The Swallows are out on the water once again, this time in a bigger boat and on a bigger adventure than ever before. "'Like to spend a night in the Goblin?'" The Swallows are staying on the Suffolk coast whilst they wait for their father to return home from China. But although the harbour is bursting with bobbing yachts, barges and steamers, this year there's no chance of any sailing for the landlocked Swallows. That is until they rescue young Jim Brading and his boat the "Goblin" from a sticky situation and to their delight are recruited as crew members. Mother agrees they can go, on one condition -- they absolutely must not sail out past Beach End Buoy and into the open sea.
