Page 40 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW SPECIAL ISSUE 6

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Boats

In Literature

1888 Sloughi yacht, Jules Verne

Original Léon Benett
illustrations.

In “Two Years Vacation” (“Deux Ans de Vacances”), a
novel by Jules Verne, published in 1888.

In the Pacific, a yacht, the Sloughi, is in distress. On

board, fifteen children aged from eight to fourteen. No
adult with them; the boat has mysteriously broken its
moorings in a New Zealand harbor just as the children
were about to embark on a cruise, and that the entire
crew was ashore.

The storm threw the Sloughi onto the rocks, and the
children, not without difficulty, arrive on a deserted
island. The long “vacation” begins... to subsist, the
children have nothing but their courage: they hunt,
fish, invent traps, train animals and farm. Alas! Rivalries
divide the little colony, characters clash, and the split
is complete when fearsome bandits come ashore. A
relentless struggle begins, children against lawless
men.