The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

by Avi, Edward Irving Wortis

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Student Question

In "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle", is Zachariah really dead?

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Zachariah is whipped 50 times at the end of the first mutiny attempt. Hollybrass is ordered to carry out the task but stops after the third lash, when Jaggery cruelly finishes the whipping.  Jaggery and Charlotte presume Zachariah is dead after seeing the crew throw what is presumed to be his body overboard in Zachariah's sewn up hammock.  As Charlotte and the captain later find, Zachariah is still alive and plans to reveal the captain's actions to the authorities after they disembark.  After Jaggery dies, Zachariah becomes the effectual captain of the Seahawk (it was Charlotte who was named captain).

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