In which Berna takes us to a quiet corner of Britanny, near Vannes, and introduces us to intrepid young sailor Fanch and his friend Lise. Fanch is inseparable from his little fishing boat, the Petit-Emile, which he has recently upgraded with a sail, a mast and a larger hull all gathered from jetsam and with the agreement of the Receiver of Wreck, Monsieur Riou, in Langle. But the authorities seem much more interested in the Petit-Emile than one might expect – what secret does the little boat have that demands so much of their attention?
Unusually, The Secret of the Missing Boat was first published in 1966 in English by The Bodley Head, and then in French in 1969 by G. P. Rouge et Or under its original French title L’Épave de la Bérénice, which translates literally as The Wreck of the Berenice, with illustrations by Barry Wilkinson, who had also illustrated The Mystery of the Cross-Eyed Man and Gaby and the New Money Fraud. The Secret of the Missing Boat was translated, as usual, by John Buchanan-Brown. My own copy of the book is a 1972 reprint of the Puffin edition. There are a few copies currently on sale online if you want to buy one!
Berna’s Parisian cityscape that dominated his last few books is here replaced by a maritime environment, an island-dotted bay in Brittany, where boats replace cars and old rural methods haven’t been replaced by modern development. Where, in the past, he has given us a map of Puisay, here he provides a map of the coast and all the islands. It’s fun to make a comparison with a real map of the area as it’s largely faithful and accurate, which helps the reader to become more closely associated with the district; all apart from the inclusion of Ile-Goulvan, Ile-Hervé, Cow Island and La Teigne, and some playing with the area around the Seven Marshes.
Berna has left his usual descriptions of gangs behind, in favour for concentrating on his two main children characters, both of whom lead remote, solitary lives. Fanch and Lise’s competence in criss-crossing between islands on all sorts of simple boats lends an air of adventure and excitement, mixed with a sense of idyllic, quiet, leisurely childhood. But there’s nothing leisurely about their lives; they work all hours, frequently heavy, physical labour, often getting up before dawn and going to bed early, exhausted. They’re children, but with adult responsibilities. In a typically male oriented world, Fanch makes sure he neverthless has as much fun as possible; Lise is given the role of being sensible and responsible. So whilst Fanch and Cogan go off to have an adventure on the restored dinghy, for example, Lise makes do with basic seaman skills, such as untangling the lines and drying out the old vessel.
There’s a strong contrast between the two younger characters and everyone else in the story. Fanch and Lise are the only two children, and the adults in their lives all represent various levels of discipline, instruction or enforcement. Fanch needs to keep his distance from Blackbeard, his teacher, otherwise he’ll get into trouble for not going to school. He also gets into trouble with the likes of Tanguy and Stephani, and Benny, Pat and Fredo. He loves Mamm and Uncle Job, but they are strong believers in discipline and Mamm completely rules the roost – what she says, goes, and no arguing. Even M. Jégo constantly tells Fanch what he must do, as he works for the Jégo family as well as his own. It’s only when Fanch comes to terms with Blackbeard – M. Cogan – that they can work together and become friends. And there’s a consequent enjoyable relationship with the two adult camping travellers, Manoel and Picou. This is not the first time Berna has used a teacher who is remote or aloof and then brings them into a heroic role – this also happens in Flood Warning.
But it’s not just a one-way relationship between Cogan and the children. By getting involved in the children’s exploits, Cogan rediscovers his own inner child and gets an enormous escapist pleasure from accompanying them on their exploits, and even living temporarily on Ile-Goulvan courtesy of Mamm. In addition to the parallel with Flood Warning, it’s also very reminiscent of the pleasure and value that Commissioner Sinet derives from working alongside the children in the Puisay books.
In the first chapter, Berna fills in some excellent descriptions of his main characters. “Lise was only just twelve. Despite its poverty, life on the islands of the Little Sea was healthy and it had made her tough without repressing the high spirits natural in someone of her age. Although she had a forgiving nature, she was scrupulously honest in matters of right and wrong.” We later discover that she has a very strong association with Fanch: “she needed Fanch’s clumsy devotion as much as the love of her parents. They had played and grown up together, and their companionship made the happiness of their lonely life. Lise did not want to lose him and she dreaded his going as the worst thing that could happen to her.” And she is very concerned that he might get into serious trouble: “if she was to keep him she would have to make him more sensible; she would have to disarm the enemies who threatened his freedom. But, above all, she would have to stop him getting into such serious trouble as would lead to his being sent away for good and all.”
As for Fanch, we quickly discover that he is totally driven by the maritime life and wants nothing else: “While his schoolfellows were racking their brains over the Maths paper, he had been far up the river above Noyalo exploring a forsaken piece of marshland which was only covered once in three years by this particular high tide […] There were few greater excitements for Fanch than these brief glimpses of hidden territory that might be revealed at any hour of the day or night by the capricious movements of the ever-present ocean.” His confidence in the water encourages him to be cheeky with the likes of the Harbour Master; where others especially of Fanch’s age might show him more respect, at first he refuses his demand that he presents himself to him: ““I can hear you quite well from here”, Fanch answered, unabashed […] the quick-tempered Harbour Master snapped, going very red in the face. “You come up here, and be quick about it, or the sergeant will have you up by the ears!” “I shouldn’t count on that,” Fanch said, firmly but politely.”
This is another of Berna’s works where he deals sensitively with the prospect of boys growing up and becoming men, leaving behind their old childhood pursuits. Fanch is never happier than when he’s out on the water, but his teacher M. Cogan makes him think twice about how not having any qualifications will restrict his opportunities once he’s an adult. “Fanch took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the good sea air. He let his gaze wander to the fresh sunlit horizon and the innumerable islands studding the pale blue sea. The thought of giving up his childhood’s paradise brought tears to his eyes. “I know you’re right,” he murmured, “but I don’t want to lose it all.””
Berna is a master of the art of creating a sense of excitement and mystery out of the simplest description. “At high tide, the horizon encircles a calm sea studded with tiny grey or green islets, the antechamber of the wide ocean. But at low water, the ebb slowly reveals a drowned landscape which seems suddenly to rise stark against the sky. A thousand secret paths seem to link the mainland once more with the ruins sunk for ten or twelve centuries in the mud of the tidal channels.” No wonder Fanch loves to go exploring. The book is littered with brief descriptive moments that reinforce the scene so beautifully and powerfully. If I am honest, however, I feel the book is very slightly let down by the nature of its ending. The treasure they find is extraordinary and unique, but I really feel it stretches the imagination of the reader beyond what is a reasonable outcome. But you might feel differently!
Here’s my chapter by chapter synopsis of the book. If you haven’t read the book yet and don’t want to see any spoilers, here’s where you have to stop reading!
Chapter One – The Petit-Emile. Fanch navigates his little boat, the Petit-Emile, through narrow waterways towards the village of Locmariaquer, accompanied by his friend Lise and an eel that they have caught. Fanch wants to make sure that he doesn’t run into Monsieur Cogan, the school master, also nicknamed Blackbeard. Fanch has never taken school seriously, much preferring to venture out on the waters discovering hidden nooks and crannies along the coast.
While he is waiting for Lise to return from her Aunt Annick’s, the Harbour Master Monsieur Tanguy, the Customs Officer Stephani, and two other gentlemen call to him to answer a few questions. Tanguy wants to know where his new sail and mast came from – and Fanch tells him he took some jetsam and made them from it; with the approval of Monsieur Riou, the Receiver of Wreck. And what about his new hull? That was from an abandoned boat that only emerged at a recent bore-tide. Fanch towed it to show M. Riou, who confirmed there were no boats reported missing, so allowed him to take it, at least on a temporary basis. But Tanguy is not satisfied and warns Fanch that he may have to return it to its rightful owner.
Fanch takes Lise back to her home on Ile-Hervé, and then on to his own home on Ile-Goulvan. He lives with his foster mother, Madame Guidic (Mamm) and her brother Uncle Job; and he discovers that a lodger has moved in from Paris for a short while – Monsieur Cosquer, who insists that Fanch calls him Benny. Fanch instinctively distrusts him, as Benny tries to find out more about the family he is staying with. The lodger tries to smooth the waters by offering to crew for Fanch the next time he goes out.
Chapter Two – The Seven Marshes. Benny gets up early and, from his bedroom window, watches Fanch herding fifteen Friesians towards fresh pasture. Quickly getting dressed, he goes outside and finds the Petit-Emile by the beach; whilst Fanch is away he takes the opportunity to have a good look around it. But Fanch catches him and starts to get annoyed at his persistent questions. Benny requests a trip on the boat but Fanch refuses, saying he has to help the Jégos on Ile-Hervé with their oyster-parks. Later, Fanch and Lise discuss how to handle Benny and his curiosity; she suggests he takes advantage of the good tide tomorrow to take him wherever he wants.
The next day they go out in the boat together. Benny says he doesn’t mind where Fanch takes him, but Fanch knows he wants to go back to the spot where he found the hull, the Seven Marshes. It’s foggy, and Benny can’t recognise where he is, but Fanch is such a good sailor that he has no problem navigating even under difficult weather conditions. Fanch, however, gets fed up with Benny’s constant criticism and hands over the controls of the boat. Fanch confronts him with the suggestion that this isn’t the first time he’s been on board this boat, and they get into an argument. Eventually Benny reveals that he is on a search for treasure, but he will give no further details which makes it hard for Fanch to help. But they agree to return to the Seven Marshes later that evening.
Chapter Three – The Voyage of the Waikiki. Lise keeps a watch-out towards Ile-Goulvan, expecting to see Fanch in the Petit-Emile. But her mother tells her that Job let her know that Fanch and the lodger went off very early that morning. She still expects him back later to help with their work. Lise reflects on how much she relies on Fanch for companionship and is concerned that it might not last: “Fanch is heading for trouble even though he won’t admit it.”
There’s an unexpected arrival on the Ile-Hervé in the form of the Waikiki, a blue and white American launch with two burly men aboard, Pat and Fredo, and a lot of fishing tackle. They’re friendly to Lise, they ask about the island, and tell her they’re looking for someone who is lodging somewhere in the area. Lise senses there’s something wrong but decides to mention that there is someone, staying on the Ile-Goulvan. The men go off in pursuit in a hurry, whilst Mme Jégo asks Lise to take the punt to Ile-Goulvan to return baskets and collect milk and vegetables. When she arrives, the Waikiki is already moored up.
When Pat and Fredo land, they try to run up to the house silently, but Mamm sees them and demands to know what they want. They say they are looking for their old friend Benny Cosquer, whom Pat accidentally describes as a “rat”. Mamm suggests they return the next morning, when she will have had time to arrange lunch for them. But the men are too quick for her and insist on looking through Cosquer’s luggage, as he has “something of ours”. They ransack his room; and Mamm, furious, tells them “Fanch’ll make you pay for all this”. They tie her up, much to her surprise amusement; because then Uncle Job appears with his shotgun and demands they lie flat down until Cosquer returns. Lise appears and releases Mamm, apologising for having sent the men over to her island. Mamm decides that Benny Cosquer is a trouble-maker and will be leaving the island that evening with his “friends”.
Meanwhile Fanch and Benny are still squabbling on the Petit-Emile, but when Benny notices the launch moored up on Ile-Goulvan, he asks Fanch to bring the boat in at a quiet hidden location. However, the secrecy is in vain, for Job sees them and quickly shouts out that the three of them should leave the island immediately. Benny makes a dash for it, and “there was quite a scuffle in the tamarisks before the pair finally caught him”. “The three hundred francs for his board and lodging are in an envelope. The old lady won’t touch stolen money… Now get out of it quick, and don’t you ever come back to the Ile-Goulvan!”
But Fanch has unresolved business, and running towards the men, hits both Pat and Fredo with an oar until they both fall face down in the mud. Benny finds this hilarious. “The punishment he had inflicted on the thugs seemed paltry. Mamm Guidic had given him a home; she had tended him in sickness; she had recused him from the horrors of the orphanage, and her person was sacred.” When Fanch tells her why the men were interested in the Petit-Emile, Mamm insists ““then you’ll strip her right away and sink her in the channel,” she said coldly. “The flood tide tonight may make a present of her to some other fool. I’m not having any more of this nonsense here.””
Chapter Four – The Castaway on La Teigne. Lise and Fanch go through the sad process of stripping everything out of the Petit-Emile, during which Fanch finds Benny’s map that the latter had tucked away at the bottom of the boat. Lise suggests scuttling the map along with the rest of the boat. Fanch is keen to make the Petit-Emile as light as possible so that it travels far and quickly. Removing the bung, Fanch waits until the water is up to his knees before walking off and on to Lise’s punt alongside. Once the boat is sunk, he finds Benny’s map still soggy in his back pocket. They look at it – they don’t recognise what it shows, which is some red markings around a coastline. In the end Lise suggests that they should keep it: “you never know, someone a bit more honest than Benny and a bit sharper than we are might find it handy one day.”
Later that day an exhausted Fanch returns home, but not before M. Jégo asks him why he got up so early. Fanch is desperate to go exploring and he feels lost without his boat; but Jégo reminds him he will get his old boat back very soon. Uncle Job warns him the next day will be busy with produce and they will need to be at Sarzeau market early. Nevertheless, Fanch wakes in the middle of the night, and attracted by the moonlight, walks along the cliff edge. In the distance he could hear a cry; “two miles, or even less, from the Ile-Goulvan, someone was in trouble.”
On the isolated island of La Teigne, Benny had been crying out for hours, trying to attract attention of people ashore. Fanch takes a punt and starts heading towards his voice. “The boy could hardly recognize his fellow-sailor of the morning. Benny’s clothes were torn and the blood which caked his bruised and swollen face made it look almost black in the moonlight.” Pat and Fredo had taken Benny back to the Seven Marshes but were unable to find anything, so they beat him up and left him on La Teigne to fend for himself. They were looking for his map – they found one, but Benny says it won’t get them very far. Fanch vows to help him but, because of Mamm, returning to Ile-Goulvan is not an option. Fanch suggests landing on Cow Island, where there will be shelter, and Fanch will come and leave him food whenever possible. Fanch tells Benny that they scuttled the Petit-Emile and he is furious.
Fanch returns home and starts work. They load up the punt, then head for Cow Island to do the milking. Benny has washed and was having a relaxing cigarette, as though he were living in the lap of luxury. He gives Fanch three hundred francs and asks him to buy him some clothes; Fanch suggests going over to Saint Arzhel to collect his old boat, the original Petit-Emile. The next day he bumps into the parish priest, who promises not to tell the schoolteacher that they had met.
Chapter Five – The Wreck of the Berenice. Fredo and Pat have been observing the comings and goings on Ile-Goulvan and Cow Island from their vantage point near the Hotel Armoric. They think Fanch’s black boat is like the one they had seen previously on the River Noyalo. Pat favours keeping a close watch on him, whereas Fredo suggests they force him into working for them by means of physical violence. They approach him, but Fanch isn’t impressed. “You’re a couple of thugs!” he shouts as he outpaces them, running to the crest of the dune.
However, Fanch gets a nasty surprise as he runs straight into the arms of M. Cogan, aka Blackbeard, the schoolmaster. Cogan admits he was only there to keep an eye on the two suspicious men, but now that he has caught Fanch he won’t let go. “There’s a nice little room with bars across the windows waiting for you back at the school. You’ve all summer in front of you to swot up for the entrance exam to the High School at Lorient”. Despite Fanch’s protests, Cogan persists, and Fanch is sincerely touched by the teacher’s belief in him. “It’s time you started to grow up and make your plans for the time when you’ll be a man. You’ve got to break out of this little world of yours because the older you grow the more cramping you’re going to find it. Mamm Guidic knows this perfectly well and she knows she only holds you now by a thread […] do you think I’d go to all this trouble over someone I didn’t think worth it?” Fanch knows he’s right; and the sadness of the situation is of no comfort to either of them. However, Fanch invites Cogan to help him rig up the Petit-Emile, a chance for the two characters to come together in the same cause. Cogan suggests a compromise which allows Fanch to do some studying in his spare time. But Fanch tells him his spare time is taken up with jobs on the farm as well as dealing with the two suspicious men. Cogan is eager to hear about what’s been going on. He tells Fanch how treasure can mean more than one thing to different people: “the most ordinary little pebble can turn out to be a treasure for someone who knows what he’s looking for.” He suggests Fanch does some excavating with a pickaxe on Ile-Goulvan: “these islands were once the tops of hills and nearly all of them have one or two megaliths on them.”
Cogan suggests they try to interview Benny but Fanch thinks it would be a waste of time. His idea is to speak to M. Tanguy but he’s uncomfortable about doing it on his own. Cogan, however, isn’t “scared of the old boy. If he does know anything, he won’t refuse to pass it on to me.” They set off, and when Tanguy spies him in the distance, he and Stephani place a bet as to whether he’ll make it there safely in that little dinghy. When he realises Fanch is accompanied by Cogan, he’s delighted that the schoolmaster has finally caught up with him. However, his mood swings when Fanch tells him he scuttled the other boat. Cogan quizzes Tanguy on whether they’ve had any mysterious enquiries about a lost or hidden boat, and both Tanguy and Stephani explain they’ve had several.
Tanguy tells them of the Berenice, a twelve-ton cabin cruiser that was stolen some time earlier. It seems to have gone completely missing. Tanguy suspects it’s part of a wider criminal activity. He suggests sending a dredger over to Ile-Goulvan and getting Fanch to sift the sand for traces of the Berenice. In the first instance, Fanch and Cogan arrange to meet at Kerivau, and then they’ll sail to Cow Island to catch up with Benny.
Chapter Six – Robbery on the Island. Passing Ile-Hervé, Fanch sees Lise on the shoreline. She tells him that Pat and Fredo had found Benny on Cow Island and abducted him. This is a blow to Fanch, although Cogan reminds him that they’re bound to lead them to the Berenice. Lise reminds Fanch he has the map; but he’s left it behind on Ile-Goulvan. Cogan realises that Fanch didn’t find the map much use because he couldn’t read it. Fanch suggests that Cogan takes a room at the farm for a few days. Lise will be there too.
Mamm is honoured to have Cogan come to stay. They’re eager to read the map – it shows one continuous coastline, and some writing on it: “S. E. Grey church tower beyond cross-shaped tree. N. E. Red and white pylon slightly to right of parrot’s beak”. Cogan assumes the parrot’s beak must be a rock, and that the red and white pylon must belong to an electricity grid line. There’s a landmark marked K, which Fanch identifies as the old brick works at Kerguenen: “you can only see that landmark five months of the year […] by the end of May they’re completely hidden by the trees.” They continue to pore over the map with various theories. It’s Lise who recognises the shape of the horn on a map on the wall in the farmhouse.
During the night, the sound of a motorboat engine wakes Fanch and Cogan. Uncle Job has already gone out to investigate, and he reports that three men were in the boat going past at first, and that there’s only one coming on the way back. Cogan assumes that the other two have landed already, and the third will probably join them; they are concerned for Mamm and Lise’s safety, sleeping alone in the house. They take up different positions to keep watch; but Fanch is so angry that he can’t stay still, and when Pat comes along towards the house, Fanch sticks out his foot so that he comes crashing to the ground. But the villains out-trick the heroes, and it’s not long before Benny, Pat and Fredo are in the house. They snatch the map off the wall, the glass smashes and they tear off a part of it. But then Mamm appears, armed with a broom, which she wields like a lethal weapon, sending it crack across Benny’s face. The men escape, but it’s Lise who has the last laugh – the men won’t get far as she has poured two pounds of sugar into the petrol tank of their boat.
Chapter Seven – Grey Church Tower beyond Cross-Shaped Tree. Fanch, Lise and Blackbeard head off to the Seven Marshes. They don’t have Benny’s map but Fanch can remember its clues perfectly, and he has his own methods of navigation. He tells Cogan that his motivation for all this is to be the first to find the hull of the Berenice and open the cabin door. When he asks Lise the same question, she replies, “I’m not looking for anything […] All I want to do is share something nice with Fanch.”
But there’s another problem. A man in a motorboat checks them out and calls out “You’re not to go any farther!” He insists they change course and tie up at Le Passage. Blackbeard shouts back, refusing to obey and the man gets hysterical: “you’re one of the three crooks who wrecked my best boat on the Mare’s Nose!” Cogan identifies himself to the owner of the Waikiki who calms down. It was obviously Lise’s sugar treatment that has upset him! However, he later accuses Manoel and Picou, two campers in a canoe, of the same thing. Cogan defends them and then invites them to join their adventure.
The two boats proceed as far as the Petit-Emile will go. Blackbeard goes with Manoel and Picou along the channel. Lise and Fanch moor the Petit-Emile and continue on foot. Fanch is convinced the “grey church tower” is the one at Kérandré. They meet up with the others – they can see that Cogan has obviously noticed something. Lise discovers the cross-shaped tree, so they’re on the right track. And then – Fanch finds the Berenice! It’s a sorrowful sight, all caked in mud. Fanch makes the first move and pushes the cabin door open. And there sits Benny. He reveals that he is an insurance inspector, and that Pat and Fredo are in a police van taking them to Paris. And then Benny reveals the whole tale. The treasure he has been seeking is the theft of the Head of Gilgamesh from an archaeological dig in Iran, which has been passed from dealer to dealer and amassed a huge value. But it’s not in the Berenice – presumed to be at the bottom of the sea.
Chapter Eight – The Golden Eyes of Gilgamesh. Sometime later, Benny and two men arrive on Ile-Goulvan. Mamm is not welcoming, but Benny says they need to see Fanch – and she tells them that he has something for them too – the clothes that Benny had asked Fanch to buy for him all that time back. Benny advises him that the search for Gilgamesh is still not over, if he would like to come up to the wreck of the Berenice, but Fanch refuses. Blackbeard is still a resident; the experience of the past few weeks has made them all nervous. Mamm, however, allows Manoel and Picou to visit, camping out on the island and enjoying the occasional meal in the big kitchen. One day they report that the Seven Marshes is a hive of activity: “the place is alive with treasure-hunters in dungarees and frogmen’s outfits, Some of them are up to their waists in mud dragging with grapnels.”
Cogan and Fanch drive Mamm’s Friesians back from Cow Island. M. Jégo meets them, saying he has something exciting to show them. So they jump aboard – together with Lise who was already there – and head off towards the wreck of the Petit-Emile II, which had reappeared despite being scuttled. Mamm agrees that Fanch can keep her, “but take good care that it doesn’t bring the police and the burglars and all that crowd of nasty people who don’t belong here. Otherwise I’ll get cross.”
Cogan and Fanch set off on the new dinghy, leaving Lise to disentangle the hand-lines and coil them on the old boat. Her work done, she pauses to relax and observe the waves and reflections. Then – a shock of recognition! ““Gilgamesh,” she said in a choked voice. “He’s here, right under the bows.”” Fanch says she’s imagining things, but then he admits “there was a concrete mooring-block in the bottom of the dinghy when I hauled her out of the mud […] it was a good weight, and I used it to double the anchor block of our mooring-buoy”. With all their strength and might they heave up the mooring-buoy; and “up came Gilgamesh, the water streaming off him as he half emerged from the blackish matrix which the slow steady action of the waves had partially worn away.”
Mamm won’t have it in the house, and insists they take it to Locmariaquer at once. Benny, Tanguy and his team are not impressed that Fanch has returned yet again. But without a sound they deposit the head on the desk and remove its covering. Words fail everyone! It’s agreed that Fanch can keep the dinghy, but Lise is disappointed to have given up Gilgamesh so quickly. Cogan makes Fanch confess when he actually found the head; but Fanch does not feel guilty because he had kept a promise to Lise. “Ever since we were children, […] Lise’s always asked me to find her a treasure. I only kept quiet about this one, to give her the joy of finding it herself.”
To sum up; As always, Berna writes credible and powerful characters, facing a variety of challenges, which all turn out for the best. The reader might well identify with Fanch, its hero; Lise takes a more subservient, dismissive role and perhaps isn’t someone with whom many young readers might want to identify. But the book tells a moral tale and clearly delineates between good and bad behaviour without ever coming across as prissy or goody-goody. That’s the last we see of Fanch, Lise and the maritime life of Brittany, and if you’ve read the book – or are re-reading it now, I’d love to know what you think about it, so please add a comment below. Next up in the Paul Berna Challenge is a very different change of style and tone, Un Pays sans légende, translated into English as They Didn’t Come Back. I look forward to re-reading it and sharing my thoughts about it in a few weeks.
