Oliver Optic 
All Adrift or The Goldwing Club [EPUB ebook] 

All Adrift is the first volume of a new set of books, to be known as THE BOAT-BUILDER SERIES. The story contains the adventures of a boy who is trying to do something to help support the family, but who finds himself all adrift in the world. He has the reputation of being rather wild, though he proves that he is honest, loves the truth, and is willing to work for a living. Having been born and brought up on the shore of Lake Champlain, he could not well avoid being a boatman, especially as his father was a pilot on a steamer. Nearly all the scenes of the story are on the water; and the boy shows not only that he can handle a boat, but that he has ingenuity, and fertility of resource.