The Sailor Boy
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Adams, William Taylor. [As Oliver Optic] The Sailor Boy; or, Jack Somers in the Navy: A Story of the Great Rebellion. Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1863. Out of print.
Jack Somers, brother of Tom from The Soldier Boy, heeds his family calling and goes to sea before the mast on a Union man-of-war. Minor shipboard jealousies and favoritism spice a straightforward adventure narrative here, with plenty of reefing the mizzen tops'l along the way. Jack becomes the hero of several episodes, including the taking of a cotton freighter and the squelching of a treacherous plot to seize the beloved Middy.