By England's Aid or the Freeing of the Netherlands

G A Henty was a 19th century novelist, special correspondent and Imperialist. His best-known works are historical adventures. While most of the 122 books he wrote were for children, he also wrote adult novels, non-fiction such as The March to Magdala (1868) and Those Other Animals (1891), short stories for the likes of The Boy's Own Paper and edited the Union Jack, a weekly boys magazine. When two brothers leave the Netherlands to fight the Spanish Armada for England, one of the boys is knocked overboard. He ends up captured by pirates while his brother becomes an officer. The brothers eventually meet in Spain at the end of the Netherlands' war for independence. By England's Aid, or The Freeing of the Netherlands (1589-1604) is vintage Henty.