Round The World

“Weeks after reading the story of Takashi’s predicament and being introduced into the lives of the friends who help him get back to Kobe, the sensations evoked by his richly detailed adventure will linger.”
 — Tania Aebi, first American woman and youngest person to sail around the world; author of Maiden Voyage

“Lucinda Hathaway has done it again. She has spun an intriguing tale combining a seafaring Maine family and the romance of the sea and ships, with accurate historic detail.” 
— Captain Dan Pease, former owner of the schooner Lewis R. French, Camden, Maine.

By Margaret T. Buchholz
(Reviewed in the The Beachcomber, Long Beach Island, NJ)

Introduced in Takashi's Voyage, Takashi is an appealing and plucky young hero. It is his inquisitive, mischievous nature that gets him into trouble in the first place, but his resilience and courage that allow him to endure and learn from his adventures at sea. These qualities are evident in the continuation of his story, Round the World: Takashi Sails Home.

When the story opens, it is 1901 and Takashi is alone on the rough New York docks, thousands of miles from his home in Kobe, Japan. Shanghaied onto the sailing ship Sindia, Takashi has sailed around Cape Horn and survived a shipwreck on the Ocean City, New Jersey beach. (This is factual.) When the captain of the Sindia is convicted of negligence in a Philadelphia court, the ship's crew disperses to make their way home to England on other vessels. Sad to see his friends go, and more than a little frightened in a strange city where foreigners are far from welcome, Takashi nonetheless resolves to stay. Although his prospects look bleak, he is determined to find passage home to Japan.

Takashi's luck changes when he meets Joe Pease and his father, the captain of the Maine coastal schooner Lewis R. French, delivering Christmas trees to the city. They befriend Takashi and take him with them back to Searsport, Maine. Searsport is the center of shipbuilding and the Captain is convinced that he can find Takashi passage back to Kobe.

Takashi spends an American Christmas with the Pease family, a fascinating and bewildering event for a Japanese boy. Captain Pease's friend, Captain Sweetser, who is to captain the steel ship Astral, newly commissioned by Standard Oil on her maiden voyage to the East, agrees to take Takashi on as cabin boy. Captain Sweetser's family will join him on this trip, including Joe Pease's schoolmate, the headstrong tomboy, Clarabel. Takashi becomes cabin boy on the Astral and also teacher of Japanese sumi-e painting to the Captain's family. It will be another long journey, filled with new experiences and marked by his friendship with the mercurial Clarabel.

Round the World is historical fiction, which, as author Lucinda Hathaway explains, means "the writer has found a piece of interesting history — fact — and has woven a story — fiction — around the history." The story must not contradict the historical setting. And it is in the various settings that this book is strongest.

The reader can smell the fish at the Fulton Fish Market, or see the newly built Brooklyn Bridge and feel the pride the boy from Maine experiences because boats like his father's transported the granite from Maine to build it. Small facts, like the boys looking back at Manhattan's Flatiron building under construction, reinforce the book's 1901 setting.

Other touches — an orange in the Christmas stocking, the cat on board ship, the mail exchange at sea and "crossing the line" — add depth to this sweet book.

When the Lewis R. French approaches Penobscot Bay, anyone who has sailed there will understand and sympathize when the captain anchors in the fog - and feel the excitement when they see their home port. The author describes the coast of Maine "slide along like a snake in the grass," and it's a cogent way of describing the gray rock interspersed with evergreens.

The story moves from New York to Maine, back to New York, then across the ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope, into the Indian Ocean and into the China Sea. The journey creates some tension — Will the currents carry the bottle dropped into the ocean back to Joe? Will Clarabel be allowed to climb the ratlines? And the ultimate question: Will Takashi ever get back to the family he so longs to see.

Round the World: Takashi Sails Home is aimed at good early readers or any adult who likes sailing. I am no kid and found the simple story enchanting. Another plus is the glossary of nautical terms at the back of the book. Do you know what a bitter end is? No? Well, read the book. The story is also enhanced by the winsome color illustrations by artist Marilyn Ganss.
(Reprinted with permission. Copyright © Jersey Shore Newsmagazines)

“Revel in the billowing sails, the salt spray and the surge of a moving deck! This seafaring tale is filled with challenge and discovery. ‘Round the World rings with authenticity.’’
 — Frank Remkiewicz, author; illustrator of the “Horrible Harry” and “Froggy” series

Benjamin Franklin National Book Awards finalist: Young Adult - Juvenile Fiction

"The reader can smell the fish at the Fulton Fish Market, or see the newly built Brooklyn Bridge and feel the pride the boy from Maine experiences because boats like his father's transported the granite from Maine to build it.... Other touches — the mail exchange at sea and ''crossing the line'' — add depth to this sweet book.... Enchanting." — The Beachcomber

Chapter 1

New York City

“Cookie, that hurts!” Blood trickled down Takashi’s neck as the old sailor, Cookie, forced the gold ring through his earlobe. They were standing by Pier #16 on Front Street, New York Harbor, in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge.



“You’re a Cape Horner and I want you to have my earring.” Cookie grabbed a handful of snow and washed away the blood. Done! Takashi had a gold earring in a sore left ear marking him a sailor who had sailed around Cape Horn. He pulled his wool cap down over his throbbing ear and watched Cookie sling a duffle bag over his shoulder and prepare to leave.



“Domo arigato,” the Japanese boy said. “Thank you.”



“You’re welcome, lad,” said Cookie. “Wish ye’d come along. I could find you a bunk in Liverpool and ye’d find passage to Japan there.” Cookie almost hugged the boy but the old sailor was too tough to do it.



“I must find ship here in New York and go home.” Takashi’s voice sounded firm, but he was not sure he was making the right decision.



Takashi and the entire crew had been rescued by the lifesavers six days earlier when their vessel, the Sindia, wrecked 300 feet off the boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey. The huge bark was stuck on a sandbar very close to shore. Drying out and getting warm took three days. The officers and crew rode the train to Philadelphia where the British Admiralty tried and convicted their Captain MacKenzie and first officer, George Stewart. The penalties were harsh. Captain MacKenzie lost his captain’s papers and George Stewart lost his rank. The officers were found to be responsible for running a ship aground in charted waters, an offense of negligence.

Philadelphia can be a cold, dark city in December. During the court trial the entire crew was cramped in the Seaman’s Institute lodgings, miserable damp cold rooms. There they waited, hoping their captain would not be charged with negligence. The crew felt that the wreck was an accident. Once the guilty verdict announced, they sadly left their captain and headed to the grand port of New York where the seamen hoped to find ships to sail them home to England. Liverpool, England, was the homeport for most of the Sindia sailors.



Takashi was determined to find a ship sailing to Japan or Shanghai. He was certain that if he could get as far as Shanghai, going home to Japan would be possible. Every day ships from Shanghai called at his uncle’s warehouse in Kobe, Japan. Takashi would find a way home.