The Cruise of the "Esmeralda

When young Jack Saint Leger inherits his family's financial ruin and a centuries-old mystery, he chooses the sea. A cryptogram discovered in his ancestral home points to a legendary treasure buried by his great-great-great-grandfather Richard Saint Leger: a hoard of gold and jewels from a long-ago shipwreck, hidden on some distant island in the Far East. With his mother facing debtor's prison and nothing left to lose, Jack captains the Esmeralda into uncharted waters, determined to crack his ancestor's code and claim the fortune that could save his family. But the ocean has other plans. Pirates prowl the shipping lanes. The voyage stretches into months of grueling hardship. And when Jack finally deciphers the cipher and unearths the treasure, he discovers the greatest danger isn't the sea at all, but the men who've sailed beside him. The crew turns mutinous, intent on stealing the gold for themselves. Collingwood's 1896 adventure captures the raw thrill of Victorian maritime fiction at its finest: wind-filled sails, desperate odds, and a young man forced to prove his worth not just as a sailor, but as a man. Perfect for readers who grew up dreaming of Treasure Island and Long John Silver.