"Caribbean Capers"
A
Children's Book
from
WindSpirit
Publishing
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"A
wonderful tale of friendship and
adventure. Good, page-turning
fun"
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A Wholesome
Children's Book for Ages (9-15)
Whistling Cay and Mary Point
St John USVI
Where the adventure begins! |
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Pirates!
The
waters of St. John was their territory (their "turf")
St Thomas was their home
base.
What has "Caribbean Capers" got to do with piracy? The word, "piracy"
refers to any robbery carried out on the water or in the air. "Brotherhood of
Pirates" tells how someone can be drawn into a life of crime. The attraction in
this case is a need for a sense of belonging and acceptance. The objects of
theft are small boats and outboard engines. However, this is robbery on the
seas and fits into the definition of piracy.
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| Piracy is
part of the history of the Caribbean. Sometimes a privately owned and armed
ship was actually commissioned by a government to carry out vengeance or to
attack an enemy. Usually, the officers and crew shared in treasure from
captured vessels. |
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In the time of sailing vessels, ships hoisted their national
flag as they came in sight of other vessels. |
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| Pirates often
flew a peaceful, government flag until they got close to an approaching ship.
Then the pirate was raised and their evil intent was made clear. The most
commonly flag used by pirates was the "Jolly Roger" ( a skull and cross bones)
Today, boats talk to each other on the radio, to identify themselves and the
country they represent. |
You will find lots of information about pirates on the
following link:
http://blindkat.fateback.com/pirates/pirates.html |
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Submarines:
We got the idea about the submarine theft from a wonderful
website that describes using US nuclear submarines for scientific purposes
(such as underwater surveying). Remember that Caribbean Capers is a
fictional story, but we got our inspiration from this great site which
includes a visual trip inside one of these undersea vessels.
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Mountain
Climbing:
Bordeaux Mountain is the tallest mountain on St.
John. We enjoy climbing from Leinster Bay over to Coral Bay. On the way, we
usually stop to look at the ruins. From the bay below they are almost
invisible; but, hidden in the brush half way up the hill, there's a small ruin
with a large oven. The opening forms a perfect arch and, with a little
sure-footed maneuvering, you can get great pictures with the bay framed in
ancient stone.
Further up the Johnny Horn Trail, there's a
cleared path to the left. This leads to the old mansion described in the book.
There are several ideas about this ruin. Some say it was the home of the owner
of Annaberg across the bay. Others tell me that it was sort of a reformatory
for boys. (It appears to be too small for the latter use.) It does look a bit
like a small fort; but I favor the idea that it was once a mansion.
There are many trails on St John. The US Park
Service maintains most of them. A map and description can be obtained from
their site.
http://www.nps.gov/viis/map.htm
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Hidden Caves and Secret Rooms
Confession time!
To our knowledge there are no caves, secret or
otherwise, on the island of St. John. This is a fictional story! There
aren't any secret rooms or hidden staircases either; but they were fun to
invent.
While we were developing the
story, we had Buzz, Brian, Eric, and Sam stuck in that cave for nearly a year.
We liked the story so far, knew the ending, but couldn't figure out how to get
them out. Then, we were looking at material about other caves and realized that
a natural chimney could solve our problem and add drama to the story. Did you
like that part? Would you have written a different ending…send it to us
at:
windspiritpub@earhthlink.net
Would you like to visit some real caves? stop by
at:
http://www.shareyourstate.com/caves.htm
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History and Mystery (Plus the environment
and geography) Of St John.
The history of pirates, slaves, and the rebellion are all true.
Several years before the rebellion of 1733, Aquashi, a prince of the
Aquambo nation, attacked Fort Christiansborg, the Danish Fort at Accra in
Africa, to show the tribe's displeasure at reductions in the quantity of rum
paid for captives sold into slavery.
Aquashi then led a successful
attack on a party of warriors of a neighboring tribe - the Adampes - who were
leading a group of captive to sell as slaves. One of Aquashi's captives was
Bolombo, a young Adampe king, who called out to his escaping warriors to
revenge his capture by stalking Aquashi himself and selling him into slavery.
By a remarkable turn of fate, both men were sold as slaves to planters
on St John. One night they met in personal combat to avenge their honor. Later
they agreed to join forces against their common enemy - the plantation owners
holding them in captivity. King Bolombo's headquarters were set up at
Waterlemon bay, and Prince Aquashi's were at Vessup Plantation above Maho Bay,
separated by little more than a mile. Kanta, a noble of the Amin warrior tribe
was stationed the same distance to the west on top of the center ridge.
Together, these three men organized the 173 revolt. This information, and more,
can be found at the following site:
Laughter? the
Mongoose,
Popping out of
garbage cans, running through the forest and across beaches, this funny, furry
animal was brought from India to St John in hopes that it would help control
rats and snakes. Like many short sighted plans, this didn't work well. Since
rats are sleep in the daytime and the mongoose sleeps at night, the mongoose
snoozed away while the rats happily ate the sugar cane. The mongoose is a
formidable enemy of the snake and the only ones left on St John are small and
nonpoisonous. The mongoose loves to eat and spends his time rooting in garbage
cans, and eating plants.
Check out more about the mongoose at:
Brotherhood of Pirates
Brian crawled back along the
crumbling ledge.
Finally he reached the main trail, stood up, and ran
shouting toward the shore below.
No one was on the beach; the strand of
sand was empty.
He raced to the dinghy, pushed it into the water, and
climbed over the rubber pontoon.
"I have to remember," Brian whispered to
himself. "I have to remember. Oh Lord, help me remember how to start the
engine,"
He turned on the gas, pulled out the choke lever, and yanked the
starting cord. Nothing happened.
"Please God," he cried.
Frantically,
he yanked the cord again. The engine coughed twice and sputtered to life. Brian
carefully pushed in the choke, just as Buzz had instructed him.
Grabbing
the tiller, he raced the little boat across the bay toward the distant Crystal
Blue.
"Dad! Dad! Captain Mark! Help!"
In minutes the dinghy reached the
side of the big white yacht. Both fathers leaned over the rail and held the
dinghy while Brian stammered out his story.
Kidnapped in the
Caribbean
Just before
the two boys reached the crest of the hill where Eric and the donkey stood
waiting in the shade, the thunderous roar of a low flying helicopter filled the
air. As the noisy machine appeared over the treetops; Buzz and Brian ducked
into the shadow of the last massive boulder.
Frightened by the unexpected
roar, the donkey reared on its hind legs. Eric lost his grip and slid sideways,
down the animal's back, into the tall shrubbery. The donkey galloped into the
clearing and stumbled down the hill toward Coral Bay.
Instantly, the gray
helicopter swooped low, following the fleeing donkey until it was out of the
trees. When the animal trotted into an empty field, the helicopter turned and
made several circles, finally following the now empty trail back toward
Leinster Bay.
The three boys listened intently as the helicopter
disappeared into the distance.
"Whoever is looking for you guys is sure
going to a lot of trouble." Buzz whispered in amazement. "We need to find a
place to hide, and we need to find it in a hurry."
Joan and
Marco Santomenna
Writing
Caribbean Capers was an adventure for its authors.
It started, one summer day, as an attempt to make
writing interesting for Marco - then 12 years old. But, as the writing
continued, it became interesting to both of us.
At first we called the
story, "The Frigate," because the beginning of the tale was about modern (small
scale) piracy. We lived with our characters, Buzz, Brian, Sam, and then Eric,
and became friends with them. We imagined them in the growing plot and we put
our minds into theirs.
This all took time - we both do lots of other
things. I'm a grandma (they call me "Oma"). Marco goes to school, scouts; plays
baseball and does all the things boys do.
For a year we had our imaginary
friends trapped in an imaginary cave on St. John. We didn't have the slightest
idea which way the story would turn.
But turn it did. We polished, pestered
friends and family to read our work, and then polished it some more. Ideas came
from our own hikes over St John, snorkeling in its bays, and from sailing in
its waters. We encountered a website that describes how the US nuclear
submarines could be used for underwater surveying. Most of the characters,
including the fathers, are fashioned after people we know, or knew. (We'll
never tell) The boys took on a life of their own and I hope we meet them again
to record more adventures. |
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We'd love to hear your ideas!
windspiritpub@earhtlink.net
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