River Thames Dawlish

Dauntless Takes RecruitsThis is the fourth book in a series of seven adventures. It was first
published in 1950.
The Dauntless boys, lucky owners of a trim little sailing ship, run
into a group of Poplar boys on none too friendly terms. But they soon
discover that these London boys are only trying to express their
resentment at being warned off the river by the unfriendly bargemen.
The Dauntless boys' answer to this problem is to invite Nicky and his
friends aboard for a trip down towards the Thames estuary; and all is
set fair until they run into fog. The Dauntless sits at anchor,
comparatively safe, nut one of the barges which is risking the fog
falls foul of a wreck and the bargeman's family take refuge on the
Dauntless. It is then that David finds that his hospitality has
precipitated an unpleasant dramatic situation from which they are all
extracted only by his tact and good seamanship.
'Dauntless and the Poplar Pirates'

Dauntless and the Poplar Pirates"Look out, David!" Alex cried warningly. "They are throwing stones at
us." David ducked, then raised himself cautiously. There was a
ringing sound and a yell of triumph.
"Got it!" a voice shouted jubilantly.
"I will get it as well," another voice cried and a stone hit the
Dauntless's mainmast. David saw the attackers as a row of faces
showing over the edge of the bridge balustrade and arms upraised to
throw more stones.

The crew of the Dauntless, David, Bob, Alex and Tim , have sailed
their boat up the Thames and moored her in Bow Creek and they are not
at all pleased at this reception. But they discover the "Poplar
Pirates", as these local lads call themselves, are not really
vicious, just showing their resentment at being warned off the river
boats by the local bargees. The Pirates are all desperately keen on
boats, so David and his friends decide to offer them a trip in the
Dauntless. There is fog in the river and they rescue the
unfriendliest of the bargees when his Thames sailing barge gets
wrecked on a sandbank. The bargee, his wife and granddaughter Jenny
take refuge on the Dauntless, but the Pirates decide to salvage the
barge so they can have a boat of their own.

David is worried about the barge family whose home it is, and the
rest of the story tells of the exciting salvage of the barge and how
finally David extracts them all from a dramatic situation by his tact
and good seamanship.

Another in the series of exciting books about the Dauntless, with the
usual ingredients of a thrilling story and all the fun of sailing as
well as the interest of the details of life on a working sailing
barge in the late 1940-s.