Tweet! The whistle blew aboard the car freighter. The Lamda, as 12-year-old Steven Hartford climbed aboard. He watched as the ship was loaded with cars. His mother had finally agreed to let him work as assistant cook. It was his dream to go to sea, even if only to work in the kitchens.

The first thing he did once onboard (after checking in, of course) was to look for lifeboats, rings, and vests. He didn't see many. So he asked a deck hand why there weren't many safety devices. At first, the deck hand was surprised.  "You mean you don't know? " he exclaimed.  "We really don't need any, this ship's unsinkable! " This worried Steven; he knew what had happened to the Titanic, and that ship was supposed to be unsinkable. But, that was long ago, besides, it looked safe to him.

After looking over the ship, he went below deck to see the chef, who he would be working under. He was given work right away. The chef (whose name was Bob) told him that as soon as California was out of sight, there would be a huge dinner; so Steven had to start preparing ASAP.

A half-hour later, he was so busy rolling silverware into napkins that he almost dropped a bucket of forks when the ship started moving. He went above deck to wave to the crowd on the dock.

When the ship was a fair distance from land, some of the workers shouted,  "Hawaii, here we come! " (That's where they were taking the cars.) That night's feast was spectacular; there was so much delicious food.

The next day the clouds were a gloomy gray and they thought a storm, a big one, was brewing. That evening the waves were huge, but the freighter seemed fine. Steven was on the late shift that night, to give any night workers a snack if need be.

After a while, he went above deck to see what the storm looked like, and to get some fresh air. It was still raging; rain was pouring and a strong wind was creating gigantic waves. He carefully peered over the edge of the railing. What he saw amazed him! Apparently, one of the lifeboats (a small metal canoe) had fallen off the ship! As he stared at it, a wave pitched the freighter and Steven was thrown overboard into the dark Pacific Ocean!

When he hit the water, Steven sank, and then bobbed back to the surface. He started swimming about, frantically trying to stay afloat. In his panic he remembered the canoe.  "Maybe I can get to it, " he thought. There was no chance of getting back to the Lamda. Steven's only hope was to find the canoe and get into it. It was almost pitch black and the waves were hard to see over. But just as he was about to give up, to say goodbye, a streak of lightning lit up the sky. Then he saw it, the canoe on top of a huge wave right in front of him. He struggled to get into it; the waves would take him under then throw him back up. As he clambered into it, another wave threw Steven's head against the cold metal and he blacked out.

The next morning he woke up and was surprised at first to find himself in a canoe in the middle of the ocean. It took him awhile to remember what had happened last night. Luckily, the sea was calm now. In the canoe, there were two oars, three days worth of food, a compass, a jug of fresh water (2 gallons), and a fishing pole. He ate right away; he was very hungry. Now he was faced with a tough decision; should he continue to Hawaii? Or head back to California? He didn't know how close he was to either one, but he figured he was closer to California. So that was that; back to California it was. That evening, he caught a fish; it wasn't too big, but it was like a piece of cake to him.

The next day he wasn't so lucky. He lost his fishing pole and was low on food. That night, his canoe capsized. As soon as water got to his lungs, he woke instantly, choking on salt-water and desperately trying to roll the canoe over. When he finally managed to right it, his food and compass were lost. Even though his compass was lost, since he was going east (where the sun rises) he could follow the rising sun.

That night he was faced with yet another tough decision. Did he dare sleep? And risk starving or having the boat capsize again? No. He would keep paddling. The next morning he thought he could dimly glimpse land; yes, it was land! He made it. From who knows where in the Pacific Ocean back to California (and in one piece).