The Convicts

The Convicts by Iain Lawrence

A boy's father has to pay off big debts due to sailing experience. The boy is first in a school, but then finds himself in a fight with a blind man in a swamp. He finds a diamond but escaped from the blind man. The boy ends up with a grave robber and uncovers a boy who looks just like him. After the boy gets away, he ends up meeting with the boy's group of ruffians. He is later charged with murder and sent off on a convict ship. (He got a "lighter" sentence because he was a kid.) In the end, he discovers his dad was a great sailor who got swindled by another man and that the other boy was his brother.