The Ballast Ledger

About this book

In the bitter winter of 1847, the emigrant brig Haven's Resolve is battered by a relentless North Atlantic squall, leaving it adrift without canvas or functioning steering. As fever and sheer panic claim the ship's senior officers, the vessel threatens to become a floating tomb divided by bitter class conflicts between hoarding merchants and desperate steerage families. The only person left to bridge the divide and salvage their voyage is seventeen-year-old Cormac Linneen, a tenant farmer's son pressed into service as a lowly cargo tally-keeper. Possessing zero formal seamanship, Cormac must overcome his own deeply ingrained fear of failure to seize command. Armed only with forgotten agricultural almanacs, his pragmatic memory for lunar cycles, and an unyielding will to survive, Cormac embarks on a grueling nineteen-day ordeal to navigate treacherous coastal waters, evade opportunistic scavengers, and guide his fractured community to safety.

Book details

Genres:

Historical Fiction, Survival, Adventure

Language:

en

Published:

2026-05-07

Content rating:

PG-13