At his father's death in the summer of 1751, David balfour left the village of Essendean, Scotland and went to live with a miserly old uncle Ebenezer Balfour of Shaws. Ebenezer, fearing David's rightful claim on the Shaw estate, tried to kill the boy. Failing in that, he had the boy kidnapped and put on board a ship bound for America. On this trip David met Alan Breck, a member of the outlawed Stewart clan, bitter enemies of Scotland's rulers, the Campbells. The ship they were on was wrecked on reefs off the Scottish shores. David separated from Alan, made his way to a pre-arranged meeting place.