Lifeboat 12 - Wars, Family, and Torpedoes. The story of Ken.

Cadence Scheunemann

    Lifeboat 12 is the story of a thirteen-year-old boy named Ken trying desperately to escape from different things. The three main things he is trying to run away from are World War 2, his family, and a big fat torpedo. Ken lives in England smack dab in the middle of a life of war bombings and ration tickets. Ken has a small family of three. His dad works a job that makes little and asks much of him. Ken's mum died during Ken's birth and his father ended up marrying Ken's nanny, Nora, and having Margaret, Ken's little sister. One day, an important envelope comes to Ken's house, telling the family Ken is eligible to escape England on a boat headed for Canada. The boat is huge and festive, but on the fourth day of their voyage, a German U-boat sends a torpedo hurtling at the ship. Ken has to learn to survive through it all. In Lifeboat 12, Ken narrates his story in first person, in poetry form. This helps to lead us to the idea that Ken is telling us his story in fragments as he would have thought it at the time.

    Ken is trying to get away from his stepmum at the beginning of the story because he feels she treats him differently since he is not her kid. Ken often compares his relationship with his mum to the relationship between Margaret and his stepmum. Ken even thinks, "I feel like a hand-me-down my stepmum doesn't want" (Hood 8). In this situation, Ken feels upset about the way his mum is treating him and this makes him want to run away from his family. Later on, when Ken finally gets to go away on a boat to Canada, his stepmum doesn't even wave goodbye as she walks away from him at the train station. This solidifies Ken's wish to leave his family behind.

    Near the beginning of the novel, Ken is affected by World War 2. Originally, only rumors of battles and bombs reached Ken's ears. One of the only ways the war affected him was through his food, and ration stamps making it hard to eat yummy things. Soon before Ken needs to leave to catch his boat out of England, Germans begin to bomb his home nearly every night. The first night the bombs hit, Ken and his family need to hide under their kitchen table, unable to make it to the shelter in time. In this instance, Ken thinks, "This is it. Hitler has taken over Europe. And now he's coming for England. He's coming for us"(Hood 17). The fear in Ken's tone implies he is looking for a way out of the war. The rest of the nights Ken is still in England, he has to hide in the bomb shelters every night. The bomb shelters are stuffy and filled to the brim with people, leading Ken to fantasize about his new life in Canada. The war makes him wish he could run away from England.

    After safely boarding the SS City of Benares (The ship), Ken enjoys four blissful days of ice cream, games, and lifeboat drills. However, in the middle of the night on the fourth day, the ship is hit by a German torpedo. Ken runs to his lifeboat, just like he practiced, but he ends up missing his boat, #8. Ken is desperate to escape the ship. With encouragement from some other boys, Ken jumps into lifeboat #12, desperately trying to run away from the sinking ship. 

    Please read Lifeboat 12 to find out what happens to Ken!