Avis Dolphin by Frieda Wishinsky

Avis Dolphin is based on a real person of the same name who sailed on the steamship, The Lusitania, in 1915. The real Avis Dolphin was accompanied by Hilda Ellis and Sarah Smith on her journey. While on the ill-fated liner, she was befriended by Professor Ian Holbourn, also a real person. Avis Dolphin is an imaginative retelling of their voyage across the Atlantic in diary form beginning on Day One Saturday, May 1, 1915 and continuing until the last entry on Day Seven, Friday May 7, 1915 when tragedy struck.

The story opens with twelve-year-old Avis Dolphin arriving at Pier 54 in New York City, preparing to board the Lusitania. Accompanying her are two nurses, Hilda Ellis and Sarah Smith from her mother's nursing home in St. Thomas, Ontario. Avis doesn't want to leave her home to travel to England where she will visit her grandparents in Worcester and study at a school there. She feels even worse when she overhears a conversation between two photographers attempting to photograph the famous millionaire, Mr. Vanderbilt who has arrived to board the ship. They are discussing the possibility that the Lusitania might be in danger of being attacked by the Germans who have sent a warning out that the sea around the British Isles is a war zone. However Hilda reassures her that Mr. Sumner of the Cunard Lines has indicated that the Lusitania is too fast for the German U-boats. They try to comfort her by pointing out all the wealthy travellers who are boarding the Lusitania, indicating that they believe the voyage will be a safe one.

At 12:20pm the Lusitania pulls away from the dock and sets sail for Liverpool, England. The next morning finds Avis feeling unwell and seasick. Unable to eat breakfast, she walks to the deck in the hopes the fresh air will help her. There she meets a kindly Scottish gentleman named Ian Holbourn who notices that Avis feels unwell and encourages her to join him for a walk. Hilda recognizes him as Professor Ian Holbourn, the Laird of Foula, a small rocky island in the western Scottish Shetlands. To distract Avis from her sea sickness, Professor Holbourn begins by telling her some facts about the Lusitania and also about his wife Marion and his three boys. He invites her to visit his family at Foula. They decide to explore the first class section of the ship, and are amazed at its opulence.

Professor Holbourn has told Avis that legend holds that his island of Foula was once inhabited by a giant and a bogeyman. Avis is enthralled by this and asks the Professor to tell her more about the giant and the bogeyman which he does in bits and pieces as they journey across the Atlantic. Professor Holbourn is concerned about safety on the Lusitania, and when he witnesses a poorly devised life-boat drill, he questions the sailors. This brings him into conflict with Captain Turner who feels that lifeboat drills would only upset the passengers.

Meanwhile Hilda and Sarah spend their time flirting with the eligible men in second class. Sarah has snared a boy named Peter whom she meets every day in the dining room while Hilda makes friends with Richard and Jane who are twins. As the voyage continues, Avis finds herself enjoying the sea, Professor Holbourn prepares to give his talk on his trip to Iceland, and Hilda and Sarah have a falling out. But everyone becomes anxious once the coast of Ireland is spotted and the warning from Germany is remembered. 

Discussion

Avis Dolphin is a well-written account of a terrible marine disaster that occurred during World War I and not long after the sinking of the Titanic. In fact, the collective memory of the Titanic disaster was still very fresh in the minds of most people in North America and Britain when the Lusitania sank. 

The RMS Lusitania, a British passenger ship sank on May 7, 1915 after being torpedoed by an Imperial German Navy U-boat. The Lusitania, which was launched in 1906, was a very large ship that could carry over two thousand passengers, segregated according to class, and eight hundred crew. The ship was a glamorous ocean liner that had a library, a barber shop, smoking salons and even elevators. The Lusitania was the fastest ship during its time at sea. 

The Lusitania sailed a route between Liverpool and New York City on a monthly basis during World War I. Although ships sailing in the waters around the British Isles were often attacked by the German Unterseeboote or U-boats, most people did not believe the Lusitania would be a target. They considered the ship too fast for the U-boats to be able to successfully attack. The fact that it was also mainly a civilian passenger ship was another reason to doubt a U-boat attack. However, unknown to the crew and passengers, the Lusitania frequently transported war supplies from America to Britain. 

On what would be her last voyage, the Lusitania carried 696 crew members and 1266 passengers. Most were British Empire citizens but there were also American and Russian citizens aboard. There had been warnings placed in American newspapers by the German Embassy about the risk of travelling by ship but these were either ignored or not seen by the passengers. The waters around Britain and Ireland had been declared a war zone by the German Imperial Navy who considered any ship "fair game" for attack. 

The Lusitania reached the war zone on the evening of May 6, 1915.Heavy fog on the morning of May 7th, meant that Captain William Turner had to slow the Lusitania so he could accurately determine their position. He was warned of the presence of German U-boats off the coast of Ireland but he did not know their location as radar had not yet been invented. As the Lusitania moved closer to shore, it also moved directly into the path of German U-20 which fired one torpedo that struck the ocean liner below the Captain's Bridge. The Lusitania sank in eighteen minutes. Only seven hundred sixty-three people would survive. One of those survivors was Avis Dolphin.

Avis Gertrude Dolphin was born in 1902 in Rotherham, England. When she was two-years-old, Avis, her brother Jack and her mother, recently widowed, immigrated to Canada. Avis's father had died from tuberculosis after returning from the Boer War. Avis and her mother settled in St. Thomas, Ontario where they lived at 46 William Street. Avis attended Wellington Street School.  Avis's mother sent her to England to complete her education. Avis travelled with two nurses, Sarah Smith and Hilda Ellis who worked at her mother's nursing home and who were to vacation in England. They travelled to New York City where they boarded the Lusitania.

On the Lusitania, a very seasick Avis was befriended Professor Ian Holbourn who was also the laird of the Isle of Foula. He taught at Oxford University and it was his stories that distracted Avis who was suffering from seasickness. When the torpedo hit the Lusitania, Avis was waiting in the dining room for the second sitting. Holbourn took Avis to his cabin to get lifebelts and they made their way onto the deck where they found Sarah and Hilda. After seeing a portside lifeboat crash into the side of the ship, they sought a boat on the starboard side. Avis, Sarah and Hilda were placed into a boat by Holbourn but it capsized after two men attempted to jump into it as it was being lowered. Avis made it to a raft but she never found Sarah or Hilda. Holbourn also survived and he and his wife Marion eventually brought Avis to her grandparents in Worcester.

Freda Wishinsky tells her story without fanfare, simply and in an engaging manner through the eyes of a twelve-year-old girl who is struggling to make sense of the world around her. In 1915, it is a world embroiled in a war that was supposed to end quickly. In Wishinsky's fictional account, Avis enjoys herself most of the time on the Lusitania but is old enough to be concerned about the possibility of an attack by a German U-boat. She enjoys the companionship of the professor, manages to explore all three classes of the Lusitania and meet some of the passengers, and tries to understand the complicated relationship between Sarah and Hilda. Avis also notices the worry of the passengers as they approach the coast of Ireland. 

Professor Johan "Ian" Holbourn was the Laird of Foula, which he purchased after visiting there in 1900. Both Ian and his wife Marion had dreams that the Lusitania would be torpedoed. Holbourn was determined that the passengers on the boat know how to use their lifebelts and to go to the lifeboats. Captain Turner did request that Holbourn stop talking about lifeboat drills and safety, as it might upset the passengers. Holbourn also befriended Avis and helped her on the voyage as well as helped her to survive the sinking of the Lusitania.

Her narrative during the sinking manages to convey the confusion and terror around her, which she also experiences. "We climb over broken tables, chairs, lights, dishes, ripped jackets, skirts, underwear and tablecloths. We stumble over a pair of boots and a headless doll.
The injured are everywhere -- sobbing, moaning -- but we can't help them. We can't stop. I shudder as we step over a woman. I know her! She's Harold's wife, Mildred. Harold, who I met on the deck just two days ago. Harold, who can't swim. And here's his wife. Is she unconscious -- or dead? We can't even stop to help her." All of this makes her narrative both realistic and believable.

Wishinsky portrays Avis's determination to survive. When she is thrown into the sea after their lifeboat capsizes, Avis repeatedly tells herself to fight. "I kick. Kick, Hard. Harder. Fight. Yes! I'm up! Up!...My clothes and shoes drag me down. My head falls back. No! I can't let it. Stay up! Up!"  Once in a boat, Avis hears the cries of those begging to be saved but their boat holds only two people, herself and the man who rescued her. "People drift past our boat, screaming, begging James to take them in." In Wishinsky's telling Avis is rescued by a small boat and rowed ashore where she is taken into a small fishing hut. In real life, Avis was rescued by a small boat that also picked up several other women survivors and they were taken aboard a small steamer where they were warmed, and given hot brandy and milk.

The novel also captures the immediate trauma the sinking has on Avis, who cannot stop thinking about the fate of those whom she met on the Lusitania. "I smile remembering how we were almost kicked out of first class by the angry waiter. Where is that waiter now? Where are all those waiters and cooks?...And the first class elevator man? And the German stowaways, especially the young one who looked at me with such sad eyes?...And what about the crewman near the lifeboats? And the couples who hid in the lifeboats kissing and hugging? And Ailsa who won the spelling contest and was so proud? And the people playing shuffleboard? And Norman from third class who was going to work on his grandparents' farm? And his family?"

Wishinsky uses the artwork of Willow Dawson to tell Professor Holbourn's story of a girl shipwrecked on Foula, encountering a giant and a bogeyman on the island.  Dawson's unique black and white illustrations, done as graphic novel panels appear throughout the novel telling Holbourn's story. It's a unique way to present a story within a story.  The story serves to distract Avis and she tells Holbourn, "Your stories take me to enchanted places and to times long ago."

Avis Dolphin is a fascinating, well-told story of an important historical event that should appeal to younger readers. The book is in a larger format with large type that lends itself to easy reading. Frieda Wishinsky provides an informative Author's Note at the back which details some facts about World War I, Avis Dolphin and Professor Ian Holbourn and about Foula.

Image credit: https://images.csmonitor.com/csm/2015/05/0507-oarchives.JPG?alias=standard_900x600nc  

Book Details:

Avis Dolphin by Frieda Wishinsky, illustrated by Willow Dawson
Toronto: Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press 2015
164 pp.