Washed Ashore; or, The Tower of Stormont Bay, by W.H.G. Kingston.
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This is a fairly short book, and probably an easier read for the younger
teenager.
Jack is a young member of a respectable family living in Stormount
Tower, on the south coast of England. Unfortunately the silly boy got
himself involved with the smugglers, who got caught. This of course
would have been a hanging offence, but Jack manages to go to sea aboard
the "Truelove", which, it is later heard, is lost at sea.
Folk at home long to see him again, but meanwhile there are some strange
goings-on, involving ghosts, kidnaps, strange noises, secret tunnels,
and smugglers' caves.
Eventually some of the local young men sail to the Pacific, hoping to
find where the "Truelove" had gone down, and hoping above all to find
young Jack. After some misses they eventually manage to get some useful
information, and from this they are able to find Jack, and bring him
home to his family.
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