The Boat That Stayed in the Harbour
- 3 minute read
- Ages 5-10
- Bedtime Stories
In a small harbour there were nine fishing boats, and eight of them went out.
The ninth was old. Her timbers were sound but she was slow, and she had been retired three years earlier when her owner bought a boat with an engine, and she was tied up at the end of the jetty where she did not get in the way.
The others
The eight went out before dawn and came back in the middle of the morning, and there was a good deal of noise and rope and shouting about it.
The old boat watched them go every day.
She had done that run for thirty-one years and she knew exactly where they were going, and it was strange to watch somebody else do a thing you know how to do.
What she was used for
She was not entirely unused.
Children played on her, which nobody stopped, because a boat that is not going anywhere is the best possible thing for a child to play on. There were usually two or three of them in her in the afternoons being pirates or being shipwrecked or simply sitting in the bow eating something.
Nets were mended on her deck, because it was a good flat surface and out of the way.
In the rain, two or three of the men would sit under her canvas and drink tea and wait it out, and talk about things they did not talk about when they were working.
And she was where anybody went to sit if they wanted to be at the harbour and not be spoken to, which is a thing every harbour needs somewhere for.
The storm
One year there was a bad blow in November and the sea got into the harbour, which it did not usually.
The eight boats were out and came in fast and there was a great deal of urgency about getting everybody tied on properly.
And the old boat, being where she was at the end of the jetty and being heavy and low and well moored, took the worst of the water first, and the boats behind her had an easier time of it than they would have done.
Nobody planned that. She was simply where she happened to be.
After
They found in the morning that she had lost some paint and taken a knock along one side and was otherwise entirely fine.
Somebody said she should probably be moved.
And the man who had owned her for thirty-one years, who was old himself by then and did not go out any more either, said no, and did not explain why, and she stayed exactly where she was.
Moral of the story
She stopped fishing and was still the mending bench, the shelter, the place to sit alone and the thing that took the first of the water. None of it was her job and she did all of it.
Questions and answers
- Why was the old boat retired?
She was slow, and her owner had bought a boat with an engine.
- Where was she tied up?
At the end of the jetty, where she did not get in the way.
- What was she used for after she stopped fishing?
Children played on her, nets were mended on her deck, men sheltered under her canvas in the rain, and people sat on her to be alone.
- What happened during the November storm?
Being at the end of the jetty, heavy and well moored, she took the worst of the water first and the boats behind her had an easier time.
- Why did the old owner refuse to move her?
The story does not say. He simply said no and did not explain.
Word meanings
- timbers
- The wooden planks a boat is built from.
- jetty
- A structure sticking out into water where boats tie up.
- moored
- Tied securely in place.
- bow
- The front part of a boat.
Questions about The Boat That Stayed in the Harbour
What is the moral of The Boat That Stayed in the Harbour?
That usefulness changes shape rather than ending. She stopped doing the job she was built for and was still doing five others.
Why does the owner not explain?
Because the story has already shown the reason, and having him say it aloud would flatten it. Leaving it unsaid is deliberate.
Is this a sad story?
No. Nothing is lost and the boat is fine at the end. It is quiet rather than sad.
What age suits it?
Ages five to ten. Older children and adults usually take more from it than young children do.