Ran Away to Sea, by Captain Mayne Reid.
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Although this book seems to be very much like the sort of book Kingston
wrote, it actually predates that author by a few years. It tells the
story of a young boy, well brought up, who runs away to sea, despite his
parents' wishes. Unfortunately he asks for a place on board a ship
where many of the officers and crew are the vilest villains, and the
trade they engage in is slaving, despite that trade having been banned
half a century previously.
The story is told with all that sense of humour that Mayne Reid brings
to his works, though there are some harrowing moments when the treatment
of the "cargo" is being described.
This edition appeared just fifty years after the first edition, and it
may have been slightly condensed, because the earlier edition had many
more pages, though the edition used here has quite small, though very
clear type. It would have been nice if the proofreader had done a
better job.
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RAN AWAY TO SEA, BY CAPTAIN MAYNE REID.