Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott

Jo's Boys is the final book in the unofficial Little Women series. In it, Jo's boys, now grown, are caught up in real world troubles. Sections of Jo's Boys follow the travels of former students who have deep emotional ties to Plumfield and the Bhaers. Professor Bhaer's nephew Emil is now a sailor, and takes off on his first voyage as second mate and shows his true strength when he is shipwrecked and the captain badly injured.