The young sailor, or the sea-life of Tom Bowline.

New York: Kiggins & Kellogg, n.d. [c. 1856]. Duodecimo, printed salmon wrappers with woodcut vignette, 16 pp., illustrated with wood-engravings including a title vignette, 1 text & 5 full-page illustrations.  “Third Series–No. 8” on the front wrapper. A crisp copy.

Chapbook tale of young Tom, who is drawn to the sea, and sails on the ship Godolphin under his uncle Mason the Captain to the East Indies. They arrive in China and set sail for New South Wales, but are shipwrecked en route, and after a perilous raft voyage reach Banguay, a small island north of Borneo. They befriend some Malays, but are attacked by another tribe, and imprisoned ‘in cruel slavery’. A dashing escape sees Tom and his uncle flee their captors, and they find a friendly ship to sail them home.

Uncommon and engaging children’s chapbook about a voyage to New South Wales.