The Last Voyage of the Scotian

by Bill Freeman

In the spring of 1873, Meg and John Bains are ready to return home from a winter working in a lumber camp when they are lured into a trap and shanghaied as crew on a leaky old square-rigged sailing ship in Quebec City.
In the spring of 1873, Meg and John Bains are ready to return home from a winter working in a lumber camp when they are lured into a trap and shanghaied as crew on a leaky old square-rigged sailing ship in Quebec City.
The windjammer is under-manned and the captain is a tyrant, making the voyage a difficult one. But danger is balanced by the excitement of travelling first to Jamaica to take on sugar cane and then to Liverpool. The crossing is dramatic and the trip back to Halifax is even more adventurous as the captain makes a deal to carry 350 immigrants to the new world. It takes five weeks before the crew of the Scotian find themselves safe upon the shores of Nova Scotia.

About the Author

BILL FREEMAN is an award-winning historian, novelist, and screenwriter. Among his previous publications are Far from Home: Canadians in the First World War, which he co-authored with Richard Nielsen; A Magical Place: Toronto Island and Its People, winner of a Certificate of Commendation from Heritage Toronto in 2000; Casa Loma: Toronto's Fairy-Tale Castle and Its Owner Sir Henry Pellatt, which received the Heritage Toronto Award of Merit in 1999; Their Town: The Mafia, the Media and the Party Machine, a study of political power in Hamilton co-authored with Marsha Hewitt; and 1005: Political Life in a Union Local. Bill Freeman is also a popular children's author who has won the prestigious Vicky Metcalf Award for "a body of work" and a Canada Council Award for Juvenile Literature.

Reviews

"Freeman has succeeded in balancing a suspenseful plot with a sensitive play of characters."
Books in Canada

Awards

Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature
2000

Subjects (BISAC)

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