Saved from the Sea, The Loss of the Viper, and her Crew's Saharan
Adventures, by W.H.G. Kingston.
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The books starts off with a young Grammar-School boy being introduced to
the local tailor, who is also a bit of a linguist. Our hero, and his
friend Halliday, learn Arabic with the tailor. This turns out later on
to have been very fortunate. Our hero and his friend are taken on as
midshipmen on a frigate, where they are well trained. They spend three
years at sea, and have the chance of visiting various ports in the
Eastern Mediterranean, and also of getting to Cairo.
However their next appointment is to the "Viper", a brig which is barely
stable. They almost upset on one occasion, and then really do sink when
off the coast of Africa. Our friends and a couple of other seamen are
lucky enough to have got off on a simple raft, though all the rest of
the crew perish. Hungry and thirsty they find themselves on a sandbank
at a considerable distance from the mainland. And it is at this point
that their adventures really begin.
The book is copiously illustrated with engravings, some of which are
very nice when viewed with the pdf version of the book, but which are
not always so good in the html version. Although the name of the
illustrator is not given on the title page, the word "Riou" appears on
most of the engravings, along with a second, longer, name, which most
probably is that of the engraver.
This book makes a good audiobook, though indeed not a long one.
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SAVED FROM THE SEA, THE LOSS OF THE VIPER, AND HER CREW'S SAHARAN
ADVENTURES, BY W.H.G. KINGSTON.