sings a ballad, and gets a little money to continue his journey.
Chapter 18 was interesting, because of all of the adventures that happened, but chapter 19 was a little more boring.

Chapters 16 and 17

In chapter 16, Drifting, Jim wakes up to find Marah unconsious, and finds everybody else on the boat either drunk or injured. After a while, the ship drifts towards the shore, so Jim packs up his stuff and plans to jump overboard. However, the boat drifts a ways back to sea. Then, it slowly drifts back while Jim eats a meal. Then, Jim jumps overboard, and heads off to London; from there he is planning on trying to head home. In chapter 17, The Blue Boar, Jim heads inland and goes to an inn, The Blue Boar, where he decides to get directions. He meets a woman who likes the night riders and does not know where her husband is. She suggests that he write a letter to his family, which he does. Then, she discovers that the Preventatives are coming and sends Jim to a small room hidden at the bottom of the stairs.
These two chapters were less interesting, because they just described what was going on, without any good descriptive language. Once again, the book goes back to early 1800s England, so it is harder for me to judge historical accuracy.

Chapter 15: A Battle on the Shore

In this chapter, as they were unloading the black market items, they met the Preventatives. They rode up to the ship and started shooting. A confusing battle ensued, were shooting seemed very random and chaotic. Then, just as they were escaping, Jim got hit in the head with a club and passed out. This chapter was interesting, because of the chaotic battle, which seemed relatively realistic.

Chapter 14: A Traitor

In this chapter, Mr. Cottier was discovered to be a traitor because he told the Preventatives about the night riders. Since this happened, they tied hime up and brought him to their hideout. Then, they sailed down to Spain on the lugger, and Mr. Cottier was placed on a xebec, or African boat and was later forced to join the Spanish Navy. This chapter was a bit less interesting because nothing exciting happened, but it was still interesting. It was not completely historically accurate, because they could have killed Mr. Cottier.

Chapters 12 and 13

In chapter 12, Blackpool Bay, the night riders ravel though the Green Stones, a dangerous and scary passageway before arriving in France. Then, they sailed along the French coast before spending about a week in Cartaret. Jim was bored there, but eventually they got some black market items and headed for Blackpool, England. While they were unloading things, Jim tried to escape, but was caught by Marah. Then, they got chased by the Preventives, a British police force. They were easily winning until Marah's horse's heart gave out and died, so they got off and hid (this goes into chapter 13, In the Valley). After the Preventives left, Marah got another horse and they kept riding. They rode past Jim's house, but Marah threatened to kill Jim if he called out. Then they got chased into the water and hid in a makeshift boat. They were shot at, but survived. The chapter ends here.
The pirates were still kinder, than real pirates, but I thought that this part was well written.

Chapters 10 and 11

In chapter 10, Aboard the Lugger, the night riders set off on a small sailboat towards France the night after Jim was captured. The journey starts off smoothly, but at the end of the chapter, other ships are spotted. Marah says Jim might never come back. In chapter 11, The Frigate Laocoon, they discover that one ship is a cutter, and there are several ships from the British Navy coming after them. The small sailboat, or lugger, ends up beating the cutter in a battle, but not without damage. Then they outmaneuver the frigates, but get a little more damage from those. However, the frigates go towards a coral reef, and Marah warns them, allowing them to go free, because they helped the frigates.
This part is probably not completely historically accurate, because no ships were actually raided, but there could have just been some purely cannon battles. However, I thought that this part was interesting. There were a lot of technical terms that I did not know, but I looked them up in the helpful glossary at the back of the book.

Chapters 8 and 9

In chapter 8, The Cave in the Cliff, Jim climbs into the muddy cave and comes upon the coast guards, after almost falling into a deep hole. One of them is fast asleep, but the other is awake, and Jim frees him. Jim hears voices nearby, which are probably from the night riders, so they try to escape fast. They meet someone climbing out of the tunnel and run back and try to escape by boat. By this time, all of the night riders have caught up but they almost escape. The only reason they do not escape is that the bow hits the top of the cave exit, slowing them down. In chapter 9, Signing On, Jim is forced to join the night riders or die. He would actually choose to die, but then they do not let him, and Marah forges Jim's signature, making him an official part of the group. Chapter 9 ends about here, hinting at future expeditions.
The book is becoming more interesting, because the main character is thrown into a whole new world. The book is not quite historically accurate because the coast guards were not killed or tortured, and neither was Jim.

Chapters 6 and 7

In theses two chapters, Jim, Hugh, and Marah spend the afternoons talking about different ship-related things like a ship wreck that happened one hundred years before in the Gulf of Mexico and a lot of gold coins were spilled into the ocean and got lost.
One time, Jim, Hugh, and their friend Ned were exploring the beach when they met some coast guards who told them to go away. This made Jim worry that the night riders including Marah had been caught. Then Jim tried to warn him, but he knew that it was not a problem.
The next day, the coast guards were found to be missing. Jim was worried and ran to the place where they were the day before, and found flattened grass but no bodies. He then heard some voices and had just discovered a secret cave when the chapter ended.
I think the book is getting more interesting, because the conflicts are continuing and I know more about what is going on.

Chapter 5: The Last Voyage of the Snail

In this chapter, Hugh and Jim make a model sailboat out of a wooden box and a piece of cloth and sail it down a  flooded stream. Marah finds out and shows them some model sailboats that looked very realistic and even have model cannons. Hugh, Jim, and Marah then take turns shooting at the boat that Hugh and Jim made, the Snail. In this chapter, Marah seems to be a nice person, but he is very firm about getting people to do what he says.

Chapter 4

The man who was acting suspicious in the previous chapter caught Jim and Hugh and took them to a hideout in some thronbushes, where they were nearly invisible. He told them they were hiding to avoid getting caught by the British army who would be investigating what happened last night. If they found out, the night riders would be in trouble, and Jim might get killed, because that is what would happen if he told others about the night riders. The man who captured them was named Marah, and he taught them how to tie different types of knots, but he seems suspicious. A few hours later, he let them go home. He had strange tattoos and, of course, he captured Jim and Hugh. However, he seemed to try to act nice while being gruff. He is also a fortune teller, because he looked at a strange deck of cards and said "'You and I will know a power of strange times together, Jim.'" p. 53
Marah could be a major character, possibly even a pirate because the book said that he looked like a sailor. This chapter was very interesting because I learned more about the man. They still have not been on the pirate ship, so I do not know about the historical accuracy.

Chapter 3 Post

In this chapter, Jim and Ms. Cottier take their horse back (one was borrowed by the night riders earlier) to their house. Ms. Cottier unofficially adopts Jim by saying he should think of her as his mother. That night the night riders brought the horse back. The next day, Jim and Hugh decided to pretend to be Native Americans and build a house out of snow, but they find someone flashing a warning by reflecting sunlight and the glow from the previous night's snow. They are then chased by the man flashing the warning and run towards the house, but Hugh trips on a root and the chapter ends.
So far, the story is interesting, but no pirates have came. However, the man flashing the signal could be warning of pirates or be a pirate.
It is still hard to judge the historical accuracy because it is still early 1800s England.

Chapters 1 and 2 Blog

So far, the book has talked about the main character, Jim Davis, and his history. He is living in England and was born in 1800. Both of his parents have died, and he now lives with his aunt and uncle, old teacher, and her son. The old teacher, Mrs. Cottier got stuck in a snowstorm while she was Christmas shopping and Jim rode out on a horse in the snow to find her. He met some outlaws on the way who threatened to kill him, but they let him go and told him not to tell anyone else. Mrs. Cottier was okay, but she had met the same outlaws. This is where I stopped reading. The book is interesting so far, and I do not know how historically accurate it is because we are talking about pirates in class, not early 1800s England.

First Post - Predictions

The book I chose for my pirate novel blog was Jim Davis: A High Sea Adventure by John Masefield. I think that the book will be not be very historically accurate because it was written in 1911 and it seems like people did not try to make things as accurate then. Also, books about pirates seem to have a more positive view of them. I think the book will probably be interesting, because the plot sounds like it could have some interesting twists.