"The Island of Lost Ships": a summary of the chapters

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Many stories: both sad and funny, A. R. Belyaev told in his books. For decades, his science fiction novels have been loved by readers. One of them is the "Island of Lost Ships". Summary of the book in this article.

About the novel

For the first time, the work was published as a "fantastic film story", in the preface the author indicated that this was a literary adaptation of an American film. The author called the chapters “pictures”, and the construction of the story was appropriate: the plot broke off at the sharpest points, events developed rapidly, and episodes changed quickly. Later, A. R. Belyaev introduced a lot of educational material into the story "The Island of Lost Ships", the summary of the film grew into a full-fledged adventure novel, which was published in 1927.

The book is read in one breath: the storylines are organically inscribed, the portraits of the characters are well written, throughout the novel there is someintrigue. The author approached the creation of the work with a fair amount of fiction. By the will of the sea current, for hundreds of years, wrecked ships accumulated in a certain place and formed an artificial island in the Sargasso thickets. This is where the heroes of the novel end up - on the island of dead ships inhabited only by the victims of disasters. The summary of the work does not convey even a small fraction of the author's imagination, but perhaps it will serve as an incentive to read the original.

Main characters of the work

Passengers of the Benjamin Franklin:

• Viviana Kingman - daughter of a billionaire;
• Simpkins is a detective;
• Reginald Gatling is an imaginary criminal.

Inhabitants of the island:

• Fergus Slayton - Governor;
• Flores - took the place of the governor after his disappearance;
• Turnip is a former paper mill owner.

Before describing the summary of Belyaev's Island of Lost Ships, it is necessary to clarify that the four parts of the novel are divided into twenty-six chapters. The narration in the work is conducted on behalf of the author.

From Genoa to New York

On one of the warm days, a transatlantic liner departs from Genoa to New York. On board is detective Jim Simpkins, escorting the suspect in the murder of Reginald Gatling. Billionaire's daughter Vavian Kingman went up on the upper deck and, contemplating how the ship got out of the harbor, she thought how terrible it was that a criminal was traveling with them, perhapskiller.

Giant liner tirelessly cuts the surface of the water, passengers rest in cabins. A terrible jolt made Simpkins jump to his feet and run out on deck. He sees how the passengers leave the ship in a panic and take their places in the boats. Hearing that the ship is sinking, the detective returns to the cabin for his ward. They do not have time to evacuate and remain on the ship with the rescued Miss Kingman.

Sargasso Sea

Due to a propeller failure, the ship is immobilized, but does not sink. Monotonous days flowed by in the hope that the victims would be picked up by a passing ship. Miss Kingman keeps order, washing clothes and busying herself in the kitchen. In the evenings they gather in the salon. Reginald and Vaviana found a common language and spend time talking. In one of their conversations, Simpkins interrupts them and talks about the crime committed by Gatling. The girl took this surprisingly calmly.

Sargasso algae cover the surface of the water with a continuous carpet and do not allow the ship to budge. Gatling explains that it is rare for a ship to make it out of here. They have a large supply of food and may last for several years.

Cemetery of Lost Ships

It seemed that the ship was motionless, but a barely noticeable current inexorably attracts the ship to the middle of the Sargasso Sea. Along the way, more and more shipwrecks began to come across. On one of them, a skeleton was tied to the mast. Gatling finds a sealed bottle containing the captain's farewell letter. In a nutshell "Islandslost ships" does not state the text of the letter in full. Therefore, very briefly: the captain reported that the entire crew was killed, and asked to transfer part of the gold from the captain's cabin to his wife.

Soon Simpkins saw the island. It turned out to be a huge cemetery of ships, knocked together. Many of them had white skeletons. The companions were silent. What they see frightens them, especially Miss Kingman. Reginald and Jim decided to explore the island, hoping to find something suitable for sailing. Walking among half-rotten ships and skeletons terrifies them. Gatling saves Simpkins from death and sees smoke coming from the chimney on their ship. It was a sign. So something happened to Miss Kingman, who remained there.

Inhabited Island

Viviana was preparing breakfast when people suddenly appeared - Flores and Turnip. They ask her to come to Fergus Slayton, the governor of the island. Simpkins approached with Gatling, they understand that it is useless to resist, since there are still people on the island. Together they go to Slayton. They learn that the island's population consists of several dozen men and two women.

Rough and unceremonious Fergus Slapton immediately decided to marry Miss Kingman. The girl, of course, refused. And Slayton, having put Jim and Reginald in a punishment cell, arranges the election of a groom. Viviana refuses everyone, including Slayton. He says that she should belong only to him, and whoever disagrees can face off against him.

The brawl has begun. Gatling, using it, gets out from under arrest and takes part in the elections. Miss Kingman agrees to be hiswife. He takes the girl away and warns that she has nothing to be afraid of - she is free. The summary of the “Island of Lost Ships” cannot convey the horror that Viviana experienced during the terrible ceremony of these vagabonds, so she was grateful to Gatling for her salvation.

Escape succeeded

The new arrivals were about to run. They are joined by those who do not like the order on the island - Turnip with his wife and three sailors. They report that there is a sailable submarine on the island. It just needs a little fixing. Together they repair the boat for several nights in a row. But one morning, when they were returning, one of the governor's associates saw them.

They made the decision to flee immediately. The fugitives are pursued. Reginald takes a bullet in the shoulder, but Slayton, who was chasing him, was also wounded. The fugitives take refuge in the boat, batten down the hatch and hide under water. They are saved. Miss Kingman tends to an injured Gatling, and he tells Viviana the story that led to him being declared a criminal.

Reginald was in love with a wonderful girl Della. But Della Jackson's father, in order to improve his financial situation, decided to marry her to the son of the banker Lorrobi. She did not argue with her father, but she wanted to meet Gatling before the wedding. He, deciding that it was better for them not to see each other, left the city. The meeting did not take place. In one of the newspapers, Reginald read that Della was killed where they agreed to meet. Gatling was declared a criminal.

Expedition to the island

The next chapter of the novel "The Island of Lost Ships", a summary of which is given in this article, begins with the difficulties that the fugitives encountered on the submarine. The supplies of electricity and air are running out. It is necessary to raise the boat to the surface, but too thick algae interfere. Someone will have to get out through the torpedo hatch and clear the way with a knife. Gatling is still too weak, and Simpkins decides on this. Soon the boat surfaced. The fugitives saw a ship, which, having received a distress signal, was heading towards them.

The life of the fugitives was out of danger. Another mystery was revealed on the ship. From the newspaper, Simpkins learned that Lorrobi killed Della because the girl refused to marry him. The son of a banker, having received a letter from her, in which she said that she would not marry him, decided to kill Della, and blame her opponent. The story of the crime was detailed in Lorrobi's diary.

Continues the summary of the "Island of Lost Ships" chapter, where Viviana and Reginald become husband and wife. After some time, they organized an expedition to explore the Sargasso Sea, and along the way decided to visit the island. Simpkins sets out to find out Slayton's secret and joins them in order to find documents on the island. Having equipped the ship "Caller" with a special screw that cuts the algae, they set off. They are accompanied by a researcher - Professor Thompson.

The Slayton Mystery

On the island, meanwhile, life is seething. As Gatling fled, Slayton was severely wounded and fell into the water. Flores declared himself the new governor. He generously endowed those who disagreed and made his assistants. Flores invites the islanders to explore the neighboring island, the same graveyard of ships. Having built bridges, they move to a new island and meet an overgrown savage there.

Soon it turns out that Slayton, who was thought dead, was alive. He is trying to regain power. But Florence takes him into custody. Slayton manages to free himself during the night and seize power again. The "Caller" approaches the island. Bokko, assistant to the governor, comes to the ship and talks about the situation on the island. The arrivals on the Caller threaten to bombard the island if they are not allowed to land. Bokko conveyed the essence of the negotiations to his comrades, and the islanders decided to oppose Slayton. He's running.

Simpkins found documents and found out that the inhabitant of the neighboring island is the pianist Edward Gortvan, Slayton's brother. In order to take possession of his fortune, Slayton, aka Abraham Gortvan, places his brother in a psychiatric clinic. To do this, they had to bribe the officials of Montreal, where they then lived. When the administration of the city has changed, Slayton is afraid that his scam will be revealed, and takes Edward to the Canary Islands. The ship was caught in a severe storm along the way. Slayton leaves his brother and makes his way to a nearby island. During this time, Edward went wild, but in the company of people, his mind gradually returns.

Edward didn't speak for a long time, but one day he heard Viviana playing the piano. The music had an effect on him. Once a well-known musician, he soon began to perform works by Beethoven. He allowed his nails and hair to be cut, and gradually began to speak.

The only thing left to do was catch Slayton to bring him to justice. He hides on a sailboat along with an assistant who throws a bomb at one of the ships. The island is on fire. In the hope of salvation, everyone flees aboard the "Caller". Slayton failed to escape.

This is how the author of The Island of Lost Ships ends his novel, a very brief summary of which is presented in this article.