Phil Farringford grew up in the wilds of Missouri, but the sea called to him after a single voyage on a yacht, and nothing would silence that pull. Defying his father's dire warnings about the brutal life of a sailor, Phil sets out to master navigation and sail across the world to Nice, France, where his estranged mother waits. But the ocean has darker waters in store. Phil's journey traps him in the orbit of Ben Waterford, a shadowed figure whose sinister past threatens to sink not just Phil's dreams, but his life itself. As the ship cuts through treacherous seas and even more treacherous company, Phil must chart a course through danger, moral dilemma, and his own stubborn determination. Written by Oliver Optic, the pen name of William Taylor Adams, this 19th-century maritime adventure pulses with the relentless energy of a young man fighting to reach the other side of the world and the mother who waits there.
