Pirates & Privateers: John Howe's Books

After a visit to a tavern following a day’s work in his print shop, Eamon McGrath awakens to a nightmare. He is no longer in Marblehead, Massachusetts. He is on a ship with no memory of how he got here. He must get back to his wife and children, but that is impossible. The ship is no longer at anchor; she’s far out to sea. He has been shanghaied!

Eamon is not the only one to be kidnapped. Sam Holbrook becomes a close friend, as well as the ship’s doctor since he tended to the animals back on his farm. Coop is the youngest at sixteen and easily adjusts to his new life. Jack is older and more accepting of his fate than the others. After all, this is not his first time being forced. The last man taken never awakens, so he will not endure any of the agony and pain that Eamon does. Shipboard life has its dangers and then there’s the first mate, a brutal taskmaster who quickly becomes an enemy. To survive, Eamon must adapt and accept his fate, for theirs is a journey that will take them round the Horn to Hong Kong.

Shanghaied is a gripping, emotional voyage that vividly recreates shipboard life and the dangers seamen faced in the second decade of the 19th century. It is a story of change, because no one escapes the life-altering reality of being kidnapped. Those left behind without a clue as to what happens to their loved ones must also come to terms with their new situations.

Meet the author