Timothy of the Cay
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| Author | Theodore Taylor |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
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Publication date
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1993 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 28422724 |
| Preceded by | The Cay |
Timothy of the Cay is a book written by Theodore Taylor. It is a prequel for Timothy and a sequel for Phillip to The Cay.
The book discusses Timothy's life before the events of The Cay, when he was living in "Back O' All", the poorest section of the squatter's village Charlotte Amalie, on the United States Virgin Islands of St. Thomas, and Phillip Enright's life after the same events. The theme to this story is making dreams a reality.
According to Timothy of the Cay, Timothy had been abandoned as a baby at the residence in Back O' All where Hannah Gumbs, a former coal carrier turned washer-woman who reared him, was a squatter. As a boy, he formed a dream of one day being captain of his own schooner, which he meant to name after the woman he called "Tante Hannah". Even though she was not Timothy's biological aunt, Timothy still referred to her as this. When he tried to become a cabin boy on one ship, its captain took on a "bukra" boy instead because he was a negro. A "bukra" was a white boy in the richer part of St. Thomas. When he finally got a job on another ship, he was fourteen but claimed an age of sixteen.He later claimed to be older so he could become part of the crew on the Hato.
Hannah Gumbs died in Timothy's first four years at sea. Timothy came back home with clothes for her only to find that she was dead. Timothy worked long enough and hard enough, both at sea and on land, to be able to afford a schooner originally named the Tessie Crabb by what he guesstimated were his forties. Holding a master's license in the name of "Timothy Gumbs" (he would think of himself simply as Timothy, without a family name, for his entire life); by this time, he renamed this schooner the Hannah Gumbs, as he had always intended. Making his living as its "captain", Timothy gleaned an extensive enough knowledge of the sea to be able, in his last months, to help Phillip Enright survive on a cay in El Boca de Diablo, "the Devil's Mouth".
The story describes how, after the captain of the Hettie Redd died, Timothy was asked to bring his body back for burial as temporary captain of the Hettie Redd. He did so reluctantly, suspecting that a violent storm, or "tempis'", might strike. One did, sinking the Hettie Redd with all hands let alone him and drowning all its passengers in spite of all he did to ensure their survivals. Though he was absolved in the inquiry, Timothy carried the guilt for the rest of his days and often wished he too had drowned in the storm.
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