We are not afraid to die class 11 English Hornbill chapter 2 Explanation, summary, Question and answers
We are not afraid to die …. if we can All Be Together by
(Gordon Cook and Alan East)
We are not afraid to die class 11 Introduction
We are not afraid to die is all about narrator’s journey from plymouth. England whereby he decides to break the record of captain james cook which was made 200 years ago. he with his wife, Merry and with their two children namely Suzanne and Jonathan, decide to to duplicate the voyage. For this, they get a professionally built boat named Wave walker which is a beautiful specimen. a 23 meter long and 30 ton wooden hulled beauty It. is tested in all the roughest weathers to check its durability and performance.
We are not afraid to die class 11 characters.
1.Larry Vigil”
An American who joins the narrator and Mary at cape town to help them tackle one of the world’s roughest seas.
2.Herb Seigier”
A Swiss who also joins them at cape town to help them cross the southern Indian Ocean.
3.Suzanne’
The narrator’s seven year old daughter with patience and perseverance who displays immense couragethroughout their voyage dares to endure pain and chooses to remain silent. not to bother her father.
We are not afraid to die class 11 Explanation.
In July 1976′ my wife mary. son Jonathan. 6, daughter Suzanne. 7 and I set sail from Plymouth, England to duplicate the round-the-world voyage made 200 years earlier. by Captain James cook. for the longest time. Mary and I a 37- year old businessman-had dreamt of sailing in the wake of the famous explorer, and for the past 16 years, we had spent all our leisure time honing our seafaring skills. in British waters,
Our boat wave walker. a 23 meter, 30 ton wooden-hulled beauty, had been professionally built, and we had spent months fitting it out and testing in the roughest weather we could find.
the first leg of our planned three-year, 105,000 Kilometre journey passed pleasantly as we sailed down the west coast of Africa to cape town. there before heading east, we look at two crewmen tackle one of the world’s roughest seas, the southern Indian Ocean.
On our second day out of Cape’ town, we began to encounter strong gales, for the next few weeks. they blew continuously. Gales did not worry me but the size of the waves was alarming up to 15 meters. as high as our mainmast.
December 25 found us’ 3’500 Kilometres east of cape town. despite atrocious weather. we had a wonderful holiday complete with a Christmas tree, New year’s day saw no improvement in the weather, but we reasoned that it had to change soon. and it did change for the worse.
At dawn on January 2, the waves were gigantic. we were sailing with only a small storm jib and were still making eight knots. as the ship rose to the top of each wave we could see endless enormous seas rolling towards us, and the screaming of the wind and spray was painful to the ears, to slow the boat down, we dropped the storm jib and lashed a heavy mooring rope in a loop across the stern, then we double-lashed everything went through our life-raft drill, attached lifelines. donned oilskins and life jackets and waited.
The first indication of impending disaster came at about 6 p.m with an Ominous silence the wind dropped, and the sky immediately grew dark. then came a growing roar, and an enormous cloud towered aft of the ship with horror. I realized that it was not a cloud but a wave like no other I had ever seen. it appeared perfectly vertical and almost twice the height of the other waves, with a frightful breaking crest
The roar increased to thunder as the stern moved up the face of the wave, and for a moment I thought we might ride over it, but then a tremendous explosion shook the check. A torrent of green and white water broke over the ship, my head smashed into the wheel and I was aware of flying overboard. and sinking below the waves . I accepted my approaching death. and as I was losing consciousness I felt quite peaceful.
Unexpectedly my head popped out of the water. A few metres away. wavewalker was near capsizing her lifeline jerked taut, I grabbed the guard. rails and sailed through the air into wavewalker’s main boom. subsequent waves tossed me around the deck like a rag doll. my felt ribs cracked my mouth filled with blood and broken teeth. somehow I found the wheel, lined up the stern for next wave and hung on.
Water, water Everywhere, I could feel that the ship had water below, but I dared not abandon the wheel to investigate. suddenly, the front hatch was throw open and mary appeared’ we’re sinking’ she screamed the decks are smashed ‘ we re full of water. take the wheel’ I shouted as I scrambled for the hatch
Larry and herb were pumping like madmen. broken timbers hung at crazy angles. the whole starboard side bulged inwards. clothes crockery, charts tins and toys sloshed about in deep water. I half-swam, half-crawled into the children’s cabin. Are you all right ? i asked yes’ they answered from an upper bunk but my head hurts a bit’ said sue, pointing to a big bump
above her eyes, I had no time to worry about bumped heads after finding a hammer, screws and canvas, I struggled back on deck, with the starboard side bashed open, we were taking water with each wave that broken over us if. I couldn’t make some repairs, we would surely sink
Somehow I managed to stretch canvas and secure waterproof hatch covers across the gapping holes. some water continued to stream below, but most of it was now being deflected over the side. more problems arose when our hand pumps started to block up with the debris floating around the cabins and the electric pump short-circuited the water level rose threateningly. back on deck I found that our two spare hand pumps had been wrenched overboard -along with the forestay sail, the jib the dinghies and the main anchor.
Then I remembered we had another electric. pump under the chartroom floor. I connected it to an out-pipe, and was thankful to find that it worked. the night dragged on with an endless, bitterly cold routine of pumping steering and working the radio, we were getting no replies to our Mayday calls -which was not surprising in this remote corner of the world.
Sue’s head had swollen alarmingly, she had two enormous black eyes, and now she showed us a deep cut on her arm. when I asked why she hadn’t made more of her injuries before this, she replied I’ didn’t want to worry you when you were trying to save us all’
By morning on january 3, the pumps had the water level sufficiently under control for us to take two hours’ rest in rotation. but we still had a tremendous leak somewhere below the waterline and on, cheeking I fond that nearly all the boat’s
Main rib frames were smashed down to the keel, in fact there was nothing holding up a whole section of the starboard hull except a few cupboard partitions. we had survived for 15 hours since the wave hit, but Wavewalker wouldn’t hold together long enough for us to reach Australia. I checked our charts and calculated that there were two small island a few hundred kilometres to the east, one of then Ile Amsterdam. was a French scientific base.
Our only hope was to reach these Pinpricks in the vast Ocean. But unless the wind and seas abated so we could hoist sail. our chances would be slim indeed. the great wave had put our auxilliary engine out of action.
On January 4, after 36 hours of continuous pumping we reached the last few centimetres of water. now we had only to keep pace with the water still coming in we could not set any sail on the main mast, pressure on the rigging would simply pull the damaged section of the hull apart, so we hoisted the storm jib and headed for where I thought the two islands were.
Mary found some corned beef and cracker biscuits. and we ate our first Meal in almost two days. but our respite was short-lived At 4. P.m black clouds began building up behind us’ within the hour the wind was back to 40 knots and the seas were getting higher, the weather continued to deteriorate throughout the night and by dawn on January 5, our situation was again desperate.
when I went in to comfort the children, Jon asked’ daddy are we going to die’? I tried to assure him that we could make it. but Daddy’ he went on’ we aren’t afraid of dying if we can all be together -you and mummy . sue and I ‘
I could find no words with which to respond but I left the children’s cabin determined to fight the sea with everything I had to. protect the weakened starboard side. I decided to heaves. to-with the undamaged port hull facing the oncoming waves. using an improvised sea anchor of heavy nylon rope and two 22 litre plastic barrels of paraffin.
That evening Mary and I sat together holding hands, as the motion of the ship brought more and water in through the broken planks, we both left the end was very near.
We are not afraid to die class 11 summary
This is a story of extreme courage shown by Gordon cook, his family, and crewmembers in a war with water and waves for their survival it has been written by Gordon Cook and Alan East. the narrator, Gordon cook, and his family set sail from England to duplicate the world voyage round which was earlier made by captain James cook, 200 years ago. they took their professionally built ship, the Wavewalker, along with two experienced sailors, larry vigil and herb seiger
The first part of the journey up to cape town was very pleasant After. that they began to face strong winds but it did not worry the narrator. they celebrated their new year on the ship after that the weather became more unfriendly it became dangerous A huge explain shook their ship twice. they got injured. water started coming in but their determination was strong the entire night was spent in pumping, steering repairing, and lending radio signals, both the children were also injured.
But they laid that they were not afraid to die if they could all be together. this encouraged the narrator to handle the situation more wisely. finally, they reached an island and were saved. thus’ the story depicts that optimization. faith and courage can help in achieving success.
We are not afraid to die class 11 Question and Answer
Question”1 I honing our seafaring skills
Answer” It refers to the efforts made by the narrator and his wife to perfect or sharpen their knowledge of navigation, handling of the boat and equipment, and other sea skills.
Question”2 Ominous silence
Answer” it refers to the silence just before an impending danger. the peace and quiet suggest that something bad is going to happen.
Question”3 Mayday calls
Answer” They are radio-telephonic calls that are given by aircraft or ships stuck in a disastrous situation. they are distress calls made to secure help from other ships nearly.
Question”4 Pinpricks in the vast ocean
Answer” This phrase refers to tiny islands in the vast ocean. they are so small that they appear like tiny pinheads on a map of the vast ocean.
Question”5 a tousled head
Answer” It refers to hair in disarray or the disarranged hair of the author’s son. his hair was all messed up and uncombed.
(Understanding the text)
Question”1 List the steps taken by the captain
- to protect the ship when rough weather began
- to check the flooding of the water in the ship
Answer” 1.In order to protect the ship from rough weather, the captain decided to slow if down. so he dropped the storm jib and Iashed heavy mooring rope in a loop across the stem. then they double fastened everything and went through
their life-raft drill
2. Larry and herb started pumping out water. the captain stretched canvas and secured water proof hatch covers across the gaping holes. when the two hand pumps blocked and electric pump short circuited, he found another electric pump, connected it to an out pipe and started it.
Question”2 Described the mental condition of the voyages on 4th and 5th January.
Answer” On January 4, the voyagers felt relieved after 36 hours of continuous pumping out water. they had their first meal in almost two days. their respite was short-lived. they faced dangerous situation on January 5. fear of death loomed large. they were under great mental stress.
Question”3 Describe the shifts in the narration of the events as indicated in the three sections of the text. Give a subtitle to each section.
Answer” The first section describes a peaceful journey from plymouth (England) to 3500 km east of cape town (Africa) the narrator is relaxed and full of confidence. as the weather deteriorated, they faced gigantic waves, they took precautions to save themselves and struggle with the disaster. the narration becomes grim. but it exudes the fighting spirit, confidence and strong will power. by the morning of January 6, wave walker rode out of the storm and by evening they sighted he Amsterdam island.
The narrator is now relaxed. joy relief and complete confidence are apparent. the subtitle to each section is -section 1- Cheerful Journey, section 2 -facing the wave, section 3-searching island.
We are not afraid to die class 11 MCQ’s
Question”1 what happened when the author’s head smashed into the wheel?
- he was hurt but steady
- he flew overboard sinking below the waves
- he was not hurt
- he gained control immediately
Question”2 How long did they take for the ship’s testing and fitting ?
- months
- few days
- 2 year
- few weeks
Question”3 when did they reach IIe Amsterdam ?
- around 6 pm in the evening
- never reached there
- at 11 in the next morning
- they decide to take different route
Question”4 what was their first meal in two days ?
- Meatloaves
- bread and milk
- noodles
- corned beef and cracker biscuits
Question”5 what happened after the pumps started to block up with the debris floating around the cabins?
- the author connected an electric-pump to an out-pipe
- by taking out water with the help of bucket
- by repairing hand pump
- the author found another hand pump
Question”6 what was the age of Suzanne and Jonathan?
- 8 and 9 years old
- 7 and 6 years old
- 10 and 7 years old
- 4 year and 6 years
Question”7 what was the condition of the ship?
- broken timbers, starboard side bulged inwards, clothes, crockery, charts, tins and toys sloshed
- there personal belongings were missing
- water filled in every room and their clothes
- can’t say
Question”8 what happened to the author’s body when he managed to reach the deck ?
- his head smashed again
- his left ribs cracked, mouth filled with blood and broken teeth
- he broken his leg
- his broke his left hand
Question”9 why did the accept his approaching death ?
- pirates had attached the ship
- because he was injured by the explosion
- he was thrown in the sea
- he was stabbed
Question”10 what happened after the first indication of the disaster?
- a wave appeared vertical and almost twice the height of other waves
- it broken the ship from inside
- the ship turned upside down
- it didn’t effect the ship
MCQ’s Answers
| Q.No | Answer | Q.No | Answer |
| 1 | A | 6 | B |
| 2 | B | 7 | C |
| 3 | A | 8 | B |
| 4 | B | 9 | A |
| 5 | A | 10 | A |