Tall Ships Author:Hazel Wilson "Smuggling! I'll have none of it," roared Ben Wingate's father. "Why, there won't be any United States of America if folks obey only the laws they like." — Those were the days of the Embargo Act, by which President Jefferson tried to keep American ships from getting into trouble with either the British or the French. Shipowner, captain, and sa... more »ilor on the Atlantic Coast, one and all chafed and fumed at the enforced idleness, and some nearly starved. Many plotted and planned how to end it.
Smuggling was one way. Ben and his friend Turtle O'Connor thought of another. They put to sea on Captain Wingate's longboat for Washington, to plead with the President to end the embargo for Maine's sake.
It was a hazardous voyage, filled with dangers form the sea, from press gangs, from ships at war. In fact, Ben and Turtle became a good deal more familiar with His Majesty's ship Macedonian than with Washington. They joined the British Navy, against their wills, found both friends and enemies in it, and met at last, by way of it, the greatest American naval hero of his time.
The events of this story take place in the hard and stirring time just before the War of 1812 began. The author is thoroughly familiar with the time and its people, and she has brought them right into the present for today's reader.« less