A Chapter of Adventures

by G. A. Henty

First published 1891

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2.5(5)

Jack Robson grows up in the Essex fishing village of Leigh and earns the notice of a shipowner after an act of courage at sea. Taken on as an apprentice, he exchanges local fishing work for a merchant sailor’s life and eventually reaches Alexandria with two fellow apprentices.

Their arrival coincides with the political crisis of 1882. When unrest in Alexandria develops into violence and British warships bombard the city, Jack and his companions are stranded amid street fighting, imprisonment and the collapse of normal authority. The novel then carries its maritime adventure beyond Egypt, using shipboard work, storms and survival at sea to connect Jack’s personal fortunes with Britain’s intervention in Egypt.