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The Cay
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The Cay: Book 1

The Cay (1969) (edit title/settings)

by Theodore Taylor (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

Phillip is very excited when the Germans invade the small island of Curaçao. War has always been a game to him, and he’s eager to glimpse it firsthand–until the freighter he and his mother are traveling to the United States on is torpedoed.
When Phillip comes to, he is on a small raft in... read more

Summary edit see section history

In February 1942 the Germans attack an oil refinery on Aruba, neighboring island of Curacao, Dutch island off the Venezuelan coast. Young Phillip is living in Willemstad, Curacao, with his parents, but after the attack his mother wants to return to America. Phillip and Father are against the... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

In February 1942 the Germans attack an oil refinery on Aruba, neighboring island of Curacao, Dutch island off the Venezuelan coast. Young Phillip is living in Willemstad, Curacao, with his parents, but after the attack his mother wants to return to America. Phillip and Father are against the plan, but eventually Mother gets her way.

Just days out to sea, the Germans torpedo the Dutch freighter Phillip and his mother have boarded to flee Curacao. The ship breaks up and sinks; Phillip and mom are separated. Mrs. Enright's fate is unknown, but Phillip is hauled onto a lifeboat by a very old black West Indian who'd been a crewmember on board the "Hato." The only other occupant of the lifeboat is an old cat named Stew Cat; the three are adrift on the open sea for days with only a keg of water, some matches and a few crackers.

Phillip was struck on the head when the "Hato" was sunk, and he has a splitting headache and concussion. After two days on the raft with Timothy and Stew Cat, he goes completely blind. On the third day at sea a plane flies overhead and Timothy signals for help with a torch, but they are not seen.

Timothy, Phillip and the cat make it to a small island that the old Negro, an old sea-hand, figures must be in the Devil's Mouth. Phillips initial reaction to Timothy is one of revulsion; he finds the big black man ugly and frightening. His mother's prejudice against blacks is a factor in his attitude, but Phillip eventually overcomes it and they truly become friends.

When they first land on the island, Phillip feigns helplessness, refusing all labor. Timothy encourages the boy and teaches him to make things they'll need. When the boy gathers the courage to climb a coconut palm, he stops feeling sorry for himself and decides to do as much as he can. He is no longer a helpless blind boy. Timothy begins teaching Phillip survival skills--without telling the boy that he is preparing him for survival on the island after the old man dies.

In July with a terrible hurricane brewing, Timothy makes preparations for it, including lashing their water tank, matches and knife high on the trunk of a palm tree. They survive the first part of the storm and rest while the hurricane's eye is over them. Then they again lash themselves to the tree again to wait out the storm. After the hurricane, Phillip finds that Timothy has borne the brunt of the storm to protect him; the big West Indian's back is flayed open by sand and things driven by the high winds, and Phillip can't stop Timothy's bleeding. The old man dies. Stew Cat, who was missing after the fierce storm, reappears.

Initially the boy feels anger in response to the man's death, but gradually realizes how much Timothy did to prepare him for life alone. In addition to teaching Phillip to get around the cay without assistance, Timothy left a dozen fishing poles lashed to another palm trunk and had taught Phillip as much as he himself knew about survival.

Phillip has to bury Timothy, construct a new hut, prepare another signal fire on the beach and a "HELP" message of stones, build a new rainwater catchment, clean the camp of debris, restart his campfire, and search for anything useful the hurricane might have deposited on the cay. At first the amount of work to be done seems overwhelming, but Phillip approaches the situation calmly, rationally, and with intensity.

Phillip's first signal fire goes unnoticed, so he determines something oily will make a black smoke visible from a distance. On August 20, 1942 what he thinks is thunder is really a destroyer, so he throws oily sea grape leaves on the signal fire, which emits black smoke visible to rescuers.

The deeply-suntanned boy could've been mistaken for a native fisherman, but the captain of an American destroyer hunting German submarines has the boy and Stew Cat picked up. The captain can't believe Phillip could've drifted so far from where the "Hato" was sunk, and he's most astonished to have found a naked blind boy and a cat on a deserted island in the Caribbean.

Phillip's put ashore in Panama for medical treatment and his parents are flown in from Curacao. They can't absorb all that their son has to tell them of his time on the cay. Four months after his rescue Phillip has three surgeries to restore his eyesight. The following April, a year after the shipwreck, he returns to Willemstad with his parents.

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Phillip Enright: An 11 year old boy living in Curacao with his family during WW2. He falls of a raft and floats with Timothy to an island.
  • Timothy: An older black man who was raised in Charlotte Amalie. Takes care of Phillip on the Island. He dies in a hurricane.
  • Henrik Van Boven: Friend of Phillip. He is Dutch.
  • Willemstad: A place on the island of Curacao.
  • Stewcat: The cat with them on the cay.Can be helpful,but mostly just an annoying cat.
  • Curacao: A island.
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “"Them coconuts harrass us no longer!"”
    Timothy
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • LIKE SILENT, HUNGRY SHARKS
    Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers
  • “You ugly black man! I won’t do it! You’re stupid, you can’t even spell.” Timothy’s heavy hand struck my face sharply.
    Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers
  • TIMOTHY HAD FASHIONED A CANE for me, and I was now using it to feel my way around the island. I fell down often, but unless I fell into sea grape, it did not hurt. Even then, I only got a few scratches.
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
  • roun’ d’cays, somewhar mebbe fifteen latitude an’ eighty long.
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
  • that on that moonless night in February 1942, they attacked the big Lago oil
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
  • terrible crack on d’ead, bahss. A strong-back glanc’ offen your ’ead, an’
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
  • I asked him why there were different colors of skin, white and black, brown and red, and he laughed back, “Why b’feesh different color, or flower b’different color? I true don’ know, Phill-eep, but I true tink beneath d’skin is all d’same.”
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers

Organizations edit see section history

  • Military: All the military in the home island where the war/fighting is.

First Sentence edit see section history

LIKE SILENT, HUNGRY SHARKS that swim in the darkness of the sea, the German submarines arrived in the middle of the night.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 1 of 2 in The Cay. (standard series)

Followed by Timothy of the Cay.

This is book 842 of 985 in 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. (authoritative list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Theodore Taylor (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Doubleday
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: 1969
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 144

Awards edit see section history

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history

   
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