Reproduction of the original: The Coral Island by R.M Ballantyne

Three young members of the crew of a merchant ship sailing in the South Pacific are the sole survivors of its wreck in a storm. Swept ashore an uninhabited island, their initial efforts to survive soon lead them to a settled life in what seems to be a tropical paradise. However, their enjoyment of their new island home doesn’t dampen their desire to return to England, their homeland. As their planning and preparations to escape patiently unfold, encounters with visitors both native and European dramatically alter their idyllic existence. The dangers they confront threaten not only their hopes, but their lives—and ultimately lead to unexpected results. The Coral Island is the most popular and enduring of R. M. Ballantyne’s prodigious literary output. It was met with acclaim on publication, and has never been out of print since. His own travels as a young man had taken him for a few years to Hudson Bay, and this experience formed the basis of his early writings—adventure stories for younger readers, boys in particular. Meeting with some success, he began to use other exotic locations for further adventure writing, giving rise to The Coral Island, written in the tradition of Robinson Crusoe. Ballantyne’s work in its turn influenced others. Robert Louis Stevenson was an admirer of Ballantyne, and he acknowledged the influence of The Coral Island on his own Treasure Island. In a different way, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is the antitype of the “Muscular Christianity” ideal found in Ballantyne’s work, internalizing the evil which Ballantyne’s young heroes, for the most part, confronted as something outside themselves. With its vigorous narration, attention to detail of flora and fauna, and social and ethnographic observations, the appeal of Ballantyne’s most popular work remains evident, even while its role in mid-Victorian imperialism continues to be debated and re-evaluated. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.

Three English boys, shipwrecked on a deserted island, create an idyllic society despite typhoons, wild hogs, and hostile visitors. Then evil pirates kidnap one of the youths whose adventures continue among the South Sea Islands.

The Coral Island, published in 1857, was written by Scottish author R.M.Ballantyne. This story covers the life of three young boys – fifteen year old Ralph (who is also the narrator), eighteen year old Jack and fourteen year old Peterkin, who are shipwrecked and hence stranded on a South Sea island. They have an abundant supply of food and the trio explore the island and the surrounding ones leisurely. But trouble begins when a party of cannibals arrives and soon after a pirate ship. The boys retreat to their safe place. When Ralph goes out to check, he is captured by the pirates.

Three teenage boys, the sole survivors of a shipwreck, find themselves marooned on a deserted island in the South Pacific. With little more than a telescope and a broken knife, the youths must find food and shelter and learn to survive. But though the coral island is a tropical paradise, full of natural beauty and exotic fruits and wildlife, dangers and adventures abound: sharks, pirates, and even bloodthirsty cannibals! Scottish-born R.M. Ballantyne (1825-1894) wrote more than ninety books for young people during the Victorian era, the most famous of which is The Coral Island (1857), a tale whose popularity has proved so enduring that it has never been out of print. A thrilling story in the tradition of Robinson Crusoe and a key influence on later classics such as Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and William Golding's "Lord of the Flies", "The Coral Island" is presented here in a new scholarly edition that includes the unabridged text of the first British edition, a new introduction and notes by Ralph Crane and Lisa Fletcher, and the original illustrations by the author.

Three boys, fifteen-year-old Ralph Rover (the narrator), eighteen-year-old Jack Martin and fourteen-year-old Peterkin Gay, are the sole survivors of a shipwreck on the coral reef of a large but uninhabited Polynesian island. At first their life on the island is idyllic; food, in the shape of fruits, fish and wild pigs, is plentiful, and using their only possessions; a broken telescope, an iron-bound oar and a small axe, they fashion a shelter and even construct a small boat. Their first contact with other people comes after several months when they observe two large outrigger canoes land on the beach. The two groups are engaged in battle and the three boys intervene to successfully defeat the attacking party, earning the gratitude of the chief Tararo. The Polynesians leave and the three boys are alone once more. Then more unwelcome visitors arrive in the shape of pirates, who make a living trading, or stealing, sandalwood. The three boys conceal themselves in a hidden cave, but Ralph is captured when he sets out to see if the pirates have left, and is taken aboard the pirate schooner. Ralph strikes up an unexpected friendship with one of the pirates, "Bloody Bill", and when they call at an island to trade for more wood he meets Tararo again. On the island he sees all facets of island life, including the popular sport of surfing, as well as the practice of infanticide and cannibalism. Rising tension leads to an attack by the inhabitants on the pirates, leaving only Ralph alive and Bloody Bill mortally wounded. However they manage to make their escape in the schooner. After Bill dies, making a death-bed repentance for his evil life, Ralph manages to sail back to the Coral Island to be re-united with his friends.