Racundra's First Cruise take him, "I, of course, agreed with joy, as there is no such rigger in the Baltic as the Ancient Mariner". His real name was Captain Carl Sehmel and his character is also featured in several of the Swallows and Amazons books as Peter Duck and Simon, a wherry sailor in "Coot Club". Racundra's First Cruise Racundra's First Cruise is the first book about sailing written by Arthur Ransome, author of the "Swallows and Amazons" series. It describes a trip he made across the Baltic Sea from Riga in Latvia to Helsinki in Finland and back in a 9 metre
Swallows and Amazons series are set in Suffolk and Essex around the River Orwell, though one involves a trip across the North Sea to Holland. Two books, "Peter Duck" and "Missee Lee", and possibly also "Great Northern?", are metafictional, being fictional stories of the protagonists' voyages to exotic lands, as imagined by the fictional protagonists. The crew of the "Swallow" are siblings John, Susan, Titty, and Roger Walker. John, the oldest, is the captain and usually in charge. Susan is first mate, in charge of stores, cooking, and the general well-being of the crew. She sometimes acts as a surrogate mother. Titty, the "able