A runaway boy in nineteenth century Bristol is the link between a mysterious carving on a whale's tooth and a mass of pirate treasure.
Fleeing from apprenticeship to a brutal chimney sweep, young Owen Davies finds himself caught up in the mystery surrounding a hoard of treasure snatched by the infamous pirate, Robert Culliford. Moving from the teeming streets of nineteenth century Bristol to the quiet farms and forests of Nova Scotia, Owen meets with staunch friends and terrifying perils as he makes his way towards the solution of the puzzle presented by the carved whale's tooth. As the mystery unfolds, other voices gather to tell the story through the discovery of letters and journals. The diary of Robert Culliford tells of a deliberate attack on his ship by a great sperm whale and of how the whale followed him after the shipwreck through his journey to madness and despair on the shores of a barren Atlantic island. Faced with the sudden insanity of his companions in the face of riches they uncover, it is up to Owen to bring them safely back from the place known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic: the wreck-strewn darkness of Sable Island. Based on real facts and places, this is a story for all those who love old yarns of storms and shipwrecks, pirates and the sea.