Newton Forster, or The Merchant Service

Newton Forster is impressed into the Navy, imprisoned in France, shipwrecked in the West Indies, then finds himself aboard British East India Company vessel bound for Asia for other adventures.
Captain Frederick Marryat (1792-1848) was an English Royal Navy officer, novelist, and a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story. He is now known particularly for the semi-autobiographical novel Mr. Midshipman Easy and his children's novel The Children of the New Forest, and for a widely used system of maritime flag signaling, known as Marryat's Code.