Generations of readers have enjoyed the adventures of Jim Hawkins, the young protagonist and narrator in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, but little is known of the real Jim Hawkins and the thousands of poor boys who went to sea in the eighteenth century to man the ships of the Royal Navy. This groundbreaking new work is a study of the origins, life and culture of the boys of the Georgian navy, not of the upper-class children training to become officers, but of the orphaned, delinquent or just plain adventurous youths whose prospects on land were bleak and miserable. Many had no adult at all taking care of them; others were failed apprentices; many were troublesome youths for whom communities could not provide so that the Navy represented a form of ‘floating workhouse’. Some, with ‘restless and roving’ minds, like Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, saw deep sea life as one of adventure, interspersed with raucous periods ashore drinking, singing and womanizing. The author explains how they were recruited; describes the distinctive subculture of the young sailor – the dress, hair, tattoos and language – and their life and training as servants of captains and officers. More than 5,000 boys were recruited during the Seven Years War alone and without them the Royal Navy could not have fought its wars. This is a fascinating tribute to a forgotten band of sailors.

Generations of readers have enjoyed the adventures of Jim Hawkins, the young protagonist and narrator in Robert Louis Stevensons Treasure Island, but little is known of the real Jim Hawkins and the thousands of poor boys who went to sea in the eighteenth century to man the ships of the Royal Navy. This groundbreaking new work is a study of the origins, life and culture of the boys of the Georgian navy, not of the upper-class children training to become officers, but of the orphaned, delinquent or just plain adventurous youths whose prospects on land were bleak and miserable. Many had no adult at all taking care of them; others were failed apprentices; many were troublesome youths for whom communities could not provide so that the Navy represented a form of floating workhouse. Some, with restless and roving minds, like Defoes Robinson Crusoe, saw deep sea life as one of adventure, interspersed with raucous periods ashore drinking, singing and womanizing. The author explains how they were recruited; describes the distinctive subculture of the young sailor the dress, hair, tattoos and language and their life and training as servants of captains and officers.More than 5,000 boys were recruited during the Seven Years War alone and without them the Royal Navy could not have fought its wars. This is a fascinating tribute to a forgotten band of sailors.

Never out of print since its first publication in book form in 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Islandis a thrilling narrative of pirates, hidden treasure, and peril on the high seas that is as popular with adults as with children. Here, at last, is a worthy sequel, written in the same spirit as Stevenson's brilliant original. Now a sturdy young man of twenty-one, Jim Hawkins, the cabin boy who narrated Treasure Island, is content with his quiet life as landlord of the family inn. Nothing could induce him to return to the accursed island. But when a mysterious and beautiful stranger comes begging for his immediate assistance in locating the pirate Joseph Tait, Jim is powerless to resist. Last seen marooned on Treasure Island, Tait was the roughest pirate of the lot. What could a woman of Grace Richardson's elegance and refinement want with such a reprobate? The answer leads Jim back to the South Seas, to violence, mystery, and dangers he never dared imagine. A brilliant re-creation of the high style and spellbinding suspense of the original, The Curse of Treasure Islandis destined to become a classic in its own right.

This ebook includes a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island! A rip-roaring sequel to Treasure Island—Robert Louis Stevenson’s beloved classic—about two young friends and their high-seas adventure with dangerous pirates and long-lost treasure. It's almost forty years after the events of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island: Jim Hawkins now runs an inn called the Hispaniola on the English coast with his son, Jim, and Long John Silver has returned to England to live in obscurity with his daughter, Natty. Their lives are quiet and unremarkable; their adventures have seemingly ended. But for Jim and Natty, the adventure is just beginning. One night, Natty approaches young Jim with a proposition: return to Treasure Island and find the remaining treasure that their fathers left behind so many years before. As Jim and Natty set sail in their fathers' footsteps, they quickly learn that this journey will not be easy. Immediately, they come up against murderous pirates, long-held grudges, and greed and deception lurking in every corner. And when they arrive on Treasure Island, they find terrible scenes awaiting them—difficulties which require all their wit as well as their courage. Nor does the adventure end there, since they have to sail homeward again... Andrew Motion’s sequel—rollicking, heartfelt, and utterly brilliant—would make Robert Louis Stevenson proud.

Explores the amazing life of a hall-of-famer who overcame a deformed foot to go directly from high school to the big leagues, at age 20 became the youngest batting champion in major league history, and went on to play out a storied career with the Detroit Tigers.