Lost to the sea.: Book 1. Orphaned Apprenticed Pressed & Prized.

Set in the 1750's 'Lost to the sea' is the first in a series of sea stories charting the life of James Johnson. The son of a fisherman, he is Orphaned when his entire family are drowned trying to launch thier fishing boat into the teeth of a north east gsale. Taken in by the church and educated, he is Apprenticed to a local shipping master and rises quickly, but falls foul of Thomas Brolin the owners nephew who sees James as a rival for the Captains daughter Annabel and plans to have him murdered. Instead, the highwayman sells him to the press gang.
We follow his trials, tribulations and triumphs as he struggles to cope with the harsh conditions of life, 'before the mast' on a merchant brig, and later after being taken by the press gang, 'below decks' on a sloop of war.