The Black Stallion by Walter Farley

 

Alec Ramsay is coming home from a relative in another country on a boat.  At one of the stops, a wild, unbroken stallion is loaded onto the boat.  On the way to the U.S., a storm hits, and the boat wrecks.  Alec and the stallion are stranded on an island and must survive by themselves.  The Black Stallion is a great book in the beginning of a great classic series.