Chapters 1-5 Summary and Analysis

In Chapter 1, "Conception," Mowat begins by describing his fear of auctions. As a small boy, Mowat witnesses his father getting carried away at an auction and ended up buying thirty hives of bees and the rest of the equipment so that he could start an apiary. The strange thing was the Mowat's father did not particularly want an apiary. Instead, he just simply gets carried away. Many years later, the same thing happens to Mowat. Although the author has successfully avoided auctions for many years, he ends up at one with a girlfriend. Mowat buys and buys. Suddenly, the author is in possession of a large amount of equipment belonging to a recently deceased chandler. Mowat is destined to become a sailor, just as his father becomes a highly unsuccessful beekeeper.

Mowat talks about Jack McClelland, a friend and...