The retelling of the life of William Chamberlain. A young boy born in the early days of the colonial settlement in Sydney Australia is kidnapped and taken to England in a whaling ship. Along the way the whaling ship is attacked by pirates and the captain is murdered. William is rescued from the pirates when the British navy attacked the pirates. William is interviewed by the Navy Board in Portsmouth and permitted to travel back to Sydney aboard a convict transportation ship.
There are many incidents and a very informative part of the book tells of William's life at sea when he becomes a whaler.
Whaling was a huge industry in the nineteenth century. The blubber of the whale was rendered to oil to burn for lighting throughout the industrialised world.
William Chamberlain became a sea captain and settled near Hobart in Tasmania. ( )