In the book, German sailors in submarines are responsible for bombing and destroying six lake tankers on Curacao (where Phillip, our young protagonist lives) and for attacking the Lago oil refinery on Aruba. Since the lake tankers hold crude oil which would need to be processed into usable kerosene, gasoline, and diesel oil at the refinery, the attacks are a devastating setback for the war effort and for the people of both Curacao and Aruba.
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In the book, German sailors in submarines are responsible for bombing and destroying six lake tankers on Curacao (where Phillip, our young protagonist lives) and for attacking the Lago oil refinery on Aruba. Since the lake tankers hold crude oil which would need to be processed into usable kerosene, gasoline, and diesel oil at the refinery, the attacks are a devastating setback for the war effort and for the people of both Curacao and Aruba.
Meanwhile, Phillip is excited at the prospect of war; he wants to go to Fort Amsterdam to look out to sea and to try to get a glimpse of the German U-boats. His mother tells him that there will be no school on that day because of the attacks. She admonishes Phillip to stay close to home, but he slips off to join his friend, Henrik van Boven, at the fort when she is busy. However, the two boys find that their fort has been appropriated as a look-out by soldiers with rifles and machine guns. The soldiers send the boys on their way.
Phillip notes that the men who used to come in with fruits and vegetables on native schooners are no longer laughing and talking as animatedly as they once did. The people of Aruba and Curacao are worried about impending war.
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