All Adrift; Or The Goldwing Club

Oliver Optic

Publisher: anboco

Summary

"All Adrift" is the first volume of a new set of books, to be known as "The Boat-Builder Series." The story contains the adventures of a boy who is trying to do something to help support the family, but who finds himself all adrift in the world. He has the reputation of being rather "wild," though he proves that he is honest, loves the truth, and is willing to work for a living. Having been born and brought up on the shore of Lake Champlain, he could not well avoid being a boatman, especially as his father was a pilot on a steamer. Nearly all the scenes of the story are on the water; and the boy shows not only that he can handle a boat, but that he has ingenuity, and fertility of resource.

The narrative of the hero's adventures contained in this volume is the introduction to the remaining volumes of the series, in which this boy and others are put in the way of obtaining a great deal of useful information, by which the readers of these books are expected to profit. Captain Royal Gildrock, a wealthy[Pg viii] retired shipmaster, has some ideas of his own in regard to boys. He thinks that one great need of this country is educated mechanics, more skilled labor. He has the means to carry his ideas into practice, and actively engages in the work of instructing and building up the boys in a knowledge of the useful arts. He believes in religion, morality, and social and political virtue. He insists upon practice in addition to precept and theory, as well in the inculcation of the duties of social life as in mechanics and useful arts.

If the first volume is all story and adventure, those that follow it will not be wholly given up to the details of the mechanic arts. The captain has a steam-yacht; and the hero of the first story has a fine sailboat, to say nothing of a whole fleet of other craft belonging to the nabob. The boys are not of the tame sort: they are not of the humdrum kind, and they are inclined to make things lively.

Available since: 09/07/2016.

Print length: 380 pages.

Contemporary Fiction

Other books that might interest you

Winged Victory

Barbara Cartland

While her beloved parents were alive, the beautiful young Cledra Melford had basked in the radiance of their love, barely noticing that they were poor and had to scrape by. To make ends meet.
 
But, since they were tragically killed in an accident and she came to live with her hateful and bitter uncle, Sir Walter Melford, she has been cruelly abused and ill-treated.
 
His violent beatings the lovely Cledra can almost bear, but when he decides to sell her adored horse, Star, to a man known for his cruelty, it is the last straw for her.
 
So Cledra appears at the door of the dashing Earl of Poynton, who is famed among thesporting fraternity for his pedigree stable and in the Social world for his many affaires de Coeur with fashionable ladies.
 
Cledra begs him to secretly buy Star from her to ensure that her stallion will be safe and well cared for and he insists on renaming him ‘Winged Victory’ and then the Earl agrees.
 
Soon, when Sir Walter attempts to wreak violent revenge on his niece, the horrified Earl rescues her and whisks her away to his grandmother’s house with death hard on their heels
 
And love not far behind.

Show book

Murder in the Smithsonian

Margaret Truman

In a mystery replete with “nonstop action and a brilliantly evocative setting,” a noted historian is murdered at the National Museum of Art (Booklist).   Dr. Lewis Tunney, a brilliant historian who had stumbled onto an international art scandal, was brutally murdered in front of two hundred guests at an elegant party at the Smithsonian.   Taking the case, DC police Cpt. Mac Hanrahan begins to uncover a web of secrets, lies, and revenge surrounding the historian’s killing. From the deceased Tunney’s strong-willed fiancée, Heather McBean, to the congressmen with secrets to hide, Hanrahan finds himself unsure who to believe. Soon after, two more murders add to the intrigue.  Murder in the Smithsonian is the fourth volume in Margaret Truman’s beloved Capital Crimes series, in which Truman enlivens history with her first-hand knowledge as the daughter of US President Harry S. Truman. Each of the novels revolve around Washington, DC, and its landmarks. The Smithsonian’s museums, with their quirky staff, forensic scientists, and sometimes-spooky exhibits are the perfect setting for a thrilling political crime novel.   “Truman’s novels of Washington will continue to entertain both mystery and Washington buffs.” —The Washington Post

Show book

Mosquitoes

William Faulkner

One of Faulkner’s most controversial novels!      A lesser-known but compelling novel from the author of Absalom, Absalom! and The Sound and the Fury.      Have you ever wondered what speaks to the tortured soul of an artist? What would it be like to be stuck on a yacht with only the musings of the world and a group of artists as your company?      In the heat of the late Louisiana summer, Faulkner brings us a story of artistry that examines the thoughts and actions of Southern bohemians who have nothing to interrupt them but the hum and fire of the mosquitoes that surround them. “Faulkner’s message is clear: We are the mosquitoes, and the mosquitoes are us.”—Rein Fartel, “Twentieth Century Millennial: Revisiting Faulkner’s Mosquitoes.”       With a foreword by Carl Rollyson, a renowned biographer of Faulkner and other eminent authors, this fine new edition works to highlight the “Louisiana Faulkner,” the Faulkner before fame, and his thoughts on the lives of Southern artists.

Show book

The Tears of Love

Barbara Cartland

After Cañuela’s father, Lionel Arlington, a senior Diplomat at the British Embassy in Buenos Aires, was wrongly accused in Argentina of being a traitor to Britain, he died, presumed drowned, after diving overboard to save a little girl who had fallen into the sea . The resulting scandal left the beautiful Cañuela and her ailing mother ostracised and outcast in London, living in a bare bedsitter under an assumed name. Although she now despises all Argentines, Cañuela is so desperate to earn money to be able to send her mother for a cure in Switzerland that she takes a job as secretary and translator to a famous Argentine businessman, Ramón de Lopez – a man who her mother says was among her father’s accusers and a former friend of his.So with no idea who she really is, her almost impossibly handsome employer is baffled by her intense animosity and curtness, even though she is very efficient at her job. Even more so when they travel to Buenos Aires and she saves  Ramón de Lopez from scandal, helps him to further his political ambitions to be President of Argentina and finally rescues him from murderous guerrilla kidnappers, who intend to ransom him off for a huge amount of money. And it is here, at the height of peril and danger to herself, that Cañuela begins to realise that the powerful passion in her heart is no longer hatred but love.

Show book

His Pregnant Princess Bride

Catherine Mann

A princess and a Southern billionaire are expecting twins! Only from USA TODAY bestselling author Catherine Mann! His focus is on his family's football dynasty. Louisiana billionaire Gervais Reynaud has no time for romance. But he can't say no to a tryst with Erika Mitras. True, she's a princess, but in no way primor proper. Their time together is unbelievableand all too short. When Erika said goodbye, she meant it. But now she must tell Gervais the truth. He's about to be a fatherto royal twins. After leaving her overbearing family, Erika wants nothing from Gervais. But the tempting tycoon just may charm her into a future she desires all too much.

Show book

The Yellow God - An Idol of Africa

H. Rider Haggard

A former British Army major voyages to West Africa to discover a lost city of gold in this adventure novel by the author of King Solomon’s Mines.Since a bout of blackwater fever robbed Maj. Alan Vernon of his military post, he has cast about for a new vocation. A business scheme in the Sahara seems like the perfect fit for his engineering skills, until revelations about his partners give him pause. To save his family estate, Vernon decides to undertake his African venture on his own.Years ago, Vernon’s uncle brought a small golden idol back from Western Africa. The idol itself is worth little, but its strange powers will lead Vernon on a perilous journey to a world of riches. And there he will meet a beautiful but fearsome tribal ruler who is determined to make him her next husband.

Show book