Set in the early nineteenth century, Rough Passage to London follows Ely, a young farm boy who escapes his troublesome home in Connecticut and becomes a cabin boy on a square-rigged ship headed for London . . . a route he hopes will lead to his disappeared older brother. As Ely learns the trade of a sailor and follows a cryptic clue to his brother's whereabouts, he experiences romance, faces a mutiny, meets Queen Victoria, and befriends historical legends such as Charles Dickens in his raucous quest.