The Secret Sharer – Questions

1. Why was the captain alone on deck that night?

2. In what was the captain “a stranger to the job”?
3. How did Leggatt get on board the ship?
4. Whare did the captain hide Leggatt?
5. How had Leggat escaped from the Sephora?
6. When the steward brought in the coffee, why didn’t she see the man
in the captain’s bed?
7. Why did Captain Archbold visit the ship?
8. What was “the sword over their heads”?
9. What was Leggatt’s plan of escape?
10.What excuse did the captain make for sailing towards the islands?
11.How was Leggatt going to get off the quarter-deck?
12.The captain gave Leggatt some money. What else did he give him?
13.How did the captain “get rid of the steward” at the right time?
14.What was the “white thing” on the water?
15.What had Leggatt shared with the captain?

Answers

1. He was alone that night because he had spared mis man off of watch
duty, as he felt that they had worked beyond necessary during the day.
2. He was a stranger in the way that he had never held such a high rank
above a ship before, as well as being one of the youngest men amidst
the crew.
3. He swam across the sea to the Captain’s ship, and seized onto a rope
ladder that had been left down by the port officer after his visit that
very day.
4. He kept Leggatt hidden amongst the many storage boxes inside the
captain’s den.
5. He took advantadge of the scarce minutes he was allowed on deck, to
look for another vessel, leave his belongings behind, and jump into the
water. By the time any alarm was raised, he was already a kilometre
ahead.
6. Because, although Leggatt was resting in the captain’s bed, its curtains
had been drawn, therefore hiding him from the steward’s sight.
7. Because he realized that besides some rock formations that he had
already checked, the ship was the only place the sharer might have
reached alive.
8. It is a metaphor. It means that they were always in danger of being
caught, either by one of the sailors, the steward, or Captain Archbold,
and thus an almost neurotic awareness was essential.
9. He thought it was possible for him to escape by the same means he
used to flee the Sephora. At night, as soon as the ship got close enough
to the cambodian archipelago, he would swim off towards the Koh-ring
island.
10.He told his men that it was best for them to come close to cambodian
shore because they needed the stronger land winds blowing there.
11.He would use an open window to get overboard. And then, when the
ship turned away, he’d throw a rope to get off.
12. He also gave Leggatt his own hat, as a sign of the bond that grew
between each other during the days the had spent together.
13. He asked him for some hot water, and at the time he had gone to the
kitchen to arouse the fire, Leggatt swiftly headed for the sail room.
14.It was the hat the captain had given the sharer before he left. He used it
as a sort of compass in order to turn the ship to the right direction ir
order to avoid a crash against Koh-Ring’s rocks.
15.In the end, the both had not only shared a room, but also a part of their
lives, of their thoughts and feelings.