"There is an abundance of passion, and comradery amongst the main characters which leads to an extremely moving read, and I can’t wait to continue to follow the adventures of Joshua Cabot in the sequel to “Shanghai’d.”"
A truly swashbuckling adventure which occurs at the time of the California Gold Rush and details the travels of a young Harvard graduate, Joshua Cabot, after he is captured and forced to travel on a sailing ship to many trading ports in the Pacific. Seatbelts on for this one! Shanghai’d, a historical thriller by Stephen Curtis Burdick is non-stop action from the outset. Following the discovery of gold in San Francisco in 1848, Joshua Cabot a mineralogy graduate from Boston, is sent to California to oversee the production of an assaying office and smelting factory. Initially all is good, but tragic circumstances come Joshua’s way, and the only way he can deal with them is by imbibing in drink and frequenting brothels. During one outing he is kidnapped, and finds himself a prisoner on a trading ship, the Pacifica, which is scheduled to sail from San Francisco to Shanghai, calling at many ports to collect and barter goods en route. Joshua realises that the reason for his capture is due to a dearth of sailors as most of them have left their ships and headed to the gold mines to seek their fortunes - thus he has been “Shanghai’d.” And so begins a terrifying journey involving treacherous seas, mutineers, and cannibals as the Pacifica sails to Vancouver Island, Russia, the Sandwich Islands (Haiwai) and Asia/China under the cantankerous Captain Stark. However, Joshua is clever, and his ability to read difficult situations helps him gain prominence amongst the other crew members. Although there are many references to the California Gold Rush, this book is first and foremost an epic, page-turning adventure. There is an abundance of passion, and comradery amongst the main characters which leads to an extremely moving read, and I can’t wait to continue to follow the adventures of Joshua Cabot in the sequel to “Shanghai’d.”
Kathryn Carruthers, A LoveReading Ambassador
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There’s plenty of action to enjoy throughout and from the ending it would see that there might even be more to come from Joshua Cabot.
A man finds himself aboard a merchant sailing ship on a voyage beset with challenges. In the midst of the California Gold Rush, Joshua Cabot is enticed with the promise of a fortune to establish his own laboratory to work as an assayist for a prominent gold company. But his life takes a devastating turn leading to him being “shanghai’d”, kidnapped to work aboard merchant ships struggling to make crew numbers. It isn’t smooth sailing as Joshua struggles with ship life, eventually using his knowledge and skills to find a place amongst the crew and make friends. Behind and struggling to fulfil the ships order in an ever changing world, the Pacifica faces restless waters in its journey towards China. This is an historical adventure story with all the ups and downs of a boat on choppy waters.... Read Full Review
The California Gold Rush left increasing numbers of merchant sailing ships short of crew in San Francisco harbor. Desperate captains resorted to kidnapping drunken men from saloons, gambling emporiums, brothels, even opium dens and forcing them into service on their ships. Many of these ships traversed trade routes across the vast Pacific Ocean; along the western coast of North America to Russian Alaska, the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), remote South Pacific archipelagos, and notorious Dutch East Indies and Southeast Asian ports, until eventually arriving in Shanghai, China, thus the kidnapped men were said to be “shanghaied.” One of them, Joshua Cabot, a young man educated in the sciences at Harvard traveled from Boston to San Francisco to open an assay office and mint for a prominent gold company. He was enticed by the promise that upon his eventual return he would have the fortune needed to establish his own scientific laboratory, his all-consuming passion. A year later he experienced a shocking, personal tragedy. He turned to alcohol to help ease the pain and one fateful night found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He would be pushed to the limits of his endurance and experience adventures few have ever known. It would be his knowledge of science and unexpected friendships that would help him survive. This is the beginning of Joshua Cabot’s epic adventure story.
SHANGHAI'D features in the following genres: Indie Author Books, Indie Books We Love, Historical Fiction
SHANGHAI'D is available in Paperback
SHANGHAI'D was written by Curtis Stephen Burdick and published by Independently published
