The Cruise of the Dazzler

Young Joe Bronson, caught between poor grades and his father’s threats of military school, runs away from home. He joins the crew of a sloop named the Dazzler, but quickly figures out his captain, Pete Le Maire (nicknamed “French Pete”) frequently engages himself and those at his command in criminal activity. Will Joe be able to escape this unwanted and dangerous new life at sea? Published in 1902, Jack London sold this book (his first full-length novel) as a boy’s adventure novel set in San Francisco, his hometown. In his autobiography, London recalls lifting several more elements in this novel from his adolescence, as in youth he bought a sloop called the Razzle Dazzle from a oyster pirate nicknamed “French Frank.” – Summary by Mary Kay