England, 1713--The height of the Golden Age of Piracy.
Charlie Drake boards the heavily-armed British fighting ship, the Churchill, on the morning after his sixteenth birthday in possession of a mysterious three-lock box left to him by his father. The contents of the box could change Charlie's life forever, but there's a catch--the box is booby-trapped, and he doesn't have the keys.
Aboard the Churchill, young Charlie must earn the respect of a skeptical captain and a disreputable crew who will do anything for a single gold coin while searching for clues to unlock his destiny. In this coming-of-age tale, Charlie will fight enemies of the Crown, visit exotic locales, and make allies of fearsome pirates while proving that he is worthy of his father's legacy. His first order of business: Don't get killed trying.
About the Author:
Pat Croce graced the cover of Success magazine as the first person to ascend from the training room to the boardroom of a professional sports team. His remarkable success as a physical therapist and pioneer in the sports medicine field to the colorful leadership responsible for the resurrection of the Philadelphia 76ers as an NBA championship contender has been defined as one of the most amazing stories in sports history.
As a serial entrepreneur, Croce has been the proud recipient of the "Entrepreneur of the Year" Award, featured on the cover of Inc magazine as "The Dale Carnegie of the 21st Century," and honored with A&E Biography's "Community Hero" Award. He is Chairman of Pat Croce & Company that has controlling interests in numerous restaurants and museums, one of which is the internationally acclaimed St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum.
Through his business savvy, dynamic personality, and emphasis on customer service, Croce created Sports Physical Therapists, a sports medicine empire of 40 centers in 11 states, into a top-ten finalist for the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Following the sale of his company, Croce focused his entrepreneurial spirit and indestructible positive attitude on the purchase of the NBA's last place team, the Philadelphia 76ers, in 1996. During his five-year tenure as President, the team rose from worst to first in the NBA standings and broke franchise records in attendance, revenue, merchandise, and consecutive wins on the way to the NBA Championships against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2001.
Croce is a New York Times bestselling author, nationally-renowned motivational speaker, a commentator for the Summer Olympic Games on NBC for the sport of Taekwondo, and has been a lively guest on Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Craig Ferguson, Howard Stern, Bryant Gumbel, Good Morning America, Today, ESPN, and CNN Breaking News shows.
