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Three Men in a Boat Chapter 17 Summary

Stay at Streatley and its popularity as a fishing area. The author’s story of his lack of success at fishing and stories of other successful fishermen. George takes a tumble in an inn at Streatley.

The author and his friends stayed at Streatley for two days and got their clothes washed. They had tried to wash their clothes in the river earlier, but it seemed as though all the dirt of the river had collected onto their clothes instead.

The author shared that the area around Streatley and Goring was known to be a fishing centre. The river was supposed to be full of pikes, eels, gudgeons and other fish and people could sit and fish all day long. However, the author felt that actually catching any fish was a different matter altogether.

He had once tried fishing, but the experienced fishers had told him that he didn’t have enough imagination to be successful at it. According to them, a successful angler is one who can not only make up good stories, but can add incidental detail to it, to make it appear authentic. Not only would he spin out a fine tale about the actual process of fishing, but would add details of what they said at home, and so on.

The author once knew a fellow who took to fly-fishing and decided never to exaggerate his stories by more than twenty-five per cent, as it was sinful to lie. Within a few months he revised his strategy and decided to exaggerate by doubling, but even this was not satisfactory. He finally decided to count each fish as ten, and had been going along very happily, ever since.

In fact, the author advises one to take the opportunity to drop in at one of the little village inns and listen to the fishy stories the anglers always share. On their second evening at Streatley, George and the author went into a little inn, and saw a large trout framed in a glass case above the chimney. One by one, four different men came into the inn, and each one claimed to have caught the trout.

Finally the inn keeper himself came and told the two friends his version of the story. Fascinated by the fish, George climbed onto a chair to get a better view, slipped and crashed down along with the trout case. It shattered into thousands of pieces, for the trout was made of plaster-of-Paris.

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Three Men in a Boat Chapter 16 Summary

The friends enjoy being towed by a steam boat from Reading till Pangbourne. The author’s turn to row and his attempt to argue his way out of it. The discovery of the dead body of a woman and her story.

They reached Reading at about eleven in the morning. The author explained that while it was not a pretty sight, it was, historically, an important place. At Reading Lock, the three friends came upon a steam launch belonging to one of their friends, which towed their boat till Streatley. The author and his friends enjoyed being towed. Contradictory to his early views on steam launches and his usual practice of not getting out of their way, the author now expressed his annoyance with small boats which did not get out of the way of the steam launches.

A little above Mapledurham, they passed by the neighbourhood of Pangbourne, where the steam launch left them. The author tried to reason that the area where he was to row the boat had already passed, but George and Harris refused to agree, which the author thought was proof that they were shirking their work again. To keep peace, the author began rowing. However, they soon stopped when they discovered the dead body of a woman floating on the river. The body was taken to shore by some men on the bank. The friends later found out the woman’s story, where she had been deceived in love, left homeless with a small child and finally had drowned herself.

The author and his friends had intended to reach Wallingford that day, but the area of Streatley and Goring was so beautiful that they decided to spend some more time there.

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Three Men in a Boat Chapter 15 Summary

Household work, duties and their general aversion to work. Observations on the changed attitudes of the younger generation. Sharing of their earlier boating experiences.

Waking up early the next morning, the author and his friends had a quick breakfast and then started cleaning up and tidying things. This gave them an insight into how a housewife is kept constantly occupied. By ten o’clock they were ready to continue on their journey. However, upon the question of who should row, the three friends could not agree. Each felt that the other two had not been doing enough work. According to the author, while he loved work and always kept around it, he was not too keen on actually doing more than observing it.

Finally it was decided that George and Harris would row and then later on the author would tow the boat past Reading. The author then discussed the strange change in the attitudes of the younger generation. According to him, the old experienced sailors always relaxed and made the new ones do all the work, all the while telling them mostly fictitious stories about how they had once rowed in far worse conditions. The author had noticed a change in the younger generation, however, as once, when he and his friends were trying out this strategy with a new sailor, instead of listening to them, he refused to believe their stories.

As the three friends rowed along, they shared their early boating experiences. The author recalled rafting in the backwaters, with the owner of the planks chasing him for stealing them. George recalled his first outing on the river-at the age of sixteen, when he and his friends hired a racing boat and had a terrible time trying to row it. Harris on the other hand, was more used to the sea than to river boating.

The author then discussed the temperament and method of the old boatman, who calmly allows all other boats to overtake him without the slightest objection. He then commented on the funny sight of two novices rowing together, as neither can keep pace with the other and they end up blaming the oars and the man who rented the boat out to them.

When George mentioned that he would like to try punting, the author related the story of a friend who went punting and sadly got stuck in the middle of the river, clinging onto his pole like a monkey. The author was now alone on the punt with no form of oars on board. He was saved by a fishing punt.

However, the author’s first experience of punting was amusing, because his friends saw another fellow on the water who they thought was him, and in their friendly manner had mocked him. They had felt very foolish later on. The author had shared his first sailing trip with a friend, when he was a boy. According to him, they did everything wrong and it was surprising that they had not fallen into the water and drowned!

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Three Men in a Boat Chapter 14 Summary

Wargrave, Shiplake and Sonning. George cooks stew for supper. Montmorency’s dislike of the tea kettle. George attempts to play the banjo but is discouraged by all. George and the author take a walk and lose their way. Harris feels unwell.

The three friends now moved past Wargrave and Shiplake. The author shared some local information about the beautiful towns. They went on shore at Sonning and took a walk around the pretty village. Later, they decided to go back to one of the Shiplake islands, instead of heading for Reading that night.

Once they were settled, George volunteered to cook an Irish stew for supper. The author and Harris sat down to peel potatoes for it, but found that it was a very tough job. In the end, they just added unpeeled potatoes. They also put in all the leftovers that they had found in the hamper. Montmorency brought a dead water rat for the stew, but they were not sure whether or not it was in a sarcastic spirit.

After they ate, the kettle was put on for tea. Montmorency did not trust the kettle and every day, when it began to boil and sputter, he would growl at it. Now, he sprang at it, burnt his nose and ran away howling in pain. He never attacked the kettle again.

After supper, George took out the banjo, but had to put it away as Harris said he had a headache. Montmorency also never cooperated when George tried to play the banjo. In fact, George never did learn to play, as everyone around seemed very discouraging. The author was reminded of the story of a fellow who faced great discouragement when he tried to play the bagpipes.

Harris was not feeling very well after supper, so the other two left him in the boat and went for a walk. It was almost eleven when they returned, and a light rain had started to fall. However, they could not remember where exactly their boat was moored and did not find it till past midnight, when they had all but given up hope.

When they finally got into the boat, they saw that Harris seemed strange and sad. When the others asked him about it, he explained that they had moored near a swan’s nest. Harris had to fight off the swans, but he was not very clear about the details. He had no recollection of any swans the next morning. George and the author slept well, but Harris had a disturbed night, as he constantly woke up looking for different articles of clothing.

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Three Men in a Boat Chapter 13 Summary

Description of Marlow and Bisham Abbey. The antics of Montmorency and nature offox terriers in general. Shopping for provisions and their dislike of using river water explained. Harris falls into a ditch and blames George and the author for his fall.

The author described the beauties of the area around Marlow. He also described the attractions of the Bisham Abbey, which came to the right bank of the river. The next morning, they woke up early and went for a bath before breakfast.

On their way back to the inn, Montmorency saw a cat crossing the road and sprang after it. Instead of running, the cat sat down in the middle of the street and stared back at Montmorency. This seemed to confuse him and he returned to the author quietly.

The author also explained that the innate nature of fox terriers was to make trouble, and cited an incident where a young lady had brought her fox terrier to the store and had tied it up near the other dogs who were sitting there peacefully. Within minutes the terrier had started a war among the dogs.

The friends spent the morning shopping for food and other necessities and were followed by an impressive procession of shop boys carrying various packages, as they made their way to the boat. The author also explained why he disliked steam launches and how they managed to annoy such boats throughout the trip.

When the three were near Hambledon Lock, they found that their store of water was low, so they asked for water at a house nearby. However, the man simply asked them to take some river water, which they were not keen on doing. The author related an incident later, where they had tried river water to make their tea once, but just as the tea was ready, however, they had seen a peaceful looking dead dog floating down the river and had to throw away the tea.

A while later, they stopped for lunch halfway up the backwater near Wargrave. They were just getting ready to carve a pie, when George and the author looked away briefly. When they looked back, Harris and the pie seemed to have disappeared! Just as they were considering the possibilities of him having been swallowed by the earth, his head became visible. He had fallen into a ditch just behind where he had been sitting. He was convinced that it had all been planned by the author and George, no matter how much they protested their innocence.