The Coral Island - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

The story is written as a first person narrative from the perspective of one of three boys shipwrecked on the coral reef of a large but uninhabited Polynesian island, 15-year-old Ralph Rover. Ralph tells the story retrospectively, looking back on his boyhood adventure: "I was a boy when I went through the wonderful adventures herein set down. With the memory of my boyish feelings strong upon me, I present my book specially to boys, in the earnest hope that they may derive valuable information, much pleasure, great profit, and unbounded amusement from its pages."

The account starts briskly, with only four pages devoted to Ralph's early life and a further fourteen to his voyage to the Pacific Ocean on board the Arrow. He and his two companions – 18-year-old Jack Martin and 14-year-old Peterkin Gay – are the sole survivors of the shipwreck. The narrative is essentially in two parts. The first describes how the boys feed themselves, what they drink, the clothing and shelter they fashion, and how they cope with having to rely on their own resources. The second half of the novel is more action-packed, featuring conflicts with pirates, fighting between the native Polynesians, and the conversion efforts of Christian missionaries.

At first the boys' life is idyllic. Food in the shape of fruits, fish, and wild pigs is plentiful, and they fashion a shelter and construct a small boat using their only possessions: a broken telescope, an iron-bound oar, and a small axe. Their first contact with other humans comes after several months, when they observe two large outrigger canoes land on the beach. The two groups of Polynesians disembark and engage in battle; the three boys intervene to defeat the attackers, earning them the gratitude of the chief, Tararo. The natives leave, and the boys are alone once more.

Less welcome visitors then arrive in the shape of British pirates, who make a living by trading or stealing sandalwood. The three boys conceal themselves in a hidden cave, but Ralph is captured when he ventures out to see if the pirates have left, and is taken on board the pirate schooner. He strikes up a friendship with one of the pirates, Bloody Bill, and when they call at an island to trade for more wood he meets Tararo again. There he experiences many facets of the island's culture, including the popular sport of surfing, the sacrificing of babies to feel god's, rape, and cannibalism.

Rising tensions result in the inhabitants attacking the pirates, leaving only Ralph and Bloody Bill alive. The pair succeed in making their escape in the schooner, but Bill is mortally wounded. He makes a death-bed repentance for his evil life, leaving Ralph to sail back alone to the Coral Island, where he is reunited with his friends.

The three boys sail to the island of Mango, where a missionary has converted some of the population to Christianity. They find themselves caught up in a conflict between the converted and non-converted islanders, and in attempting to intervene are taken prisoner. They are released a month later after the arrival of another missionary, and the conversion of the remaining islanders. The "false gods" of Mango are consigned to the flames, and the boys set sail for home, older and wiser.