Mad Sea: the Life and Loves of a Windjammer Sailor

This book is unbelievable and yet true, but it is also not widely available. I found it in a little used bookshop which wonderfully had a Nautical section (I adore this shop and try to also go straight to that section when I am in town). Despite that, if you ever have the opportunity to find a copy of this autobiography, do. It is about the end of an era of windjammer (wooden sailing ships) and a young 10 year old boy who goes to sea. His life is wildly unpredictable. (Teaser: he may even be the ancestor of some foreign nobility). There is so much that is fascinating.