Have you ever looked at the world and its problems and wondered; “what can I do to help? I’m just one person.” Well one person can make a difference and Brian Jacques helps to show how. His book Castaways of the Flying Dutchman illustrates the power of one. It’s a story about a boy named Ben, a mute orphan, and a dog called Ned. Together aboard The Flying Dutchman, a ship bound for the Asia by going around Cape Horn, boy and dog are helpless as the greedy and blasphemous crew grows more and more despaired by the dangerous crossing. But the stubborn Captain Vanderdecken will not give up and finally out rightly curses God for his misfortune. Fed up by Vanderdecken, God sends a messenger, an Angel, to curse the ship and all upon it to wander the high seas indefinitely, never again to set foot upon dry land. The Angel sees Ben and Ned are pure of heart, and with one particularly powerful wave washes them from the ship, and deposits them on the Cape, where they are found by an old Sheppard. But they are not able to completely escape the curse, and have become immortal, unable to age. Castaways of the Flying Dutchman follows the pair as they are driven from place to place by the Angel, doing God’s will and making a difference in the world.