Doubling The Horn

A Sea Story

By: Frank Cahill

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

This is a novel for children aged about 8 to 14. It is a story about a young boy who was orphaned in 1857 and becomes a cabin boy on an American Merchant sailing ship. His first voyage is a trip from Providence, Rhode Island to Monterey, California. It is a long voyage that requires sailing between Cape Horn at the tip of South America and the Antarctica Peninsula. The passage around Cape Horn is known by sailors to be a brutal stretch of ocean requiring expert seamanship. The round trip requires navigating around Cape Horn twice, which sailors know as Doubling the Horn.
Young readers will learn with the orphaned cabin boy, not only about sailing, but also lessons on geography, navigation, and fascinating differences between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Tommy, the cabin boy, learns about the parts of a ship, and how sails are adjusted to weather conditions. His adventures include learning how sailing ships measure their speed and check the depth of the ocean beneath them. He is introduced to the sextant and its use in tracking latitude and longitude. Tommy is amazed at the differences of the stars in the southern sky. Generous illustrations enhance the learning fun for new readers.
And there are plenty of hardships that accompany thrilling adventures. They are chased by pirates, cross the equator four times, and endure the hardships of the freezing climate, fierce fifty-foot waves, and huge icebergs at the edge of the world.
Beginning readers can grow with Tommy learns to climb the masts to adjust the sails, and achieves the rating of able seaman.