{"product_id":"2940016106212","title":"Afloat at Last","description":"Afloat at Last\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eby John Conroy Hutcheson\u003cbr\u003e________________________________________________________________\u003cbr\u003eThis short book tells the adventures over just one voyage to Shanghai of\u003cbr\u003ethe hero, Allan Graham, whose father is a country vicar. Allan is\u003cbr\u003eobtained a place as an apprentice aboard the Silver Queen, which he\u003cbr\u003ejoins at Wapping Docks.  An Irish bosun, Tim Rooney, takes a liking to\u003cbr\u003ethe lad and helps him learn the ropes.  Hutcheson nearly always has an\u003cbr\u003eIrish co-hero in his books.  We get a good description of how the vessel\u003cbr\u003eis warped out of the dock, how she makes her way down river, assisted by\u003cbr\u003ea steam-tug, and then down the English Channel and into the wide\u003cbr\u003eAtlantic Ocean.  Allan begins to learn a bit about navigation and\u003cbr\u003eship-handling, when the movement of the vessel in the Bay of Biscay\u003cbr\u003ecauses him to retire with sea-sickness.  A stowaway is found on board,\u003cbr\u003ein the forepeak.  Allan finds an ally in the Chinese cook, Ching Wang.\u003cbr\u003eOn the other hand the Portuguese steward, Pedro, hates that cook.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey round the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), cross the Indian Ocean,\u003cbr\u003eand get into the Malay seas, where they notice a proa following them.\u003cbr\u003eAfter negotiating the tail end of a typhoon, they think they have\u003cbr\u003eescaped these possible pirates, pass through another typhoon, in which\u003cbr\u003eall their storm sails are blown out, yet see the pirates again.  They\u003cbr\u003eare blown onto the Pratas shoal, aground, in which predicament the\u003cbr\u003epirates attack.  Ching Wang and Allan manage to get away in one of the\u003cbr\u003epirates' small boats, and sail to where they can get help for the Silver\u003cbr\u003eQueen from a patrolling British Naval vessel, the Blazer.  Rescued,\u003cbr\u003eeventually they get to Shanghai, where they receive their mails--it is\u003cbr\u003eextraordinary how the mails are always waiting for them, no matter how\u003cbr\u003efast a vessel has travelled.  Back home with an uneventful voyage, and\u003cbr\u003ethat's the end of the story.  The book is very helpful in teaching you\u003cbr\u003ethe basics of reading these old nautical novels.  N.H.\u003cbr\u003e________________________________________________________________\u003cbr\u003eAFLOAT AT LAST\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBY JOHN CONROY HUTCHESON\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER ONE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIN THE RECTORY GARDEN.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"And so, Allan, you wish to go to sea?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Yes, father,\" I replied.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"But, is there no other profession you would prefer--the law, for\u003cbr\u003einstance?  It seems a prosperous trade enough, judging from the fact\u003cbr\u003ethat solicitors generally appear well to do, with plenty of money--\u003cbr\u003epossibly that of other people--in their possession; so, considering the\u003cbr\u003ematter from a worldly point of view, you might do worse, Allan, than\u003cbr\u003ejoin their ranks.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI shook my head, however, as a sign of dissent to this proposition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Well then, my boy,\" went on father in his logical way, anxious that I\u003cbr\u003eshould clearly understand all the bearings of the case, and have the\u003cbr\u003eadvantages and disadvantages of each calling succinctly set before me,\u003cbr\u003e\"there is medicine now, if you dislike the study of Themis, as your\u003cbr\u003egesture would imply.  It is a noble profession, that of healing the sick\u003cbr\u003eand soothing those bodily ills which this feeble flesh of ours is heir\u003cbr\u003eto, both the young and old alike--an easier task, by the way, than that\u003cbr\u003eof ministering to `the mind diseased,' as Shakespeare has it; although,\u003cbr\u003emind you, I must confess that a country physician, such as you could\u003cbr\u003eonly hope to be, for I have not the means of buying you a London\u003cbr\u003epractice, has generally a hard life of it, and worse pay.  However, this\u003cbr\u003eis beside the question; and I want to avoid biassing your decision in\u003cbr\u003eany way.  Tell me, would you like to be a doctor--eh?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut to this second proposal of my father as to my future career, I again\u003cbr\u003esignified my disapproval by shaking my head; for I did not wish to\u003cbr\u003einterrupt his argument by speaking until he had finished all he had to\u003cbr\u003esay on the subject, and I could see he had not yet quite done.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"H'm, the wise man's dictum as to speech being silvern and silence gold\u003cbr\u003eevidently holdeth good with the boy, albeit such discretion in youth is\u003cbr\u003esomewhat rare,\" he murmured softly to himself, as if unconsciously\u003cbr\u003eputting his thoughts in words, adding as he addressed me more directly:\u003cbr\u003e\"You ought to get on in life, Allan; for `a still tongue,' says the\u003cbr\u003eproverb, `shows a wise head.'  But now, my son, I've nearly come to the\u003cbr\u003eend of the trio of learned professions, without, I see, prepossessing\u003cbr\u003eyou in favour of the two I have mentioned.  You are averse to the law,\u003cbr\u003eand do not care about doctoring; well then, there's the church, last\u003cbr\u003ethough by no means least--what say you to following my footsteps in that\u003cbr\u003esacred calling, as your brother Tom purposes doing when he leaves Oxford\u003cbr\u003eafter taking his degree?\"","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47181237879024,"sku":"2940016106212","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940016106212","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}