Reuter, Bjarne. The ring of the slave prince.

Reuter, Bjarne. The ring of the slave prince. Dutton, 2003 [0-525-47146-4]
It is the 1600s and Tom is diving for sunken treasure when he rescues a Spanish boy about his age and a black youth. They have survived a shipwreck and since the black boy is the son of a King in Africa, Tom agrees to help him get home so he can claim half the reward. After they get separated, Tom searches for this pair, starting a series of adventures (almost separate stories) where Tom works for a blacksmith, then a boomba on a plantation, a boy on a Spanish ship, and then on a pirate ship. The first third of this book starts out slow, but as Tom gets involved in his adventures, the pace picks up fast. There is not a lot of white space on the page, so this 372 page book is a long read. Also, it is translated from the original Danish and I found a lot of grammar irregularities which may have appeared in the translation. Good readers who like sailing adventure stories (with a little gore) will enjoy this book.