5 h 14 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Across open water, a message in code can demand as much courage as a storm.
In The Ocean Wireless Boys and the Naval Code, John Henry Goldfrap brings together young men, ships and the new world of wireless telegraphy. Messages travel in Morse code across water where no wire can reach. In this sea adventure, knowing how to send and understand them is a skill that matters.
Wireless messages, naval secrets and espionage drive the suspense. A code protects information; reaching that information calls for a sharp mind and bold action. Goldfrap’s brisk, direct storytelling puts excitement first, inviting you into an early twentieth-century world where young people meet trouble with resourcefulness, courage and skill.
What you’ll discover
- Wireless on open water Enter a world where Morse code carries messages beyond the reach of wires.
- Secrets worth protecting Follow the pull of coded messages, where hidden information gives the adventure its suspense.
- Brains beside bravery Discover an adventure where a sharp mind and skill with a key count alongside muscle.
- Courage in company Explore the loyalty, teamwork and resourcefulness at the heart of this tradition of boys’ adventures.
- Adventure from another era Enjoy brisk storytelling that favours excitement and carries the outlook of the early twentieth century.
Who will love it
Readers who like boys' adventure, sailing and ocean liners, gadgets and early radio, quick-witted heroes, chases, jokes and mysteries solved by clever thinking, in the spirit of Jules Verne and the Hardy Boys.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A holiday collision starts a feud
- A night signal exposes a plot
- Pranks, a swim and a captive
- Two escapes and a trap for Bill
- The Columbia and a secret invention
- Diamonds, a burning ship and wireless mysteries
Who’s who
- Jack ReadyA quick-thinking wireless operator who loves adventure and hates cruelty, he invents a device that can hear every signal in the air.
- Billy RaynorJack's loyal friend and a young ship's engineer, he is brave in a cave and good at puzzles.
- Noddy NipperA red-haired former Bowery waif who collects big words and cannot resist a prank, however much trouble it brings.
- Captain SimmsA navy officer who hides in a quiet village to finish a new wireless code for the fleet.
- Hiram JudsonA millionaire in money trouble who will do almost anything to win a steel contract from a foreign power.
- Donald JudsonHis spoiled son, who wants revenge on Jack for a beating he deserved.
- JarrowA crooked former partner of Terrill and Company who hates Jack and helps the Judsons hunt for the code.
- Harvey ThurmanThe shifty second wireless operator on the Columbia, who wants a fortune from Jack's invention.
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- Audiobook
- 5 h 14 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 9 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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The Ocean Wireless Boys and the Naval Code
A teenage wireless operator tracks the crooks after a secret naval code across ships, tenements and the airwaves.
Easy read5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Ocean Wireless Boys and the Naval Code is a boys' adventure novel by John Henry Goldfrap, the fourth book in a series about Jack Ready, a young ship's wireless operator. It was written in the early years of radio at sea, when sending a message through the air still felt like a marvel.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A holiday collision starts a feud
The story opens on Alexandria Bay, above the Thousand Islands. Jack Ready, Billy Raynor and Noddy Nipper are sailing the sloop Curlew, enjoying a rest after their hard adventures in the Arctic. Noddy, once a Bowery waif, loves collecting big words from the dictionary, and he keeps getting them wrong. His mix-up over an eighty-year-old doughnut gives the book its first laugh.
Then a larger sloop, the Speedaway, bears down on them. At the helm is Donald Judson, a rich and sneering boy, and beside him sits his father Hiram Judson, a millionaire. Days earlier Jack had knocked Donald flat for tormenting a dog, and Donald has sworn revenge. After a near miss, a second pass rips into the side of the Curlew, and the Judsons sail off and leave the boys to sink.
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What is The Ocean Wireless Boys and the Naval Code about?
It follows young wireless operator Jack Ready, who goes from a holiday in the Thousand Islands to the decks of a great liner while trying to protect a new navy code from a band of thieves.
Who is Jack Ready?
Jack Ready is a teenage wireless operator who loves adventure and hates cruelty to animals. He invents the Universal Detector, a device that can listen to every wireless signal, and uses it to help the navy.
What is the Universal Detector?
It is Jack's invention that can pick up any wireless message, even ones sent on private wavelengths. He hopes to sell it to the navy, and a greedy shipmate tries to profit from it.
The author
John Henry Goldfrap
1879–1917 · American children's novelist
Novelist, journalist and publicist.
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