Posted by Patrick Fox on August 27, 1998 at 22:32:32:
In Reply to: More AR nodding posted by Jack Eckert on August 26, 1998 at 22:24:55:
How interesting. I'd sort of assumed that Bridget was the first to spot it, and so had the honour of its name. However, on looking through the book there's no doubt that I'm wrong.
Titty first spots it just after the Goblin anchors in Goblin Creek on P41 (Puffin edition) - "Daddy's blank map's wrong. That lump isn't a peninsula. It's another little island".
Roger goes to look at it soon after they've landed (P46) - "Roger came running along the dyke. 'I've been to the corner to look at the other island,' he said".
By a couple of pages later (P56) it has its name, but Roger clearly feels the need to explain which island it is to the others - has he named it? "'What's happening to Bridget Island?' said Roger. 'The little one... It's almost not an island any more.'".
A final thought. Was the name perhaps a joke on Ransome's part - the island is, after all, a little companion to the bigger Swallow Island - just as Bridget herself (never, after all, actually a Swallow, but simply a Walker) was a little companion to the Swallows?!
Cheers
Patrick