Shadow of the Boyd

In a powerful story from New Zealand’s colonial past, the bitter clash of two cultures is explored through the eyes of a young English boy who survives the infamous massacre on the Boyd in Whangaroa Harbour, New Zealand in 1809.
Fourteen-year-old Thomas Davidson joins the Boyd in London to see the world, but soon finds that life at sea is not as he imagined. With a contingent of soldiers, a cargo of convicts and a captain who meters out brutal punishments on board, the ship arrives in Sydney and that is when things begin to go wrong.
Four Maori sailors join the Boyd before the ship leaves for New Zealand, and as it cuts through the Tasman Sea problems escalate culminating in the horrific massacre. The few survivors, including Thomas, are rescued by Alexander Berry of the City of Edinburgh and it is their enthralling story and Thomas’s exploits as he makes his way back to London which unfold in this classic adventure.