Voyage to a Free Land, 1630

Han­nah, a ten-year-old, dreamed of Amer­i­ca. She and her sis­ter, twelve-year-old Abi­gail, both view going to Amer­i­ca as an adven­ture as they set sail from Chelms­ford for Lon­don. The real excite­ment comes when the girls and their father and step­moth­er board the ship Arbel­la for Mass­a­chu­setts Bay.

The fam­i­ly are put in the hold of the ship for the jour­ney. It is dark and smelly, unlike any­thing either of the girls have known. Dur­ing the trip the girls become acquaint­ed with Zach, an inden­tured ser­vant. Abi­gail dis­ap­proves but Han­nah is intrigued by his tales of rag­ing storms and enor­mous spout­ing crea­tures from deep in the ocean. When Han­nah sees the won­ders for her­self, she finds out what it is like to be marooned at sea, to fight side-by-side with her sis­ter to sur­vive a storm that threat­ens to drown them all.