7 h 29 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 29 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does it take to build a boat—and prove yourself worthy of the helm?
In The Yacht Club; Or, the Young Boat-Builder, Oliver Optic brings boats, craft, and youthful ambition to the center of an old-fashioned adventure. A young boat-builder and a yacht club draw the reader into a world where practical skill matters and sailing well is a source of pride.
This coming-of-age story sets ambition beside honor. Courage, honesty, and hard work shape its concerns, while boats and the sea give them concrete form. Written for young readers in the nineteenth century, it invites you to explore a world where lively adventure also carries clear lessons about right conduct.
What you’ll discover
- The pride of craft Explore the pride of practical skill and the satisfaction of learning useful work.
- Ambition beside honor Consider what proving your worth means when honesty matters as much as achievement.
- A world of sails Step into an adventure that keeps vessels, water, and sailing at its heart.
- Growing through hard work Follow the book’s interest in youthful effort, practical learning, and the demands of good conduct.
- A window into values Discover how nineteenth-century fiction brings moral lessons into stories meant to engage young readers.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like sailing, honest tales of a young person making good through work, small-town mysteries, and secrets that test a boy's character.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An act of kindness opens suspicion
- Donald turns grief into useful work
- A generous gift carries a condition
- Another secret follows the first
- Racing puts the family name first
- A marked bill threatens Donald's name
- Revenge brings danger to the Maud
- Work and mystery draw together
- Honesty needs more than keeping quiet
Who’s who
- Donald John RamsayA sixteen year old boatbuilder, called Don John, who takes over his late father's yard and means to build the fastest yacht on the bay.
- Nellie PatterdaleThe banker's bright, kind daughter, who likes Donald and refuses to believe anything bad of him.
- Captain PatterdaleA wealthy, fair-minded banker and former sea captain who has lost a tin box and wants to learn the truth.
- Laud CavendishA vain young store clerk who wants wealth and a place in high society, and thinks Nellie could give him both.
- Captain ShivernockA rich, bad-tempered retired shipmaster who hands out money and boats on impulse and demands silence in return.
- Robert MontagueThe commodore of the yacht club and skipper of the Skylark, a fair and generous rival to Donald.
- Samuel RodmanDonald's schoolmate, who hires him to build the yacht Maud and wants her to beat the fleet.
- Lawrence KennedyAn experienced ship carpenter who joins Donald's firm and gives him sound advice about the business of racing.
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- Large print hardcover
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The Yacht Club; Or, the Young Boat-Builder
by Oliver Optic · 1873
A boatbuilder's son of sixteen takes over his father's yard, and a stolen tin box threatens everything he builds.
Easy read2–5 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What would you do if a promise you made in good faith began to tie you in knots? That is the trouble facing Donald John Ramsay, sixteen, in The Yacht Club, an 1873 novel by Oliver Optic set in Belfast, Maine.
The Yacht Club; Or, the Young Boat-Builder at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h3 h 10 min fast, 4 h 45 min slow
- Length
- 57,400 words
- Library level
- Easy short sentences, plain words
- First published
- 1873by Oliver Optic
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A tin box vanishes on the hottest afternoon
The story opens on the piazza of Captain Patterdale's mansion. Jacob Hasbrook, a man no one trusts, has just paid off a note of thirteen hundred and fifty dollars, hoping to win the captain over to a risky scheme. The captain refuses, and the cash goes into a green tin box with his deeds and promissory notes.
Donald Ramsay arrives to ask the captain to join a trial sail of the new yacht Sea Foam. A clerk named Laud Cavendish comes with a grocery bill and is paid twenty dollars from the box. Then the hired man, Michael, collapses from sunstroke in the yard. The captain and all three visitors carry him in, and Donald fetches the doctor. Each of the three men later goes back through the library for his hat.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1873
- Language
- English
- Level
- Easy read
Cite this edition
Optic, Oliver. The Yacht Club; Or, the Young Boat-Builder. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-yacht-club-or-the-young-boat-builder.
Optic, O. (2026). The yacht club; or, the young boat-builder. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-yacht-club-or-the-young-boat-builder (Original work published 1873)
Optic, Oliver. The Yacht Club; Or, the Young Boat-Builder. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-yacht-club-or-the-young-boat-builder.
@book{optic2026yacht,
author = {Optic, Oliver},
title = {The Yacht Club; Or, the Young Boat-Builder},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-yacht-club-or-the-young-boat-builder},
note = {First published 1873}
}
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What is The Yacht Club by Oliver Optic about?
It follows Donald Ramsay, a sixteen year old boatbuilder in Belfast, Maine, who takes over his father's business, builds a racing yacht, and gets caught up in the mystery of a missing tin box.
Who is Don John in The Yacht Club?
Don John is the nickname of Donald John Ramsay. His schoolmates gave it to him after a history lesson on Don John of Austria, though he is also called Donald.
Where and when is The Yacht Club set?
The story takes place around Belfast and Penobscot Bay in Maine, with scenes at Turtle Head, Long Island and Saturday Cove. Optic wrote it in 1873 as the second book of his Yacht Club Series.
The author
Oliver Optic
1822–1897 · American children's author
Oliver Optic was the pen name of William Taylor Adams (1822–1897), an American author and teacher. Born in Medway, Massachusetts, he lived and worked in Boston. He wrote books for young readers during the nineteenth century, including The Yacht Club and Little by Little. He also served in the Massachusetts legislature.
More by Oliver Optic
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