Adventures Of Tommy Smith

On September 13, 1882, The S.S. Asia, dangerously overloaded with 100 or so passengers, crew and horses and cows, sailed from Ontario’s Collingwood harbour into a rising gale on Georgian Bay. Only two people survived the journey…

But what if there was a third survivor? Tommy Smith is an orphan, working atthe stables in Collingwood, Ontario. A bit of a mischievous boy, who sometimes steals to get warmer clothes, he witnesses the president of the shipping company, his henchman, and a shareholder arguing, an argument that results in the shareholder’s death. Unfortunately for Tommy, he is discovered. In his effort to get away from the president’s henchman, Harry Jones, he sneaks aboard the Asia. Tommy miraculously survives, and is found washed up on shore by two natives, who care for him for six months or so, before taking him to the town of Midland. There, Tommy reads the papers and discovers he is being blamed for the death of the shareholder and that he is also presumed dead. Under a new name, Tommy travels to Toronto and ends up joining a circus that needs help with some horses. There he is happy until Harry Jones chances upon him…

Based on a true piece of Northern Ontario history, The Adventures of TommySmith will engage the middle grade reader and pull them into this enticing, rip-roaring tale of courage, mischief and fun.