The Adventures of Captain Nash

The Adventures of Captain Nash is a series of novels giving a dramatized account of Captain Roland Nash's career in the Tulwood Navy. It is quite popular among teenagers and young adults, and its popularity is seen as a major reason for a recent uptick in recruitment.
This 4 book series is largely drawn from interviews of Captain Nash himself, who was more than happy to add embellishments to official accounts of his exploration of unknown seas. Conversely, he was quite recalcitrant when it came to his martial accomplishments, particularly his capture of the pirate ship Terror.
Among the most popular tales is the account of his efforts to chart the movements of Megaflorica, the vast seaweed islands that drift erratically around the High Seas. This expedition started with months of searching, 2 weeks becalmed, only to awaken the next morning to find one of the islands drifting alongside them. His crew hauled the ships anchor onto the plant, where it quickly became hopelessly entangled in the thick vines. At first, this merely towed the ship along, ideal for charting out the movement of the drifting plant, but as the plant shifted around, there were times when the crew had to work quickly to save the ship from becoming similarly entangled. After several months, with the ship running low on food, the ship comes under attack from a massive Great Sea Serpent, rising from the deep in the dead of night. This whole story weaves in a sense of dread, slowly dialing up the tension until this climactic battle. The crew manage to shift the beast off the bow, snapping the bowsprit and the anchor line, as well as severely damaging the ship. With the ship cast away from the Megaflorica, they quickly make for home to report their discoveries. At the time, the Great Sea Serpent was believed to be mere fiction, so the official records describe this as storm damage, but Captain Nash insists that this is the true account of events. Of course, he also makes this claim of several less explainable events included in the story, which many believe to be exaggerated or outright fiction.