THE GOLDEN DRAGON: By Clipper Ship Around the Horn

by John J. Loeper ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 9, 1978

In the manner of Loeper's The Flying Machine (1976), this takes young Jeremy Dow, ten years old in 1850, on a 105-day clipper journey from New York to San Francisco, where he will join his newly settled parents. Loeper treats the ""rough salts"" to a once-over and introduces the stern-but-fair captain, his pleasant wife, and disagreeable old Mr. Feathers who will be Jeremy's cabin mate; he goes over the food stores and sail plan, quotes sailors' ditties commenting on their hard work and poor rations, and recounts--when the time comes--how the Horse Latitudes got their name. Highlights of the fairly uneventful (and undramatized) journey include the initiation of the ""pollywogs"" (Jeremy among them) on crossing the equator; the stormy rounding of the Cape with passengers' closeted below as the captain's wife reads to them from Robert Bums; and a stop at Valparaiso, Chile, where Feathers gets lost and is almost left behind. An agreeable extracurricular sidetrip.

Pub Date: Sept. 9, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1978

Categories: NONFICTION