He was tattooed head to toe
Anchors on his arms, swallows at his throat, stars on the backs of his thumbs — and across his whole broad back, a ship called the Walrus under full sail.
Meet the Characters
The True Story of Bill Jukes
The gunner who wore his whole story on the outside — and hid the truest part underneath.
Featured on the map at The Jolly Roger
Did you know?
He kept the great cannon like a Sunday shoe
Polished bright, and a small chalk mark on the carriage for every day at sea. When the storms came, Bill Jukes was the last man off the deck.
He fed the seabirds from his hand
Late at night, when the ship was quiet and nobody was watching. The crew thought he was the roughest of them. Nobody ever knew why he did it.
Would you rather?
So — would you rather wear your whole story where everyone can read it, or keep it quietly to yourself?
or
One tap. Your vote is saved on this device only.
Family reading companion
The True Story of Bill Jukes
A short bedtime version — one screen. Read it aloud together.
They called him Bill Jukes, and there was not an inch of him the sea had left plain. Anchors on his arms. Swallows at his throat. Stars on the backs of his thumbs.
And across his whole broad back, in blue-black ink, a ship called the Walrus, under full sail, going somewhere he never did.
He was the gunner. He kept the great cannon polished like a Sunday shoe, and chalked a little mark on the carriage for every day at sea, and when the storms came he was the last man off the deck.
The crew thought he was the roughest of them. Perhaps he was. But late at night, when the ship was quiet, Bill Jukes fed the seabirds from his hand, and nobody ever knew why.
Some people wear their whole story on the outside. And still, the truest part of it stays hidden underneath.
Meet another character
