The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

Published in 1990, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, by children’s book writer Avi, tells the story of a teenage girl who travels from England to America aboard a sailing ship filled with intrigue, mutiny, and murder; she learns to be a sailor, withstands a hurricane, and thwarts the captain’s attempts to kill her. Written for middle-grade readers, the book won several awards, including the Newbery in 1991.

Plot Summary

Thirteen-year-old Charlotte Doyle, at school in England, must return in 1832 to her family home in America. Her father, a prominent shipping agent, has been promoted and recalled to the US. Her family departs first while she finishes school. On the voyage home, she is to be accompanied by two families, but they fail to show up, and she must travel alone.

The ship is the 100-foot brig Seahawk, manned by a sullen crew and a demanding captain, Andrew Jaggery. Charlotte befriends the ship’s cook, elderly African sailor Zachariah, who gives her a small knife for protection. She also becomes close to Captain Jaggery, who promises to protect her.

By accident, Charlotte discovers a plot against the captain and reveals it to him. He and first mate Hollybrass overpower the rebellious crew, Jaggery shoots to death the chief mutineer Cranick—whom he had maimed on a previous voyage—and selects Zachariah to receive 50 lashes. Horrified by what she has caused, Charlotte tries to halt the whipping but succeeds only in injuring the captain. In a rage, he banishes her from his presence and removes his protection from her. The crew hold a funeral for Zachariah. Charlotte apologizes to them and begs them to train her to replace the dead sailors. Reluctantly they agree on the condition that Charlotte prove herself by climbing the rigging to the top of the main mast and back down again.

Crewmen teach her to rig lines, make knots, swab decks, and tar ropes. When a sail becomes dangerously tangled above the bowsprit, Jaggery orders Charlotte to fix it. A sailor advises her; she nearly falls overboard but manages the task. Jaggery berates her for using an assistant and concludes by slapping her. She yells that she’ll report him to the authorities when they make landfall.

Hoping to speed the ship and make more money, the captain steers them close to the outer winds of a hurricane, but the storm overtakes them and tears away at the sails. Charlotte and the men climb through howling wind and rain and free the sails; she nearly falls, but a man grabs her hand and saves her; he looks like Zachariah. The main mast snaps off and the deck is strewn with litter. Pulling it away, they find the body of first mate Hollybrass, Charlotte’s knife buried in his back. Captain Jaggery accuses her of murder and puts her in the hold’s brig, where she discovers Zachariah, still alive and hiding.

The captain conducts a murder trial and finds Charlotte guilty. She will be hung the next afternoon. Back in the brig, she consults with Zachariah. They figure out that Jaggery killed Hollybrass, framed Charlotte, and knows Zachariah is alive. Charlotte remembers where the captain hides the key to his gun safe; if she can retrieve it, they can obtain weapons and relieve the captain of command. They inform the others.

Charlotte sneaks into the captain’s cabin but he’s there, waiting for her. A sailor has reported everything to him. He admits he killed Hollybrass. He offers to commute her sentence if she renounces the men and returns to her ladylike ways. She refuses and flees. On deck, she finds Zachariah with his hands tied, the crew standing by sullenly. The captain chases her toward the bow and fires a pistol at her but misses. She climbs onto the bowsprit; the captain follows, tries to grab her and toss her into the sea, but he slips and falls to his death.

The men proclaim her captain, but she defers command to Zachariah. They arrive in America, where she reunites with her family and joins them at the nearby family mansion. She discovers that her father runs the house the way Jaggery controlled the ship, with a harshness that frightens the maids. He reads parts of her journal and, outraged, burns the book and punishes her with a week of bedroom confinement and reading assignments on good female behavior. She bribes a maid to bring her a daily newspaper, where she finds the news she wants.

After three weeks, Charlotte slips out a window and hurries to the docks, where the Seahawk lies at anchor, ready to sail. She walks aboard, greets Zachariah, and tells him she has decided to rejoin the crew and return to her life at sea.