Dauntless Sails Again

Dauntless Sails Again

The Dauntless and her crew were sailing up the west coast of Scotland
towards the Isle of Skye when their holiday plans were interrupted.
Another converted fishing boat, bent on less lawful business than the
Dauntless, crossed their path, and they found themselves unaccountably
involved in a hunt for smugglers. Captain Blake and the boys would have
left the smugglers unmolested but for a chance meeting with Captain
Blake's old friend, McDougall, late of the Customs, who persuaded the
Captain to take him aboard. In spite of all Captain Blake's efforts to
keep the boys out of trouble, the fact that they alone had seen and
could recognise the smugglers made then, key witnesses for the Crown ;
but what finally lined them up on the side of the Law was the
smugglers' wrecking tactics. When they beheld the ripped sails and
smashed engine of the Dauntless the boys were all out for retaliation,
and the chase occupied the rest of their holiday

Another version
The ex-fishing boat Dauntless and her crew of teenage boys
are sailing up the West Coast of Scotland, determined to
return with a bunch of heather on their masthead to prove
they have reached the Island of Skye. But their holiday plans
come to an abrupt and sinister halt. A small coaster mistakes
their boat for another converted fishing yawl, and Dauntless
and her crew are caught up unexpectedly in a hunt for
reckless and determined smugglers.
By chance the boys meet up with James McDougall, an
ex-Customs officer and a friend of their sailing companion,
Captain Blake. Because the crew of Dauntless are the only
people who have actually seen the smugglers, they are key
witnesses in the chase, so McDougal1 hitches a ride on
Dauntless to track down the smugglers and find out where
and when they trans-ship the contraband.
Even then the boys hope to finish their trip to Skye, but
the smugglers decide to stop their spying by teaching them a
lesson. And when they deliberately smash. Dauntless's
engine and slash her sails to ribbons, there is no holding her
crew back from a chase that ends in a kidnap and the
dreadful swirling waters of the Gulf of Corryvrechan.
This is an exciting sea story in the tradition of Arthur
Ransome, which will be enjoyed by every young reader who
has ever wanted to sail or own a boat.