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The CayThe Cay is a teen novel written by Theodore Taylor. It was published in 1969.

Taylor took only three weeks to write The Cay, having contemplated the story for over a decade after reading about an 11-year-old who was aboard the Dutch ship Hato, when it was torpedoed in 1942, and who was last seen by other stranded survivors as he drifted away on a liferaft. The novel was published in 1969 and dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr.

Plot
When World War II breaks out, 11-year-old Phillip Enright and his mother board the S.S. Hato to Virginia because his mother feels it is unsafe to stay in Cura�ao with the German submarines surrounding the area. The ship is torpedoed, and Phillip is stranded in the sea with an old black man named Timothy and a cat named Stew Cat. Drifting at sea, Phillip is blinded, and Timothy suggests it is because he stared at the sun too long. They soon find an island in Devil's Mouth and build a hut while keeping track of the days by putting pebbles in a can. With few supplies, they live alone together for two months, fishing and collecting rain water. The cay is only one mile long and half a mile in width. Initially, the pair display significant difficulty in being able to tolerate and work with each other, often because of young white Phillip's racial prejudice against the elderly black Timothy. Phillip learns to overcome his disdain for Timothy and develops a strong bond of friendship by the end of the novel, as Timothy takes care of Phillip and teaches him to survive independently, to the point where Phillip no longer needs him. Airplanes fly over the cay, but they do not see Timothy and Phillip, lengthening their time stranded there. After a hurricane hits the cay and Timothy dies from "being tired", Phillip, devastated, digs a small grave for him. He is left with only Stew Cat. Phillip is then rescued by a navy vessel. One year after he and Timothy find the island, he has many surgeries to get his sight back. It turns out he became blind due to being struck in the head by timber causing nerve damage. In the end, Phillip decides he will become a sea explorer and travel to multiple islands and soon hopes to find the Cay he and Timothy had been stranded on, which he is certain he will be able to recognize by closing his eyes.

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