Young Nick's Head — Karen Hesse

The year is 1768. Nicholas Young's mind is made up. He's had enough! Enough of the cruel butcher to whom he is apprenticed and enough of his indifferent father lurking somewhere in the background of his existence. He's had enough of the squalor of his life in London. He's going to run away. But when he's stowed away on board a smallish ship he has no idea how famous this journey will be, one of the most famous journeys of discovery in maritime history. Three years it will take before he'll come back to London, three long years of adventure and hardship: an eleven-year-old boy among eighty tough-minded, seafaring men and under constant scrutiny from the gentlemen on board. There's midshipman Bootie who makes every day a living hell for Nick and John Ravenhill the drunken sail maker. But Dr. Monkhouse, the surgeon, and Mr Banks, the botanist stand up for their keen and gifted assistant and one by one Nick befriends the crew. So the journey progresses and the ship's company see places, people, sights, sounds and customs that no man has set eyes on ever before. There's fever, famine and drought; exotic plants, stunning wildlife, blistering heat and tremendous cold. The crew in turn marvel and shudder at what comes their way and not everyone makes the return journey home.