Cal Perry stood braced against the wind. They sky was black with storm clouds. Wind screamed through the rigging overhead and blasted into his face. Big waves roared like thunder and came crashing across the deck. The great three-masted ship sank, trembling, down into the water and then rose. 

"What are you doing here?" Captain Chris shouted.

"I want to see the storm, sir," Cal answered. He could hardly keep on his feet as the deck tilted wildly.

"This is no storm," the captain said. "Only a little blow."

But it was a storm, and both Cal and the captain knew it. When it was over at last, Captain Chris looked proudly at his son and said, "Another Perry has got his sea legs."

For a boy who loved salt water there was no better place to live than Newport, Rhode Island. Great merchant ships sailed from its harbor to every port in the world. Young Matthew Calbraith Perry determined he would go to sea, too, like his father Captain Chris and his dashing older brother Oliver Hazard, who was already commissioned in the United States Navy.

The Perry household was ideal for a boy sailor. Captain Chris insisted on naval discipline, and between voyages instructed Cal and his brother Ray in seamanship. Mrs. Perry taught them mathematics for navigation, and Oliver had his own ideas about naval training. Sometimes Cal wished there were fewer people to give him orders.

It was much more fun to be out on Narragansett Bay, rowing, sailing and racing. Or down at the ship chandler's on the boats where he could listen to salty yarns and learn about sea trade and the faraway places. Newport ships visited–even forbidden Japan.

Most of all Cal wanted to serve his country. His chance came soon. As a midshipman he fought in the War of 1812. He went on to become a famous naval commander in later wars and in peacetime, and the Great Commodore who opened Japan to world commerce.

This is the first book Alexander Scharbach, professor of English at Portland State College in Oregon, has written in this series. BOY SAILOR: Matthew Calbraith Perry is a real boy's story with plenty of salt-water adventure.

From the dust jacket