Peril on the Sea

By Michael Cadnum

It is the summer of 1588 and a pair of unlikely shipmates is traveling on the Vixen , a privateer that will soon be drafted to join a flotilla of English ships bound for a fiery clash with the Spanish Armada. Seventeen-year-old Sherwin is aboard to repay a debt he owes the ship's roguish captain, Brandon Fletcher. Sixteen-year-old Katharine is sailing with them in a desperate bid to save her noble family's fortune. The fight will be harrowing and bloody, and the unfolding tumult will challenge the character of both Sherwin and Katharine, who are about to discover the deeper meaning of strife and of honor. This fascinating tale affords an unusual view of one of the most important naval encounters in history, as a kindling romance between two young people takes place amidst a reluctant race to battle.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374358230
• ISBN13: 9780374358235
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 245 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 12 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 7 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

A amazing historical book

Peril on The Sea by Michael Cadnum is an amazing historical fiction book. It takes place in around July, 1588 in the sea thus the name Peril on The Sea. The main character is Sherwin Morris who is a sailor who was on the ship named the Patience. One day during a storm the ship blew causing all the sailors swim to safety. Sherwin Morris finds his way to another ship named the Vixen. This ship pis an English fighter ship. Will Sherwin be saved by these people or drown by them?

One of the best

The way Cadnum writes is good - he mixed olde English with a more modern approach to the story, so it was authentic without being dull or confusing. I am reading this for the Newberry award at my school, so far this is a leading candidate. You could easily see the story from each character's viewpoint. It was a thrilling and realistic page turner. It did not feel like a history lesson, just a good story that took place a long time ago.

Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children

Captain Brandon Fletcher, renegade merchant and privateer, had no plans to join other English sea captains in defending England and the Queen from the Spanish Armada rumored to be off the English coast. But that summer of 1588, a series of unusual circumstances led him and his crew to just such a fate, despite his best intentions to avoid the conflict. Not only did his crew fish a drowning man out of the sea who would go on to pen the captain's memoir, they were also joined by a beautiful noblewoman who commissioned the privateer to intercept another ship that carried her family's fortune. The combination of these strong-willed characters with a set of wartime circumstances beyond their control sets the stage for a harrowing adventure complete with love, greed, treachery, fortune, and death. This riveting book also offers the reader a nice opportunity to experience some of the historical events associated with the 1588 Spanish Armada as well as the economic motives behind the piracy and merchant trade of the times.