Twelve-year-old Aggie has never manned a steamboat on her own until she is forced to the wheel. When she reunites with her two younger sisters aboard the IRENE , their sixty-foot steamboat, they are trapped with thugs intending to steal their boat. As Aggie pilots the IRENE from port to port, conjuring up schemes to regain the upper hand, the sisters search for Daddy. WILLA LITERARY AWARD WINNER. The Seagirls, the IRENE, all steamboat references and locations are based on real people and facts . Aggie was the author's grandmother.