We had trained for emergencies. Every man knew how to launch a lifeboat. There were life jackets to save us, but no one said, Oh, and this is what an exploding torpedo does, and here’s what happens when the ship sinks under you. And the lights will be out, so you’ll be in the dark.

It is 1940, and war rages. With nothing to keep him at home, fifteen-year-old Adam Chisholm joins Britain’s Merchant Navy. His first ship takes him on a stormy Atlantic convoy where he faces seasickness, submarines and shipwreck.

In his remarkable sea journeys, Adam meets enemies face to face, and makes friends - some for a lifetime.