Project Gutenberg's My First Voyage to Southern Seas, by W.H.G. Kingston

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Title: My First Voyage to Southern Seas

Author: W.H.G. Kingston

Illustrator: A. Pearse

Release Date: May 16, 2007 [EBook #21504]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY FIRST VOYAGE TO SOUTHERN SEAS ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

My First Voyage to Southern Seas, by W.H.G. Kingston.

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This is one of Kingston's earlier books, but is very much in the style
for which he became famous. The theme is that the father of a family, a
well-to-do merchant in London, dies suddenly. His eldest son had gone
off to sea, but had not been heard of for some time, and by some was
presumed dead. The second son is our young hero, who goes to sea as a
midshipman. The book is thereafter filled with his adventures as he
finds his way through rumour and chance to rescue his brother from where
he is in captivity.

It's quite a long book, but the action never drags, and there are some
interesting descriptions of the places visited, specially Ceylon.

As always with Kingston the seamanship is excellent. The action takes
place in the 1850s, and we are in the age of sail. There are pirates,
drunken captains, shipwrecks, strange coincidences, indeed all the usual
components of a good Kingston novel.

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MY FIRST VOYAGE TO SOUTHERN SEAS, BY W.H.G. KINGSTON.

CHAPTER ONE.

MY ENGLISH HOME AND FAMILY--MY BROTHER GOES TO SEA--HEAR OF THE LOSS OF
HIS SHIP--MY FATHER'S DEATH--WE ARE REDUCED TO POVERTY--RESOLVE TO VISIT
MY GRANDFATHER, AND TO SEARCH FOR ALFRED--KINDNESS OF MY SCHOOLMASTER
AND COMPANIONS--MY DOG SOLON.

Ours was a very united and a very happy family. We lived in the
neighbourhood of London, near Blackheath, in Kent, on the elevated
ground which overlooks Greenwich, its noble hospital, and the river
Thames. Our father was a merchant, a thoroughly upright, industrious
man, an honour to the profession to which he belonged. No man could be
more attentive to busi