Once upon a time, in a magical land far, far away, there was a fleet of ships that traveled the seas on exciting adventures. Each ship had its own ensign, or flag, to help it stand out from the rest.

One day, a mischievous engineer named Fathom found himself in charge of the fleet's biggest and best ship. He was known for being quite inventive and loved to come up with crazy ideas.

As the ship set sail, Fathom noticed that the engine wasn't running quite as smoothly as it should be. He decided to tinker with it and before long, the engine was purring like a kitten.

But, as the ship sailed further into the open seas, the engine suddenly began to sputter and shake. Fathom quickly ran down to the engine room to see what was wrong. To his surprise, he found that all of the bolts holding the fenders, or bumpers, had come loose and were bouncing around inside the engine.

Without hesitation, Fathom jumped into the engine and started tightening bolts while the ship rocked and rolled. Suddenly, the fantail, or back of the ship, began to wobble and Fathom realized he was in trouble.

Just then, the exec, or captain, burst into the engine room and asked Fathom what was going on. "I'm just fixing the fenders, sir!" Fathom shouted over the noise of the engine.

The exec looked at Fathom in amazement and asked, "In the middle of a storm?!?" Fathom just grinned and said, "I like to live life on the edge!"

And with that, Fathom saved the day and the ship sailed smoothly into port, much to the delight of all on board. From that day on, Fathom was known as the bravest engineer in all the land, and the fleet of ships never had another boring adventure again!

Reflections

1. Who is Fathom in the story?
2. What was the problem with the engine?
3. What did Fathom do to solve the problem?
4. What was the exec's reaction when he entered the engine room?
5. How did Fathom become known as the bravest engineer in all the land?
6. What do you think was the most exciting part of the story?
7. If you were Fathom, would you have done the same thing? Why or why not?
8. What is an ensign, fender, fantail, and exec?
9. What was the lesson you learned from this story?
10. Can you think of another adventure that Fathom could go on?