Pirate Diary--The Diary of Jake Carpenter, Cabin Boy by Richard Platt

For as long as I can remember, I have lived in the village of Holyoak, North Carolina. My life is to change, for I am to go to sea. My father wants me to study medicine, but believes I should see more of the world first. Thus, I am to become a SAILOR, at least for a while.

His plan is that I should join his brother Will, who is already a a seaman. Will told me of sea monsters, mermaids, and islands of ice. He has seen hurricanes and escaped from pirates. And I am to see it all for MYSELF!

And see it all he does, and much more, does Jake, much more!

To begin, Jake and Will rise with the sun, only to learn that their ship, the Sally Ann, has raised anchor and sailed before sunrise, leaving Jake and Will stranded.

There is only one ship in port needing seaman, The Greyhound, a sorry sight, but the only choice, and they sign up to sail with the gnarly old Capt. Nick. Immediately, Jack is put to work mopping the decks, for Will tells him that if the boards get dry the ship will leak and sink right away. Jake is already homesick for his cows and chickens, but he is soon pressed in the tasks of loading boxes and barrels into the hold and trying to learn the names of the sails and parts of the ship. He is befriended by the rather wretched Cook's Boy, who promised to keep Jake well fed on scraps in return for Jake's teaching him his letters.

This seemed like a good deal at the time, but after my first meal, my mind was changed. I had food, but I could not tell what it was and ate little.

And Jake's first voyage gets only worse as time goes by. Captain Nick's vessel is an outlaw ship, unwelcome at any port because he is known to sail before dawn to avoid paying fees, and he is a cruel master, lashing his men for the most minor offenses.

When Jake lets a bucket fall into the sea, Captain Nick orders him lashed, and when Will offers to take the lashes himself, the enraged captain order twice as many lashes for Will and leaves him adrift in a leaky boat. Terrified, Jake watches his uncle rapidly disappear in the Greyhound's wake.

But Jake's plight soon worsens when the ship is boarded by true pirates. The Greyhound's crew offer no resistance, believing that being the pirate's captain can be no worse than Captain Nick and soon all are bound over to the service of the pirate band headed by the notorious Henry Jennings. Seaman Jake finds himself now the pirate captain's cabin boy, fearful of never seeing his home and father again.

And in truth Jake Carpenter will learn much, much more of the life of real pirates of the Caribbean before he sees Holyoak, North Carolina again, in Richard Platt's colorful action thriller for middle readers, Pirate Diary: The Journal of Jake Carpenter, Cabin Boy (Historical Diaries) (Candlewick Press). There is plenty of pirate lore and lingo, with cannon-firing, cutlass-welding battles, raging hurricanes, treasure-burying, and more than enough of hanged pirates dangling from gibbets in the port of Charleston for any pirate fan before Jake Carpenter at last sets a happy foot on terra firma in South Carolina.

 Along with the colorful and picaresque pen-and-ink period drawings of Chris Riddell, Platt's well-researched tale of privateers and buccaneers is an absorbing read for adventure-loving middle graders, and the author's extensive appendix which includes a glossary of seafaring and piracy terms, a history of piracy from the Vikings to Somali pirates, and a bibliography of sources. This book is an ideal preliminary read before taking on the Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, Treasure Island. (Dover Thrift Editions) And for those readers whose tastes run to historical side of pirate adventures, author Platt has three other such historical novelettes--Egyptian Diary: The Journal of Nakht (Historical Diaries), Roman Diary: The Journal of Iliona, A Young Slave (Historical Diaries), and Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess