Not every thirteen-year-old girl is accused of murder, brought to trial and found guilty.

Although Charlotte Doyle was warned not to board the brig Seahawk on June 16, 1832, no young girl of good upbringing would dream of disobeying her father's orders. And Papa left orders that she should sail on that ship.

But once upon the sea Charlotte discovers herself alone among a dozen rough crewmen, the only passenger on a voyage from Liverpool, England, to Providence, Rhode Island. Within hours of the ship's sailing a dagger is placed in her hand by the Seahawk's cook, Zachariah. It's for her own protection, he says. Soon she is overhearing murmurings and mutterings among the sailors, who, the old cook excepted, seem to resent her presence. If it weren't for the master, Captain Andrew Jaggery—so reassuringly like Papa—Charlotte would fear for her safety. All too soon she learns the need for the dagger, even as she learns to her horror that it's a weapon to be used against her.

In Charlotte's true confessions she swears to "tell the truth as I lived it." So she does, as gallantly as she succeeds in the dangerous, unpredictable world of a sailing ship.

From the dust jacket