Powder Monkey - Paul Dowswell

****1/2 - a good Navy book that really communicates what life aboard must have been like. An absolute necessity for someone as ships & sealing wax obsessed as I am, and well worth the read for the rest of you as well.

13-year-old Sam Witchall has always felt the call of a life at sea, but he's not so desperate as to join the Royal Navy. Instead he finds himself a berth as a ship's boy aboard a small merchant vessel - relatively safe and with chances to return home to see his family and his sweetheart. But Sam's comfortable life aboard is turned upside down when he is pressed into service as a powder monkey (a boy who carries powder to the guns during battle) on the HMS Miranda. Far from a romantic adventure, Sam now lives in a world of harsh discipline, bullies, and constant threat of danger.

I'll admit it right up front - I adore ship books. Preferably elegant age-of-sail ships with tall masts any young, spirited protagonists, though any ship will do. Luckily this fit all of my favorite criteria. So it's no surprise that I couldn't keep myself from purchasing this when I saw it. Nor is it surprising that I loved it.

The book's greatest strength is its emphasis on realism. Sam doesn't want to be on board, he's frightened and chafes under the sudden restrictions to his former freedom. He's not extraordinarily clever, extraordinarily brave or kind. He's just a boy trying to make his way out of a nasty situation. And being onboard a fighting ship during the Napoleonic Wars was certainly nasty - about that the book leaves no doubt. It details the poor food, the threat of flogging for any infraction (real or imagined), officer tyrants and the fear of enemy fire. But it also shows the cameraderie, the friendships, the fun had by sailors skylarking in the rigging or singing at night.

This is a great read for those already interested in this sort of book, but there is no quest or great adventure like in Treasure Island or many other young adult ship books; this is more a book about the daily hardships (large and small) aboard a Navy ship of the time - which is fascinating, but not perhaps the best place to start for the uninitiated or those not already bitten by the sea bug.