(Swinging basket skipping through the meadow, or the woods, take your pick) La la la la la. His mom is killed in an accident and he has to ship out to support himself. That is the height of the drama. Story arcs are supposed to be like a bell curve, with the conflict and drama in the middle sliding down to the resolution. This has no arc. It is an L shape. The conflict drops on him at the start of the tale, and then it levels out and there is no more conflict. Everything is hunky dory. His shipmates all work together well and they like him. He learns everything fast, and likes all the possible tasks set him. He starts to make money selling things from port to port. It all works out for him. There. Is. No. Problem.
I even read book 2 thinking something had to happen, but nope. Things just keep going along swimmingly. Maybe later, but who needs to wait that long? Plenty of good books out there; no need to baby this one along.