This novel covers a teenager from Bolton, United Kingdom, John Carteledge, who in 1860 sailed to Australasia around Cape Horn, and return on the merchant ship "Enterprise". Adventures include losing all masts and most of the rigging off New Zealand. The replacement of the masts and yards, and sailing to Sydney and Hobart in Eastern Australia. Homeward bound the ship runs into an iceberg, with the loss of life, and return to England again.