Turned Adrift

"Turned Adrift" by Harry Collingwood is a nautical adventure novel written in the late 19th century. The story primarily revolves around the swift barque "Zenobia" and its crew, who face an unexpected and dangerous mutiny during their voyage. The main protagonist, Mark Temple, a young apprentice, becomes embroiled in this conflict as he grapples with the unfolding chaos and the potential perils for both crew and passengers. The opening of "Turned Adrift" sets a tense atmosphere aboard the "Zenobia", where the ship's crew is focused on speed and performance as they navigate the South Atlantic. However, matters take a dire turn when a fabricated fire alarm leads to a mutiny orchestrated by some of the crew members, casting the protagonist and the ship's officers into a desperate situation. Mark witnesses the capture of his captain and crew and realizes the complexity of the mutineers’ ambitions, particularly suspecting his fellow apprentice, Bainbridge, as a mastermind behind the seizing of the ship. As they are turned adrift, the stakes rise for Mark and his comrades, igniting a tale of survival amid treachery on the high seas. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Harry Collingwood was the pseudonym of William Joseph Cosens Lancaster, a British civil engineer and novelist who wrote over 40 boys' adventure books, almost all of them in a nautical setting.