The first edition of this book is dated 1881. The edition used is dated 1910. The publisher was Henry Frowde, Hodder and Stoughton, London. The number of pages is 350.

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General information

Peter is a young teenager in a family that suffers a series of disastrous events. Family money is lost due to the failure of a bank, not at all uncommon in those days, probably about 1830. They lived in Portsmouth, where the father was a wherryman, ferrying people out to the ships. The father meets with an accident, having ferried a passenger to his ship at anchor outside the harbour, is caught up by freak weather, which broke up his boat and drowned him. The mother does what she can, taking commodities out to the ships for the benefit of the sailors, but trade was bad at that time, and she became ill, and dies as well. Thus the family were left without any support, until a Mr. Gray, a Quaker, comes on the scene, and takes them under his wing. He is also a shipowner, and he gives Peter a chance on one of his ships. However, there are various mishaps with this ship, and Peter and his friend Jim arrive in Shetland, an archipelago in the far north of Britain, where Peter discovers that he has relatives. He takes a lift in a ship back to Portsmouth, as the ship was due to call in at Plymouth, but due to fair weather passes it by.

The ship is a whaler, and needs to get into the Pacific Ocean, but has a lot of trouble trying to round the Horn. Eventually they succeed. But Peter now has a new ambition, to find his long-lost brother Jack who had gone to sea years before, and never been heard of. By chance he hears that Jack may be alive. In due course they find Jack, and come home again with him to Portsmouth, where Mr. Gray has kindly looked after the female members of Peter’s family, including his sister Mary.

Of course there are a lot of coincidences in this story, but that’s part of the fun.

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Contents

Chapter I.
My early days at home.

Chapter II.
How a true friend was gained.

Chapter III.
A sad chapter in my life.

Chapter IV.
A fearful catastrophe.

Chapter V.
A friend lost and a friend gained.

Chapter VI.
Turned out of house and home.

Chapter VII.
Help comes when least expected.

Chapter VIII.
My first voyage.

Chapter IX.
I experience the perils of the sea.

Chapter X.
Alone on the ocean.

Chapter XI.
Dangers multiply.

Chapter XII.
Port reached in an unexpected manner.

Chapter XIII.
A disastrous voyage.

Chapter XIV.
Jim and I carried off against our will.

Chapter XV.
The voyage of the “Intrepid” begun.

Chapter XVI.
We cross the Line and attempt to round Cape Horn.

Chapter XVII.
Rounding Cape Horn.

Chapter XVIII.
Our first whales caught—I hear news of Jack.

Chapter XIX.
Miles Soper’s narrative concluded.

Chapter XX.
A mutiny and its consequences.

Chapter XXI.
A cruise across the Pacific and the adventures I met with.

Chapter XXII.
A typhoon, and how we got through it.

Chapter XXIII.
A fearful narrative—Doings at Strong’s Island.

Chapter XXIV.
Our life on an uninhabited island.

Chapter XXV.
A perilous voyage in the whale-boat.

Chapter XXVI.
More startling adventures.

Chapter XXVII.
The lost one found at last.

Chapter XXVIII.
Escape from the Island and the events which followed.

Chapter XXIX.
On board our old ship—Her voyage through eastern seas.

Chapter XXX.
The voyage home, and how it ended.

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