Other editions of book The Coral Island

Heroes Ralph, Jack and Peterkin set sail on the Arrow and are the only three survivors of a fearful shipwreck. They are washed ashore on a seemingly idyllic coral island. This tranquillity is violently disturbed, first by a tribe of bloodthirsty cannibals and then by the invasion of a vicious pirate and his gang of cut-throats. Will the boys thwart their enemies and live to see England again? Largely based on Ballantyne’s own experience, as he sailed the seas and roved the countries of the World, ‘The Coral Island’ is a classic adventure story of the Victorian period. About Assembled Stories: Over the years the national press have reviewed Assembled Stories titles as "excellent", "remarkable", "entrancing", "superb", "magic for sure", "masterly", "wonderful", "a class act" and "a splendid example of audio at its best".

The story opens with the shipwreck on a Pacific Island of the young friends Ralph Rover and Jack Martin and Peterkin Gray. Despite the pleasurable presence of delicious breadfruit, coconuts, and succulent oysters, the intrepid trio are not alone and they soon witness a battle between rival bands of cannibals led by 'Bloody Bill'. Their lives are placed in serious peril from which only courage and determined pluck can save them.

Three young Englishmen, 15-year-old Ralph Rover, Jack, who is older than him for three years, and the cheerful 14-year-old Peter, were got on a desert island after their ship was wrecked. They made their life in the spirit of Robinson Crusoe, and despite the typhoons, wild boar attacks and hostile visitors to the island, they lived an almost perfect life. The boys made fire by rubbing two sticks and climb the palm trees for coconuts. The boys were building a boat with sails of copra to get to a nearby island, where Jack won the battle of the leader of the tribe Taror. Then the pirates kidnapped Ralph whose adventures continued in the southern islands.

The Coral Islandby Robert Michael BallantyneThree 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.(less)Fiction Action & Adventure

The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean (1857) is a novel written by Scottish author R. M. Ballantyne. One of the first works of juvenile fiction to feature exclusively juvenile heroes, the story relates the adventures of three boys marooned on a South Pacific island, the only survivors of a shipwreck.A typical Robinsonade – a genre of fiction inspired by Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe – and one of the most popular of its type, the book first went on sale in late 1857 and has never been out of print. Among the novel's major themes are the civilising effect of Christianity, 19th-century imperialism in the South Pacific, and the importance of hierarchy and leadership. It was the inspiration for William Golding's dystopian novel Lord of the Flies (1954), which inverted the morality of The Coral Island; in Ballantyne's story the children encounter evil, but in Lord of the Flies evil is within them.

Ralph Rover is a traveler at heart, and has always dreamed of shipping out to the South Seas islands. He finally convinces his aging parents to let him go and find his way in the world. But the islands that Ralph finds are not as idyllic as in his dreams. Shipwrecked on a large, uninhabited island, Ralph and his fellow survivors, Jim and Peterkin, discover a world of hostile natives and villainous pirates. Danger, high adventure, and wonders of the sea greet them at every turn. When all seems lost, they find help from an unexpected source.

Fifteen-year-old Ralph, mischievous young Peterkin and clever, brave Jack are shipwrecked on a coral reef with only a telescope and a broken pocketknife between them. At first the island seems a paradise, with its plentiful foods and wealth of natural wonders. But then a party of cannibals arrives, and after that a pirate ship...what is to become of them?

Adventure and peril abound in a classic tale of shipwreck and survivalRalph, Jack, and Peterkin find themselves the sole survivors of a shipwreck on a deserted coral island in the South Pacific. Although fate has led them to temporary safety, the three marooned boys are forced to carve out a life for themselves from what nature provides. They rapidly learn which fruit to eat, which animals to hunt, and which lagoons are best for bathing. Resourceful as they are, their desert island idyll is often disturbed and they face numerous terrifying threats—pirates, sharks, cannibalism, and local tribes among them. Amid all the chaos, the trio still face the riddle of how to engineer their rescue from their tropical exile. Following in Robinson Crusoe's footsteps, and yet with added adventure, Ballantyne's writing is a classic adored by previous generations of children and deserves to be discovered all over again by a modern audience.

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.